Learning latin for free

Compiled by Fr. Gary CoulterPlease feel free to submit updates and corrections. Obviously, I have focused just on resources and links about the Latin language that are in English.A brief survey of Latin learning resources by Catholic World Report highlights a number of books and courses: Great Courses series Latin 101: Learning a Classical Language hosted by Professor Hans Friedrich Mueller $$ George Sharpley’s Teach Yourself: Beginner’s Latin book with audio CDs; or FREE in the teachyourself.com app Satura Lanx Youtube channel and podcasts - Simplices” lectures on learning to speak Latin Memoria Press produces rigorous and reliable books, workbooks, and supplements - good for home-schooling $ traditional books: Wheelock’s Latin (for ambitious, self-starter), Henle’s Latin series (Father Robert Henle’s systematic grammar with pious meditations), Hans Ohrberg’s Familia Romana (immersion method, with supplemental materials e.g. Student’s Companion, Bible stories, Roman Speeches) Scorpio Martianus Youtube hilarious Latin interviews, songs and more and our own, the extraordinary Father Reginald Foster’s Ossa Latinitatis SolaNew Resources: the app Tinycards (iOS | Android) has numerous free decks of Latin flashcards and the website InternetPolyglot.com has games and lists for memorizing Latin words. - Credit: Free Language Learning Apps + WebsitesOnline Latin CoursesThe Latin Experience with Fr. FosterNotes and worksheets from two years with Fr. Reginald FosterBeginner's Latin - UK National ArchivesTwo whole series of brief lessons, but with a steep learning curve.LatinumLatinum is unique, as it is an immersion course taught as a living, spoken language. Latin recordings of simple texts, vocabulary, grammatical exercises, etc.Latinum youtube channelLatin Study listMailing lists dedicated to the study of Latin, but providing regular translation exercises.Latin the Easy WayUseful and fun, though unfinished, it's free and good to read.Schola Latina UniversalisA free, 2 year, online course for learning Latin (the Textbook is not free)R.M. KephartWeb-based weekly courses for homeschoolers ($) (also some Latin links and prayers)Carmenta - Online Latin ClassroomAn interactive, online classroom ($).Picta Dicta - online platform designed to assist teachers and home educators offer a Classical Education ($)Latin Live Class - weekly online class to build Latin reading skills using the Latin Bible and Lingua Latina ($)Latinum Audio

Innovative style of learning. Teachers' Corner with many Ecce Romani materialsReading Latin by Peter Jones and Keith SidwellAn inductive text for adults (like the Cambridge Latin Course (CLC) which is aimed more for children)Peter Jones is also the author of the recommended book Learn Latin - one of the best quick-start introductions to Latin, including answer keys for the self-student.Teach Yourself Latin by Gavin BettsA deductive text written with the independent learner in mind. Clear and concise gives a solid foundation in classical Latin. The learning curve is a little steep for someone with little prior knowledge of grammar.Oxford Latin Course by Maurice Balme, James MorwoodA three volume course that tries to keep the grammar lessons short and more time spent reading and immersed in Latin vocabulary than memorizing, designed for the self-learner or a classroom.Kennedy's Revised Latin Primer by Benjamin KennedyA starting reference grammar, a reasonably concise work that describes the essential history, phonology, morphology, syntax and prosody of classical Latin. Not as exhaustive (or overwhelming) as works like Gildersleeve & Lodge or Allen & Greenough (online!)Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc.Has numerous Latin Books, Readers, References and Textbooks for all levels, including modern books and children's books (Dr. Seuss in Latin!), Latin Readings by Gertrude Drake, Bradley's Arnold Latin Prose Composition, and a reprint of the 1908 classic New Latin Grammar by Charles E. Bennett (see online version).Cattus Petasatus: The Cat in the Hat in Latin and Virent Ova! Viret Perna! (Green Eggs and Ham in Latin)They also publish the reference recommended by Fr. Foster to all his advanced students: Gildersleeve's Latin GrammarLearn to Read Latin by Keller & Russel Yale Language Series textbook with many readings from original Latin texts. Together with an equally mammoth Workbooks containing many grammar drills.Power-Glide Latin Ultimate Course (see their website)Uses a conversational approach to Latin, with workbooks, tests, audio CDs and much more (puzzles, games, stories, music).These didn't really fit in anywhere else:Instructional Materials: Resources for Latin (and Greek) Teachers / ProfessorsThe Art of Reading Latin: How to Teach It - William Hale, 1887 (free PDF)Winnie Ille Pu (Winnie the Pooh Latin Edition)Harrius Potter

