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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Latin
You came. You saw. You conquered Latin! You're no idiot, of course. You know that Latin is anything but a "dead" language. Latin lives all around us -- in commonly used phrases, professional life, and at the very roots of what we say. You'd like a solid background in Latin, but when it comes to unraveling the complexities of this ancient and expressive language, you feel like a barbarian at the gates of Rome.
Don't torch your toga just yet! The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Latin is a comprehensive tool that will help you steer through the basics -- without falling asleep at the wheel. In this Complete Idiot's Guide, you'll get:
400 pages, Paperback
First published June 23, 2000
23 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 27, 2008
Helpful.
August 13, 2010
Why not!
January 6, 2020
Reading a book like this was an amazing experience that provided me the opportunity to learn a new language. It was an interactive book but because I had borrowed it I was unable to do all the learning activities. I was intrigued to learn of all these latin roots that we use everyday without even knowing, especially when it comes to school. Latin is such a beautiful language that is sadly not being used much anymore. Though it's use has been decreasing it is still a largely important language and learning it will help in very specific aspects of your life. I give this a five out of five due to its potential usefulness.
December 31, 2018
Even though according to Goodreads I have finished this book, I have only scratched the surface! I will continue to use this book to learn Latin and I got an App too and am practicing every day! I already know days of the week, numbers to 12 and some colors!!!
May 12, 2017
Too much focus on grammatical rules that I don't even know in English, not enough focus on modern use in science, medicine, and common phrases in Latin.
March 27, 2016
Most of this book is an extended pep-talk about grammar and is excessively dull. It's not a textbook, but it's hard to say what it is beyond describing it as a "confused mess".
Probably the most interesting part of this comes at the start of chapter 1, entitled Why Learn Latin? Horwood asserts that Latin "increases your English vocabulary" and "helps you learn about history". If the former is true, it's not the most efficient way of achieving this aim, and latter seems useful only if you have the burning desire to read some primary historical texts from ancient Rome. No other reasons however are offered, even though other Latinists do often try to otherwise justify themselves.
Instead in this chapter, like the best lawyers and politicians, Harwood fails to answer her own question, blithely telling you what you should do at a dinner party if someone teases you for learning a dead language. According to the author you should assert that it's not dead. This is simply untrue - the author is basically lying to you and is encouraging you to tell lies to your friends, which clearly isn't a good idea ( Lying ). An entirely reasonable response would be to admit that you have a bizarre esoteric interest in learning a useless dead language. Most people have esoteric interests; it's what makes us human. But Latinists can't admit this.
Latinists (followers of political Latinism) however are often not honest and straightforward with themselves - (self-deception the The Folly of Fools . Perhaps therefore you should add to your defence "it's an esoteric interest of mine, but I'm quite a well-rounded and balanced individual, and therefore unlike many political Latinists, I realise the inappropriacy of foisting Latin instruction onto kids".
Or you could just not waste your time with Latin.
Probably the most interesting part of this comes at the start of chapter 1, entitled Why Learn Latin? Horwood asserts that Latin "increases your English vocabulary" and "helps you learn about history". If the former is true, it's not the most efficient way of achieving this aim, and latter seems useful only if you have the burning desire to read some primary historical texts from ancient Rome. No other reasons however are offered, even though other Latinists do often try to otherwise justify themselves.
Instead in this chapter, like the best lawyers and politicians, Harwood fails to answer her own question, blithely telling you what you should do at a dinner party if someone teases you for learning a dead language. According to the author you should assert that it's not dead. This is simply untrue - the author is basically lying to you and is encouraging you to tell lies to your friends, which clearly isn't a good idea ( Lying ). An entirely reasonable response would be to admit that you have a bizarre esoteric interest in learning a useless dead language. Most people have esoteric interests; it's what makes us human. But Latinists can't admit this.
Latinists (followers of political Latinism) however are often not honest and straightforward with themselves - (self-deception the The Folly of Fools . Perhaps therefore you should add to your defence "it's an esoteric interest of mine, but I'm quite a well-rounded and balanced individual, and therefore unlike many political Latinists, I realise the inappropriacy of foisting Latin instruction onto kids".
Or you could just not waste your time with Latin.
July 26, 2014
Useful primer but not the type of book I could read cover to cover.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews