Hello, I am Italian, It was a very good lesson but I think you got the ecclesiastical pronunciation of the word Caesar wrong, the classical is indeed as you say, but in minute 7:00 you say that the ecclesiastical latin would read "cheesar" but no as far as I know "ae" is read like the English sound for the colour "red" so it's cEsar non cheesar", the "e" sound is like in the word "regina" or the English word "set" not like the English word "English", you got it right with caelum, you need to be careful with that tendency or students might get confused.
oh and also why "ueeni" for "veni", shouldn't the "e" be pronounced like the e in red here too? so ok with the "v" becoming ueni but I would still say "ueni uidi uiki" not "ueeni uidi uiki" like you say O.O
For people wondering about the "c-sound": There was actually a latin dude back then who created a literate school and proclaimed to change the hard c and make it soft in some cases. Before it was ALWAYS hard. Well documented in latin scripts. So the clasical hard c-sound is actually a fact. It also explains why romance languages today don't understand it. It was simply changed troughout roman times. Sardinians still pronounce it hard to this day.
"There was actually a latin dude back then who created a literate school and proclaimed to change the hard c and make it soft in some cases. " Really that's interestign?
You were very helpful. Most people are afraid of Latin. You made it interesting and relaxing. You're a great teacher. Thank you. PS. Veni is pronounced "E=egg" Veni. It's very hard for American speaking people to pronounce Latin. AEIOU are pronounced differently in English. In Italian I'm able to understand the sound. In English I see where the problems are in the pronunciations.
Yes. Except that "Veni" is not pronounced "wini" like you said Dwane, but "Wéni". A "e" is a "e"... the english confuses the sounds, but latin languages never.
Anglophones have difficulties when pronouncing vowels when learning foreign languages. That's due to their "Great Vowel Shift" that shaped modern English language in early modern times. Some vowels shifted some became diphthongs. Its very hard to "unlearn" this.
Excellent sir, I've watched your video class for the first time and very much eager to learn The Latin from basics, you have detailed in comparison with English words. It's clear how Latin syllable is different from English. I've watched many other videos but could not clear it before. Thank you sir, once again. Greetings from India.
Very good point. Old languages, from Mediteranean and surrounding area have straight sounds (a=ah, e=eh, i=ee o = oh (no u sound), u=oo), different from English.
The pronunciation of "c" was always /k/. The only languages that have this are Welsh and some other Celtic languages which were under Latin influence at one point.
Ended up here by coincidence, following a discussion about how to pronounce "Caesar". You're coming through as a great teacher, keeping the ancient materiel fresh. Well done! :)
Actually, what I have learned, is that classical latin around 0 AD was pronounced much more french, that vowels before nf and ns were nasals and the ns were dropped, and that m at the end of words were also dropped and the previous vowel was nasalized. And also that the s was more pronounced like in portuguese.
I am learning Latin because I want to understand Spanish better and to help me in pronouncing some of the big Law words, since I am a Political Science major and I come across a lot of words that are Latin.
Beware! Except for a few who know better, we USAmericans pronounce Latin almost completely wrong! For example I've heard a US Supreme Court justice pronounce certiorari as "sir-shir-ree" 🤢
I find it helps to use the actual dipthong Æ to remember that it is a long A (aie) sound rather than a short A (ah) sound. IN PRINCIPIO CREAVIT DEVS CÆLUM ET TERRAM for example. (Classical does not employ U. a V is always a U such as in SALVE "Saloo'eh" or VICI "Ueekee")
Note that the german word for emperor is Kaiser, a word that without a doubt was introduced to the germans by the romans. The romans most definately pronounced Caesar as a K-word. We know this because if it was a S-word, then the germans would have written it with a S, as Saiser.
giampiero ver I am Portuguese and it is very straight foward for us to read latin. But this classical pronouciation is just wrong. I don't have a doubt about it.Beside that there are actualy many things about the correct pronounciation tant i don't see discussed anywhere. I even truly believe as a native speaker of a lalin language that Lex and Rex is supposed to be read (lays) and (Rays). Like the words still used today in italy portugal and spain. This claasical reconstructing team didn't have a clue about it.
Fernando Bernardo Hahah, funny. I'm originally Romanian, so also a native speaker of a Latin Language, and we too pronounce Lex and Rex just as they're written.
Fernando Bernardo These pronunciations of 'lex' and 'rex' are because your language has been vulgarized from the original Classical Latin. Classical reconstruction is much more complicated than just referring to a single Romance language, yo.
Thank God for this channel! My 12-yr-old son likes Dwane’s style. His videos help us with Henle 1. Having said this, I will address all these critical commentators: Type in latintutor channel to hear gorgeous pronunciation as well as more advanced teaching. 😊
In classic latin rhere was v and u described the same way, f.e. „vvlgata” = „vulgata”, and c was sometimes k and sometimes s or c. So Julius Cezar /Yulious Csezzar/ and not /Kezzar/
Il suono della V è di derivazione Etrusca (era rappresentato da F rivolta a sinistra) Valerius si legge Valerius e non Ualerius (Oualerios come traslittera Polibio). Vedi Nigidio Figulo. La pronuncia "classica" è un cotinuum di errori.
+giampiero ver La pronuncia cosiddetta "classica" è un'enorme mistificazione....già il fatto che i suoi inventori l'abbiano definita "classica" la dice lunga su un certo grado di ideologica presunzione. Al massimo potrebbe essere definita "arcaica", o pronuncia delle origini, più o meno come si parlava ai tempi della codificazione dell'alfabeto latino...cioè nel VII secolo Avanti Cristo...il ché dice poco o nulla su come la gente comune pronunciasse il latino 700 anni dopo...nell'era classica, ai tempi di Cicerone e Giulio Cesare.
E' un imbroglio in inglese. Senz'altro dopo secoli le parole latine in inglese hanno una pronuncia 'nativa'. Poi, per la musica si usa la pronuncia ecclesiastica. Poi, 'recentemente' arriva la pronuncia restituita: 'restored classical pronunciation'.
It's a good lesson. Although, it's Veni Vedi, Vici. All with a 'V'. V is indeed 'u' or 'oo' but only in some situations. **EDIT: After further research I must admit I was wrong. In classic Latin, V is indeed pronounced with the 'w' sound.