Comparisons of high school Latin textbooksMost advanced students will eventually want the classic Gildersleeve & Lodge (Recommended by Fr. Foster) or Allen & Greenough (see online version!) - but these are generally too advanced for beginners.Getting Started with Latin: beginning Latin in a gradual, systematic way for Homeschoolers or self teaching. Includes free MP3 recordings.Minimus, the Primary Latin Course for elementary school studentsLatin for Children includes songs, workbooks, activities, etc.Wheelock's Latin 6th ed - classic Latin grammarLatin Grammar: for the Reading of the Missal and Breviary by Cora Carroll & Charles Scanlon plus Second Latin: for Philosophy, Theology and Canon LawHenle Latin: First Year by Robert Henle, S.J., Second Year (there are 4 years total, with grammar book), Email Support Group and Other Latin BooksA Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin by John F Collins - for learning Latin as used by the Church. (Some Answer Keys and Flash Cards)Memoria Press produces Latina Christiana a beginning course for students of all ages, with Teacher Manuals and DVDsA Latin Grammar by James Morwood - Simple enough for a beginner, but has enough material for the intermediate student also.Our Latin Heritage by Lillian HinesJenney's Latin by Charles Jenney Latin for Americans by UllmanThe Everything Learning Latin Book - Richard E. Prior* Lingua Latina per se illustrata: Famila Romana - Hans H. OrbergA multivolume series with a total immersion, Latin-only approach. The book progresses from easy to more complex Latin, and you obtain the meaning by the context and the pictures and the marginal notes. Learn to read Latin, not just translate Latin. The publisher has a number of resources and supplements.For self-teaching / home-schooling, get Lingua Latina: A College Companion by Jeanne Neumann, which parallels "Famila Romana" on a chapter-by-chapter basis with explanations of all the concepts, study tips, vocab lists, etc.* Read an article which recommends this method of learningEcce RomaniThis series also uses a similar immersion approach to the Latin language. Like Lingua Latina, the stories may be more geared to students than adults and start off rather basic, but soon you will find your grammatical skills naturally growing thanks to this

In 1940 by Howard Chandler Christy, depicting how he imagined the signing of the Constitution of the United States might have looked.Bad Reason #5: Learning Latin makes it easier to learn the other Romance languages later on.It is certainly true that learning Latin will make it much easier to learn any of the Romance languages, like Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, or any of the others. The problem is, though, if you learn Latin first and then learn, say, Italian, you are actually putting in way more effort than you would have put in if you had just started with Italian. Latin is a whole language of its own and it does not make sense to learn one language just to make it easier to learn another language.If you are only learning Latin because you want to learn one of the Romance languages, and you have no interest in learning Latin for its own sake, then, quite frankly, if would probably be better for you to just start with the Romance language you want to learn and forget about trying to learn Latin first. Maybe if you are planning on learning all the most common Romance languages, then it might be easier to learn Latin first, but, if you just want to learn one or two, there is really no point in learning Latin simply as a means of preparation for the language or languages you really want to learn.ABOVE: Map from Wikimedia Commons showing Romance languages spoken in Europe, with the most prominent ones being Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and RomanianGood reasons for learning LatinNow that I have debunked some of the most common bad reasons for learning Latin, I want talk about the good reasons for why some people should learn Latin. There are actually quite a few very good reasons why some people should learn Latin, but they are, ironically, not talked about as much as the bad reasons because they do not apply to everyone and they are, for the most part, not viewed as “practical.”The reasons I am about to list only apply to specific kinds of people. Defenders of Latin, on the other hand, often try to argue that everyone should learn Latin. They want Latin to be taught in every high school across the country, so they resort to unconvincing justifications like the ones I have just debunked.The truth is, I do not think that everyone should learn Latin. There is simply no need for everyone to know Latin and, for people who do not enjoy Latin, who have no interest in Latin literature, and who are not interested in ancient Roman or medieval history, learning Latin would simply be a waste of

