[B-Greek] Corresponding Latin grammers suggestion?
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Apr 1 19:27:49 EST 2005
At 7:06 PM -0500 4/1/05, George F Somsel wrote:
>On Fri, 1 Apr 2005 15:36:39 -0800 "Keith Saare" <ksaare at masters.edu>
>writes:
>> I am not certain if this will be appropriate for the nature of this
>> forum.
>>
>> My influences in learning Greek were by studying through the
>> grammars of
>> Machen, Dana & Mantey, and A.T. Robertson-oh, and my Abbott-Smith
>> lexicon. In Hebrew it was Weingreen and Gesenius, and Holladay's
>> lexicon.
>>
>> Does anybody have a recommendation for learning Latin in the same
>> tradition as these classic grammars? I notice that Barne's & Noble
>> carries the Wheellock's (sp?) series, but I don't want to shortcut
>> myself by relying on something in the same quality of Dobson's
>> (sp?)
>> "Learn-NT-Greek-in-10-days" method.
>>
>> Any ideas? Thanks.
>>
>> Keith R. Saare
>> Academic Counselor
>> The Master's College
>> ksaare at masters.edu
>> Office: (661) 362-2676
>___________
>
>Wheelock is a "classic grammar" which would be of value for learning the
>language. For reference purposes I would recommend Allen & Greenough
>(Lewis & Short for a dictionary).
I'd have to second the "nomination" of Wheelock--if indeed you're looking
for something along the lines of what you've studied hitherto; it's a
classic; I have taught out of it several times; it has self-correcting
exercises; it has regular "Sententiae antiquae" for reading snippets of
classic-classical citations; it has trustworthy grammatical explanations.
On the other hand, I long since ceased to think that learning languages the
old-fashioned way with chapters introducing new grammar accompanied by
sentences in Latin to convert to English and English sentences to convert
to Latin is the best way to learn the language: I'd really recommend that a
starter work with the Latin course books put out by Oxford and Cambridge
University Presses or with _Reading Latin_. I think that unless you have an
oral approach to the language--learn Latin from Latin-speakers, you'd do
best to read big chunks and get the grammatical explanations as you go
along as these newer texts do it.
Nevertheless, finally, learning a language ultimately depends upon the
individual and how he or she interacts with a textbook and teacher.
Wheelock, among books of its type, is one of the better self-teaching books.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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