Hi Protector, please amend your comment. It is confusing my mother. I tell her, "No, he said he is mistaken. He knows it's `w'." But, she keeps pointing at your comment.
why is "vici" pronounced "viki" even though "c" is in front of "i" and should be pronounced like "ch", or is the "i" showing, that the word is in past simple and is irregular?
MrRXY11 To be honest, I'm not exactly sure. When I was a kid back in Romania and we were learning Latin back in school, we first learned our own vulgar pronunciation, which is just like you said, with the "ch" sound. Then we also learned about the pronunciation historians believe to be correct and it was with the 'k" sound instead of "ch". After lately doing more online research on the matter, I've found that nobody actually knows with certainty was the actual pronunciation was. The church pronounces Latin one way, Classic scholars another way, individual romance language speaking countries a different way, some historians have their own theories, and so on. I have to say I prefer the vulgarized pronunciation version I first learned (almost identical to how Italians pronounce Latin too) because it's the closest to my native language. So really, I'm not sure.
from below...as 10 sounds were heading to 7 or 5. and the letter a sounds of amica, amicae, amicae, amicam (no m pronounced) and amica ablative were reduced to one sound AH. By the way v was not a ww but an asperated vw as vwuh that became b in Spanish and Portuguese and Catalan.
Hi, I am done with my basic grammar classes which I did well on. Now I am in my Second semester of translation and what I translate always comes out as nonsense. My teacher goes way to fast as does not like to slow down at all and gives you no clue as to what she might pick for the exam after we have translated a book....I love Latin and put in the time but I feel like giving up. Like there is something wrong with me. Does this get better? What can I do this summer to focus in on making my reading comprehension better. ?
Get bilingual books from the Loeb Classical Library in the Holyoke Building, Harvard Square in Cambridge Mass., outside of Boston. I'm sure they're also online.
Caesar, decem, centum are pronounced with a "ch" in the Latin language because if not then it would be next words in a modern Italian pronounced with a "k" (e.g. Cesare, Cicerone, dieci, cento, celo, etc.), and what about many Italian surnames that are also pronounced with a "ch" (e.g. Lancia, Marcello, Luciani, Manzini, Carlucci, Ceccarelli, Cellario, Cecili, Colucci, Gucci, etc.).
Hi! :) I just watched your video. Very informative for beginners. I'm not sure if you made a continuation to this video but I think you missed some pronunciation points for Classical Latin and Ecclesiastical Latin. Like how "gn", "sc", "ti" change in Ecclesiastical, and how "h" is silent in Ecclesiastical.
What is also helping me is using Google translator to hear the correct pronunciation of the words. And by using that, I hope to get a natural feel for how Latin should be pronounced.
This video could benefit from a word or two on when to use each pronunciation e.g. doesn't medieval text usually use something like Ecclesiastical Latin. IOW in which dialects to use each pronunciation.
"vini, vidi, vici" = "I came, I saw, I conquered". Where is the "I' ending and the imperfect tense parts in that? And if it is supposed to be just that, then shouldn't there be the "I" ending (o) and the imperfect tense (ba)? If anyone knows, please comment. Thanks.
Probably because he is American and can't roll his R. But I agree that he should say that the "r" should be rolled like in modern Italian or Spanish. If he says that then I woudln't have a problem with his anglophone "r" as some people just can't get the rolling of the "r", but yes it is important to specify.
tutto bene a scuola grazie ^_^ ecco! Infatti per un attimo mi sono chiesto: "ma Bathrobe Samurai era italiano?!" ahah complimenti per il tuo italiano. Dove andrai in Italia? In quale città?
Yes, the way I learned Classical Latin from an eminent classicist born in 1915, Caesar is pronounced KY-SAHR (equal stress on the syllables), not Kaiser. Wenny widdy wicky. I call it prep school pronunciation.
Can anyone who speaks Latin or knows it in depth, please help me? I would LOVE to know what ‘See the good’ is in Latin, in the sense of a wise saying that people and all should ‘see the good’ in the good and bad! Thank you☺️☺️
I'm from Rome and latin here is kept only by some small traditional catholic churchs during the service. Latin pronunciation is different from yours. Yours look more an Anglo-Saxon pronounciation!
+Ivansthename Don't trust him just because he's an expert. He's no expert when it comes to pronunciation. Read Vox Latina, or any other good Latin pronunciation guide (made by linguists though, Latinists don't care much about pronunciation and it shows), even a small amount, and you'll see that he got his vowels and consonants both very wrong.
At 2:42, when you say that V always has the W sound, were you speaking of Classical or Ecclesiastical Latin, because I do not believe that you specified as much, though if I had to infer, I would have to assume that you meant the Classical pronunciation as that is the way you've addressed each of the preceding letters thus far. Thank you.
And AFAIK, Ss in classic Latin were never pronounced as 'z' before a vowel, like they are in English, Italian, etc. So 'Caesar' is actually 'kai-sar', not 'kai-zar'.
In Europe, in Poland at least, they teach even other pronunciation called "traditional". "Ae" is pronunciated as short "e". "C" is "ts" before e, i, ae, y. Yes it's "ts" sound, not "ch" like in Italian. So "caelum" would be "tselum" with "ts" and short "e". The "g" however is always hard. "V" is always "v", never "w". There are some other strange oddities however. "Qui" is "kvi", "quod" is "kvod" and "sua" is "sva". "Ti" like in "actio" is "-tsio", thus "aktsio". Have anyone ever encountered such pronunciation? Don't know if it is isolated to Poland and teaching Latin here, it might be because many Latin words in Polish are pronunciated similiar, like "akcja" (action) is "aktsia", "wino" (wine) is "vino" (despite it's written with "w"), "perswazja" (persuasion) - "persvazya".
