Jenney's First Year Latin [Hardcover]

Charles Jenney (Author), Eric C. Baade (Author), Thomas K. Burgess (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Latin

Product Details

• Hardcover: 579 pages
• Publisher: Pearson Prentice Hall; 4 edition (May 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0133193284
• ISBN-13: 978-0133193282
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #322,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars a dissenting voice, July 2, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Jenney's First Year Latin (Hardcover)

I have taught beginning Latin from several texts--Ecce Romani, the Oxford Latin Course, the 1990 edition of Jenney's Latin featured here, as well as the older (1979 and earlier) editions of Jenney's Latin. I can say with all confidence and experience that the newer edition (1990) fails in many areas of instruction. In an attempt to modernize itself, the Jenney series lost much of what made earlier editions great, namely its clarity and focused, appropriately challenging readings.

In this 1990 edition, the readings have been changed and often lengthened--no doubt in an attempt to guise itself as a quasi-reading method text. Unfortunately, the new readings rarely adequately enforce the grammar taught in the unit, and offer instead syntactical oddities that only baffle and frustrate even the most earnest students. The book does a good job of including photos of real antiquities, but does so often without context and in excessive detail. As thrilling as it must be for for the average high school freshman to learn the difference between statumen, rudus, and pavimentum (p. 251), it might interest him/her more to spend more time on the cultural/historical context of Roman roads (i.e., their *application*). Such details about the roads' layers would be unknown to many non-specialist Ph.Ds. We wish to emphasize LEARNING, but we want also to emphasize the thematic application of knowledge--not merely the acquisition of facts without context.

Indeed, students might LEARN Latin better if presented with a concise, yet still challenging, version of the Aeneas story (as in earlier editions), gaining confidence as they reinforce their abilities to READ Latin and are introduced to cultural topics.

Again, I have used earlier editions (1979 and previous) of the Jenney text and found them to be much more enjoyable for both teacher and student. They are no less challenging, but leave off much of the junk that many who praise the 1990 edition frequently decry in other textbooks. I would wholeheartedly recommend looking at these versions if you are considering changing texts. Consider also Ecce Romani and Oxford Latin, which are not without fault, but whose approach is consistent with their philosophy.

52 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptionally thorough, well organized, challenging., June 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Jenney's First Year Latin (Hardcover)

Publishers know that the market for Latin texts comprises Latin teachers who see shrinking enrollments and are afraid of being "downsized." In desperation to keep students, Classics departments often struggle to candy-coat Latin, making it more fun and less daunting for students. Now, I like fun as much as the next classics geek, but many teachers forget that students should have fun WHILE learning, not INSTEAD of learning. Accordingly, many modern Latin texts are simplistic, cartoon-enhanced bait designed to keep enrollment up. They are education's junk food: perhaps enjoyable, but with few lasting benefits. Jenny's is different: it does not shy away from teaching Latin in thorough detail. The lessons, cumulative, give tons of practice. The back of the book has excellent resources for forms, grammar, vocabulary and even useful Latin dicta. In addition, Jenny's has informative, interesting readings on history and culture. Gorgeous color photographs of Roman art, architecture and everyday items adorn the pages and spur imaginative discussions. This enables students to learn not only the verbs and endings but the fascinating context that made the Roman Republic and Empire what they were. My students have always enjoyed learning from this book, despite the fact that (or because?) it challenges them. I've taught Latin for ten years, for seven of which I've used this book. I myself learned from an earlier version of it in 6th grade. Earlier versions (from over ten years ago) had a vocabulary and focus much more geared towards military readings than the present incarnation, which has a better-rounded vocabulary as useful for Horace's love poems as for Caesar's Gallic War. I recommend this book strongly for serious students and instructors.

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jenney! We need your help!, December 15, 2005

By 

Nick G. "the scanning master" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jenney's First Year Latin (Hardcover)

There is a growing problem in the schools of our country. It is a problem which greatly concerns me, and unfortunately, one that I do not see being rectified in the foreseeable future (especially without the re-popularization of Jenney's First Year Latin). Fifty years ago this problem did not exist and was in fact inconceivable, but today it is commonplace. The problem of which I speak is the learning of Latin grammar in today's schools through inferior Latin grammar books (no need to name names, but let's just say that we have a certain British school to blame).

In the old days, Latin was taught in the proper manner. It involved a careful leaning process involving three easy steps: 1) Learn and master the grammar; 2) Read stories in order to become familiar with translation; and 3) Plunge into the exciting, actual texts of authors such as the legendary Virgil or the lovesick Catullus. In this way of learning, by the time the student gets to step three, he or she will have little trouble adjusting to ancient texts.

In recent years, for whatever the reason, student enthusiasm for Latin has waned. Because of this lack of interest, some grammar book writers have devised a new way in which to teach Latin grammar: a learn-as-you-go process. In this style, students do not even learn the basics of grammar, but start off right away "learning" to translate. These translation-first-oriented classes are thought to be stimulating to the students, making them more likely to continue to take Latin.

Allow me now to tell you the state of the new generation of Latin students sine Jenney. I can say confidently that the future is not looking bright. Students have lost the ability and (because of certain books) the need to tell the difference between a declension or conjugation, let alone the 1st principle part of an easy verb such as "voco". This, however, is just the beginning of the widespread lack of knowledge. Despite only learning to translate, many of the students' vocabularies are below average at best. Without the basics, it is easy to understand why they have no idea whatsoever about such constructions as indirect statements or purpose clauses. I fear that the sequence of tenses may soon vanish from the minds of all classicists. As a result of not knowing grammar, many students stop trying to translate the Latin and instead memorize the English translation - an act as immoral as cheating.

Jenney does not try to deceive (and distract) you with pretty illustrations or funny names. Jenney goes straight at you with declensions and conjugations (the building blocks of the successful mastering of Latin). The sentences (not unintelligent stories) are challenging and prepare you for the most complex Latin prose from Caesar to Cicero. Jenney's First Year Latin book contains all the fundamental and necessary constructions including indirect questions, indirect commands, fear clauses, and those ever elusive gerunds and gerundive (a few minutes with Jenney can solve just about any problem).

As one who is passionate about the Latin language, I would strongly suggest to all Classic teachers or eager learners of Latin to revert back to the traditional grammar intensive method of teaching by purchasing Jenney's First Year Latin. Even if fewer students flock to Latin, allow those that do the chance to learn and enjoy the language in the way in which it was meant. Please, on behalf of the almost unknown and quickly disappearing 5th declension, do not allow this new age education to persist. In the name of the past contrary to fact conditional sentence, buy this book. Latin may be dead, but let us at least keep its memory alive by not defiling its legacy with inadequate attention to the fundamentals. Jenney is the light and let's help it burn. To quote Catullus 1 lines 9-10, "quod, o patrona virgo, / plus uno maneat perenne saeclo."