Customer Reviews

Cambridge Latin Course Unit 3 Student's book North American edition (North American Cambridge Latin Course)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Hi, I am taking Latin. I took it in eighth grade and found the adventures of Caecilius and Grumio and Metella and Clemens and Quintus, (book 1), and the further adventures of Quintus and Clemens along with Barbillus and Petro and the astrologer (book 2) very, very amusing and interesting. I was sad to find out my highschool did not carry on the series. So I took it upon my self to continue my education. I assure you, all Latin speakers/readers should read these books, no matter what.

I used this book and though the Latin gets much harder from book 2 to 3, I think it does an adequate job. If you are looking to "brush up" on your Latin because you took it in high school, I do not recommend starting with this book, but rather book 2 in the series. I also must warn you that it is designed to be a series of textbooks- not self-help manuals, so if you have someone who already knows Latin helping you, you will be two steps ahead. I personally really enjoyed this series, but I thought there was a big jump in ability from book 2 to book 3.

This is definitely not the best text for intermeditate Latin on the market. The first two books were very easy in comparison, but here is where you start getting to the gist of the language. The first two books in this series leave on ill-prepared for dealing with the level of difficulty presented in this book. The approach may be good to get someone interested in Latin, but utlimately, it will leave you with only a very incomplete grasp of the language. While rote memorisation is not much fun, one needs to know a certain amount of detail about the language and one needs to memorise lots and lots of stuff. The approach in the Cambridge series is to sort of 'absorb" the material as you go along. But it really doesn't work that way. After you finish this book, you may well not know much more than when you started. It may be okay for a pupil who needs credit for a foreign language course, but is not really for the serious student.

I'm going through the third volume in the "Cambridge" Latin series, and am finding it as enjoyable as the other two. Although at times silly, the stories do hold your interest. Am I learning, though? Yes! Because the grammar is formally introduced after the story, knowing what the story is about can be challenging, but far from impossible. Look, Latin is a difficult language with its many, never-ending endings. This series eases the pain.

The first two books are not very complex, but this one and I assume the fourth one too

really need attention and dedication. I have studied latin since I was 17 years old and I abandoned it for quite a while, most of the books I used were methodologically conventional, I'm almost 60 now. The learning process is much simpler and less demanding when it comes to commit to memory new words and grammar principles. The only problem I have is that my two professors of latin were Italian and they clung to the Italian pronunciation. So for me the classic pronunciation is quite hard to follow, even if I understand it perfectly. My native language is Spanish and this means that quite a lot of words (60-70 percent) are quite easy to retain. But this doesn't mean there are not many words I just don't know and I don't even have a hint as to their meaning. Classic Latin texts are quite difficult to translate. that's why I think the approach of the Cambridge Latin Course is quite useful and quite superior to the textbooks I used 43 years ago.

With regard to the workbooks, part of the exercices are linked with the the Third Edition but most of them are prepared for the Fourth Edition, which I don't have, even though I want to buy them too. However I haven't had a chance to check the content of the Fouth Edition or read a comparative opinion, so I don't know if it's worth it to buy the 4 books.

I have been a Latin teacher for 18 years, and I have used the Cambridge Latin Course for ten of those years. If you want your students to learn to read Latin, this is the book for you. If you are teaching Latin in the IB (International Baccalaureate) Program, don't even consider using another text.

CLC features a continuing story line with the wine-drinking, dining-room- inhabiting "hero" Quintus Caecilius Iucundus surviving the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and traveling to Greece, Alexandria, and far-off Britannia, then to Rome where he assists in the prosecution of the evil-doer Salvius for forgery. Students like the stories so much that they read ahead to see what is going to happen next.

While rote-memorization of forms is not emphasized, grammar is still taught both directly and intuitively in this series. Sadly, the workbook for Unit 3 is not as good as the textbook.

I am a second year Latin student and have been using this course. It provides an intruiging plotline and teaches grammar, culture, and vocab along the way. Unfortunately, I often find that I don't know something that other students, who use a different text, do. This is a problem at certamens and other competitions.

I am a latin student whom has been studying latin for 3 years and this series is a great, new way of looking at latin. I, personally, found the weaving story immensely helpful in my education of Latin

I took Latin I and II using the Ecce Romani series. When I switched schools, I had to switch to using this book for Latin III. It is a very poorly written textbook. The new vocabulary for each chapter is not put together very well in a way that makes it easy to learn. Since there are many little stories in each chapter, as opposed to the one big one and occasional second enrichment reading in the Ecce Romani books, there is vocab under each story. They tried to make a vocabulary list at the end of each chapter, but it never contains all the vocabulary listed under each story. The Ecce Romani books do a much better job of condensing the vocabulary and putting it all in one place, making it easier to learn. The Cambridge books are very confusing to look at and read because only proper nouns are capitalized. The back sections of the Cambridge books also only contain a Latin-English dictionary, so you're out of luck if you want to look up what an English word translates to in Latin. The Ecce Romani books contain both an English-Latin and Latin-English dictionary. The Ecce Romani series also does a much better job of explaining the grammar you learn each chapter. All the Cambridge books do is give you an example, not actually telling you how to form it in a sentence. The Ecce Romani books also have more challenging practice problems, and more of them, than the Cambridge books. On a more artistical note, the Ecce Romani books are much more interesting to look at, with color pictures that don't look like quick sketches, like the black and white Cambridge pictures do.
DO NOT buy the Cambridge series books. The books are very poorly written. The Ecce Romani series is a a much better Latin textbook series, which I highly recommend for anyone studying or planning on studying Latin.

I am a Latin Teacher and my students learned so much this year under this books guidance.

P.S. I am not an actor