I think the C pronounced as a TS is very much influenced by the Slavic pronunciation of the letter C...For ex , in Romania, when we learn Latin C is C ( the way you pronounce the letter K in Polish, and not TS)...and ae is pronounced more likely like E...so Caelum would be Celum( fonetically Chelum)...like you say it in Italian. But in the end which language is closer to Latin as pronunciation? Polish or Italian and Romanian?...V is V...qui ..is like cvi( kvi in polish and not tsvi)...sua will be sua and not sva...u will be pronounced as v only in the qui,quo,quod,,,like cvi,cvo,cvod...action will be said like actsio...I think that Slavic pronunciation of some letters influenced a lot the way you are thought Latin there in Poland!///and on top of that is the Classic Latin :))) So what you say, the way you are thought in schools might be in part of Europe( Poland and other Slavic countries) and not in all Europe...It'll be interesting for example to know how are they thought in Italy or France or Spain to pronunciate the Latin language?! So different countries, different costumes...and also very interesting in the same time!!!
Well, and what about medieval pronounciation of Latin? It has many forms and depends on the area. For example central Europe (Germany, Austria, Czech republic, Slovak republic, Hungary, Poland). It is similar to the church Latin but quite different. :)
I totally agree with what you say here...and also differently thought and expressed in the Latin descendent countries like Romania, France, Portugal, Italy, Spain...and on top of that is that the Classic/ Ecclesiastical Latin
CE, CI, GE, GI sounded hard in classical times all right, but SLIGHTLY palatalized, THIS IS A LINGUISTIC RULE. The process of full palatalization took some centuries to complete and become the church Latin of today.
I'm sorry, but I want to remarke that you pronounce the latin vowels as they were like the english vowels! that's very wrong! You have to read them as they are pronounced in Italian and in Spanish language.
Guys -especially all the italians and native romance speakers- chill the f out, it was a good lesson. We know he didn't really try to put on his best accent, you don't need to lambast him with pejorative comments about how English speakers just have absolutely obscene pronunciations of Latin, especially because he got the essential elements right.
I enjoyed your lesson very much. I work with bacteria and is always a debate how to pronounce Escherichia coli, some people say "ch" is a k sound and some others pronounce it like sh. AT the same time, in English people say "kolai" and in Spanish "koli".
I’m just starting school in a new city. My mom asked me what I wanted to focus on as a new hobby. I told her I wanted to tackle the old Latin language. And to learn 1 new word a day. I found the translation for imagine. Which is meditati. But I can’t find anymore info on it other than imagination. I asked my teachers but the don’t know. Can anyone tell me if that is the Latin word for imagine? Thanks!
I use to be depressed and doing things I shouldn't have. I used to have trauma and hated myself. Jesus saved me from my sin, gave me true Joy and Peace, and He even healed me. I use to have acid reflux but not any more by the grace of God. Jesus loves ya!
Why do you pronounce Regina correctly, meanwhile you say Veni with the sound of E like (E)at? You should pronounce Veni with the same sound of E like (E)xaxtly
Great what about the Latin they speak in courts. Years ago a Judge said this to the prosecutor in a case I was involved in. duos ictus in cerasis Ve victus "two bites of the cherry" Woe to the vanquished
Latin grammarians from the classical period described the sound R as ‘the dog sound’, which suggests it was more gutteral like the modern French ‘r’ than the effeminate rolling of modern Italian.
@@elliotvernon7971 Effeminate rolling of the Italians. So, is it also the 'effeminate' rolling of the Spaniards, the Romanians... as well ? Not to mention the Sicilians! Tu es cretinus magnus.
my favorite animal is the fox and fox in latin is vulpes I'm confused on how to pronounce it is it (voo-l-peh-s/woo-l-peh-s) or (vuh-l-peh-s/wuhl-peh-s)?
Joe Joe Hi Joe! There are two major pronunciations for Latin. I learned the restored Classical Latin in school. In the Classical pronunciation, Caelum (sky, heaven) is pronounced with the K sound. Later, I discovered the Ecclesiastical or Italian pronunciation. Here Caelum is pronounced Chaelum. I abandoned the restored Classical Latin for many reasons. I talk about all of them in my book, Via. You can find it here: www.dwanethomas.com/via/
Not really, it's only due to the time span(languages evolve) and social caste. Ecclesiastical Latin was spoken among clergy in middle ages up to now, but Classical among scribes, military and officials of Roman republic/empire. Common people spoke Vulgar Latin which gave rise to French, Spanish Italian....
i'm serbian and we pronounce it as 'ts' too eta: this is how we pronounce latin ua-cam.com/video/j2uhfSP2mi4/v-deo.html (yes, it's a song from carmina burana :))
At this point Ecclesiastical latin and original latin is like the difference between American English and British English. Both are right at this point by right of time and distribution and accepted methods. It's good to know the origins of both tho.
I wonder what age-old voice record entitles you to state that in classical Latin "c" is "always" pronounced hard, no matter what vowel follows? In EACH modern latin language there is the same traditional distincion between ka~, ko~, ku~ on one side and ze~, zi~ on the other (if a cedille isn't added as diacritical symbol). It is most unlikely that this is all by coincidence.
PRONUNCIA DELLA "C": 1) I toponimi sono assai conservativi e nei secoli oppongono una notevolissima resistenza al cambiamento. Nei toponimi non ci sono tracce della "C"dura: mai s'è detto AriKKia (Ariccia) o PlaKentia (Piacenza) o KirKeo (Circeo). 2) La prova a favore della “pronuncia restituta”: il Cicirro. Sua inconsistenza. Orazio (satira 1,5) scrive: 'Nunc mihi paucis, Sarmenti scurrae pugnam Messique Cicirri, Musa, velim memores et quo patre natus uterque contulerit litis.' Esichio (2, 481) dice che "cicirrus" significa "galletto". È chiaro che Orazio gioca con il lettore presentando questo "Messer Cicirro" come un galletto pronto alla lite. In genere i galli non fanno "ciciriccì" ma piuttosto "kikiriki", Per tanto il "cicirrus" di Orazio era in realtà pronunciato "kikirrus". Questa è la tesi pro "restituta". Il tutto appare completamente logico, se non fosse che i cicirri sono i ceci e non i galli. Una verruca grande come un cece era sul naso di un ascendente di Cicerone e da questa ha preso il nome la sua famiglia: CICERONIS avo verruca in naso fuerat, "CICERIS" grano simillima; ex ea verruca cognomen "CICERONIS" genti omni fuit. Esichio, che scrive in greco, questo non lo sa ed incorre in errore. Quindi niente galli, solo ceci. Non è una parola greca, è italica e tuttora esistente ed invariata (pronunciata con "C" dolce da sempre). Non una prova a favore della “restituta” ma prova contraria 3) Le traslitterazioni dal latino al greco (e viceversa) non hanno alcun valore di prova. Che i Greci trascrivessero con K il C latino si deve al non poter fare altrimenti; quale altro segno grafico avrebbero dovuto utilizzare? che i Latini trascrivessero con C il K greco, si deve invece al progressivo scomparire del K dal latino e al non poter usare il digrafema CH che, forse, indicava una C aspirata.
Maxim Kretsch I had the same objection when I first started studying Latin. But one has to remember that pronunciation in any language varies drastically over time. The modern Romance languages evolved from the Latin in common use from the end of the Western Roman empire up into the Middle ages. There was nearly a millenium after Cicero and Caesar for the language to change. We can't assume that modern Romance language pronunciation mirrors the pronunciation of Agustus and Virgil any more than a hypothetical future offshoot of modern English would mirror the pronunciation of Chaucer. As for C originally being pronounced as K there is actually a plethora of evidence. For example: the transliterations for Caesarea in Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek all begin with a letter approximating a "K" sound. The German pronunciation of Caesar even to this day is "Kaiser". We even have inscrptions where letters usually spelled with a C such as "pace" are written as "pake".
I highly respect people who mastered Latin because it is incredibly difficult to learn. I'm a Japanese living in Japan. I took an ancient Chinese language class when I was a high school student. Grammar of Ancient Chinese language is simple compared to Latin's one.
@ Janick:
"veni, vidi, vici" = ['we:.ni, 'wi:.di, 'wi:.ki] = /wēni, wīdi, wīki/
-classical pronunciation-
Hello, I am Italian, It was a very good lesson but I think you got the ecclesiastical pronunciation of the word Caesar wrong, the classical is indeed as you say, but in minute 7:00 you say that the ecclesiastical latin would read "cheesar" but no as far as I know "ae" is read like the English sound for the colour "red" so it's cEsar non cheesar", the "e" sound is like in the word "regina" or the English word "set" not like the English word "English", you got it right with caelum, you need to be careful with that tendency or students might get confused.
oh and also why "ueeni" for "veni", shouldn't the "e" be pronounced like the e in red here too? so ok with the "v" becoming ueni but I would still say "ueni uidi uiki" not "ueeni uidi uiki" like you say O.O
A part from that good lesson prof :) Grazie
Metatron yes, not ee by any stretch of the imagination.....
Also, Julius Caesar wasn't a Roman Emperor
@@Tenryuu19 oh we got an edit, how many more edits? Julius Ceasar was Dictator of Rome.
You are still pronouncing the "e" the english way. And the vowel quality is often strangely english.
For people wondering about the "c-sound":
There was actually a latin dude back then who created a literate school and proclaimed to change the hard c and make it soft in some cases. Before it was ALWAYS hard. Well documented in latin scripts.
So the clasical hard c-sound is actually a fact. It also explains why romance languages today don't understand it. It was simply changed troughout roman times. Sardinians still pronounce it hard to this day.
"There was actually a latin dude back then who created a literate school and proclaimed to change the hard c and make it soft in some cases. "
Really that's interestign?
Brilliant. Explained everything in pronunciation. Hats off to you Sir.
You were very helpful. Most people are afraid of Latin. You made it interesting and relaxing. You're a great teacher. Thank you. PS. Veni is pronounced "E=egg" Veni.
It's very hard for American speaking people to pronounce Latin. AEIOU are pronounced differently in English. In Italian I'm able to understand the sound. In English I see where the problems are in the pronunciations.
no it is not. i think in english [e] does not exist
"e" is pronounced "eh" not "ee" in Veni
"i" is pronounced "ee" not "aye" in Vidi
Jay Dillon veni, vidi, vici it is said how it is written
Vēni, Vidī, Vīci
@@mirkosala919 no, veni is pronounced like: wehni, not wini.
@@jonathanvalk726 no. veni is pronounced veni. not wehni or wini.
What you're speaking here is best described as American Latin. Sorry :/
I'm American and his pronunciation burns my ears. He'd be better off learning modern Italian and going with that pronunciation.
@Mike Daniels it's true though.
this video should honestly be deleted
@Mike Daniels stfu dumbass
Yes. Except that "Veni" is not pronounced "wini" like you said Dwane, but "Wéni". A "e" is a "e"... the english confuses the sounds, but latin languages never.
You are right
Anglophones have difficulties when pronouncing vowels when learning foreign languages. That's due to their "Great Vowel Shift" that shaped modern English language in early modern times.
Some vowels shifted some became diphthongs. Its very hard to "unlearn" this.
And the incessant dipthonging!
Excellent sir, I've watched your video class for the first time and very much eager to learn The Latin from basics, you have detailed in comparison with English words. It's clear how Latin syllable is different from English. I've watched many other videos but could not clear it before. Thank you sir, once again. Greetings from India.
You, as an English speaker, have a bad pronunciation of Latin!
Many Latin sounds are different of how you pronounce them, including C and T.
Very good point. Old languages, from Mediteranean and surrounding area have straight sounds (a=ah, e=eh, i=ee o = oh (no u sound), u=oo), different from English.
The pronunciation of "c" was always /k/. The only languages that have this are Welsh and some other Celtic languages which were under Latin influence at one point.
I do not comprehend the reason for the amount of likes of this video.
I have to agree, English speakers have the worst pronunciation of Latin. The most qualified people to teach us that are Italians or Spaniards.
I have to agree, English speakers have the worst pronunciation of Latin. The most qualified people to teach us that are Italians or Spaniards.
somehow I doubt the romans were pronouncing the 'r' the american way..
why?
@@dylanryan3432 well look at the romances languages none of them have the american R even frickin old english had the R trill so yeah
Exactly. Roman R's were pronounced with a trill or an alveolar tap, like in Spanish.
Thank you Dwane. I really didnt know about classical. I often heard latin in catholic rituals and ceremonies. This is new to me. Thank you again.
Ended up here by coincidence, following a discussion about how to pronounce "Caesar". You're coming through as a great teacher, keeping the ancient materiel fresh. Well done! :)
Sure he pronounce it wrongly.
@@bilbohob7179 You're utterly ignorant. There are several ways to pronounce Latin.
Actually, what I have learned, is that classical latin around 0 AD was pronounced much more french, that vowels before nf and ns were nasals and the ns were dropped, and that m at the end of words were also dropped and the previous vowel was nasalized.
And also that the s was more pronounced like in portuguese.
You are correct, however the basic rules as stated here by him still hold.
But the way his videos/instructions are organized, these are the most easily RETAINABLE lessons I've ever seen.
I am learning Latin because I want to understand Spanish better and to help me in pronouncing some of the big Law words, since I am a Political Science major and I come across a lot of words that are Latin.
Linda Miranda
My friend, if you want to learn Spanish then start learning Spanish, not Latin. Latin is far more complex.
Beware! Except for a few who know better, we USAmericans pronounce Latin almost completely wrong! For example I've heard a US Supreme Court justice pronounce certiorari as "sir-shir-ree" 🤢
I find it helps to use the actual dipthong Æ to remember that it is a long A (aie) sound rather than a short A (ah) sound.
IN PRINCIPIO CREAVIT DEVS CÆLUM ET TERRAM for example. (Classical does not employ U. a V is always a U such as in SALVE "Saloo'eh" or VICI "Ueekee")
if you want to listen the best latin pronuntiation on the planet just search youtube for this italian professor.. luigi miraglia
Note that the german word for emperor is Kaiser, a word that without a doubt was introduced to the germans by the romans. The romans most definately pronounced Caesar as a K-word. We know this because if it was a S-word, then the germans would have written it with a S, as Saiser.
are you sure?
classic latin pronunciation is not credible.
www.forumarcheologia.it/antica-roma/pronuncia-della-lingua-latina-t39.html
giampiero ver I am Portuguese and it is very straight foward for us to read latin. But this classical pronouciation is just wrong. I don't have a doubt about it.Beside that there are actualy many things about the correct pronounciation tant i don't see discussed anywhere. I even truly believe as a native speaker of a lalin language that Lex and Rex is supposed to be read (lays) and (Rays). Like the words still used today in italy portugal and spain. This claasical reconstructing team didn't have a clue about it.
Fernando Bernardo
Nonsense. Just coz you are portuguese doesn't give you any natural advantage in latin. Stick to losing at soccer and ex-colonies.
Fernando Bernardo Hahah, funny. I'm originally Romanian, so also a native speaker of a Latin Language, and we too pronounce Lex and Rex just as they're written.
Fernando Bernardo These pronunciations of 'lex' and 'rex' are because your language has been vulgarized from the original Classical Latin. Classical reconstruction is much more complicated than just referring to a single Romance language, yo.
Thank God for this channel! My 12-yr-old son likes Dwane’s style. His videos help us with Henle 1. Having said this, I will address all these critical commentators: Type in latintutor channel to hear gorgeous pronunciation as well as more advanced teaching. 😊
In classic latin rhere was v and u described the same way, f.e. „vvlgata” = „vulgata”, and c was sometimes k and sometimes s or c. So Julius Cezar /Yulious Csezzar/ and not /Kezzar/
Caesar was actually pronounced /kaesar/
@@antoniosavalgarcia02 maybe /kaesar/ maybe /chaesar/ or maybe /csaesar/ the problem is: nobody knows it for sure today.
@@sebastiankwintal2828Si si sabe con seguridad: hay estudios filológicos al respecto. Ignorante.
Page 163
calumet = n the peace pipe [C18: from Canad. F, from F: straw, from LL calamellus a little reed, from L: CALAMUS]
Il suono della V è di derivazione Etrusca (era rappresentato da F rivolta a sinistra)
Valerius si legge Valerius e non Ualerius (Oualerios come traslittera Polibio). Vedi Nigidio Figulo.
La pronuncia "classica" è un cotinuum di errori.
+giampiero ver
La pronuncia cosiddetta "classica" è un'enorme mistificazione....già il fatto che i suoi inventori l'abbiano definita "classica" la dice lunga su un certo grado di ideologica presunzione. Al massimo potrebbe essere definita "arcaica", o pronuncia delle origini, più o meno come si parlava ai tempi della codificazione dell'alfabeto latino...cioè nel VII secolo Avanti Cristo...il ché dice poco o nulla su come la gente comune pronunciasse il latino 700 anni dopo...nell'era classica, ai tempi di Cicerone e Giulio Cesare.
E' un imbroglio in inglese. Senz'altro dopo secoli le parole latine in inglese hanno una pronuncia 'nativa'. Poi, per la musica si usa la pronuncia ecclesiastica. Poi, 'recentemente' arriva la pronuncia restituita: 'restored classical pronunciation'.
It's a good lesson. Although, it's Veni Vedi, Vici. All with a 'V'. V is indeed 'u' or 'oo' but only in some situations. **EDIT: After further research I must admit I was wrong. In classic Latin, V is indeed pronounced with the 'w' sound.
Hi Protector, please amend your comment. It is confusing my mother. I tell her, "No, he said he is mistaken. He knows it's `w'." But, she keeps pointing at your comment.
Arthur E. Michalak Done! I hope your mother believes you now.
Protector of the Republic Thanks, mate. I will show her and shout 'AHA'.
why is "vici" pronounced "viki" even though "c" is in front of "i" and should be pronounced like "ch", or is the "i" showing, that the word is in past simple and is irregular?
MrRXY11 To be honest, I'm not exactly sure. When I was a kid back in Romania and we were learning Latin back in school, we first learned our own vulgar pronunciation, which is just like you said, with the "ch" sound. Then we also learned about the pronunciation historians believe to be correct and it was with the 'k" sound instead of "ch". After lately doing more online research on the matter, I've found that nobody actually knows with certainty was the actual pronunciation was. The church pronounces Latin one way, Classic scholars another way, individual romance language speaking countries a different way, some historians have their own theories, and so on. I have to say I prefer the vulgarized pronunciation version I first learned (almost identical to how Italians pronounce Latin too) because it's the closest to my native language. So really, I'm not sure.
from below...as 10 sounds were heading to 7 or 5. and the letter a sounds of amica, amicae, amicae, amicam (no m pronounced) and amica ablative were reduced to one sound AH. By the way v was not a ww but an asperated vw as vwuh that became b in Spanish and Portuguese and Catalan.
