On this Divine Mercy Sunday, I want to pass along another tidbit for those interested in learning Latin. I've added this post and more to the sidebar section called, "Got Latin?"You may remember I asked readers about the Rosetta Stone Latin program which I got some excellent feedback from a commenter:
I've actually had a desire to learn Latin since I was in my teens. I attempted once, but did not have the proper text for self-learning. I think that may have changed. I have the first book above and was trying to spend just 15 minutes daily with it, but ran into one problem: No way to check the answers. That is, until I found the answer book online....
The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) has not only the Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin book by Collins at the Fraternity Publications page, but the answer book needed if you are engaging in self-study. It also has the Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin on the same page.
However, if you spend any time at the blog of Fr. Z, you will know that he says you should have a Lewis and Short Latin Dictionary as wel.
I would pay close attention to Fr. Z's PRAYERCAzT, which can help with proper accents and pronounciation. Puulllleeeeeeeaaase - don't Americanize it with the awful sounding Yayzooo Kwreeestooooo. Make it dignified with Yehzu Kdddistu (ok, so poke fun at my phonetic spelling! I've been rolling R's since I learned Croatian while living abroad for over 2 years and I can tell you, just think a string of d's and you will roll your R's. It prevents you from twisting your lips like you do in English. It's all a matter of making the dddd sound with your tongue).
It is classical pronunciation, Not ecclesiastical pronunciation. NOT strong on grammar. Good for spoken Latin and vocab. Very expensive.So I think the Collins books will be a good place to start this year. We want to teach our kids basic Latin for the Mass, especially the boys to help when they start serving. Not sure if we will ever try Rosetta Stone or not.
