Learning Latin the Ancient Way

Ordinato su richiesta . Arrivato.qualche giorno più tardi rispetto i tempi stabiti ma la cosa non ha compromesso l esito.dell'acquisto

This is a book that shows a large number of texts that were used to teach latin and greek to speak one of those languages to ancients who spoke the other natively. The texts generally have a latin column and either Dr Dickey's English translation, or in some cases just a Greek column, or all three. It is surprising how many of these school texts survived from antiquity. I find it to be an important record of life in the Roman Empire as well as a nice adjunct to my study of latin and greek, but as these texts were designed to help people who lived 2000 years ago, one should not expect them to be 100% directed toward modern students. Dr Dickey's discussion of each text is illuminating and fun to read. And although the book is a bit pricey, I feel that it is worth it, if your goal is to learn how languages were taught 2000 years ago. If you aren't sure what this is all about, you can search Eleanor Dickey on YouTube and you'll at least one talk that isn't related to this book, as well as a 1 hrs or so talk that is about the work in this book. I was sold after listening to that talk and have not been let down in any way. If you are looking for a book that will teach you latin using some of the insights from these ancient manuscripts, I would recommend that you pre-order her upcoming book that is actually going to be a latin textbook with lots of nice features, like dialogs, readings, grammar discussions, vocabularies, etc

The book has a little of everything. One thing I really liked was that the first 50 pages (pp. 10-60) had lots of everyday words like esurio - I am hungry. Now these words are in dictionaries and no doubt in phrase books, but the nice thing is that one does not have to worry about authenticity, i.e. whether the phrases are some modern writer's own simple translation or something extracted from surviving texts. The Latin grammar in these phrases is also of a lower level, which means that students who have not finished grammar can read and use them. The later examples of Latin in the book, while more advanced, are also less strenuous examples and could still be used easily for teaching. (As opposed to the Asterix series where gerunds, gerundives, and other advanced forms are freely found throughout the text. I love reading Asterix, but it does take a bit of work to reach that level of grammar.) Each Latin text is accompanied by explanations of the language, the content, and/or the context. Thus even someone who's Latin was too weak to read the passages could enjoy reading just the commentary if they were were interested in everyday Roman life. In conclusion, this is a good book for someone who wants to learn how to speak Latin and to better understand daily life. But for those who have their hearts set on reading the classics like Cicero and Horace, the level of the Latin is going to be too low and the explanations will probably not enhance the reading of such authors.

This book is absolutely fascination. Not only does it show how educated Romans spoke, but it also say a lot about what they talked about. So many topics are covered, and so many fascinating details of everyday life are revealed. Each conversation is is given a thorough introduction, so each conversation is fully commented on. The original works contained in the medieval manuscripts from which these dialogues are extracted go back to the first and second centuries. A rare look at authentic, every-day conversational Latin.

Love this thin little book! Eleanor Dickey has been editing some of the ancient textbooks ('colloquies') of Greek and Latin from the ancient world, books that shed a most interesting light on that world (just as a phrase-book for the Victorian traveller casts a light on the real and imagined complexities of living in the ninteenth century). Dickey has distilled much of her published work on these works (as well as using texts published by others or yet unpublished) to give us a glimpse of an ancient Latin-learner's world (which is to say a Greek-speaker's view of a Latin world), even for those with no Latin as - in ancient fashion - the earlier chapters have facing-page translations, English rather than Greek, though there is a chapter later in the book with a few dialogues with their original Greek facing texts. Some chapters have ancient vocabulary lists, words to do with sacrifice, say, or drama, which again allows us to focus on what Greek-speakers felt they needed to know. In addition, the volume can be used as a practical textbook by those wishing to speak Latin, and form an interesting counterpoint to Erasmus' Renaissance colloquies.