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OK, so day 2 of Andrew Riggsby's Caesar course at UT is done. And I've been biking to class so I'm totally wiped out now. But while riding I'm filtering through lots of thoughts, of things I want to do with my AP class, materials I want to make, details I want to pay even closer attention to in CLC, etc. I haven't organized my thoughts though I've been trying to. Perhaps it would be better if I just ramble on a bit.
First, I am keenly aware of how much I've grown as a reader of Latin. The class has mixed abilities, though a pretty able group. The things that get missed and are tripping people up are the same sorts of things I had problems with as an undergrad all those years ago. I swear that Dexter Hoyos's book _Latin: How to Read it Fluently_ (http://www.canepress.org/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=186) made such an extraordinary difference in my ability to read Latin, truly READ Latin. I am totally enjoying watching Caesar's Latin just unfold before me. There are some new patterns and idioms to learn, to be sure. There are things that perhaps I should l know (and perhaps once knew) that I'm picking up. But for the most part, this is enjoyable.
Second, I am once again reassured that I couldn't have a better textbook for my students than the Cambridge Latin Course. Both vocabulary choices, phrasing, the approach to teaching participles, the introduction of qui connectives, etc, all seems geared towards Caesar. And perhaps it was--I'm sure Caesar and Vergil were probably the authors for A & O levels in England back in the day.
Third, understanding, as I do from Hoyos, that things in a narrative happen in the order presented. We had a perfect sentence today that illustrated this and it totally made sense to me:
Helvetii ea spe deiecti navibus iunctis ratibusque compluribus factis, alii vadis Rhodani, qua minima altitudo fluminis erat, non numquam interdiu, saepius noctu si perrumpere possent conati, operis munitione et militum concursu et telis repulsi, hoc conatu destiterunt.
Who cares how long it took to get the main verb? Who cares how many participles there were? But everything happened in that order and it should and can be read that way. What I did learn today was that ea spe is an ablative of separation with deiecti. I should have probably known that or figured it out. It's certainly in CLC enough. I think I'll hunt it down now and see how it is used and defined first. I've always said "dejected by this hope" but knew that sounded awkward. Duh. But even "dejected/downcase from this hope" still sounds off. I *understand* what it means, I'm just not coming up with the best English. But that's the fault of English, not the Latin.
I guess I better start doing my homework soon. Must set up our FB study group first. At least I feel like I've finally recovered from my ride home!
First, I am keenly aware of how much I've grown as a reader of Latin. The class has mixed abilities, though a pretty able group. The things that get missed and are tripping people up are the same sorts of things I had problems with as an undergrad all those years ago. I swear that Dexter Hoyos's book _Latin: How to Read it Fluently_ (http://www.canepress.org/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=186) made such an extraordinary difference in my ability to read Latin, truly READ Latin. I am totally enjoying watching Caesar's Latin just unfold before me. There are some new patterns and idioms to learn, to be sure. There are things that perhaps I should l know (and perhaps once knew) that I'm picking up. But for the most part, this is enjoyable.
Second, I am once again reassured that I couldn't have a better textbook for my students than the Cambridge Latin Course. Both vocabulary choices, phrasing, the approach to teaching participles, the introduction of qui connectives, etc, all seems geared towards Caesar. And perhaps it was--I'm sure Caesar and Vergil were probably the authors for A & O levels in England back in the day.
Third, understanding, as I do from Hoyos, that things in a narrative happen in the order presented. We had a perfect sentence today that illustrated this and it totally made sense to me:
Helvetii ea spe deiecti navibus iunctis ratibusque compluribus factis, alii vadis Rhodani, qua minima altitudo fluminis erat, non numquam interdiu, saepius noctu si perrumpere possent conati, operis munitione et militum concursu et telis repulsi, hoc conatu destiterunt.
Who cares how long it took to get the main verb? Who cares how many participles there were? But everything happened in that order and it should and can be read that way. What I did learn today was that ea spe is an ablative of separation with deiecti. I should have probably known that or figured it out. It's certainly in CLC enough. I think I'll hunt it down now and see how it is used and defined first. I've always said "dejected by this hope" but knew that sounded awkward. Duh. But even "dejected/downcase from this hope" still sounds off. I *understand* what it means, I'm just not coming up with the best English. But that's the fault of English, not the Latin.
I guess I better start doing my homework soon. Must set up our FB study group first. At least I feel like I've finally recovered from my ride home!
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-05 02:33 pm (UTC)I wandered almost by acident to your site. Now, I know what I am going to be spending some regular time
reading in the future. I'm a retired (very) H.S. Latin teacher living in Portland. Or. If memory serves me,
you ran the Placement Service at UT a long time ago??
Have you done any writing about Latin pronunciation? Or, have you come across any good exposition of
the subject? I grew up learning and using the "Italian" pronunciation. (I refuse to label it "ecclesiastical" because
that is that would be like labelling koine Greek "ecclestical Greek")
The so-called classical pronunciation has always seemed so far-fetched to me. I wonder if there are any
good discussions of the pros and cons (as distinct from propagandist)?
Glad to have found this site. Thanks. Ray McCoy BTW does CLC stand for Cambridge Latin Course??
(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-26 10:29 pm (UTC)The best book on the subject of pronunciation is Vox Latina. Buck's Latin Grammar also has a great section on pronunciation. It explains why we believe classical pronunciation was the way it was. There really is a lot of evidence from inscriptions to how the rhetoric teachers described in linguistic terms how the mouth was shaped to make certain vowel sounds.
As for a medievalist pronunciation (if you don't like ecclesiastic), there are PLENTY of people (usually Jesuits), who use that. Half the folks that attend Rusticatio use the latter pronunciation. Whatever. You say potAto, I say potahto.