[-Neuro-]

Hello,
I am really keen on teaching myself Latin. I was wondering how hard first of all it was? Also I would like to self-teach myself Higher Latin over two years? This means I would sit it in 6th year.

Does anyone have any advice on self-teaching themselves a Higher, Higher Latin itself or just any resources to get started on teaching myself Latin?

Note: I will be doing 4 Highers and an Advanced Higher next year and I hope to do medicine, so I will need to keep up with Extra-curriculars and volunteering at the same time.

Thank you, I would seriously appreciate any help as I'm in a bit of a kerfuffle!

[TheFOMaster]

You'd need permission off your school first methinks. I wanted to self teach Higher Physics but my school said the difference between Standard Grade and Higher would've been too much. (*******s methinks, Highers aren't that hard)

[derangedyoshi]

(Original post by -Neuro-)
x

Hi

Higher Latin is pretty manageable. If you've done Latin before (Int 2 or whatever) then you'll find the translation papers pretty easy, they're not a big step up at all.

With the interpretation, again it helps a lot to have done Int 2 because the Virgil has all of Passages 4 and 6 from Int 2 - the descent to the underworld, ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram and all that, and the bit where he meets Dido in the Underworld and she rejects him, and it has some stuff in between which isn't in Int 2. There's also a large English passage which covers what happens just before ibant obscuri etc. (I'm assuming you'd do Virgil but there's an option to do Plautus.) The Cicero is all new but in the same vein - look at Verres, he's being horrible and extortive and dodgy, and all that. Two English passages and a fairly long Latin one.

If you were willing to work really hard then I think you'd be able to do it in one year. My friend and I got one hour a week of teaching after school, and our homework was basically just looking over the next bit of Cicero/Virgil and trying to translate it, along with a translation past paper every now and again, and we finished all the interpretation stuff (so basically finished the course) by January. Also, I'm assuming you'd be taking 2 or 3 AH sciences in S6 if you want to do medicine? In which case, don't count on S6 to be easier than S5, the investigations are hellish at times :/

The actual interpretation paper is a mixed bag. You have to write a short 10-mark essay for each of Virgil and Cicero, which is out of a choice of two questions. These are somewhat predictable so it's unlikely you'll be making up too much nonsense in the exam. Other than that it's just questions as in Int 2, although there's also a scansion question in Virgil which is a gift of 3 (I think it's 3) marks - basically it's about working out the rhythm of 2 lines, and comes down to writing out the two lines, and using a set of rules to work out the 6 feet and which syllables are long and short.

In terms of advice with the course - don't read the translation for a bit of interpretation passage before you've tried to translate it yourself (with vocab available obviously). Learn the interpretation passages inside out, so that you can write down a translation from the prescribed text booklet. Do plenty of translation practice and make sure you're familiar with the grammar. It's really not too bad. It was the Higher where I got the highest mark even though I only got an hour a week of teaching.

(Would have sent this as a visitor message but it was too long :P )

Feel free to ask me any more questions you have - it's nice to see people interested in Latin, it's a really good subject and it's interesting, but most people seem to have this kneejerk response that it's useless - it's no more useless than most other school subjects in terms of going into the world and using Latin vocab, as compared with calculating the centripetal force causing a ferris wheel to move or something :L. Latin helps you to know and understand English much better, since the depths of grammar you learn are far better than in SQA English, which is all about learning what they want you to say for close reading unfortunately. It's also really fun!! :P

[-Neuro-]

(Original post by derangedyoshi)
Hi

Higher Latin is pretty manageable. If you've done Latin before (Int 2 or whatever) then you'll find the translation papers pretty easy, they're not a big step up at all.

With the interpretation, again it helps a lot to have done Int 2 because the Virgil has all of Passages 4 and 6 from Int 2 - the descent to the underworld, ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram and all that, and the bit where he meets Dido in the Underworld and she rejects him, and it has some stuff in between which isn't in Int 2. There's also a large English passage which covers what happens just before ibant obscuri etc. (I'm assuming you'd do Virgil but there's an option to do Plautus.) The Cicero is all new but in the same vein - look at Verres, he's being horrible and extortive and dodgy, and all that. Two English passages and a fairly long Latin one.

If you were willing to work really hard then I think you'd be able to do it in one year. My friend and I got one hour a week of teaching after school, and our homework was basically just looking over the next bit of Cicero/Virgil and trying to translate it, along with a translation past paper every now and again, and we finished all the interpretation stuff (so basically finished the course) by January. Also, I'm assuming you'd be taking 2 or 3 AH sciences in S6 if you want to do medicine? In which case, don't count on S6 to be easier than S5, the investigations are hellish at times :/

The actual interpretation paper is a mixed bag. You have to write a short 10-mark essay for each of Virgil and Cicero, which is out of a choice of two questions. These are somewhat predictable so it's unlikely you'll be making up too much nonsense in the exam. Other than that it's just questions as in Int 2, although there's also a scansion question in Virgil which is a gift of 3 (I think it's 3) marks - basically it's about working out the rhythm of 2 lines, and comes down to writing out the two lines, and using a set of rules to work out the 6 feet and which syllables are long and short.

