Lingua Latina per se Illustrata: Pars I: Familia Romana

Lingua Latina per se Illustrata

by Hans Henning Ørberg, Hans Henning Ørberg

Hans Oerberg’s Lingua Latina per se Illustrata is the world’s premiere textbook for learning Latin via the Natural Method. Students first learn grammar and vocabulary intuitively through extended contextual reading and an innovative system of marginal notes. It is the only textbook currently available that gives students the opportunity to learn Latin without resorting to translation, but allows them to think in the language. It is also the most popular text for teachers, at both the secondary and collegiate levels, who wish to incorporate conversational skills into their classroom practice. Part I, Familia Romana contains thirty-five chapters and describes the life of a Roman family in the 2nd century A.D., and culminate in readings from classical poets and Donatus’s Ars Grammatica, the standard Latin school text for a millennium. Each chapter is divided into two or three lectiones (lessons) of a couple pages each followed by a grammar section, Grammatica Latina, and three exercises or Pensa. Hans Oerberg’s impeccable Latinity, humorous stories, and the Peer Lauritzen illustrations make this work a classic. The book includes a table of inflections, a Roman calendar, and a word index, index vocabulorum. Lingua Latina incorporates the following - The most comprehensive treatment of Latin grammar available in an elementary textbook. - A vocabulary of almost 1,800 words, reinforced by constant and creatively phrased repetition, vastly expands the potential for later sight reading. - A complete line of ancillary volumes, exercises, and readers both in print and online. Hardcover Edition.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction, Linguistics, Classics, Reference, Textbooks, Education

328 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Nina-Alexa · Rating 5 out of 5]

AEMILIA UBI EST BACCULUM MEUM?!??!!??

[Keegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think LL is excellent. It got even better when I saw how other people were using it online.

I read LL after having done an intensive 2-month course with Wheelock's Latin, so I was extremely well-prepped in the grammar and could focus on what LL really offers: Training myself to read Latin fluently, left-to-right, as opposed to the "decoding" method instilled by grammar-heavy courses.

It was great! It got me excited about learning Latin out of a legitimate love for the language, not just as a part of a classical education in the abstract, and I was able to begin appreciating the nuances that are utterly lost when one decodes instead of reads.

I'm now tackling the second book in the series, which quickly shifts into unadapted texts, which is pretty damn exciting.

My advice for both of these: Take it slow, do the exercises, reread each chapter, make sure you know the grammar at each stage. It's much better than having to flip to the back all the time.

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an amazing introduction to Latin, and the main method which I used to teach myself the language. I don't know if it would be appropriate in a class, but for self-study I couldn't recommend it more. You definitely need to get through the second book in the series in order to be able to move on to genuine works in classical Latin, however, Vulgate is readable after finishing this first book.

[Adrián · Rating 4 out of 5]

Italia in Europa est.

[Anise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hunc librum satis laudāre nōn possum. Prīmō linguam Latīnam grammaticā reddendā discere cōnāta sum, sed illō modō paulum didicī. "Modus naturālis" Oerbergiī mihi melior modus discendī vidētur. Nunc aliīs modīs linguīs studēre nōlō!

I cannot praise this book highly enough. My first attempts at studying Latin by the "grammar translation" method met with little success, but I learned so much more with the "natural method" that Dr. Ørberg uses in this book. Now my problem is that I don't want to study languages using materials that don't employ this or a similar method!

[Irena Pasvinter]

May 2024

Lingua Latina per se illustrata is the legendary textbook that teaches Latin in Latin.
Some 10 years ago I started reading it for the first time, enjoyed going through about a third of it but got distracted by other equally impractical projects and never finished.

It so happened, that last week I participated in a free 4 lessons course taught by an excellent Latin teacher from Italy Irene Regini (aka Satura Lanx). Truth be told, I was initially attracted by this mini-course being free and by the final online meeting not being scheduled for 3am (as it usually happens for the US-based courses;)). Under the teacher's guidance, which she provided mostly in a very simple Latin that even I could understand without a problem, we read Seneca's first letter to Lucilius "Tempus tantum nostrum est": the first lesson was an introduction and reading the original, just to get a taste of it; then we read the very simplified version; then a simple version, but a bit closer to the original; then finally the original.

