Thursday, May 15, 2008

Some helpful Latin sites

(photo by Vautrin_Baires)

Here is free web-based course to learn medieval Latin - which is almost identical to classical Latin, but there are a few slight grammatical differences as well as some different vocabulary. This site is run by the British National Archives.

Here is a helpful site from St. Louis University. Lots of university level handouts, charts, and exercises. SLU is a Jesuit university. Need I say more? Similarly, here is a link to Fr. Reggie Foster's Latin class (Fr. Reggie is the Vatican's chief Latinist) through one of his students, Fr. Gary Coulter. Also, here is the Vatican's collection of writings in Latin.

Here is a fantastic blogsite with outstanding links. The Latin-English parsing dictionary called Words is a work of genius, and is a must-have (and it's free, and can be downloaded and run locally). And here is a Windows interface for the Words program.

Here is a ton of Latin texts and textbooks, from beginner to advanced, all free, all in the public domain, all for download in pdf. This one is a gem! Also a gem is this online library of ancient and not-so-ancient Latin texts. And if you'd like to read the actual Latin scrolls, check this out! Poetry lovers, don't miss this line-by-line parallel collection of poems by Catullus.

Classicist Dr. Laura Gibbs has some really helpful ideas, such as learning Latin through proverbs (including audio), through fables, as well as through the Vulgate (the Latin Bible).

Here is a site of free MP3s of the Bible in Latin and Greek. Note: the Latin pronunciation is based on the rules of modern Spanish and the New Testament (Koine) Greek is pronounced according to modern Greek. For those who want an excellent Vulgate-English online tool (that even parses!), it is online, and can be downloaded and run locally as well.

Ephemeris is a Latin web-based newspaper, that also has some audio on some of the stories. The Finnish Broadcasting Company has a podcast of its shortwave news program in Latin. Here is a blog of weekly news in Latin. Here is another podcast, of Latin readings. Here is a collection of photographs of Latin inscriptions from flickr. And if you're really ambitious, check out this Latin webring.

I would be remiss if I didn't point you to what is, in my opinion, the very best Latin course ever, in which you learn Latin by jumping in with both feet and reading Latin. This is the course I'm using with my middle school students, and they are doing great! This course, by Danish scholar Hans Oerberg, has even replaced the standard Wheelock course at Concordia University - Chicago.

Please feel free to comment with other sites and helpful hints! I know this barely scratches the surface, and with the internet, we never run out of useful tools for teachers and students alike.

Bona fortuna, discipuli!

7 comments:

Fr. Gregory Hogg said...

Thanks, Fr. Hollywood--great post! A couple of things:

1. The modern Greek pronunciation is, apparently, a lot closer to classical than the Erasmian pronunciation we learned.
2. Another great source for Latin and Greek is www.perseus.tufts.edu.

Pr. H. R. said...

All these are available on Google Books for free download. I'm teaching the wee ones (5 and 3) with these until they are ready for Orberg.

Fenton's First Latin Book
Latin Lessons by Sarah Coleridge (poems that teach vocabulary)
Adler's A Practical Grammar of the Latin Language with Perpetual Exercises for Speaking and Writing.

The site all must know: http://archimedes.fas.harvard.edu/pollux/
It's Lewis & Short - and LSJ and Grimm and all the other Big Dictionaries online (much better, faster, etc., than Perseus' version of the dictionaries)!

And here's a great drill: Bennett's exercises in a downloadable program, one of the many good things from the SLU link Fr. Hollywood mentioned.

Pro lutheranos, qui litteras Latinas legit: http://profitens.blogspot.com/

Sum auctor? Minime - sed gaudeo, quod ille 'baptizatus' in numero amicorum meorum est.

Vale!
+HRC

Rev. Larry Beane said...

Gregory:

Excellent! I had forgotten about Perseus. I'll have to add that to the list. Thank you!

Also, I ran across a Koine audio Bible here (this is the link at CBD), and it is read in modern Greek.

I wonder if this is becoming a trend? If so, I think it's great! Greek is a living language, so whay not speak it as modern Greeks do? A teacher colleague of mine listened to a little of an audio program I have of Biblical Greek, and she (being Greek) found the pronunciation funny. That's because it has no basis in reality.

Rev. Larry Beane said...

Dear Heath (?):

Thank you! You can even search Google Books by language.

And thanks as well for the other resources.

Pax Domini nostri Jesu Christi tecum!

The Bent Branch said...

And, of course, the Latinum Podcast
http://latinum.mypodcast.com
This site has one of the largest collections of freely available Latin audio online, and hundreds of lessons to boot.

Rev. Eric J Brown said...

Dr. Gibbs was one of my profs at OU - she put together a biblical greek class for me my last year - we went over Croy's primer of biblical Greek, and then all read sermons by St. Basil in the Greek. Great fun.

And she was quite pleased when she found out I finally got around to taking Latin at the Sem.

Pr. H. R. said...

Sic, Pater Sanctasilva: sum hic.

Nescio quare cognomen solum videtur in Blogger, et non nomen mei.

Vale,
+HRC