Learn Latin: A Lively Introduction to Reading the Language

by Peter V. Jones

Taken from the 'QED' series of teach-yourself Latin articles published in the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph, this book aims to give its readers a basic knowledge of Latin in a short space of time. It covers just enough to give a basic understanding of Latin, and to enable readers to read and understand parts of the Bayeux Tapestry, the love poetry of Catullus, or Saint Jerome's 'Vulgate'. This book also aims to give a deeper understanding of modern European languages, such as English, French, Spanish, and Italian, through an understanding of the ancient language at their heart.

Genres: Language, Reference, Linguistics, Nonfiction, Education

Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Peter Jones (sometimes credited as Peter V. Jones) is a former lecturer in Classics at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, a writer and journalist. Jones has regularly written on Classics for major newspapers, and was awarded the MBE in 1983. He is a Cambridge graduate.

Jones' popular work has been focused on introducing new generations to Ancient Rome and Greece, from newspaper columns to crossword collections, popular non-fiction, and charitable organisations devoted to helping keep Classics subjects in schools.

Reviews

[Koen Crolla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty traditional Latin course; would be a nice little book if it didn't also include constant insufferable banter. Latin instructors believing themselves to be great wits against all evidence is, of course, also traditional, but most I've had have at least also had the decency to be likeable.
On the topic of tradition, the historical context provided in the ``The world of Rome'' sections in most chapters is both ahistorical and reactionary; par for the course for the '90s, though Jones does occasionally take it well beyond the expected. I didn't mail in £14 for the audio-cassette tape (I doubt the offer still stands), so I can't judge his pronunciation; the brief pronunciation section in the introduction is relatively unobjectionable but also inadequate. I'm kind of disappointed he didn't go with the traditional English pronunciation—would have suited The Daily Telegraph.
Does this book include everything you need to know to read Latin? No, of course—it's too short and limited by its bizarre goal of having you read the Bayeux tapestry, the Carmina Burana, and the Vulgate (the first two of which aren't even in Classical Latin). It does cover a surprising amount of grammar quite well, and is the perfect length for people who just want to dip their toes in; critically, nothing in it would have to be unlearned if you subsequently went on to a more substantial course. It's just a shame it was written by Peter Jones and for The Daily Telegraph.

[Jeroen Berndsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ik zelf redelijk taalgevoelig aangelegd, maar toch ben ik met beide pogingen na een week afgehaakt. Ik weet niet of dit aan Jones ligt, ik denk het niet, maar ik vond het wel apart. Zijn schrijfstijl is erg grappig en de oefeningen zijn in het begin niet moeilijk, maar als die conjugaties komen wordt het opeens wel erg pittig. Het is echt een simpele beginnerscursus, maar je moet wel oefenen en je aandacht erbij hebben, anders is een boek snel even weggelegd om vervolgens niet snel meer opgepakt te worden.[return][return]NBD|Biblion: [return]In dit vlot vertaalde en geestig geschreven boekje wordt voor absolute beginners in het Latijn en voor mensen die hun kennis willen opfrissen, een basis-cursus Latijn geboden voor zelfstudie. Het doel is een niveau waarop de ijverige student de Carmina Burana (dertiende eeuw) kan lezen, de teksten op het tapijt van Bayeux (elfde eeuw) kan ontcijferen, enkele gedichten van Catullus (eerste eeuw v. Chr.) kan begrijpen en de Latijnse vertaling van de bijbel door Hieronymus kan lezen. Deze doelstelling toont al meteen de originele aanpak van de cursus, die niet uitsluitend de bekende Latijnse 'school' auteurs op het oog heeft, maar een bredere interesse in het Latijn ten toon spreidt. Het boek komt voort uit een doe-het-zelf cursus Latijn in wekelijkse krantenafleveringen en is er op gericht een brede groep mensen enthousiast te maken, en te houden, voor het Latijn als taal, en zijn invloed op de moderne talen, en voor de Romeinse cultuur. De lessen zijn volgens een vast patroon opgebouwd: grammatica, oefeningen (met antwoorden ter controle), een korte beschouwing over een aspect van de Romeinse geschiedenis of cultuur, en een 'taalspel' over de invloed van het Latijn op andere talen (o.a. het Nederlands).