Hi, I am done with my basic grammar classes which I did well on. Now I am in my Second semester of translation and what I translate always comes out as nonsense. My teacher goes way to fast as does not like to slow down at all and gives you no clue as to what she might pick for the exam after we have translated a book....I love Latin and put in the time but I feel like giving up. Like there is something wrong with me. Does this get better? What can I do this summer to focus in on making my reading comprehension better. ?
Get bilingual books from the Loeb Classical Library in the Holyoke Building, Harvard Square in Cambridge Mass., outside of Boston. I'm sure they're also online.
Thanks for this simple and easy to understand explanation - fascinating!
I like how everybody in the commenta suddenly is a Latin teacher
Wow, I have learned more handy things from this 7 minute video than from 3 years of studying university chemistry.
Thanks for the video a great, simple and understandable explanation.
Actually 'G' wasn't a letter in Roman Latin it was crated in medieval Europe by adding a tail of 'j' to 'C'
Caesar, decem, centum are pronounced with a "ch" in the Latin language because if not then it would be next words in a modern Italian pronounced with a "k" (e.g. Cesare, Cicerone, dieci, cento, celo, etc.), and what about many Italian surnames that are also pronounced with a "ch" (e.g. Lancia, Marcello, Luciani, Manzini, Carlucci, Ceccarelli, Cellario, Cecili, Colucci, Gucci, etc.).
Hi! :) I just watched your video. Very informative for beginners. I'm not sure if you made a continuation to this video but I think you missed some pronunciation points for Classical Latin and Ecclesiastical Latin. Like how "gn", "sc", "ti" change in Ecclesiastical, and how "h" is silent in Ecclesiastical.
Hello, I hope you can check this out... ua-cam.com/video/gAWJAMTX6n4/v-deo.html
What is also helping me is using Google translator to hear the correct pronunciation of the words. And by using that, I hope to get a natural feel for how Latin should be pronounced.
Isn't that just the italian voice?
Great video. Thank you! I'm currently learning Latin on Duolingo and came across your channel. This clarifies a lot. Followed...lol.
This is all wrong! He is pronouncing Veni vidi Vici WRONG!!!
Which dinosaur can jump higher than a house? None of them- dinosaurs are all dead.
This video could benefit from a word or two on when to use each pronunciation e.g. doesn't medieval text usually use something like Ecclesiastical Latin. IOW in which dialects to use each pronunciation.
"vini, vidi, vici" = "I came, I saw, I conquered". Where is the "I' ending and the imperfect tense parts in that? And if it is supposed to be just that, then shouldn't there be the "I" ending (o) and the imperfect tense (ba)? If anyone knows, please comment. Thanks.
SockMonkeySwag Made a video response for you: ua-cam.com/video/NUirNceuArE/v-deo.html
Its in the perfect not the imperfect- perfect has different endings than o s t mus tis nt it has rather I isti it imus istis erunt
Shoudn't the vocal "E" be read like in the word "Emerald"??
Yeah exactly
It depends wether or not it has a bar above it.
Why are you pronouncing it with an anglophone "R"?
Probably because he is American and can't roll his R. But I agree that he should say that the "r" should be rolled like in modern Italian or Spanish.
If he says that then I woudln't have a problem with his anglophone "r" as some people just can't get the rolling of the "r", but yes it is important to specify.
Metatron Ciao! Come va? xD
Bathrobe Samurai ahaha bene grazie :D e tu? :)
Metatron
Benissimo! xD Tornerò in italia tra meno di tre mesi, quindi sto provando a praticare l'italiano molto xD. Com'è la tua scuola?
tutto bene a scuola grazie ^_^ ecco! Infatti per un attimo mi sono chiesto: "ma Bathrobe Samurai era italiano?!" ahah complimenti per il tuo italiano. Dove andrai in Italia? In quale città?
6:07 in veni the "E" letter sounds like in regina not like the English one. Caesar sounds very different from how you pronunced. Great video anyway :)
Yes, the way I learned Classical Latin from an eminent classicist born in 1915, Caesar is pronounced KY-SAHR (equal stress on the syllables), not Kaiser. Wenny widdy wicky. I call it prep school pronunciation.
Can anyone who speaks Latin or knows it in depth, please help me? I would LOVE to know what ‘See the good’ is in Latin, in the sense of a wise saying that people and all should ‘see the good’ in the good and bad! Thank you☺️☺️
I'm from Rome and latin here is kept only by some small traditional catholic churchs during the service. Latin pronunciation is different from yours. Yours look more an Anglo-Saxon pronounciation!
It’s tough, he has a bad accent and messes up sometimes. Still he probably know lots.
+Ivansthename Don't trust him just because he's an expert. He's no expert when it comes to pronunciation. Read Vox Latina, or any other good Latin pronunciation guide (made by linguists though, Latinists don't care much about pronunciation and it shows), even a small amount, and you'll see that he got his vowels and consonants both very wrong.
Hello
At 2:42, when you say that V always has the W sound, were you speaking of Classical or Ecclesiastical Latin, because I do not believe that you specified as much, though if I had to infer, I would have to assume that you meant the Classical pronunciation as that is the way you've addressed each of the preceding letters thus far.
Thank you.
+Antigone Freimann Hi, Antigone! Yes. I was referring to Classical Latin.
I thought as much but appreciate the confirmation.
And AFAIK, Ss in classic Latin were never pronounced as 'z' before a vowel, like they are in English, Italian, etc.
So 'Caesar' is actually 'kai-sar', not 'kai-zar'.
Your videos are great! I'm happy I found them here.
In Europe, in Poland at least, they teach even other pronunciation called "traditional". "Ae" is pronunciated as short "e". "C" is "ts" before e, i, ae, y. Yes it's "ts" sound, not "ch" like in Italian. So "caelum" would be "tselum" with "ts" and short "e". The "g" however is always hard. "V" is always "v", never "w". There are some other strange oddities however. "Qui" is "kvi", "quod" is "kvod" and "sua" is "sva". "Ti" like in "actio" is "-tsio", thus "aktsio". Have anyone ever encountered such pronunciation? Don't know if it is isolated to Poland and teaching Latin here, it might be because many Latin words in Polish are pronunciated similiar, like "akcja" (action) is "aktsia", "wino" (wine) is "vino" (despite it's written with "w"), "perswazja" (persuasion) - "persvazya".
