There are also audio recordings of Famila Romana on youtube. I first listened to all of them. By the middle of the course, when it was getting difficult, I would relisten frequently. Only when I had finished this, I used the book, went through the whole course again and did the exercises. At this stage, a lot of the story was still floating in my head because I had listened to it, so I could do the pensa without looking up (but I was also studying declension and conjugation tables, so I was quite familiar with grammatical forms). I would also go through the list of new words and if there were any I hadn't internalised from listening to the chapters in the first round, I would read the chapter again and extrapolate there meaning (and then a few days later quiz myself on them). I also read the Coloquia personarum and "fabulae Latinae", I didn't read "fabulae Syrae" from what I found about them on the internet, they did't seem worth the money. At the same time I was using Anki (and I still am) for the 1000 most common Latin vocab and for declension and conjugation tables. Then parallel to Familia Romana, I read the Cambridge Latin Course 1-4, the Oxford Latin course. They both introduce the full verb forms much earlier than Familia Romana, and Cambridge also introduces perfect and imperfect early, so it helps to get more practice with those forms while the the texts are still very easy. I also used an old Textbook called "Latin for beginners" which is out there for free and which explains grammar really comprehensively and has stories about Roman Mythology and History, I felt that the way it constructs sentences is closer to authentic texts than the usual textbooks (and also more difficult) and a book called "Latin by the natural method", which is again more Roman history and uses the perfect tense early on. Now, understanding a story is quite something different from really undestanding the language, so after I was through these textbooks, I started a new project: Of all these texts, I found digital versions, had them translated and then I worked backwards translating them back into latin. This is still word in progress, I'm currently at the chapter where Quintus falls from the tree in Familia Romana and at the chapter with the galdiator fights in the Oxford course. I'm using Anki for this, so each sentence, I didnt get right will get repeated. For reading practice after Familia Romana, I used Richi's "fabulae faciles" and the vulgate bible. The latter is a bit of a struggle becuase there are some weird figurative speeches and I didn't have much bible knowledge before I read this apart from the very well known stories. I also found out that there is Harry Potter and The Hobbit in Latin and ordered them (these are the only Latin resources, I paid money for), I just started reading Harry Potter yesterday. Apart from the bible, I haven't seriously attempted any original texts.
If you want to have a funny read in french, I can recommend "Le Petit Nicholas", a comedy series about a schoolboy and his adventures at school and with his friends.
Been learning Latin for 25 years since I was in high school. I’ve got almost every book out there. Read read read, exposure exposure exposure. LLPSI is a great series. Cultura clásica had some good books? There’s a guy in Georgia, Andrew Olimpi writes some cool Novellas all in Latin, and Polis Institute puts out some good stuff too
There is a part 2 to the Orberg, “Roma Aeterna”. It has you reading Latin authors, and a prose version of The Aeneid. Highly recommended. There is one teacher that helps, especially with pronunciation. He has two channels, and one is called PolyMATHY, but it’s the other one you want. I can’t remember the name of that channel though. Anyway, he has readings of all the chapters in Orberg. Good luck!
@@lorenzgluck5144 Thanks! Definitely highly recommended! I just couldn’t remember the name off the top of my head. Of the OP had found Lucius, I wonder if he wouldn’t have struggled so much was with second half of the book.
Thank you for the comment. I have watched those channels and they are fantastic. I’m aware of the second part to Orberg’s publications though I’ve heard it’s quite a giant leap skills-wise.
Those resources look wonderful! How did you hunt them up? You should try Julius Caesar’s Bellum Gallicum! Hecwrote pretty simply and once you get used to his turns of phrase, it isn’t as hard as others like Cicero or Virgil. I worked through the first couple of chapters before life got in the way. My problem is I am old and forget the grammar so I have to spend weeks reintroducing myself before I can really get into anything more fun. French is also something I studied long ago and barely remember. I think your year of learning Latin is highly commendable! Probe!
And by the way, Orberg, wrote an edition of Bellum Gallicum (not all, but maybe 3 books), where he explains as he does in Familia Romana vocab and grammar (to be read after capitulum 35 Familia Romana).
Nice job. It takes a lot of discipline to pursue it on your own. I had a couple years of college Latin. Wouldn't have minded pursuing it further, but chemistry was getting pretty demanding by that point. I still have my old Wheelock text and a book that focuses on medieval Latin (plus loads of flashcards) around here somewhere. They probably aren't ideal for self learning though. I probably should have a look at some texts to figure out just how rusty I am ...
