Latin Made Simple: A complete introductory course with practice readings and exercises, plus a handy Latin/English vocabulary [Paperback]

Rhoda Hendricks (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0385413394 | ISBN-13: 978-0385413398 | Publication Date: July 1, 1992 | Edition: Revised

The perfect primer for anyone who wants to be able to read classical Latin or learn the basics to enhance their vocabulary, this complete introductory course presents Latin grammar clearly and plainly. Void of all non-essentials and refreshingly easy to understand, Latin Made Simple includes:

Complete Latin grammar
Pronunciation of both classical and church Latin
Practice readings
Review quizzes with complete answer keys
Studies of original texts and translations
Examinations of Latin words in the English language
Word cells and etymology
Vocabulary building exercises

Full of fun exercises and practical tips, Latin Made Simple makes it easy to increase your understanding of the language and the many ways it has enriched our culture and our civilization.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

The perfect primer for anyone who wants to be able to read classical Latin or learn the basics to enhance their vocabulary, this complete introductory course presents Latin grammar clearly and plainly. Void of all non-essentials and refreshingly easy to understand, Latin Made Simple includes:

Complete Latin grammar
Pronunciation of both classical and church Latin
Practice readings
Review quizzes with complete answer keys
Studies of original texts and translations
Examinations of Latin words in the English language
Word cells and etymology
Vocabulary building exercises

Full of fun exercises and practical tips, Latin Made Simple makes it easy to increase your understanding of the language and the many ways it has enriched our culture and our civilization.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Made Simple; Revised edition (July 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385413394
• ISBN-13: 978-0385413398
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,097,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Rhoda Hendricks' "Latin Made Simple": Use With Caution!, July 12, 1999

By 

Charles W. Haase ([e-mail]) (San Francisco, California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Latin Made Simple: A complete introductory course with practice readings and exercises, plus a handy Latin/English vocabulary (Paperback)

This book is indeed easy to use, but the reader needs to exercise a high degree of caution with it. There are a large number of typos throughout the text and, more importantly, the answers to the translation exercises consistently use the wrong verb tenses, thus making it very easy for the novice to 'learn' the wrong thing! Moreover, the supplementary readings use quite a number of vocabulary words that are never introduced anywhere in the book. While the reading exercises are fun practice for beginners, this book needs to go through another revision, with careful attention to grammatical consistency, before it can be recommended without qualification.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Latin Made Confusing!, March 20, 2000

By 

Ian Boersma "librophile" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Latin Made Simple: A complete introductory course with practice readings and exercises, plus a handy Latin/English vocabulary (Paperback)

With scores of editorial oversights (tense mismatching, singular nouns translated as plural, etc.) this book is not only very confusing to the first-time Latin student, but also not worth spending your money on. A thorough editorial review would probably fix most of the problems, but since the last edition was published in 1992, it doesn't look like the publishing company cares too much.

Publishing the book in this state is nothing short of a disservice to the public. I wasted my money on it. Don't you do the same.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Latin Over-simplified, March 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Latin Made Simple: A complete introductory course with practice readings and exercises, plus a handy Latin/English vocabulary (Paperback)

This book's teaching method is great, but it is ruined by its over-simplification of the language. Its very concise pronunciation guide says that everything is pronounced as in English with a few exceptions. It gives very few consonants and a few diphthongs and explains them. It does not say anything about the varied pronunciation for long and short vowels. It also does not mention that the R is trilled as in romance languages, which would lead one to believe that it just as the English R (The English pronunciation of R is unique and found nowhere else). This book is good for its comparisons to English, for each word it usually gives you a related English word (you could find which syllables are long from an etimological dictionary). It also has little stories and excerpts from the Latin bible throughout. Sadly, this book stops giving the pronunciation of each word after the first chapter which leaves the reader feeling naked and insecure especially since the stress of the word depends on which syllables are long (when this book does not mark the vowels as long or short like most latin instruction books). In conclusion, this is great if you already have a Latin dictionary that explains pronunciation and stress, but don't buy this book as a sole source or you'll not learn Latin correctly.