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Lingua Latina: A College Companion

Based on Hans Orberg's Latine Disco, with Vocabulary and Grammar

Lingua Latina: A College Companion

Jeanne Marie Neumann

2008 • 978-1-58510-191-7 • paper • 348 pages •  7x10  •  $24.95

| About the Authors | Table of Contents | Preface | Review

 Description                                             

This title provides a running outline/commentary on the Latin grammar covered in Book 1 of Lingua Latina (Familia Romana), and includes the complete text of the Ørberg ancillaries Grammatica Latina and Latin-English Vocabulary. It also replaces the student guide, Latine Disco. The book is designed especially for college students who approach Lingua Latina at an accelerated pace. The Exercitia may still be used as an additional source of exercises.

 Author                                                    

Jeanne Marie Neumann is an Associate Professor of Classics at Davidson College, where she has taught Latin, Greek, and Classical Civilization since 1994, and was awarded the College's most distinguished teaching award in 2005. She has conducted numerous seminars and workshops for Latin teachers at all levels of instruction, and has received national recognition for her educational outreach.

 Table of Contents                                      

Preface

For the Instructor

To the Student

I. Imperium Rōmānum

II. Familia Rōmāna

III. Puer Improbus

IV. Dominus et Servī

V. Vīlla et Hortus

VI. Via Latīna

VII. Puella et Rosa

VIII. Taberna Rōmāna

IX. Pāstor et Ovēs

X. Bēstiae et Hominēs

XI. Corpus Hūmānum

XII. Mīles Rōmānus

XIII. Annus et Mēnsēs

XIV. Novus Diēs

XV. Magister et Discipulī

XVI. Tempestās

XVII. Numerī Difficiles

XVIII. Litterae Latīnae

XIX. Marītus et Uxor

XX. Parentēs

XXI. Pugna Discipulōrum

XXII. Cave Canem

XXIII. Epistula Magistrī

XXIV. Puer Aegrōtus

XXV. Thēseus et Mīnōtaurus

XXVI. Daedalus et Icarus

XXVII. Rēs Rūsticae

XXVIII. Pericula Maris

XXIX. Nāvigāre Necesse Est

XXX. Convīvium

XXXI. Inter Pōcula

XXXII. Classis Rōmāna

XXXIII. Exercitus Rōmānus

XXXIV. De Arte Poēticā

XXXV: Ars Grammatica

Morphology

Vocabulary by Chapter

Latin English Vocabulary

Ørberg’s Lingua Latina series, conceived as a completely acquisition-based approach to learning Latin, offers an unparalleled resource for Latin learning, enabling the motivated student to acquire skill in reading Latin by reading Latin. Lingua Latina guides readers through an expanding world of Latin syntax while they enjoy a delightful story of a Roman family of the early imperial period. The reading mirrors "real" Latin in the way it unfolds the periodic structure and idiomatic features of the language, introducing early critical features: students meet the relative pronoun in Chapter 3, the passive voice in Chapter 6; by the time they get the full verbal paradigm of the present tense in Chapter 15-17, they have mastered the concept and workings of active and passive voice. Length of readings, number of vocabulary words and complexity of sentence structure increase as the chapters build on each other, all in support of a narrative that engages students from middle school through college (and beyond).

Lingua Latina offers a smooth and efficient path to acquisition of the language and immerses the student from the first in a true experience of Latin. The impetus of this book arose not from any flaw in Ørberg’s method, but rather from the differing needs of some students and classrooms. In most colleges, students signing up for Latin commit to a two-term introductory experience, followed by a term (sometimes two) of reading ancient texts. Reading Familia Romana in a two-semester course in introductory Latin, meeting three times a week for two 13- or 14- week semesters becomes a Herculean task. The book, however, and its results both proved too good to abandon. There seems to me no better guide than Lingua Latina for students who want to learn Latin through Latin, even for those students without the time and inclination to move through it at the pace intended. Est modus in rebus, as Horace wrote long ago, and there is a middle ground between the complete nature method and the traditional paradigm method.

More than time constraints, however, inspired this book. Different students learn differently: Alii aliis viis Romam perveniunt. While Latine Disco is an excellent companion for some, for others, who want more grammatical structure, it works less well. Students clamored for us to keep the text, but make it suit their needs. This book, therefore, aims to strike a balance between a purely inductive method and the study of grammatical rules and paradigms. This balance addresses not only student need, but the instructor’s proclivities as well. As such it may find immediate appeal with instructors and students using Ørberg at the college level; its benefits in the middle school, high school or home-school classroom may accrue more to the instructor than the students.

How does this book fit into the Lingua Latina series? What does it replace? This book replaces the Latine Disco, the Grammatica Latina, and the Latin-English Vocabulary. It does not replace the Exercitia.

What are the primary features of this book? The book provides a running grammatical commentary on the narrative of Lingua Latina. It differs from the Latine Disco in scope and aim. Latine Disco provides clear and concise information that students need to acquire an understanding of Latin at their own pace. This book builds from Ørberg’s original Latine Disco; the presentation and formatting have been altered and more explication and examples are offered. To the degree possible, the commentary corresponds to the reading sections within each chapter, enabling students to study just the grammar for each section. Important and challenging structures are illustrated with several examples from the story. As the grammatical concepts build, they are collected and reviewed in periodic recensiones, facilitating an overview of the language and enabling students to know where to look for the places in the story where, e.g., they learned about accusative and infinitive construction. An overview is further facilitated by the index of the new grammar (Res Grammaticae Novae) that gives a synopsis, in categories, of the material covered in that chapter. In addition to the division by part of speech and definition of vocabulary at the end of each chapter and the full vocabulary at the back of the book, vocabulary review is enhanced by an appendix listing the vocabulary according to chapter but without meanings; students can quiz themselves on their grasp of vocabulary outside the context of the story. Finally, Ørberg’s own mastery of the language shows through in his ability to write lucid, idiomatic Latin. Where appropriate, student attention is directed to points of style that highlight the way the language works syntactically or idiomatically.

This book, therefore, is designed for different audiences: university students, instructors of home-scholars, and independent learners whose learning style appreciates such a guide. Lingua Latina can be used to teach students Latin as early as age eight, yet the story engages adult readers as well. At the college level, however, introductory language courses do not have the luxury of gradual acquisition, the two years (or four semesters) recommended to learn to read Latin well from the book. The Ørberg text, however, can be highly effective for these students as well. Instead of reading discrete, even random, sentences chosen to illustrate the grammatical principles under consideration, Lingua Latina offers considerable practice in both grammar and a rich vocabulary in an engaging context of well-written Latin.

Home-schooling parents and instructors of students learning outside of the traditional classroom, especially those with little or no Latin training, can use this book for their own preparation. This book supplements that process, as a companion to Lingua Latina; the instructor will be the best judge of where and when it is a useful guide. For the most part, students should gradually learn the whole of Latin grammar by working out grammatical rules from their own observation as they begin to read actual Latin in the text, while their instructors can feel more confident in their grasp of the material and can use the added examples from Familia Romana to review and reinforce concepts or answer questions their charges present. In itself, this is not a text suited for pure inductive learning or for the very young student. This book might also help to confirm the Latin and the structures that are learned in the inductive method, facilitating the process in the more intense college classroom.

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