Great update! I’d wondered how things had gone, and what you might be reading. French is a surprise, but cool. At least with a living language I suppose you can turn on a TV show and get extra reinforcement. Good work.
So glad I found this. I took Latin 101 last semester at university....wow...a struggle that I leant into. I decided not to do the next course as I felt very stressed....but I am still working through my Jones and Sidwell, I have just purchased Familia Romana . Intend to keep on working at this until I can complete the next course which incorporates more reading. Great brain food. I am doing a Masters in Ancient History so, like you, want to read some of the great texts. Thanks for you video...great stuff. Greetings from Australia
I've been making my way through Familia Romana with a combination of the physical book and ScorpioMartianus's audiobook, and I've really been having fun with it. It'll be interesting go see how I get on once I pass the end of Colloquium Personarum like you said.
Macte virtute, domine.😀(I admit I had to look that up.) I had two years of Latin in high school, but I also caught the end of the period when Latin was being used in the Catholic church. Since we went to Mass each morning in my Catholic grade school, and sang in the choir, I still have Latin tags and phrases rolling around in the dark corners of my mind. Besides recognizing all of the Latinate words in English, Latin was also helpful when I took two years of Russian in college. Russian has many cases as Latin does, so I wasn't phased by that aspect of the language. And then in grad school, I had to have a "reading knowledge" of another language. So there were quickie "cram" courses where you would just concentrate on grammar and vocabulary and forget about speaking it. I took the French course. And naturally, being a Romance language, having some Latin certainly helped. But the upshot is that I really don't have a sufficient grasp of any language to read any of their classics. All I can manage is newspaper or magazine articles, children's books, or, for French, reading genealogical records in that language. If I get really serious about upping my game, I would need to expand my vocabulary, polish up my grammar. and work my way through a series of books from to simpler to the more complex. But I don't think I'll be reading Tolstoy or Proust anytime soon.
I reached 21 chapter. I dont find it difficult at all. But my goal is only to understand the text, not to speak or do exercices. But I already knew italian, spanish, french and russian is my native language so the case system is not new for me. Great book.
@@revenantreads Latin is a language that one must go through some explicit grammar study. It isnt hard at all. Its grammar is very logic and improves ones comprehension while reading greatly. Even just a little bit of a deliberate study does wonders. When I am studying anything I do It through english. But for latim I was surprised. I've found the best studying material in my own language, which is portuguese. There was a Guy here who wrote a latim grammar eighty years Ago. Twenty chapters in and the pieces ARE ALL coming together smoothly. Being a catholic country may have something to do with the prolific professors of latin here.
WTG Vin 🎉 I started to learn Latin, in an AZ prison, and was getting pretty good (at least at reading it) but then I got released (alas) upon 11 months. I almost bought a Rosetta Stone course but theyre too expensive ...
Asterix is great for learning language. It is funny, punny, and entertaining. The books make fun of the stereotypes of many countries. Highly entertaining and addictive.
Familia Romana is a great book. The thing with Latin is that at a certain point it gets really difficult if the learner hasn't established a good foundation in grammar. It's like you described, it's a swamp and you don't really get anywere, and motivation goes down. That's when one has to go back to basics and once and for all learn all the grammar paradigms, verb conjugations, verb themes (fero-tuli-latum-ferre), syntax etc. Also study latin word formation, vocabulary. It's lots of work but in my experience it can be quite fun. There are apps for it (Vice verba). Once the work is done, Latin becomes easier and one can progress past the last chapters in Familia Romana. It's also a good idea to learn the pronounciation because it's not that hard and one might just as well get it right from the beginnning. I also like to combine many textbooks, for example the Cambridge Latin Course, because I like the variety of the different approaches in the books.
Yes, based on my experience I fully agree with you. I’m still dabbling in Latin but I’m more focused on French at the moment. However, I may return to Latin at some point down the road and if I do I’ll focus more fully on grammar in the ways that you describe.
@@revenantreads I think the challenges come around chapter XX because of all the verb tenses that are introduced. They only use the present tense up to chapter 19, but then comes: future, past perfect, past imperfect, pluperfect, future perfect and other verb forms, and in later chapters everything again but now in the subjunctive. And all this to be mastered in the passive voice also. It's too much to keep track of and one has to start to give special attention to the grammar. I think it's a great book but at least for me I have to combine the natural method with a more traditional learning style.
Based on my experience, I agree as well. Going through LLPSI, but I have also gotten stuck around chapter 20. I find that just practicing grammatical paradigms is very helpful and have taken a bit of inspiration from the Dowling method in this respect. Things definitely become more salient after some brute memorization, like knowing all the forms of pronouns, nouns etc. Moving onto verbs now, because that is what LLPSI starts introducing at this point in the book.
