[21stcenturyphantom]

Hello. Lately, for the first time ever, I've developed an interest in learning Latin as I have some time off over the summer once my exams are finished. I'm starting my A Levels in September but Latin, Greek or any Ancient History/Classical Civilisation A level courses are not offered at my college, or indeed at any institution for miles around. Is there any way I can self-teach it to a reasonable level? I have seen that Teach Yourself have Complete Latin, and Get Started in Latin books, and I've also seen that Cambridge Latin Course offer courses for independent users, but they seem incredibly expensive. £175 for Book 1, £200 for Book 2 etc. It would cost £900 just to get up to GCSE level! Has anyone else learnt through them?

It seems that if one wants to begin learning the language, there aren't many teachers of Latin and distance learning through CSCP might be the best option. Has anyone else self-taught? I'd be interested to hear comments from other students of the language. How hard is it? Is it worth the effort?

[miser]

I've been considering learning latin myself for a few years but I've never taken any specific steps towards it. I expect that you can self-teach these days so long as you dedicate a certain amount of time every day to it. There will be vocabulary lists available online that you can use software like Mnemosyne to learn with and there are a lot of books on Amazon that will cover grammar. As for reading material you can buy all sorts of books in Latin, including Harry Potter (Harrius Potter).

The difficult part would be finding people to converse with. You might be able to find people on language learning websites learning Latin or in an online Latin-enthusiast community to Skype with though.

[Chiseph]

I take A-level Latin and I reckon you could do it, because there is a LOT of good material you can easily find online. The Cambridge Latin Course peeps have a website which is really useful. Also, at a-level you can opt to translate only from Latin to English so you only really need to ask questions about areas which confuse you. However, don't bother with vocab that much because that's the easy part.

I'd advise you to invest in a very thorough grammar book - "Latin Grammar" by gildersleeve and Lodge is really good, and anything you're unsure about can be found online. Latin grammar is more complicated than that of other languages, so really learn that well - and if you ever need any help just ask me and I'll answer anything I can help with

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[qua]

Latin is definitely worth the effort. Learning it will not only get you benefits for learning Romanic languages such as Italian or French, but also give you insights into hugely interesting topics like Philosophy, Roman history, Political theory... etc.

Though I did learn it in school (9 years altogether), I'm sure you can do it on your own. I know quite a number of people who self-taught, and they're by no means behind those who learned it in courses/in school. Latin is not as hard as it's said to be. The grammar is fairly easy if you are willing to look behind and understand it. You do need some discipline, as learning the grammar is really about learning by heart without thinking a lot of the time.

But it is worth it, believe me. It's great fun AND you will benefit from it.

[ambbs]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Essential-GC.../dp/1853996939 This book is really helpful and could be used to get you started :-)

[Octopus_Garden]

I would personally recommend So You Really Want To Learn Latin book I, plus answer book, published by Galore Park.

I hated the Cambridge Latin course, which is set up with a teacher and class in mind, in my opinion, but I loved So You Really Want To Learn Latin. It made it so straight forward and easy to learn at home.

[Shomberlon]

I've gotten lucky, by going to Glasgow I get to take 2 other subjects on top of my History degree and Latin is one of the subjects I'm going to take.


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[Sui-Kinxtar_kitty]

This was a fantastic textbook we started using this year:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Latin-Beyond.../dp/185399720X

If you go to the back its got all the tables and rules etc...

I would also recommend you atleast know majority of the vocab on this:
http://www.cambridgescp.com/ws2_tlc/...ras/ocras.html

These two sites were also pretty useful:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/l...ed/default.htm

AND
http://www.latinsos.co.uk/Latin_SOS/Home.html

Hope you succeed!! BDW: I had to go to a sixthform 20 miles away from where I live to do latin... And I dont regret it!!! Bus journey was long though -___-

[anthonyfl]

(Original post by 21stcenturyphantom)
Hello. Lately, for the first time ever, I've developed an interest in learning Latin as I have some time off over the summer once my exams are finished. I'm starting my A Levels in September but Latin, Greek or any Ancient History/Classical Civilisation A level courses are not offered at my college, or indeed at any institution for miles around. Is there any way I can self-teach it to a reasonable level? I have seen that Teach Yourself have Complete Latin, and Get Started in Latin books, and I've also seen that Cambridge Latin Course offer courses for independent users, but they seem incredibly expensive. £175 for Book 1, £200 for Book 2 etc. It would cost £900 just to get up to GCSE level! Has anyone else learnt through them?

It seems that if one wants to begin learning the language, there aren't many teachers of Latin and distance learning through CSCP might be the best option. Has anyone else self-taught? I'd be interested to hear comments from other students of the language. How hard is it? Is it worth the effort?

Hi, I'm interested in this thread because I also want to learn Latin. I'm looking at self teaching a basic Scottish qualification in Latin (equivalent to GCSE) as it seems to be entirely private schools which teach it.

My dad is very keen on getting me a few Latin lessons from a tutor. Although I'm not from a rich family, I've had tutoring before and it's been so amazingly effective!


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