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a straightforward introduction to Latin, tailored to fit into a weekly newspaper column in England during the late 90's. The author did his best to make the process enjoyable and is unashamedly silly throughout the book. His sense of humor is corny but is so much to that extreme that it is actually funny. Despite the half-serious approach he takes the reader on a serious study of the language and did an effective job of teaching me many of the basics.

The aim of the book is to make the reader able to read segments from classic poetry and religious works (from the Vulgate) by the end of 20 short lessons. The book covers the eight verb tenses (present active, present passive, imperfect active, imperfect passive, perfect active, perfect passive, pluperfect active, and pluperfect passive) as well as some irregulars, the three declension forms for nouns and adjectives, and a decent chunk of vocabulary (enough to cover the poetry and Vulgate passages at least). Considering the complexity the restrictions of weekly newspaper column format, the author does a good job of making the language approachable, in a "dummy's guide" way. Each lesson ends with a few paragraphs of "did you know" information on Roman or Latin language history, and many of these were quite interesting.

The flaws in the book I believe are just sloppiness due to poor proofreading. There were about a dozen typos or omissions that could have been caught with perhaps a second pair of eyes, and a couple are somewhat crucial. I spent a minute or so on some of these, wondering what I did wrong in the exercise and then realized the author goofed up on what he wrote. One case of "world" instead of "word", another case where an answer to a 'translate this' type of passage in Latin was left out, and a couple other similar errors. It wasn't fraught with errors, just sloppier and with more typos than the average book. The only real criticism I had was there were times where the complexity of a topic was such that the lesson needed to be longer than the newspaper column format allowed and as a result the lesson suffered from being shortened.

[Gille Liath · Rating 2 out of 5]

In case we were in any doubt about what a colossal Old Fart he is, Peter Jones tells us at one point that poetry in English ought to rhyme – which puts him at least 400 years behind the times. It’s not a surprise, therefore, that his approach to teaching Latin is very much the tried-and-failed Public School* one, of simply hammering declensions into the pupil’s head by repetition.

For this approach to have even a slight chance of working, it is probably essential that the teacher is actually standing over you, cane in hand. As it is, then, I doubt if there is any possibility of learning Latin from this book. Littered with lame donnish jokes and facetiousness, it is probably aimed at poshos nostalgic for their schooldays (after all it was first serialised in the Daily Telegraph); for the average normal person, the best you can say about it is that it includes a certain amount of useful raw material.

*For the benefit of any American reading this review: in England, the poshest private schools are called, bizarrely, Public schools; not to be confused with ordinary, public-sector schools.

[Aza · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in middle school and am rereading now. It's a great place to start for any age.

[Paul Mojaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful for deciding whether or not to really study latin

[Marloes D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dit boekje is geschikt om met zelfstudie je Latijn op te halen. Het is humoristisch geschreven en er staat ook achtergrondinformatie over de cultuur in. Ook wordt er aandacht besteed aan het Tapijt van Bayeux, de Carmina Burana en de Vulgaat. De uitleg van grammatica is echter beknopt en incompleet en dus niet geschikt voor beginners. Ook staan er oefeningen met antwoorden in zodat je zelf kan controleren of je het goed hebt gedaan maar hier staan soms rare zinnen tussen. Bijvoorbeeld "Quid lunae dicis, lunatice?" Humor mag maar het moet wel serieus blijven.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Jones made learning Latin fun and possible. Rather than assault unprepared learners with unfamiliar grammatical terms (like the ablative) Jones give readers an easy less-stressful way of learning the language. Wheelock though popular at my university, really made it so I could not continue with my Latin studies. I suppose that was the result my professors wanted, but Jones changed Latin for me later in life. I should say the Jones in this book aims at high school Latin while Wheelock is for college. However, I now see that Latin is not an impossible language to learn. There are lots of drills and exercises in each chapter but they are helpful to get the language structure down. Since I’m also studying Hebrew, Jones constant use of English to Latin really reinforces my understanding of the need that English/target language translation should be part of any language learning experience. I highly recommend this book.

[Hollis Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent guide to the language for beginners.

[Jamees · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why?

[Dave/Maggie Bean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sketchy and breezy -- but a hell of a lot more fun the Wheelock's.

[Regina Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Mark for giving me this gift! I cannot get enough of it.

[Steven Burgauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lively indeed. For a poor uneducated person like myself, it was amazingly informative. I thank the author.