It was a wonderful experience, and at the end I couldn't help subscribing to this teacher's paid course (with a special discount though;)) based on Lingua Latina per se illustrata, but with lots of additional materials, workshops etc. So it looks like I'm falling down the Latin rabbit-hole again, even though I planned to take a sneak peak into Ancient Greek first... Oh well, let's see if I can finish Familia Romana this time and eventually get to the part two of this textbook: Roma Aeterna. Hopefully with all other things going on this journey through Lingua Latina per se illustratawill not take me more than a year.

April 2025

Damn, it looks like it is going to take me more than year! I'm only at the lesson 21 out of 35 at the moment and currently distracted by reviving my half-dead Spanish before an unexpected short trip to Madrid. But the important thing is to get to the end of Lingua Latina, and further, and this time I plan not to give up on Latin. Weekly Latin chats with other GLL students provide the necessary motivation.

[Skye · Rating 5 out of 5]

I CANNOT RECOMMEND ORBERG ENOUGH. THIS BOOK IS A GEM.

I am so proud of myself for reading this whole book cover to cover! I am a Latin teacher and a big advocate for the Active Method, which focuses on meaningful input, conversational fluency, and a reading approach rather than a translation approach. I absolutely love this book and the method, and have had a lot of success teaching this in classes. The exercises at the end of each chapter are perfect for practicing a grammatical concept, and you truly can become a reader of authentic texts by the end of this book. The Roman family in the stories is so cute and keeps my students interested and entertained.

I only have two critiques, but I give 5 stars unhesitatingly because the book is a real masterpiece and so unique in its approach:
-Some of the exercises toward the end of the book are a little unclear in terms of what they are asking. Even when I understood all the vocab and grammar, I wasn't sure what word Orberg was looking for. But I guess that's okay.
-The last chapter includes a very grammar-translation approach, but uses an authentic Latin text to do so, which means I can at least understand where they're coming from. Nevertheless, I felt a little saddened to see Orberg end the series by having exercises that were essentially just old-fashioned charts.

I read this because of my 2015 resolution to read a little Latin every day and develop my spoken proficiency (going to Paideia's Spoken Latin Weekend in NYC in February, so I want to be ready!). So I read aloud two chapters every day from this book, and answered the questions-- all spoken. Next up? I'm reading Pars II: Roma Aeterna, and am going to try to read it aloud too but sometimes I'm just on buses or in my office with coworkers, so I'm going to be a bit flexible with this next book.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read through several textbooks (Wheelock's, Ecce Romani, Cambridge) in search of an ideal source for my students, but was always somewhat disappointed until stumbling across Lingua Latina. Often Latin is treated like a burning house—you should grab what you need and get out as quickly as possible back to the safety of the English language (aka the grammar-translation method). The results are often disappointing, both for student and teacher.

Ørberg eschews the traditional method and opts for a full-immersion style text (the only English is on the copyright page), which is quite adept at building students’ vocabulary, teaching reading fluency, and introducing students to Roman culture, all while telling a relatively entertaining story (by Latin textbook standards).

At least one of the accompanying grammar companions (either the College Companion or the Latine Disco) is advisable, particularly if you plan to read through the book without an instructor to help you grasp some of the grammar. The vocabulary manual isn’t necessary—William Whitaker’s Words will help you through whatever words you can’t intuit from context or from the marginalia.

[Paras2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

can't say I've finished it but my basic course ended so until the next course I'm done with this.

and just so you know, Latin is mind-blowingly hard, don't even try it unless you have some deep interest or you perhaps need it.

[Dave Maddock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have so much to say about how awesome this book is, but instead I will point you to my review of Wheelock and say that Lingua Latina is everything Wheelock is not. Next, I will exhort you to check out the following resources about learning Latin, from which all my opinions are derived anyway (and which is supported fully by my subjective experience):

Evan der Millner's thoughts (aka. Latinum guy)
Ernest Blum on the inadequacy of modern Latin teaching methods
Randy Gibbon's blog
Latin by the Dowling Method

Update: Well, I've officially finished this; still love it. The final two lessons cover poetic meters and grammatical terms. Before starting Lingua Latina II I'm going to switch it up a bit and power through a bunch of Latin readers, get some big chunks of Latin prose under my belt.

[André · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book, really! Teaches Latin *in* Latin. So there's not a single English or German or Danish word in it, but everything is either derivable via context or by short explanations (also in Latin). Often, sentences are given twice, with a new word or new construction in the second sentence. In the end of each of the 35 chapters, there's a part that describes the new grammar and also a bunch of exercises. I recommend to actually do all of them, because it trains well. Near the end of the book they also give some parts and pieces of original Latin literature, which is quite nice. I'm looking forward to the PARS II (ROMA AETERNA). :)

A minor disadvantage is, that it's nowhere indicated how Latin is to be pronounced. Guess one has to buy the CD for that. Luckily I already know how Latin was pronounced.

