Starting Latin in school in the fall :)

[corleoned]

(First off, I love this community and am so happy it exists <3

Comments

[x_uhlyssuh]

Latin will be like German, in that it has cases. The nominative, genitive, accusative, dative, and ablative. The nominative in Latin is the same as German, it's used for the subject. The genitive is used for possession mostly. The accusative is the direct object, and prepositions that show motion towards something. The dative is the indirect object mostly, and then the ablative is pretty much the 'junk case' in Latin, with probably about 20+ uses. It is used for prepositions that show motion away from something.

Hope that helps!

P.S I'm a Classics Major too, so I could be a Latin buddy. :D (I've also taken Greek!)

[corleoned]

Ooooo thank you! 83 I just changed my major from World Literature to a probably double major in Classics and Literature, so it's nice to have someone around who knows the ropes before I dive in :) Which did you find more difficult in learning, Latin or Greek, out of curiosity?

[x_uhlyssuh]

I thought that Greek was harder, if only because the Greek verb system is a pain in the butt. :C Latin verbs will have 4 forms, or principle parts, and Greek verbs will have 6. The Latin verbs all follow a system, and there are maybe 8 irregular verbs (plus their compounds!), but the Greek verbs are just all over the place. I have a one page handout from a professor that has most of the regular Greek verbs.

[corleoned]

Oh my gosh, I'm LOVING the lack of irregular verbs, LOL! XD Do you have recommendations for any sites to look at on the 'net before the fall for beginner Latin, or possibly just sites you found helpful in your studies? :)

[pikku_gen]

I study both French, Spanish and Latin, and I think the grammar for Spanish and Latin is almost the same, especially on verbs. (Ugh, I should start revising both before the uni starts again.)

[paintinglilies]

Be prepared to encounter a number of difficulties learning the cases, as x_uhlyssuh already said. It's something you will need to learn by heart. Since Latin is based on translations only, it might get a bit rough sometimes but it's worth it. Sometimes it's very important to have enough background knowledge to be able to translate.
I found it very tiring to learn all the words by heart but it's the only way to learn the language - make sure to spend as much time as you can on learning words from flashcards!

I also found that Spanish was similar to Latin in some ways. I guess Italian must make it even easier for you :) I'm German, by the way. That probably explains why I didn't have too much trouble with the cases.

[corleoned]

LOL that's good to know, thank you! <3 That's what I figured; a lot of Latin I have looked at does directly translate in my head, thanks to my Spanish/Italian :) -cheers- xD

[lysimache]

(Latin teacher; have taught college-level introductory Latin

[corleoned]

That's a really smart idea; The textbook website doesn't list the text, but that's definitely a smart idea. :3 I only fly in on the end of the month, but my brother lives in that city, so hopefully I can contact the department secretary and see if he can pick it up for me ahead of time, so I can take a look at it the weekend before school starts. :)

Thanks for the information. From the Latin I have looked at, I can usually translate parts of it in my head just from the romance languages, as you said. And that's what I've assumed too; in my German and Italian classes I took there, it was mostly along the same lines of grammar for introduction classes, although like you said, it's not exactly like you're going to be speaking conversational Latin.

But thank you! -hugs- I'll be sure to bribe my brother into picking that up for me, LOL XD

[dragondances]

I was a Classical Studies major, which was more cultural than linguistic, but I loved learning Latin. The main thing our professor always told us was that if a word *looks* like a word in English (or, as a fellow French speaker, in French) it very likely is that word, or at least something similar. 60% of English words come from Latin or Greek, according to him, so you've got a lot of overlap.

Also, as everyone else has said: cases. Expect to make a lot of tables of verbs and all their various incarnations, and do a lot of memorization. But the difference between Latin and other languages is that almost all of what you do is translation into English. Usually if you go through each sentence and translate all the words you know, you can get enough of the gist to translate the rest of the sentence, and it's a lot easier than getting tripped up by one or two specific words whose case seems like an arcane puzzle.

Good luck, in any case! It looks like you'd have plenty of support here if you ever need it!

[corleoned]

That's what I figured from the Latin I've taken a look at; a lot of it translates directly in my head to other languages, so I think it's good I have that basis :)

Oooooh, thank you for filling me in! And awww, so sweet :) -hugs- Thanks so much!