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Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style

selfstudyclassics.com

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Re: Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style

#61

Post by jthnews »

timthorn wrote: post #59
jbarrs wrote: post #28

As an aside, I'd like to recommend to people the Cambridge Latin Course ( https://www.cambridgescp.com/ ) This was the course I followed learning Latin in school. Whilst it may be tailored more towards a school audience, much of the content of their books is available for free online, which includes lots of translation and vocabulary practice. The books and stories are all very light-hearted and fun and teach a lot a…

Also new this year for Lockdown, the Oak National Academy produced an intro course: https://classroom.thenational.academy/subjects-by-key-stage/...

Wow, this is great. Thanks for the link. I hope to take Selfstudyclassics a little farther than this one goes over time, but this would be a great place for anyone to start.

Re: Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style

#62

Post by zetazzed »

Has anyone found good interactive resources for learning (Attic or Koine) Greek? I started self-studying (with Jones’ book and Great Courses online) and found that I liked the focus on real classical texts (as opposed to Ecce Romani) style. But ultimately it wanted to move too fast to grammatical completeness (banging out one conjugation after another). I felt I didn’t get enough practice or vocab, and interactive lessons would’ve really helped.

Re: Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style

#63

Post by _joel »

gadders wrote: post #35
jbarrs wrote: post #28

As an aside, I'd like to recommend to people the Cambridge Latin Course ( https://www.cambridgescp.com/ ) This was the course I followed learning Latin in school. Whilst it may be tailored more towards a school audience, much of the content of their books is available for free online, which includes lots of translation and vocabulary practice. The books and stories are all very light-hearted and fun and teach a lot a…

Caecilius est in horto.

I can almost feel and smell the textbook.

Re: Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style

#64

Post by timthorn »

jthnews wrote: post #61
timthorn wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also new this year for Lockdown, the Oak National Academy produced an intro course: https://classroom.thenational.academy/subjects-by-key-stage/...

Wow, this is great. Thanks for the link. I hope to take Selfstudyclassics a little farther than this one goes over time, but this would be a great place for anyone to start.

The other resource you might be interested in is Minimus, designed to introduce Primary school children to Latin, and to allow non-Latin speaking teachers to lead a course. None of the interactive elements you offer, though there are CDs :) http://www.minimus.com/

Re: Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style

#66

Post by billfruit »

I have been interested in learning Latin by self study, but memorizing conjugations and declinations seems like a chore.

There are some modern variants of Latin that seems to simplify these aspects mainly Interlingua and Latine-sine-flexione(LSF). Are these worth while to learn?. For example if one is up to speed in LSF, can one still make sense of classical latin texts and poetry etc?.

Re: Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style

#67

Post by billfruit »

throw0101a wrote: post #52
jbarrs wrote: post #28

As an aside, I'd like to recommend to people the Cambridge Latin Course ( https://www.cambridgescp.com/ ) This was the course I followed learning Latin in school. Whilst it may be tailored more towards a school audience, much of the content of their books is available for free online, which includes lots of translation and vocabulary practice. The books and stories are all very light-hearted and fun and teach a lot a…

I believe the other popular suggestion is Ørberg's Lingua Latīna : * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_%C3%98rberg

I thought the common suggestion for a modern Latin textbook is Wheelock.

https://www.amazon.com/Wheelocks-Latin-7th/dp/0061997226#

Re: Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style

#68

Post by jthnews »

billfruit wrote: post #66

I have been interested in learning Latin by self study, but memorizing conjugations and declinations seems like a chore. There are some modern variants of Latin that seems to simplify these aspects mainly Interlingua and Latine-sine-flexione(LSF). Are these worth while to learn?. For example if one is up to speed in LSF, can one still make sense of classical latin texts and poetry etc?.

Unfortunately I have not been able to find a way to learn Latin that doesn't involve some amount of memorization pain. I find that focused exercises, as opposed to flashcards or other rote approaches, mitigate the pain somewhat. But I'm not sure it can be eliminated completely.

Re: Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style

#69

Post by defterGoose »

billfruit wrote: post #66

I have been interested in learning Latin by self study, but memorizing conjugations and declinations seems like a chore. There are some modern variants of Latin that seems to simplify these aspects mainly Interlingua and Latine-sine-flexione(LSF). Are these worth while to learn?. For example if one is up to speed in LSF, can one still make sense of classical latin texts and poetry etc?.

Declensions and conjugations are actually one of the easier things to memorize though, because they sit in a nice table. Ive never heard of LSF, but my experience with reading Latin has taught me that a solid understanding of the grammar is critical because of the irregular forms and things like gerund/ives. Only having a good sense of vocabulary just isnt quite good enough for good comprehension.

Re: Show HN: A Latin self study course, Khan Academy-style

#70

Post by thaumasiotes »

mudita wrote: post #48
twic wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my Latin teachers (the one who was under 60) did try to teach us a proper pronuncation once, but quickly gave up. But i wonder, what is the point? I think the use cases for Latin are, from most to least important: 1. reading Latin texts 2. casually dropping Latin phrases to impress your friends and intimidate your enemies 3. writing Latin mottoes, naming species, etc 4. listening to that Finnish radio station…

When you're learning latin, it's usually not mainly about the practical application, anyway, and aesthetically it feels somehow so much more pleasing to use the “correct” pronunciation - to me at least. Furthermore it can help to understand historic and linguistic relationships in unexpected ways: For example the German word for emperor “Kaiser” looks very different to the Latin “Caesar” and the relationship between…

Aren't the "s" and the "s" different, though? And the "r" and the "r"?
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