In terms of advice with the course - don't read the translation for a bit of interpretation passage before you've tried to translate it yourself (with vocab available obviously). Learn the interpretation passages inside out, so that you can write down a translation from the prescribed text booklet. Do plenty of translation practice and make sure you're familiar with the grammar. It's really not too bad. It was the Higher where I got the highest mark even though I only got an hour a week of teaching.

(Would have sent this as a visitor message but it was too long :P )

Feel free to ask me any more questions you have - it's nice to see people interested in Latin, it's a really good subject and it's interesting, but most people seem to have this kneejerk response that it's useless - it's no more useless than most other school subjects in terms of going into the world and using Latin vocab, as compared with calculating the centripetal force causing a ferris wheel to move or something :L

Darn... I didn't do Int2...
Our school or any centres nearby don't offer Latin at all, which is annoying. Would I be able to pick it up if I was to cram during the Summer holidays?

My History teacher has a degree in Latin and said she would be happy to help, so I will recieve some (although limited) help.

[derangedyoshi]

(Original post by -Neuro-)
Darn... I didn't do Int2...
Our school or any centres nearby don't offer Latin at all, which is annoying. Would I be able to pick it up if I was to cram during the Summer holidays?

My History teacher has a degree in Latin and said she would be happy to help, so I will recieve some (although limited) help.

Oh, yeah, don't worry about it. If you're learning Latin for the first time then I think 2 years is sensible - I was assuming you'd already done it before.

Basically what you want to do then is to start with the basics and work your way up to the level of grammar and translation skillls needed for Higher - this might take a while, don't worry about that. Try to find a good beginners' textbook or online resources, and just get busy. Once you're confident about your translation skills then start to work your way through the interpretation passages - you get LTS (learning and teaching scotland) notes which have the required text along with vocabulary and background info.

The thing to focus on first is translation though. Maybe look at SG Foundation papers and once you're confident with those move up to General, Credit and then Higher. Whenever you see a construction/word ending/other bit of grammar you don't recognise, look it up. Make sure you're confident with these. Then you can work through the interpretation texts.

It will be quite a lot of work - but hopefully you'll enjoy it!! :L

[-Neuro-]

(Original post by derangedyoshi)
Oh, yeah, don't worry about it. If you're learning Latin for the first time then I think 2 years is sensible - I was assuming you'd already done it before.

Basically what you want to do then is to start with the basics and work your way up to the level of grammar and translation skillls needed for Higher - this might take a while, don't worry about that. Try to find a good beginners' textbook or online resources, and just get busy. Once you're confident about your translation skills then start to work your way through the interpretation passages - you get LTS (learning and teaching scotland) notes which have the required text along with vocabulary and background info.

The thing to focus on first is translation though. Maybe look at SG Foundation papers and once you're confident with those move up to General, Credit and then Higher. Whenever you see a construction/word ending/other bit of grammar you don't recognise, look it up. Make sure you're confident with these. Then you can work through the interpretation texts.

It will be quite a lot of work - but hopefully you'll enjoy it!! :L

Thank you, you've given some really good structured advice. I'm sure I'll enjoy it, I love learning languages and Latin is pretty awesome as I quite like classics. I looked at you profile and your academics are amazing!!!

What are you thinking of studying at university?

[derangedyoshi]

(Original post by -Neuro-)
Thank you, you've given some really good structured advice. I'm sure I'll enjoy it, I love learning languages and Latin is pretty awesome as I quite like classics. I looked at you profile and your academics are amazing!!!

What are you thinking of studying at university?

No problem. I admire that you're taking the initiative to try Latin, I doubt I ever would have if I hadn't been taught it at school - my school made it a compulsory subject for S1.

Thanks :P I'm doing Maths at uni, either Cambridge or Edinburgh depending on results in August - my UCAS stuff is in my sig.

[-Neuro-]

(Original post by derangedyoshi)
No problem. I admire that you're taking the initiative to try Latin, I doubt I ever would have if I hadn't been taught it at school - my school made it a compulsory subject for S1.

Thanks :P I'm doing Maths at uni, either Cambridge or Edinburgh depending on results in August - my UCAS stuff is in my sig.

It's been a while derangedyoshi!! Erm I forgot to ask the real question!
What resources would be good for learning Latin?
What books, textbooks, websites just anything are good for learning Latin?

Congrats on you Offers! Pretty hard conditional but you will manage

[derangedyoshi]

(Original post by -Neuro-)
It's been a while derangedyoshi!! Erm I forgot to ask the real question!
What resources would be good for learning Latin?
What books, textbooks, websites just anything are good for learning Latin?