After French, I suggest Italian. I've been studying Italian, have reached an advanced level, and have recently started a French course. As for Latin, I'm thinking of studying it due to my interest in both Italy and the Roman Empire.
Wow, I was exposed to Latin at a 5th grade summer camp back in 2005. I stopped and recently picked it back up because I'm currently learning Italian. I was able to read your sentences fully. Good luck on your Latin journey!
@@mspennyisaac gratias tibi ago! Hablo español y un poco de inglés, pero es más difícil para mí hablarlo. Mi idioma nativo es portugués! Saludos desde Brasil!
Die Bücher sehen alle sehr unbenutzt aus. My latin books like they are rubbish only ursede by the dustman. Read all these excellent books daily and you will succed in the end. Τελοσ.
There are also audio recordings of Famila Romana on youtube. I first listened to all of them. By the middle of the course, when it was getting difficult, I would relisten frequently. Only when I had finished this, I used the book, went through the whole course again and did the exercises. At this stage, a lot of the story was still floating in my head because I had listened to it, so I could do the pensa without looking up (but I was also studying declension and conjugation tables, so I was quite familiar with grammatical forms). I would also go through the list of new words and if there were any I hadn't internalised from listening to the chapters in the first round, I would read the chapter again and extrapolate there meaning (and then a few days later quiz myself on them). I also read the Coloquia personarum and "fabulae Latinae", I didn't read "fabulae Syrae" from what I found about them on the internet, they did't seem worth the money.
At the same time I was using Anki (and I still am) for the 1000 most common Latin vocab and for declension and conjugation tables.
Then parallel to Familia Romana, I read the Cambridge Latin Course 1-4, the Oxford Latin course. They both introduce the full verb forms much earlier than Familia Romana, and Cambridge also introduces perfect and imperfect early, so it helps to get more practice with those forms while the the texts are still very easy. I also used an old Textbook called "Latin for beginners" which is out there for free and which explains grammar really comprehensively and has stories about Roman Mythology and History, I felt that the way it constructs sentences is closer to authentic texts than the usual textbooks (and also more difficult) and a book called "Latin by the natural method", which is again more Roman history and uses the perfect tense early on.
Now, understanding a story is quite something different from really undestanding the language, so after I was through these textbooks, I started a new project: Of all these texts, I found digital versions, had them translated and then I worked backwards translating them back into latin. This is still word in progress, I'm currently at the chapter where Quintus falls from the tree in Familia Romana and at the chapter with the galdiator fights in the Oxford course. I'm using Anki for this, so each sentence, I didnt get right will get repeated.
For reading practice after Familia Romana, I used Richi's "fabulae faciles" and the vulgate bible. The latter is a bit of a struggle becuase there are some weird figurative speeches and I didn't have much bible knowledge before I read this apart from the very well known stories. I also found out that there is Harry Potter and The Hobbit in Latin and ordered them (these are the only Latin resources, I paid money for), I just started reading Harry Potter yesterday. Apart from the bible, I haven't seriously attempted any original texts.
Wow, I admire your dedication!
If you want to have a funny read in french, I can recommend "Le Petit Nicholas", a comedy series about a schoolboy and his adventures at school and with his friends.
Thanks for the recommendation!
Been learning Latin for 25 years since I was in high school. I’ve got almost every book out there. Read read read, exposure exposure exposure. LLPSI is a great series. Cultura clásica had some good books? There’s a guy in Georgia, Andrew Olimpi writes some cool Novellas all in Latin, and Polis Institute puts out some good stuff too
Yes, Olimpi’s novellas are what I’ve been reading. They’re fun!
Awesome! I never had the opportunity to study Latin, so I love hearing other's experiences in learning it.
Glad you enjoyed it!
There is a part 2 to the Orberg, “Roma Aeterna”. It has you reading Latin authors, and a prose version of The Aeneid. Highly recommended. There is one teacher that helps, especially with pronunciation. He has two channels, and one is called PolyMATHY, but it’s the other one you want. I can’t remember the name of that channel though. Anyway, he has readings of all the chapters in Orberg. Good luck!
Scorpio Martianus is his second channel in Latin (and Ancient Greek). His name is Luke Ranieri. Highly recommended. :)
@@lorenzgluck5144 Thanks! Definitely highly recommended! I just couldn’t remember the name off the top of my head. Of the OP had found Lucius, I wonder if he wouldn’t have struggled so much was with second half of the book.