P.S.: Almost 15 years later, I've read through the book again in 2 months. Work of a genius, really. I always appreciate that vowel length is consistently marked. Still the best book for learning Latin.

[Benjamin Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modus discendi optissimus!

[Iohannes Cienfuegos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Optima discendi Latinitatem methodus quā docentur discipuli simili ratione atque ipsi humanistae.

[Logan Prettyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liber optimus. Ørberg scribit ut lectores legere facile quiescant

[Wilfredo R. Dotti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hic liber bonus est introductio ut Latina eruditio, per modum usus auctor sit directum, accurate et activae. Hoc est arcanum quia discite linguam Latinam eadem lingua utens.

Translation: This book is a good introduction to learning Latin, the method used by the author is direct, precise and active. The secret used to learn the Latin language is using the same language.

This is the best book of this kind I have found, it proposes a Latin text in which it's possible to read and understand immediately without the need to translate. In this text each phrase is intelligible per se, because the meaning and function of all new words and of all forms is explained by the context, or by the illustrations or marginal notes. The method used by the author is the inductive-contextual, which is based on understanding through the context.

I found it relatively simple, to such an extent that I was able to put together a small sentence, although I'm afraid it may not be very accurate at all xD, yet I was able to get an idea. When I have more free time I will dedicate more time to this book to deepen my learning.

A final remark that I must make, if you speak any of the Romance languages ​​like Spanish (my native language), Italian, Portuguese, French or Romanian, you will find it a little easier to learn, since Latin is the root of our Languages.

[Volodymyr Kramskyi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is the best book for self-studying of Latin language (and probably for any language) I've came across so far.

Thought it is completely written in Latin, it starts with so gentle learning curve that no prior knowledge of Latin is required whatsoever. Some knowledge of languages rich with Latin-derived vocabulary would be helpful (like Italian, Spanish, French, or even English) but not necessary.

Instead of forcing you to learn some new piece of language in an abstract way, the book provides you with simple (but increasingly more complex) texts that present you with practical grammar and meaningful context to make the memorization process as smooth as I could imagine. This is so-called "natural method", where contexts usually provides you with the majority of data to understand the meaning of a new word. There are even occasional illustrations to facilitate the process! Texts are interesting to follow and while the book unfolds they gradually introduce a wide range of topics (family, household, military, traveling, literature etc.). Those texts constitute full stories that in an entertaining way tell you something interesting about ancient Roman culture and/or just fun to read. Occasionally author inserts increasingly bigger chunks of texts from Classical authors and Bible.

Each text in the book is followed by an explanation of new grammar introduced in it and summary of all the new vocabulary. Exercises to consolidate newly acquired knowledge is also present at the end of each chapter.

The process of studying through this book is highly rewarding - for reasonable efforts you get the excitement about starting to understand the texts written in a language that was completely unknown for you just a couple weeks ago. And those are texts, not merely words or isolated sentences!

Perhaps it is not as academic as some other books, but I believe it contains all the necessary grammar and vocabulary for you to start reading not too complicated texts after finishing it. Overall, this book is all about making the process of learning enjoyable. But don't get me wrong - it is not a casual superficial reading for children, there are many truly challenging moments throughout the book and sometimes texts get tricky to interpret. I wish there were more books like that in other languages!

As far as I am concerned, after finishing "Lingua Latina per se Illustrata" I started reading Vulgate Bible right away and have managed to read already 10 chapters with relative ease.

[Cody · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can only echo other reviewers and say what a great book this is for learning Latin. I've had a long journey with the language already - I remember seeing it often enough in odd places while attending Catholic school to recognize it and be curious enough to want to learn it, then getting into all sorts of medieval and Renaissance music with Latin texts and getting an intuitive feel from that + perusing some texts at the Latin Library and Perseus TUFTS, downloading a vocabulary building/grammar drilling app etc, and finally spending a few years singing in chant scholas at Latin masses. This has been a relieving and rewarding way not just to cap all that off but to systematically get the hang of reading in this language and develop an easy familiarity with the ins and outs of its grammar. I'm excited to read Part II and continue my journey with Latin, and I wish there were a book like this for any given language, because the method is so darn good.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came to this as a former classics major who never really liked Latin because Greek was so much cooler. I never properly learned the language, as a result. Fast-forward 20 years and I decided to master give Latin, for a variety of reasons, some therapeutic, some intellectual, but mostly so I could read Catullus in the original.

