Brilliant
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I want to start by saying that i'm a language obsessive and have in total over 50 language books. This is the best out of all of them.
Starting with grammar rather than set phrases means that you progress incredibly fast without it seeming like a battle.
Buy it!
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bonus non optime
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If you are reading this review you probably do not need me to convince you that Latin is not useless in our contemporary era of PC and Playstation and you will probably share my enthusiasm in greeting any serious attempt at diffusing the language.
Prof. Jones's is a very serious one, coming from a competent latinist, even if each and everyone of his explanations is intermingled with funny puns.
His goal is to stimulate his reader by providing a very basic grammar and authentic, interesting texts so as to lure him/her into loving the language before the necessary effort wipe out his/her enthusiasm.
Unfortunately he might have achieved this particular goal but he fails at the rest.
First, his approach is a traditional one: explanations - examples - exercises.
It is my firm opinion that if Latin is to survive as a school subject any beginner's course should handle the language as if it were a modern one, with a modern approach: lots of dialogues and pictures too. Grammar should be left for later.
There are pictures in this course - even if I do not like Mr Benoit style they are more useful than heaps of examples- but they are not enough.
Second the exercises are not nearly enough to memorise the language: unless the reader is so highly motivated as to translate each single sentence into Latin and back a couple of dozen times he/she will forget almost everything soon.
Things change if you have already had Latin at school and wish to refresh it: in this case this course will be fun and it will help you decide whether you really want to pick it up again.
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Latin really made easy (comparatively!)
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This is a brilliant little book that does exactly what is says: teaches you to read (and write) in Latin in easy and accessible steps.
Having said that, it's less than 2/3s of a GCSE and sets its own limits, so if you're serious about the language from an academic point of view then it's a great confidence-boosting introduction but is no replacement for a more serious course (such as Jones/Sidwell Reading Latin).
I have no background in Latin but need to learn it for my PhD and am starting a 'proper' course in October, but this was recommnded as a fun starter to get ahead of the game and I'm loving it.
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Makes Latin accessible
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Unlike the Jones & Sidwell "Reading Latin" textbooks, this is a much more accessible, chatty approach which serves up Grammar and syntax in small, easily digestible nuggets -- though most of it still based on the assumption that your reason for learning Latin is to read the literary works of Ancient Rome. If this isn't quite for you, you might try "ANNUS HORRIBILIS: Latin for Everyday Life" (Tempus Publishing), which is based around Latin that you might actually encounter 'out there' in the real world: mottoes, phrases, inscriptions, epitaths etc.
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The best way to learn a language for an adult
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Funny, erudite, useful - this book is just as good as Jones's "Learn Ancient Greek". In just a little while you too can be reading Catullus and the Vulgate Bible.
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