School Curriculum (on Patreon) - stream / download audio of various Latin textbooks ($).latintutor.netLily Hart, a professional Latin educator and avid classicist, offers customized, professional online Latin tutoring.Latin SchoolsFamiliae Sancti Hieronymi: Cenaculum Miamiense - yearly Cenaculum, a week-long immersion retreat of speaking and understanding Latin.North American Institute for Living Latin Studies - Latin immersion programsAssociation for Latin Teaching (ARLT)PromoteLatin.org - National Committee for Latin and Greek). See their Rules for Reading Latin Prose among their downloads.Latin Teaching Materials at St. Louis University. Many incredible resources to exploreLatin Groups and ForumsFamilia Sancti Hieronymi - a Catholic association dedicated to the Latin language, including Youtube instructions and a laudetur.blogspot.com.Latinstudy Lists some 22 different Groups for learning Latin with others over the internetLinguaholic Study Latin regular lessons in a forumGrex Latine loquentium writing in Latin mailing-listAn Internet Latin speaking circle using Skype! CirculusLatinusInterretialis.co.ukLatinitati Vivae Provehendae Associatio (L.V.P.A.) German association for promoting Latin as a modern language, with occasional seminarsLatin NewsNuntii Latini - News in Latin - a weekly radio broadcast in Classical Latin from FinlandEphemeris - a whole website of News in Latin, with many links to other Latin sitesRadio Bremen - Monthly Latin news podcastGoogle in LatinVicipaedia - Wikipedia in LatinChorus Breviarii - a blog written in LatinOnline Latin DictionariesOnline Latin Dictionary and Parser by William WhitakerSearchable version of Smith & Hall's English-Latin dictionaryArbuckle Latin Software Free programs much like WORDS to conjugate/decline/translate Latin.Lewis and Short onlineLatin Dictionary from Babylon - several good Latin dictionaries and software you can downloadLatin Dictionary and Grammar Aid from Lynn NelsonPerseus English to LatinLexicon recentis latinitatis - English to Latin modern termsThe Vatican's Lexicon of modern words from Italian to LatinLatin-English word listLatin-English translatorOnline Latin GrammarsThe First Year of Latin by Walter B. Gunnison and Walter S. Harley 1902, (PDF 9.5 Mb), based on CaesarLatin Grammar by Charles E. Bennett Free PDF Online, the 1908 classicAllen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar (1903) or as a PDFThe Catholic's Latin Instructor by Fr. Edward Caswall (1868?) - principal church offices and devotionsGeorge Adler's A Practical Grammar of the Latin Language with Perpetual Exercises for Speaking and Writing (online)

You often hear people talk about the “practical benefits” of learning Latin, such as being able to understand legal, medical, and scientific terminology, expanding your vocabulary, and gaining a better understanding of English grammar. These certainly are real benefits to learning Latin, but, to be honest, at least on their own, they aren’t really very good reasons to learn the whole language, for reasons I will explain in a moment.There are plenty of apologists for Latin out there who often try to justify learning Latin by listing these supposed “practical benefits” to learning Latin that apply to most people. The problem is that, if these benefits are the only reasons you are studying Latin, and you have no real interest in the Latin language or in reading Latin literature, then learning a whole new language may not really be worth it. There are, however, still very good reasons for learning Latin; they just don’t necessarily apply to everyone.A super-cheesy video from 1951 about why you should learn LatinIn case you are unfamiliar with the usual arguments for why you should learn Latin, here is a video clip from 1951 that lays most of the major reasons out quite nicely. It has the added benefit of being unbelievably cheesy, which means you can laugh (or cringe) at the cheesiness as you watch along:This video—as corny as it is—neatly covers most of the “practical reasons” that are usually given for why students should learn Latin. These are the exact same reasons that defenders of Latin are still giving today. They sound pretty credible at first. To be honest, though, almost none of these are actually very good reasons to learn Latin. They mostly just keep getting repeated because people who already like Latin feel the desperate need to convince other people of Latin’s benefits, so they keep repeating the same old reasons without really questioning them.Let’s examine some of the reasons given in the video that are still given today for why everyone should learn Latin, in the order they are given by the students in the video. I am only going to address the reasons given by the students, since teacher mostly talks about the history of Latin and, as far as I could tell, does not actually give a clear explanation of why students should study it.Before I debunk these reasons, though, let me first be very clear: there are legitimate and very good reasons for people to learn Latin. The reasons I am about to debunk are bad reasons for learning Latin. Once I have finished debunking the bad reasons, I am going to move on to describe the good reasons.Bad Reason #1: Many legal, medical, and scientific terms