Customer Reviews

Ecce Romani Level 2

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I studied from this book last year and it really deserves a 4.5. Even though it is "synthetic" Latin, it is some of the best I've read. I'm a fan of grammar, and the book does a good job teaching it (however, I do feel that more advanced topics should be covered in first and second year Latin).

Make sure you have a competent teacher when using this book - I do not recommend it for independent study. While some grammar *is* well explained, other topics really aren't, and you need a good teacher to explain them to you.

ECCE ROMANI sidesteps one mistake of other introductory Latin textbooks by being a bit sneaky about conveying just how different Latin is from English (and yet gets into it early on). It gives specific background and cultural vignettes (in English) and it builds up a large enough vocabulary to support interesting readings, helped by being connected stories about a family doing Roman things; it is like reading a novel about people who are normal Romans and yet we see why that makes these normal people act in Roman ways that would not be normal for us.

While working with WHEELOCK'S LATIN with an auto-didact group, I find ECCE ROMANI a refreshing way to review. (A fellow student was put off by the different approach to language.)