I think the C pronounced as a TS is very much influenced by the Slavic pronunciation of the letter C...For ex , in Romania, when we learn Latin C is C ( the way you pronounce the letter K in Polish, and not TS)...and ae is pronounced more likely like E...so Caelum would be Celum( fonetically Chelum)...like you say it in Italian. But in the end which language is closer to Latin as pronunciation? Polish or Italian and Romanian?...V is V...qui ..is like cvi( kvi in polish and not tsvi)...sua will be sua and not sva...u will be pronounced as v only in the qui,quo,quod,,,like cvi,cvo,cvod...action will be said like actsio...I think that Slavic pronunciation of some letters influenced a lot the way you are thought Latin there in Poland!///and on top of that is the Classic Latin :)))
So what you say, the way you are thought in schools might be in part of Europe( Poland and other Slavic countries) and not in all Europe...It'll be interesting for example to know how are they thought in Italy or France or Spain to pronunciate the Latin language?!
So different countries, different costumes...and also very interesting in the same time!!!
Great video! Very interesting. Do you have handouts?
Well, and what about medieval pronounciation of Latin? It has many forms and depends on the area. For example central Europe (Germany, Austria, Czech republic, Slovak republic, Hungary, Poland). It is similar to the church Latin but quite different. :)
I totally agree with what you say here...and also differently thought and expressed in the Latin descendent countries like Romania, France, Portugal, Italy, Spain...and on top of that is that the Classic/ Ecclesiastical Latin
How is ad and ab pronounced? Is it uh b or uh d (sheesh sound for a) or is it like we say it in English? Ab as in abdominal and ad as in addition.
CE, CI, GE, GI sounded hard in classical times all right, but SLIGHTLY palatalized, THIS IS A LINGUISTIC RULE. The process of full palatalization took some centuries to complete and become the church Latin of today.
Basically, classical is read in Spanish and church Latin is read in Italian 😂😂
I'm sorry, but I want to remarke that you pronounce the latin vowels as they were like the english vowels! that's very wrong! You have to read them as they are pronounced in Italian and in Spanish language.
Persistently stumbles over the ae combination. Oh dear.
Guys
-especially all the italians and native romance speakers-
chill the f out, it was a good lesson. We know he didn't really try to put on his best accent, you don't need to lambast him with pejorative comments about how English speakers just have absolutely obscene pronunciations of Latin, especially because he got the essential elements right.
I enjoyed your lesson very much. I work with bacteria and is always a debate how to pronounce Escherichia coli, some people say "ch" is a k sound and some others pronounce it like sh. AT the same time, in English people say "kolai" and in Spanish "koli".
very helpful to my latin prayer esp in prononciaton...thank u so much
I’m just starting school in a new city. My mom asked me what I wanted to focus on as a new hobby. I told her I wanted to tackle the old Latin language. And to learn 1 new word a day.
I found the translation for imagine. Which is meditati. But I can’t find anymore info on it other than imagination. I asked my teachers but the don’t know. Can anyone tell me if that is the Latin word for imagine? Thanks!
I use to be depressed and doing things I shouldn't have. I used to have trauma and hated myself. Jesus saved me from my sin, gave me true Joy and Peace, and He even healed me. I use to have acid reflux but not any more by the grace of God. Jesus loves ya!
Thanks for the clarification.
ABSOLUTELY BARBARIC
in classical pronunciation you said "creavit" instead of "creawit"
Dil upnar or preeth psrai
Also hasn't S evolved too? In church Latin, it also makes a z sound and while in classical Latin, it's always s?
I'm here to learn more but I feel like I've lost more lol
Why do you pronounce Regina correctly, meanwhile you say Veni with the sound of E like (E)at? You should pronounce Veni with the same sound of E like (E)xaxtly
Great what about the Latin they speak in courts. Years ago a Judge said this to the prosecutor in a case I was involved in.
duos ictus in cerasis Ve victus
"two bites of the cherry" Woe to the vanquished
Isn't the R rolled?
Irvin Gomez Yes, it should be!
Latin grammarians from the classical period described the sound R as ‘the dog sound’, which suggests it was more gutteral like the modern French ‘r’ than the effeminate rolling of modern Italian.
It should be a tap, as in American English TT in the word "beTTer".
@@elliotvernon7971 The French went out of their way to pronounce their r's that way. Latin would not have had that r. Lol
@@elliotvernon7971 Effeminate rolling of the Italians. So, is it also the 'effeminate' rolling of the Spaniards, the Romanians... as well ? Not to mention the Sicilians! Tu es cretinus magnus.
veni was never pronounced like "vini" - what are you talking... you have no idea of classical latin..
ikr. smh.
It's like Woody Harrelson but sober.
Is this teaching the Latin the Romans spoke or modern church I want to learn Roman how would I do this ?
how do i pronounce Sine paenitentia vive,
what is langauge.i indian
How are digraphs and dipthongs pronounced? As in "Kalanchoe"? (the 'ch' and 'oe' sounds) kal-un-KOH-ee?
holy crap. so that's why ceaser's legion pronounces ceaser differently.
The ci in ecclesiastical latin should sound as an s only if it comes after a consonant.
in caeser i think the r would be rolled with the tip of the tongue like italians do
my favorite animal is the fox and fox in latin is vulpes I'm confused on how to pronounce it is it (voo-l-peh-s/woo-l-peh-s) or (vuh-l-peh-s/wuhl-peh-s)?
The english accent in his Latin is a bit annoying
English has completely ruined original Latin pronunciation.
@@Chairman_LmaoZedong true
Annoyance is good sign that means u r immersed 😊language of the god's...latin
It is, but since V was accepted in the alphabet U represents U.
Nicely presented. Thank you.
Which pronunciation do you use for your teaching videos? I am learning classical.
