10 Common Mistakes Made by Students of Latin: Part III

In a previous article in this series, Latin was compared to a puzzle. In another article, it was mentioned that students often confuse verbs of one conjugation as being part of another conjugation. Truthfully, few Latin programs present the language as a language. Consequently, students often view Latin as a complex collection of rules to follow to achieve the correct translation; most programs offer little evidence that Latin was (and is) a spoken language.

One of the most powerful tools at the disposal of Latin students is the treatment of Latin as a language rather than a puzzle. Of the four major aspects of language learning (reading, writing, listening, and speaking), speaking is perhaps the most important. This is true for two reasons. First, it requires no one else’s participation to practice. Second, it forces the Latin student to participate actively in the language without the rote task of translating text and looking up words in a dictionary.

To begin speaking Latin, simply read aloud the passages and sentences before you begin translating them with pencil and paper. Do not be concerned if you do not understand everything you are saying; that comes with practice and experience. As you progress in your Latin program, you will find that you able to carry on brief conversations. Similarly, you will begin to “think” in Latin rather than having to think in English and provide translations back and forth between the languages to understand what you are saying and hearing.

On a similar note to speaking the language, students who actively listen to Latin spoken by another tend to do better on quizzes and exams because they have trained themselves to really hear the language rather than just completing rote pencil and paper translations.

Of course, listening to Latin usually requires the participation of another student or an instructor. By working with another student, you can both speak and listen to Latin in a mock conversation.

For help with this exercise consider using John C. Traupman’s “Conversational Latin for Oral Proficiency” (2nd Edition). This book not only offers instruction on pronunciation, it also provides many brief conversations with which students can practice reading, speaking, and listening. In addition, it reinforces vocabulary and acts as a wonderful supplementary addition to the textbooks and material of any of the major Latin programs.

In a previous article in this series, it was mentioned that many Latin programs make use of macrons in the text to clue students in to pronunciation and, consequently, to which conjugation a verb belongs.

Although macrons are useful to beginning Latin students, they often act as a crutch to intermediate and advanced students. By using macrons, some programs of study do not encourage memorization of certain aspects of the language; students know that the macrons will always be there when they need them.

Certainly, the Romans did not use macrons in their writing. In fact, many Latin texts and inscriptions survive to show us that the Romans often did not even use punctuation or spacing between letters and sentences. Often, surviving Latin texts are a jumble of letters and words that seem to run into one another in an incoherent manner.

Translating some text without the aid of macrons is a sure method to becoming stronger with the language, especially with pronunciation and recognition of verb conjugations. In addition, it helps students explore declensions where some cases have the same or nearly the same form as other cases.

For example, the form of the noun “puella” could be nominative singular or ablative singular. Use of a macron over the –a in the ablative case clues the student in that the word is in the ablative case and that the –a is a long –a, not short one as in the nominative case. Reliance on macrons weakens understanding of the language and reduces the need to use speaking and listening to Latin as a pedagogical tool.