Congrats on you Offers! Pretty hard conditional but you will manage

I think my school uses this website nowadays - http://www.cambridgescp.com/Lpage.php?p=clc^top^home - the Cambridge Latin Course. Back in the day (when I was in S1/2 :P) we used the Oxford Latin course books with Quintus, Flaccus, Scintilla, Horatia and the rest, but there seems to have been a switch, since my sister knows more about Caecilius or some other impostor... :L

To be honest, I wouldn't be entirely certain about what resources would be good for learning Latin for the first time. Websites are good, but I think you would want to find a textbook of some sort - the Oxford ones are the ones I used lower down the school and they're quite good, each chapter has some new vocabulary to learn (not that you need it for Higher, the vocab list will translate things like sum (I am) for you...) and some sort of story with the aforementioned Quintus etc, usually with dreadful cartoon drawings, and maybe a new grammatical concept or two.

Now, there was another textbook I had for Higher. I completely forgot about it until writing this post. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Latin-Langua.../dp/0050042874

This goes into the nitty gritty of grammar (did I just use that phrase?) and is really good as a reference book to look something up if you're not sure about a word ending or something in a translation passage. It has a solid vocab section at the back and has all the important tables of word endings, pronouns, irregular verbs and so on. The main grammar sections probably go into a bit more detail than you need for Higher nowadays - a combination of the vocab list, some basic grammar and some educated guesswork will get you through the translation if necessary, but you will be more confident and less likely to make a little slip if you have studied it in reasonable detail. Eg - IIRC, the word "manus" was in my Higher translation. It would be easy to translate it as "hand", but I knew that "manus" is a fifth declension noun (or is it fourth...? I knew at the time) and that the "-us" ending could also be plural, and the context then showed it was plural. This sort of thing would only be a mark at most though, I think.

From the interpretation point of view, I used the twin resources of the LTS notes and Google. I looked for the LTS notes online but I couldn't find them, you could ask your school if they would be able to get them. Basically, on one page will be maybe 10-15 lines of Latin text, along with translations of individual words which are likely to be unfamiliar, while on the page opposite are notes giving contexts to things and pointing out the sort of thing which you would talk about in the exam.

[anthonyfl]

I'm thinking of self teaching Intermediate 1 or 2 Latin, will it be hard?


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[Airess3]

(Original post by anthonyfl)
I'm thinking of self teaching Intermediate 1 or 2 Latin, will it be hard?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

No, I did Intermediate 2 Latin this year, along with 4 other Standard Grades/Int 2's, 2 Highers and a self-taught A-Level, I think Latin probably the easiest one of them all. Though, remember to revise the passages really well since they can test you on any part of the passages. Also, becareful in the Interpretation because they sometimes give you a few trick questions! But translation is really easy since they give you all the vocabulary in English and all you have to learn is the grammar.

[anthonyfl]

(Original post by Airess3)
No, I did Intermediate 2 Latin this year, along with 4 other Standard Grades/Int 2's, 2 Highers and a self-taught A-Level, I think Latin probably the easiest one of them all. Though, remember to revise the passages really well since they can test you on any part of the passages. Also, becareful in the Interpretation because they sometimes give you a few trick questions! But translation is really easy since they give you all the vocabulary in English and all you have to learn is the grammar.

How do you sit the NABs?


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[Airess3]

(Original post by anthonyfl)
How do you sit the NABs?


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I got my NAB's through my school

[anthonyfl]

(Original post by Airess3)
I got my NAB's through my school

So do I just inform my school I want to do Int 1 Latin and they give me the NABs?


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[Airess3]

(Original post by anthonyfl)
So do I just inform my school I want to do Int 1 Latin and they give me the NABs?


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Yeah I think so, though it depends if your people in your school actually do the subject.

[anthonyfl]

(Original post by Airess3)
Yeah I think so, though it depends if your people in your school actually do the subject.

Em no I'm at a state school haha


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[Airess3]

(Original post by anthonyfl)
Em no I'm at a state school haha


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Ok then , I don't think you can get them through your school then, maybe if you ask them, they might order the NAB's for you.


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[anthonyfl]

(Original post by Airess3)
Ok then , I don't think you can get them through your school then, maybe if you ask them, they might order the NAB's for you.


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Thanks


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[CocaineSquirrel]

Can I ask what subjects you plan to do in 6th year? 4Hs and 1AH seems like a lot of work.

[-Neuro-]

(Original post by CocaineSquirrel)
Can I ask what subjects you plan to do in 6th year? 4Hs and 1AH seems like a lot of work.

I hope to do the 3 sciences at Advanced Higher and I may if the school let me do a units in mechanical and statistical maths at Advanced Higher as well. I'm not 100% sure though as I quite like English at the moment. I do intend to stick with the 3 sciences though.

I looked at your profile and saw that you applied for medicine. I really want to study medicine too and I wondered if you had any tips