The world, for the purposes of this blog anyway, is divided into two camps. People who have studied Latin and people who have not. This next series of posts is going to be aimed at those who have not studied Latin.
Are you Latin-curious? Have you thought about Latin study but don't know where to begin? Let's try to clear that up. I'll assume you've heard how terribly difficult it is, so I won't say more other than to say that those claims are greatly exaggerated. Sanskrit is hard.
Anyway.
You need to have a clear reason for Latin study in mind. It doesn't matter what your reason is at the outset. Any reason will do. You want to study Latin so you can learn English vocabulary for the SAT? Good. You want to study Latin to connect with the Roman stream of world culture? Good. You want to study Latin because it helps critical thinking? Good.
All reasons are good, but they will influence how you go about your study. Why am I so big on you having a reason? Because you're going to need motivation. I lied earlier. Latin study is hard, but not for the reasons you've heard. It is hard because it is new. You will have to do things that you didn't do before, and you're going to need a good reason to put up with the work.
So your work before the next post is this: why do you want to study Latin anyway?
Are you Latin-curious? Have you thought about Latin study but don't know where to begin? Let's try to clear that up. I'll assume you've heard how terribly difficult it is, so I won't say more other than to say that those claims are greatly exaggerated. Sanskrit is hard.
Anyway.
You need to have a clear reason for Latin study in mind. It doesn't matter what your reason is at the outset. Any reason will do. You want to study Latin so you can learn English vocabulary for the SAT? Good. You want to study Latin to connect with the Roman stream of world culture? Good. You want to study Latin because it helps critical thinking? Good.
All reasons are good, but they will influence how you go about your study. Why am I so big on you having a reason? Because you're going to need motivation. I lied earlier. Latin study is hard, but not for the reasons you've heard. It is hard because it is new. You will have to do things that you didn't do before, and you're going to need a good reason to put up with the work.
So your work before the next post is this: why do you want to study Latin anyway?
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