Lingua Latina: Pars I--Exercitia Latina I

Lingua Latina is composed entirely in Latin. It tells a story, beginning with simple, declarative sentences, and moving up to more complex sentences as you progress. This method allows you to acquire Latin intuitively, without conscious effort.

There are no rules to memorize, no tables or charts (except a couple in the appendix, if you are curious). You develop skill with the language by practice, by experiencing actual Latin sentences that say something you can understand. In this way, you develop an intuitive sense of what sounds correct, not by looking up a suffix in a chart.

Lingua Latina is the modern, proven method of rapid language acquisition, not the old-fashioned, formal "drill and kill" way of studying a language by memorizing its grammar and rules. I do not believe it is possible to acquire the use of a language by merely studying its formal rules. That's a form of language appreciation, perhaps, or a kind of basic linguistic study, but it does not help you communicate. It is possible to study formal grammar rules for many years and never experience what it is like to think in a new language.

The best part about the Hans Orberg method presented in Lingua Latina is that you begin thinking in Latin from the very beginning. As a beginner, one's range of Latin-based thought is, of course, relatively simple (e.g., "Roma est in Italia."). But as you move on, you soon find yourself immersed in the language, and that you do not have to consciously translate each word into English to understand. In fact, that process of word-by-word translation is not only boring and unpleasant, but affirmatively counterproductive.

Once I experienced that feeling of thinking entirely in Latin, I was hooked.

Maybe it's me, but I have a hard time learning languages. I learned only one language as a child, rendering me totally and utterly monolinguistic. I've tried learning languages using various methods, but none struck me as particularly effective.

So when I found the need to have some familiarity with Latin, I looked at Latin language books and courses, and rejected one after the other as being too similar to previous failed attempts. Lingua Latina, however, is different. I admit, I took a chance on this one without being able to preview or sample it (hint hint, Hans), but I am glad I did!

It's Dick and Jane for Latin. Rather than memorize lists of words and their meanings in your native language, Lingua Latina contains only Latin, starts off with very simple sentences, makes you think about each word, and requires you to figure out what each word means by context. Here's a brief example from the very beginning of the book:

"Roma in Italia est. Italia in Europa est. Graecia in Europa est. Italia et Graecia in Europa sunt."

Since we bootstrap off words in English that should already be known to you, and that are the same or similar in Latin, it is obvious what these sentences mean. And once you get through those, it usually becomes obvious what new words mean, and what contexts to use them in.

The cases and declinations of verbs and nouns are not given to you as in other language books: like a punch in the face using a table and a stern admonition to memorize the endings. Lingua Latina lets you thoroughly understand one case or declination before moving on to another. As the knowledge builds, the reading becomes easier and easier.

Each chapter consists of a reading, marginal notes (in Latin) and pictures to explain concepts that may not necessarily be clear from the text, a grammatical summary (in Latin), and three types of tests at the end of each chapter: endings, vocabulary, and comprehension. Together these cement the knowledge gained through the reading.

There is not a speck of non-Latin in this book except for the copyright page.

My only beef with Lingua Latina is that some of the words are not so obvious from context. Because of this, I would recommend either a Latin dictionary, or, better yet, the program "Latin Words" (free from http://users.erols.com/whitaker/words.htm). The program allows you to type in a Latin word including its ending, and gives you back the meaning, plus case, number, gender, and so on.

Also, a warning: unless your native language is Latin-derived (as English is), you will probably not get anything out of this book, since your language and Latin are probably alien to each other, and there would not be enough overlap for you to make sense out of the Latin.

I'm extremely satisfied with Lingua Latina! Carpe Linguam Latinam!

Great book for everyone because it teaches Latin in Latin.

What I like it most is the fact that you learn the language as a live language, and not only by reading classic authors from an ancient era.

But on my study I keep changing from Lingva Latina and Gramatica Latina (Prof. Napoleão Mendes de Almeida, in Portuguese), because sometimes I think it is better to know why you are doing or saying the language in a particular way.


In Lingva Latina, first you learn how to speak, for later (and for me too later) learn why you say that way.

Buy Lingva Latina and get satisfied up to the last cent you paid it.

---- PT-BR -----------------

Se você quer aprender latim falando latim, esse é o livro. Lingva Latina é um livro de latim todo escrito em latim. Se você não está interessado em ter outro idioma servindo de elo de união entre você e o latim (nem mesmo sua língua mãe), então é só comprar.


Eu só não gosto do fato de muitas vezes ele ensinar o como falar sem explicar o porquê de falar assim. Por isto eu sempre fico alternando entre ele e a Gramática Latina do Prof. Napoleão Mendes de Almeida, que é a melhor gramática em português que você pode encontrar. Está a venda na Livraria Saraiva.


Lingva Latina vale cada centavo gasto nela. Bom estudo.

This the best course of latin that I have heard of. User-friendly, dynamic and above all a real intelectual pleasure.
Worth every cent.

Alex C Tort

I like it very much. You can learn Latin no matter what nationality you are and what is your native language. It's written in Latin only and perfectly works.