Joe Joe Hi Joe! There are two major pronunciations for Latin. I learned the restored Classical Latin in school. In the Classical pronunciation, Caelum (sky, heaven) is pronounced with the K sound. Later, I discovered the Ecclesiastical or Italian pronunciation. Here Caelum is pronounced Chaelum. I abandoned the restored Classical Latin for many reasons. I talk about all of them in my book, Via. You can find it here: www.dwanethomas.com/via/
Can I ask a question? Is the "E" not prenounced as the "E" in e.g. the word "VEIN"? and not as in the word "need"`?
Wait I thought there was no j in the classical latin alphabet????
Sorry, but according to what you have said earlier wouldn't that be "kreawit Deus"?
Thank you for making this. I enjoyed your video : )
Hi, have a look at this video on how to pronounce Latin Legal Terms using Ecclesiastical pronunciation.. ua-cam.com/video/gAWJAMTX6n4/v-deo.html
You might wish to watch this... ua-cam.com/video/gAWJAMTX6n4/v-deo.html
Most dinosaurs didn’t jump. Checkmate, professor-man.
Not really, it's only due to the time span(languages evolve) and social caste. Ecclesiastical Latin was spoken among clergy in middle ages up to now, but Classical among scribes, military and officials of Roman republic/empire.
Common people spoke Vulgar Latin which gave rise to French, Spanish Italian....
And in German pronounciation the c makes before the e, i, ae, y the ts sound., like "Tsitsero".
i'm serbian and we pronounce it as 'ts' too
eta:
this is how we pronounce latin ua-cam.com/video/j2uhfSP2mi4/v-deo.html (yes, it's a song from carmina burana :))
It is still wrong.
It is neither classical nor ecclesiastical, it is just wrong.
It is tsh (ecclesiastical) or k (classical).
I thought V sounded like a w, and it also is used as the vowel we know as u. There was no u originally. For example: Jvlivs Cæsar.
Caesers Latin, the v was pronounced w and c was always hard. So Caesar was actually pronounced 'Kaiser'
At this point Ecclesiastical latin and original latin is like the difference between American English and British English. Both are right at this point by right of time and distribution and accepted methods. It's good to know the origins of both tho.
I wonder what age-old voice record entitles you to state that in classical Latin "c" is "always" pronounced hard, no matter what vowel follows? In EACH modern latin language there is the same traditional distincion between ka~, ko~, ku~ on one side and ze~, zi~ on the other (if a cedille isn't added as diacritical symbol). It is most unlikely that this is all by coincidence.
Maxim Kretsch Agreed.
PRONUNCIA DELLA "C":
1) I toponimi sono assai conservativi e nei secoli oppongono una notevolissima resistenza al cambiamento.
Nei toponimi non ci sono tracce della "C"dura: mai s'è detto AriKKia (Ariccia) o PlaKentia (Piacenza) o KirKeo (Circeo).
2) La prova a favore della “pronuncia restituta”: il Cicirro. Sua inconsistenza.
Orazio (satira 1,5) scrive:
'Nunc mihi paucis, Sarmenti scurrae pugnam Messique Cicirri, Musa, velim memores et quo patre natus uterque contulerit litis.'
Esichio (2, 481) dice che "cicirrus" significa "galletto".
È chiaro che Orazio gioca con il lettore presentando questo "Messer Cicirro" come un galletto pronto alla lite.
In genere i galli non fanno "ciciriccì" ma piuttosto "kikiriki",
Per tanto il "cicirrus" di Orazio era in realtà pronunciato "kikirrus".
Questa è la tesi pro "restituta".
Il tutto appare completamente logico, se non fosse che i cicirri sono i ceci e non i galli.
Una verruca grande come un cece era sul naso di un ascendente di Cicerone e da questa ha preso il nome la sua famiglia:
CICERONIS avo verruca in naso fuerat, "CICERIS" grano simillima; ex ea verruca cognomen "CICERONIS" genti omni fuit.
Esichio, che scrive in greco, questo non lo sa ed incorre in errore.
Quindi niente galli, solo ceci. Non è una parola greca, è italica e tuttora esistente ed invariata (pronunciata con "C" dolce da sempre). Non una prova a favore della “restituta” ma prova contraria
3) Le traslitterazioni dal latino al greco (e viceversa) non hanno alcun valore di prova.
Che i Greci trascrivessero con K il C latino si deve al non poter fare altrimenti; quale altro segno grafico avrebbero dovuto utilizzare? che i Latini trascrivessero con C il K greco, si deve invece al progressivo scomparire del K dal latino e al non poter usare il digrafema CH che, forse, indicava una C aspirata.
Maxim Kretsch
I had the same objection when I first started studying Latin. But one has to remember that pronunciation in any language varies drastically over time. The modern Romance languages evolved from the Latin in common use from the end of the Western Roman empire up into the Middle ages. There was nearly a millenium after Cicero and Caesar for the language to change. We can't assume that modern Romance language pronunciation mirrors the pronunciation of Agustus and Virgil any more than a hypothetical future offshoot of modern English would mirror the pronunciation of Chaucer. As for C originally being pronounced as K there is actually a plethora of evidence. For example: the transliterations for Caesarea in Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek all begin with a letter approximating a "K" sound. The German pronunciation of Caesar even to this day is "Kaiser". We even have inscrptions where letters usually spelled with a C such as "pace" are written as "pake".
Maxim Kretsch
The same one (Voice Record) that told him "All Dinosaurs Jumped"!!! :)
classical = academic
How do We know how classical Latin was pronouced?
"ae" is pronounced "aye" not "ay"
Pot, meet kettle.
Old Latin Iulius Caesar, pronounced like "Yule-yus Kai-tsar" as in the German Kaiser and the Russian Tsar.
I highly respect people who mastered Latin because it is incredibly difficult to learn. I'm a Japanese living in Japan. I took an ancient Chinese language class when I was a high school student. Grammar of Ancient Chinese language is simple compared to Latin's one.
But a complex grammar and syntax as Latin's gives you much more opportunities to articulate your thoughts properly ;)
Peters Zeug You're right.
we used to pronounce principio with "tz" sound for c. Any other languages do that? Also cicero pronounced like tzitzero
in Italy is like it's written
so Cicero
Would it be possible that "v" had a more slavic sound like "vwuh" than either v OR w?
the ae i don't know but i think its like hair or red(not the british way)