A Level Latin- possible to self-teach in a year and a half?

Well is it? I'm wanting to study 'proper' Classics at univ and without an A level in Latin it's not that easy.

I've applied for Classical Studies this year, hoping to go to Bristol. Hopefully if I get an offer I'm considering asking if I could get a place on the Classics degree if I take the JACT 8 week Latin course over the summer. Thing is though, I would rather have a more common qualification and could probably do with some more time out from education, maybe take another AS or something to try and get me back in the Arts pathway again.

So do you think it's do-able? I would say that I'd be starting from scratch, been years since I studied Latin and even then it wasn't to a very high level. If anyone who has self-taught could give me some advice it would be great, especially if they could tell me what sort textbooks or whatever you used.

Thanks. :smile:

Reply 1

generalebriety

16

The Cambridge Latin course is excellent. I don't know about self-teaching; I self-taught from GCSE to AS, but was taught formally up to GCSE. I certainly think it's possible though, at least up to AS (with all the set texts and so on it's difficult to do more than one qualification a year, unless you're planning on skipping GCSE) and even though the Classics forum on here doesn't get used much, I'm sure there are people around who'd be happy to help you with any questions you had. I'm happy to help with any simple (say, up to AS/A2 'unseen') prose translation, but I'm useless on the set texts. :smile:

Reply 2

db

OP

17

Thanks for the speedy quick reply. Very rare for in here.

Well I'm thinking that as long as I can end up with a half-decent A Level grade I don't mind what way I do it.

I'd start teaching now and I'm unlikely to get up to GCSE level by this summer, not in time for exams anyway. As long as I can find some way to get the 6 A2 modules done in some order within the next 3 sittings I'm happy. Although I'm well aware it's more likely to be spread across next Jan/June.

Reply 3

Lidka

13

I would say it's do-able - but it'll be difficult. It's not an easy A-level by any means, and doing any A level in less than two years makes it much harder, especially if you didn't take the GCSE. I've just (literally! Exam was this morning!) done a Latin AS in 18 months, having learnt GCSE Latin in a year, and I had to work harder for it than all my other A-level subjects combined. But if you want to do Classics at degree level, it'll be a massive help, so...

a) Pick your set texts carefully. They are what make or break the course. Choose ones the ones that speak to you, as well as what just looks 'easy'.

b) Learn to recite the grammar off-by-heart. Tbh, I wouldn't rely on the CLC for that, as it only gives it to you in bits (it's really designed for younger students) and takes a long time to get up to the hard stuff, especially the subjunctive. Get a copy of the Cambridge Latin Grammar for reference, but search around for textbooks that'll give you a more complete picture: I have a book called 'Reading Latin: Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises' by Peter V. Jones and Keith C. Sitwell, which has pretty much everything. (That's also published by the CUP.)

c)Wider reading is everything, because there is no vocabulary list at A2, so once you've learnt the AS vocab list by heart, you're on your own! Get used to going through short passages of writers like Caesar to get a feel for idioms and sentence structure.

d) Try to get yourself a tutor/help offline. Online help is all very well, but try to locate someone near to you whom you can go to for help or advice! Do you have much linguistic experience? If you've done any Romance languages, that'll be a help.

Hm, yeah, if I sound a bit negative, I'm sorry, but I feel as if I told you that it would be easy I'd be leading you up the garden path a bit... anyway, hope you find this useful! :biggrin:

Reply 4

paddy

14

I'd say it's definitely doable, but by no means easy.
I suggest trying to find a company that offers distance teaching, that way you'll be able to receive help from a tutor.
You'll have to use OCR as AQA no longer offer Latin A Level and I don't think Edexcel offer it either. I can find a specification listing all the papers and what they require if you need?

Reply 5

Q.E.D

12

It is possible, but you will need a lot of dedication.

If you decide to go with it, make sure you learn all your accidence really well. It is the strongest thing to rely on when faced with unseens, and it will also make the set texts easier.
Apart from that, read around outside the syllabus to make sure you are picking up an idea of style and idiom.

Good Luck, and if you have any questions, feel free to PM me, and I'll be glad to help if I can.
Q.E.D

Reply 6

Frany1

My experience is 20 years old, but I found Classics difficult at Cambridge without Greek A' Level, never mind Latin (in which I had an A). I think you would have to be both very dedicated and very talented to teach yourself - if you haven't done any Latin for years, why not?

If you really want to do some Classics in the original - and you think you have the dedication and ability to do Latin to the standard required by the kind of universities that actually do "proper" Classics - you could consider, say, Latin and a modern language. If it's language itself you are interested in, what about languages and linguistics?

Reply 7

db

OP

17

I've had a little change of plan. I think I'm going to leave my choices as Classical Studies and try and get on the year abroad course. It's still two languages and a modern language would probably be more useful than a second classical one. I'm planning on using the money on the JACT course to go to Rome now instead and improve my Italian.

Thanks for all your replies.

Reply 8

Q.E.D

12

Hope you enjoy it, and good luck
Q.E.D

Reply 9

peace_and_love

Out of curiosity... How much knowledge is an A-Level in Latin

I'm studing 1 year full time Latin at Gothenburg Uni.
This goes from beginners up to
Augustus (this was a while ago)
Cicero: 2 speaches,
Ceasar: 1 book + a bit,
1 or two more authors other prose authors;
5 Catullus poems
3 Sulpicia poems
2 Horace poems
1000 verses of poetry coming soon (dunno the authors, Virgil is there I believe);
Vocabulary is 1000 obligatory words + others you pick up.

Grammar: All basic grammar is done: nouns, verbs, adjectives, abl abs, part con, gerundium and so on.
Advanced grammar:
Different type of ablativs, dativs, gentivs;
subclauses (modus and stuff) (relative, final, temporal, conditional and so on)
Indirect speach
Consecutio temporum (dunno what it is in english; tempusföljd in swedish ^^)

That kinda stuff

And Im hoping to get up to A-level knowledge - but maybe it is just AS level? 60ECTS points anyhow...

And I plan to learn all this stuff in english too, like "consecutio temporum" I only know that in swedish and latin.

Reply 10

db

OP

17

I'm interested in knowing that to actually. The course I'm looking at is 25ECTS point for a 2 month course. It's basically the first year Latin course in a shorter time scale, I think. :redface:

Seeing as the point of first year language courses is to get you to A Level standard (correct me if I'm wrong) I would say that your course would be more than an A Level by quite an amount.

Reply 11

peace_and_love

15 ects has however been other stuff like history and about things like translation

Reply 12

Lidka

13

From reading that list, peace_and_love, I too would say that you've far surpassed A2 level standard!

Reply 13

db

OP

17

I rang the course director today and she said that the course I'm looking at is a year and a half of undergraduate Latin teaching. I would hazard a guess that yours is a complete course in Undergraduate level Latin.

A Level Latin- possible to self-teach in a year and a half?

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