With that background in mind, this book was absolutely the best foreign-language textbook I've ever read. I'm not sure how first-time students would do with it, but for people looking to relearn Latin, or who have some familiarity with it through high school or whatever, it's perfect. I believe somewhere its approached is described as "intensely grammatical," and that it certainly is. A larger vocab you can always pickup later. A wonderful book, and you'll come away with a pretty good grasp of the language after finishing it.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Familia Romana is a fantastic book for learning Latin. At a beginner level in learning the language you are going to have to repeat the same content over and over to assimilate the grammar and vocabulary effectively, so it pays to use an enjoyable story with loveable characters. Before using this book I wasted several weeks on less interesting resources and hardly got anywhere, but with Familia Romana I was able to be more consistent and see steady progress, without having to devote hours to memorisation of paradigms. It's not hard to see why this book is so often recommended: it is the most pleasant way to move from the absolute basics up to reading 30+ word sentences and even extracts from classical poets. The supplements, Colloquia Personarum and Fabulae Syrae, are similarly good and also well worth reading for more level-appropriate Latin text.

[Quinton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Valdē mē dēlectāvit. Est enim liber optimus ad discendum linguae Latīnae. Postquam hunc librum lēgī mē Latīnē loquī posse putō, nec umquam dubitō Latīnē in loquendō propter omnia quae hōc in librō didicī. Certē eum alicuī Latīnē discere voluerit suādēbō ut legat.

Learning Latin with this book felt effortless. No dictionary or additional grammar explanations necessary. After having engaged carefully with previous chapters, I usually understood everything in the new chapter in the first 5-10 minute read through. Everything is clear and intuitive just by reading/from context. Even the grammar explanations at the end of the chapter were unnecessary. People say Latin is difficult but I found that not to be the case at all, at least as far as what was covered in this book is concerned. I highly recommend.

[Smrt. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really awesome book, I have enjoyed story of the family and I am actually quite sad that it doesn't go on.
To the book as teaching/learning material, I would recommend using a dictionary and probably consult with teacher as well, particulary for last ten chapters, because there it's getting more difficult to understand because of more challenging grammar, which - in my opinion - is hard to understand only in Latin.

[Jacob Mars · Rating 5 out of 5]

A work of art and a labor of love, the best Latin textbook and possibly one of the best textbooks for a foreign language period. Not only is new vocabulary introduced at just the right pace, but the stories are extremely engaging and the characters are very memorable.

[Fred Grün · Rating 5 out of 5]

A work of genius.

[Ella]

Read for pre-MPhil Latin boot camp.

Marcus puer improbus est! (Seriously. What a little shithead).

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

wanna wack orberg with my baculum for all that marcus slander

[Aria Maher · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my lifetime, I have taken about five different Latin courses, and this is the only one that ever really stuck.

Lingua Latina per se Illustrata (The Latin Language Taught by Illustration) is an entire novel written in Latin, complete with grammar sections in Latin and sidenotes in Latin helping explain the text. While that might sound impossible (and I did find it helpful to have the background in basic Latin I'd picked up from other courses), when used in conjunction with Mr. Dwane Thomas's online classes, I found that I learned far more from this difficult book than from any 'easy' Latin course based solely on memorization. Lingua Latina helps you learn the language through context, through repeated reading of a story, and not through translation, so that by the end you should be able to read fairly fluently in Latin without going through the hassle of translating it in order to understand.

This is a college level text, and it took me well over two years to struggle through, and the last three or so chapters were so difficult that they alone took me more than six months, but in the end, this was definitely worth it, and I will certainly be rereading this book again in the future. I like this method so much more than rote memorization, because unlike most courses, this book provides context for every word you learn (making it easier to learn to read and write the language), and I would highly recommend it (in conjunction with the online class) to anyone who wants a good solid foundation in the Latin language.

[moi, k.y.a.]

derslerimin yoğunluğundan ara verdim, hafifletir hafifletmez gelicim!

[coniaranedar]

Quī animan dūcit animal est (Quien el aliento conduce, animal es).
Esta plataforma no me deja adjuntar memes.
Ojalá pasar latín.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote an essay about why this is so good and how I used it to self-teach. https://www.catholicculture.org/comme...

[Zachary Olsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without a doubt the best language-learning text I've ever used. You have to be self-motivated to get through this book, but if you stick with it the results are rewarding.