*if it would have helped his struggle with the second half of the book.
Thank you for the comment. I have watched those channels and they are fantastic. I’m aware of the second part to Orberg’s publications though I’ve heard it’s quite a giant leap skills-wise.
Those resources look wonderful! How did you hunt them up? You should try Julius Caesar’s Bellum Gallicum! Hecwrote pretty simply and once you get used to his turns of phrase, it isn’t as hard as others like Cicero or Virgil. I worked through the first couple of chapters before life got in the way. My problem is I am old and forget the grammar so I have to spend weeks reintroducing myself before I can really get into anything more fun. French is also something I studied long ago and barely remember. I think your year of learning Latin is highly commendable! Probe!
And by the way, Orberg, wrote an edition of Bellum Gallicum (not all, but maybe 3 books), where he explains as he does in Familia Romana vocab and grammar (to be read after capitulum 35 Familia Romana).
I’ve got Caesar on my goals list to read in Latin one day.
Nice job. It takes a lot of discipline to pursue it on your own. I had a couple years of college Latin. Wouldn't have minded pursuing it further, but chemistry was getting pretty demanding by that point. I still have my old Wheelock text and a book that focuses on medieval Latin (plus loads of flashcards) around here somewhere. They probably aren't ideal for self learning though. I probably should have a look at some texts to figure out just how rusty I am ...
I enjoy the mental exercise it provides. It’s a nice little side hobby.
Great update! I’d wondered how things had gone, and what you might be reading. French is a surprise, but cool. At least with a living language I suppose you can turn on a TV show and get extra reinforcement. Good work.
Thanks! Yes, I’ve been looking in French TV shows and movies to get some more exposure.
19:28 "I'm not looking to become fluent, I'm not looking to become a polyglot, I'm just having fun with the language" that's also me. Nice video!
Thank you!
So glad I found this. I took Latin 101 last semester at university....wow...a struggle that I leant into. I decided not to do the next course as I felt very stressed....but I am still working through my Jones and Sidwell, I have just purchased Familia Romana . Intend to keep on working at this until I can complete the next course which incorporates more reading. Great brain food. I am doing a Masters in Ancient History so, like you, want to read some of the great texts. Thanks for you video...great stuff. Greetings from Australia
Best of luck in your studies!
I've been making my way through Familia Romana with a combination of the physical book and ScorpioMartianus's audiobook, and I've really been having fun with it. It'll be interesting go see how I get on once I pass the end of Colloquium Personarum like you said.
If you have more hours in a week to dedicate to your studying you may fair better. Good luck!
That is so awesome. I have the books and will get to them. :).
Wonderful!
Macte virtute, domine.😀(I admit I had to look that up.) I had two years of Latin in high school, but I also caught the end of the period when Latin was being used in the Catholic church. Since we went to Mass each morning in my Catholic grade school, and sang in the choir, I still have Latin tags and phrases rolling around in the dark corners of my mind.
Besides recognizing all of the Latinate words in English, Latin was also helpful when I took two years of Russian in college. Russian has many cases as Latin does, so I wasn't phased by that aspect of the language. And then in grad school, I had to have a "reading knowledge" of another language. So there were quickie "cram" courses where you would just concentrate on grammar and vocabulary and forget about speaking it. I took the French course. And naturally, being a Romance language, having some Latin certainly helped.
But the upshot is that I really don't have a sufficient grasp of any language to read any of their classics. All I can manage is newspaper or magazine articles, children's books, or, for French, reading genealogical records in that language. If I get really serious about upping my game, I would need to expand my vocabulary, polish up my grammar. and work my way through a series of books from to simpler to the more complex. But I don't think I'll be reading Tolstoy or Proust anytime soon.
I’m not too ambitious. It’d be great to even travel and be able to read signs and menus with confidence.
When I got to the harder chapters in the 20's, I found a channel that had the text in Latin and English (ex tempore translation). It was a Godsend!
I reached 21 chapter. I dont find it difficult at all. But my goal is only to understand the text, not to speak or do exercices. But I already knew italian, spanish, french and russian is my native language so the case system is not new for me. Great book.
You've done well. That Rome series is great ! Polyglots make me laugh, ignore them. 🤭
Thanks, will do!
Have you read over and over again the previous chapters? anytime I got stuck I went back to the start.
I did some rereading. At some future time I’ll probably go through the book again with additional resources.
