Hans Henning Ørberg (1920–2010)

This CD is one of the reasons I will NEVER get rid of my Mac Laptop. I like the Rosetta Stone version of Latin, but it can get boring quickly. Hans is never boring. I enjoy listening to passages in the texts as I read along, and it helps keep my pronunciation (and understanding) fresh. It isn't as though speakers of Latin are on every street corner.

This consists of two parts:

Familia Romana (fundamentals)
Roma Aeterna (advanced)

and has the two volumes of Exercitia Latina, Grammatica Latina, and texts of Roman authors (including the ever-present De bello Gallico).

I don't know that I'd recommend purchasing it, since it doesn't work with very recent MacOS, but if there's ever an update, or if you have an older Mac, it's a winner.… (més)

Although when one starts to work one's way through this Latin grammar and reader, it will seem like the Latin equivalent of "Dick and Jane" at first, this is by far the best introduction to Latin I've ever encountered. Orberg employs the Direct, or Natural Method of language instruction. Lingua Latina is entirely written in Latin. As the subtitle, "per se illustrata," states, this is Latin explained through itself. Through constant repetition, rephrasing, and the graduated addition of new and more complex grammar and vocabulary the student is immersed step by step in Latin. From the start you find yourself actually reading and understanding Latin without first having to translate the text into your native language, and without having first to memorize daunting paradigms of noun, pronoun, and adjective declensions and verb conjugations. You're having so much fun being able to understand Latin right from the get-go, you don't mind the "See Spot Run" simplicity of the first stories. The difference in using Orberg vs. traditional Latin grammars is the difference between reading with understanding right from the start and painstakingly decoding, as amother reviewer put it.

Most of the entertaining, simple stories, that Orberg wrote himself, center around a well-off Roman family and their household slaves. Through the adventures of the members of this household the reader is introduced to Roman life and culture, at least as Orberg understood it.

In addition to the stories, vocabulary and grammar are illuminated through notes (in Latin) and drawings in the margins. Each of the 35 chapters concludes with an easy to follow (Latin) explanation of the main grammar points introduced in the chapter, followed by three exercises. In the first, you just add the correct inflection to the words in the sentences; in the second, you add the correctly inflected words to the sentences; the third exercise is a series of questions about the story, that you answer by formulating your own Latin sentences. When you run into difficulty in completing the exercises, you learn what you don't know, and you can then go back and look up what you're confused about. These exercises can be done together with small groups of students in a classroom, or in a group of other Latin learners. In the back of the book are the usual, helpful paradigms of all the declensions and conjugations, the numerals, and all the vocabulary used in the text.

Start with this book if you want to learn Latin as painlessly as this difficult language can be learned. Orberg has also written a companion book of stories to those in the text, Colloquia Personarum. When you're ready to get into real Latin literature, Orberg has prepared a Pars II, which contains a graduated collection of classical Latin texts.… (més)

If this is the only Latin program you are using, the book would be useful to confirm your guess as to meaning. If you are used to a more formal program and are using Lingua Latina to get more translation practice, you may miss some features found in your main program, but will find it faster than looking things up in your big dictionary (and much better typefont than the out-of-print dictionaries scanned by googlebooks).)

Each page is in 4 columns. First and 3rd columns are lists of Latin vocab, 2nd and 4th corresponding English definition (1-3 words). Hard to line up word/def for people with astigmatism.

Macrons (long marks) are included. Verbs are listed under infinitive followed by 3rd & 4th parts. Nouns have genitive and gender. Part of speech is NOT given, except prepositions are marked prp + case. Irregular parts do NOT have separate entries. Does NOT indicate chapter where word is first used.… (més)