Learn Latin

Learn Latin! The language of the Roman Empire, the parent language of French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and dozens of lesser known languages, and the source for thousands of English words and much of the worlds vocabulary of technology and science. With Latin under your belt, learning nearly any other language will be that much easier. A lifetime of rewards await those willing to acquire it!

The knock on learning Latin is that it has a notoriously complex grammar that can make learning it rather tedious and boring. The centuries-old teaching techniques that we've been brought up to expect have magnified the difficulties in learning Latin. I myself have tried the boring book approach unsuccessfully, even though I always wanted to learn Latin. But, it doesn't have to be this way.

Fortunately, there are some resources to help us begin to learn Latin more effectively than just the old grammar book approach. Eventually, you will need all that grammar to really get it down, but at first, I recommend taking a more casual approach, unless you really want to dive into all those noun cases and verb tenses and moods. If that is the case, then be my guest! Otherwise, here are some of the best resources to learn Latin.

www.cherryh.com/www/latin_language.htm This is a very non-technical, almost naturalistic approach to learning Latin, kindly made available by the author C. J. Cherryh, who used to teach Latin. The grammar is there, but simplified in a way that makes it easy to understand. This tutorial will give you a very good foundation in Latin without the pain you expected. Use this tutorial to really absorb the language and you can begin to dig in to the grammar when you are ready.

ELEaston.com This is a great site for finding resources for learning lots of different languages. With these links, you will find just about everything you need to further your study of Latin.

www.angelfire.com/ga/dracodraconis/latingrammar/grammar.html This is not a tutorial but an exhaustive breakdown of Latin grammar. When you want to look up cases or verb tenses (and eventually you will need to) then this site can be a quick reference for you.

www2.latech.edu/~bmagee/latin/latin_teaching_links.htm Lots of links for resources and information for learning Latin. Grammar, audio and more.

Transparent Language offers a free vocabulary trainer to get started learning Latin - Free Before You Know It™ download


Software
Transparent Language Latin Now
A more immersive approach than you will get with a book, Transparent Language software gives you text, audio and grammar. Want to just listen to the language and absorb little by little? - it's there for you, want to dig a little deeper into the grammar? - that's there, too. You won't find the material taught in a chapter by chapter approach like a book, but those books are easy to find. It's good to see an alternate method available for this unique and ancient language.

Software
Rosetta Stone Latin
Rosetta Stone offers their multi-media language learning software to learn Latin. Their method is to teach the language with text, audio and pictures, allowing the learner to absorb the language naturally by associating concepts with images and sound. This may be a very good approach for some people who may have trouble with the extensive rules and grammar of Latin. Eventually you will need to break out some verb conjugations, but this program could provide you with a good foundation in the language.

Rosetta Stone is an excellent choice for learning Latin. Read my review of Rosetta Stone or see for yourself how Rosetta Stone works for you and try out the free demo -

"Language is the archives of history."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson