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I'm thinking of dipping my toe into Latin. Spanish is still my priority, so this is a trial run to see if I can fit Latin in.

My plan of attack:

Stage 1

Listen to a lot of Latin in the Reformed Classical pronunciation. I'm not going to try to understand anything at this point, just trying to accustom my ears to what Latin is supposed to sound like.

Sources:
Scorpio Martinus
Latinum Institute

Stage 2

Latin according to the Dowling Method, with accompanying recordings, and making anki flashcards of all the conjugations, declensions etc.

Also might work through the "So you really want to learn latin" series by N.R.R. Oulton, again making anki cards.

Stage 3

Lingua Latina: Pars I: Familia Romana.

Stage 4

Who knows. If I get this far I'll be very pleased.

Any advice welcome.

samfrances wrote:Stage 2

Latin according to the Dowling Method, with accompanying recordings, and making anki flashcards of all the conjugations, declensions etc.

When I started learning Latin, I too read Dowling's essay and was persuaded to memorize all noun, adjective and verb forms, as preparation for reading Orberg's LLPSI. If you find all that memorization to be tedious (as I certainly did), it's good to know that the first half of LLPSI is entirely in the present tense: which means that you could dive into LLPSI and read all the way up to chapter 18 after memorizing just 8 verb conjugation tables, instead of all 80! I really wish I had known that when starting out.

Beosweyne wrote:

samfrances wrote:Stage 2

Latin according to the Dowling Method, with accompanying recordings, and making anki flashcards of all the conjugations, declensions etc.

When I started learning Latin, I too read Dowling's essay and was persuaded to memorize all noun, adjective and verb forms, as preparation for reading Orberg's LLPSI. If you find all that memorization to be tedious (as I certainly did), it's good to know that the first half of LLPSI is entirely in the present tense: which means that you could dive into LLPSI and read all the way up to chapter 18 after memorizing just 8 verb conjugation tables, instead of all 80! I really wish I had known that when starting out.

Thanks @Beosweyne. To be honest , its not a very appealing method. If the Michel Thomas company or Pimsleur would release a Latin course that taught you in all the patterns without rote drill, I would be very happy! I have considered trying to create such a resource by making anki cards with similar sorts of questions, but I would need the help of a teacher to make sure that the sentences I construct for this are correct. Also, I'm far from clear I have a good enough understanding of the didactic principles behind these courses.

If you're looking for an alternative, I have worked through Assimil's "Lingua Latina sine Molestia" (book + audio) and found it to be an excellent introduction. It's in French though. But it so happens that there's a free online course based on this book, where they provide not only an English translation of the French portions, but also extra recordings by a well-known Latinist. The course began a week ago, so I don't know whether registrations are still open. Here is the course web page in case you're interested:
http://avitus.alcuinus.net/schola_latina/info1_en.php

Hi!, Latin teacher here!

Just so you know, a part from Luke Rainieri, nobody in the Living Latin scene advocates for the Dowling Method. In the school where I studied you would have been expelled for proposing it.

As has been said, LLPSI was made precisely so that you could read it and understand it without having to memorize anything in advance.

You can find more about the method here.

The guys at the Latin reddit have made a list of discussion threads where this subject is discussed (I recommend that you read this and this).

If you want my advice, I'd say to skip stage 2 entirely, as you will learn everything step-by-step in stage 3.

Beosweyne wrote:If you're looking for an alternative, I have worked through Assimil's "Lingua Latina sine Molestia" (book + audio) and found it to be an excellent introduction. It's in French though. But it so happens that there's a free online course based on this book, where they provide not only an English translation of the French portions, but also extra recordings by a well-known Latinist. The course began a week ago, so I don't know whether registrations are still open. Here is the course web page in case you're interested:
http://avitus.alcuinus.net/schola_latina/info1_en.php

Thanks! If only they published the Assimil in English or Spanish, I might be in with a chance! I wonder if Google Translate is good enough to translate the French portions to English reliably?

Unfortunately the course requires me to understand French, Italian or German. Unless Assimil talks a lot about Haustier and what I did in der Sommerferien, I may be out of luck .

indeclinable wrote:Hi!, Latin teacher here!

Just so you know, a part from Luke Rainieri, nobody in the Living Latin scene advocates for the Dowling Method. In the school where I studied you would have been expelled for proposing it.

As has been said, LLPSI was made precisely so that you could read it and understand it without having to memorize anything in advance.

You can find more about the method here.

The guys at the Latin reddit have made a list of discussion threads where this subject is discussed (I recommend that you read this and this).

If you want my advice, I'd say to skip stage 2 entirely, as you will learn everything step-by-step in stage 3.

Thanks! The qualities people ascribe to Lingua Latina seem almost magical, so it would be interesting to find out if its true as an experiment! And it would save a lot of rote work.

That first article also recommends a book called "Forum: Speaking Latin as a Living Language". Do you recommend that too?

Yes, but only if you have someone to speak with, as it is focused exclusively in spoken Latin in living everyday situations. So if you are on your own you're going to have to talk to yourself like a madman in order to make it work, but it is a very good reference to get vocabulary for everyday stuff.

In the Latin reddit there's a link to a discord server that has a very active and friendly community of self-learners that use LLPSI.

The best way to put to the test LLPSI is to jump right into it.

indeclinable wrote:Yes, but only if you have someone to speak with, as it is focused exclusively in spoken Latin in living everyday situations. So if you are on your own you're going to have to talk to yourself like a madman in order to make it work, but it is a very good reference to get vocabulary for everyday stuff.

In the Latin reddit there's a link to a discord server that has a very active and friendly community of self-learners that use LLPSI.

The best way to put to the test LLPSI is to jump right into it.

I already walk around saying Spanish phrases to myself, so I can't look any odder than I already do!

Just started the Schola Latina course based on Assimil. I'm rushing to catch up, as I'm a few weeks late to the party. Currently I'm doing this entirely passively - I'm not speaking aloud at this point. I don't know if this is the best way to use assimil - I know it instructs you to speak aloud, but I reason that I can always go back and start speaking later.