@@revenantreads Latin is a language that one must go through some explicit grammar study. It isnt hard at all. Its grammar is very logic and improves ones comprehension while reading greatly. Even just a little bit of a deliberate study does wonders. When I am studying anything I do It through english. But for latim I was surprised. I've found the best studying material in my own language, which is portuguese. There was a Guy here who wrote a latim grammar eighty years Ago. Twenty chapters in and the pieces ARE ALL coming together smoothly. Being a catholic country may have something to do with the prolific professors of latin here.
WTG Vin 🎉 I started to learn Latin, in an AZ prison, and was getting pretty good (at least at reading it) but then I got released (alas) upon 11 months. I almost bought a Rosetta Stone course but theyre too expensive ...
Asterix is great for learning language. It is funny, punny, and entertaining. The books make fun of the stereotypes of many countries. Highly entertaining and addictive.
That’s great to hear. I plan to try some out.
Good stuff. One question, did you do any grammar study or only natural method?
The companion book I read explained the grammar.
Makes sense. Thanks! @@revenantreads
Familia Romana is a great book. The thing with Latin is that at a certain point it gets really difficult if the learner hasn't established a good foundation in grammar. It's like you described, it's a swamp and you don't really get anywere, and motivation goes down. That's when one has to go back to basics and once and for all learn all the grammar paradigms, verb conjugations, verb themes (fero-tuli-latum-ferre), syntax etc. Also study latin word formation, vocabulary. It's lots of work but in my experience it can be quite fun. There are apps for it (Vice verba). Once the work is done, Latin becomes easier and one can progress past the last chapters in Familia Romana. It's also a good idea to learn the pronounciation because it's not that hard and one might just as well get it right from the beginnning. I also like to combine many textbooks, for example the Cambridge Latin Course, because I like the variety of the different approaches in the books.
Yes, based on my experience I fully agree with you. I’m still dabbling in Latin but I’m more focused on French at the moment. However, I may return to Latin at some point down the road and if I do I’ll focus more fully on grammar in the ways that you describe.
@@revenantreads I think the challenges come around chapter XX because of all the verb tenses that are introduced. They only use the present tense up to chapter 19, but then comes: future, past perfect, past imperfect, pluperfect, future perfect and other verb forms, and in later chapters everything again but now in the subjunctive. And all this to be mastered in the passive voice also. It's too much to keep track of and one has to start to give special attention to the grammar. I think it's a great book but at least for me I have to combine the natural method with a more traditional learning style.
Based on my experience, I agree as well. Going through LLPSI, but I have also gotten stuck around chapter 20. I find that just practicing grammatical paradigms is very helpful and have taken a bit of inspiration from the Dowling method in this respect.
Things definitely become more salient after some brute memorization, like knowing all the forms of pronouns, nouns etc. Moving onto verbs now, because that is what LLPSI starts introducing at this point in the book.
I agree with you entirely, Whatever you do should always be productive in some way. If you are not improving from it or learning from it, STOP IT!
After French, I suggest Italian. I've been studying Italian, have reached an advanced level, and have recently started a French course. As for Latin, I'm thinking of studying it due to my interest in both Italy and the Roman Empire.
I may dabble in more Romance languages, including Italian.
gratias tibi ago. Mihi nomen est Caius et brasilianus sum! linguam latinam amo.
Salve!
@@revenantreads salue, vir!
Wow, I was exposed to Latin at a 5th grade summer camp back in 2005. I stopped and recently picked it back up because I'm currently learning Italian. I was able to read your sentences fully. Good luck on your Latin journey!
@@mspennyisaac gratias tibi ago! Hablo español y un poco de inglés, pero es más difícil para mí hablarlo. Mi idioma nativo es portugués! Saludos desde Brasil!
No charlo latino pero me pregunto que puedes entender este sin problemas? No sé que tan parecido es el latín.
Hablo un poco de español. No necesito latín para entender.
You should try Latin by the Natural Method...better than Lingua Latina
I can see you hav'nt tried this one: ua-cam.com/video/_8iRFys7Hec/v-deo.html
So, what do you think about Lhommond's Historia Sacra ?
I tend to be motivated more by Classical Latin than Ecclesiastical, but it certainly looks like a helpful resource.
Die Bücher sehen alle sehr unbenutzt aus. My latin books like they are rubbish only ursede by the dustman. Read all these excellent books daily and you will succed in the end. Τελοσ.
It's "colloquia persōnārum". genitive plural.
Have you tried reading Bello Gallico by Julius Caesar? It's in relatively normal narrative prose Latin and it's very historically significant
I haven’t yet but I’ve heard it’s quite readable.