Lingua Latina: Pars I: Familia Romana (Pt. 1) [Paperback]

Hans H. Orberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 26, 2005 | ISBN-10: 1585102016 | ISBN-13: 978-1585102013 | Edition: Revised

Entirely composed in Latin, Part I, Familia Romana, provides an excellent introduction to Latin, including the essentials of Latin grammar and a basic vocabulary of over 1500 words. The thirty-five chapters describe the life of a Roman family in the 2nd century A.D., and culminate in readings from classical poets and Donatus’s Ars Grammatica, the standard Latin school text for a millenium. Each chapter is divided into two or three lectiones (lessons) of a couple pages each followed by a grammar section, Grammatica Latina, and three exercises or Pensa. Hans Ørberg’s impeccable latinity, humorous stories, and the Peer Lauritzen illustrations make this work a classic. The book includes a table of inflections, a Roman calendar, and a word index, Index vocabulorum.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Entirely composed in Latin, Part I, Familia Romana, provides an excellent introduction to Latin, including the essentials of Latin grammar and a basic vocabulary of over 1500 words. The thirty-five chapters describe the life of a Roman family in the 2nd century A.D., and culminate in readings from classical poets and Donatus’s Ars Grammatica, the standard Latin school text for a millennium. Each chapter is divided into two or three lectiones (lessons) of a couple pages each followed by a grammar section, Grammatica Latina, and three exercises or Pensa. Hans Ørberg’s impeccable Latinity, humorous stories, and the Peer Lauritzen illustrations make this work a classic. The book includes a table of inflections, a Roman calendar, and a word index, Index vocabulorum.

About the Author

Hans Henning Orberg (1920-2010) received his MA in English, French and Latin from the University of Copenhagen in 1946. He taught at various Danish high schools until 1963 and at the Grenaa Gymansium until 1988. From 1953 to 1961 he served on the staff of the Nature Method Institute, Copenhagen. He is the author of the Latin course "Lingua Latina secundum naturae rationem explicata" (1955-56); the course was revised in 1990-91, with a number of supplements, under the title "Lingua Latina per se illustrata". His books were published by Domus Latina, a publishing house he founded in Denmark, and they are distributed in the English speaking world by Focus Publishing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Co.; Revised edition (May 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585102016
• ISBN-13: 978-1585102013
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #449,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Nonfiction > Latin

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding text for actually learning Latin, March 8, 2007

By 

J. Olsson (Laurel, MD United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lingua Latina: Pars I: Familia Romana (Pt. 1) (Paperback)

Oerberg's Lingua Latina is an amazing accomplishment. It will not be received well by everyone, but this is not owing to any deficiency in the text. Unfortunately, we live in a time when the study of Latin has been relegated to the grammarians---who would rather concoct a rule for the language than understand it *as* a language.

We also live in a time when Latin in general is only very poorly understood, even by those who are bold enough to teach it. Catch the average university Latinist off guard with any real question about Latin, and you'll learn quickly how bad it really is. As they have been taught, so they are producing: students who can only recite a conjugation paradigm but cannot "ask where the bathroom is". Texts like Wheelock contribute horribly to this problem.

Lingua Latina offers something different. It is for those who want to actually learn Latin for what it is, not a tricky puzzle but a language which can be understood. Without exaggeration, when you have finished Lingua Latina you will have read many times more Latin than by finishing Wheelock's. You probably won't be so quick to respond when someone asks you, "so what is a passive periphrastic?" But you also won't be subvocalizing in English when reading simple, real Latin authors.

Trust me, as a recovering student-of-Wheelock, this book will help you actually understand *Latin*. So cast off your chains of grammar and start learning the language. Stop learning *about* Latin and start understanding it.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great learning technique. Dick and Jane for Latin., April 8, 2008

By 

Robert C. Baruch (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lingua Latina: Pars I: Familia Romana (Pt. 1) (Paperback)

Maybe it's me, but I have a hard time learning languages. I learned only one language as a child, rendering me totally and utterly monolinguistic. I've tried learning languages using various methods, but none struck me as particularly effective.

So when I found the need to have some familiarity with Latin, I looked at Latin language books and courses, and rejected one after the other as being too similar to previous failed attempts. Lingua Latina, however, is different. I admit, I took a chance on this one without being able to preview or sample it (hint hint, Hans), but I am glad I did! (Note added 10 Mar 2009: there is now a preview available at http://www.lingua-latina.dk/index2.htm).

It's Dick and Jane for Latin. Rather than memorize lists of words and their meanings in your native language, Lingua Latina contains only Latin, starts off with very simple sentences, makes you think about each word, and requires you to figure out what each word means by context. Here's a brief example from the very beginning of the book:

"Roma in Italia est. Italia in Europa est. Graecia in Europa est. Italia et Graecia in Europa sunt."

Since we bootstrap off words in English that should already be known to you, and that are the same or similar in Latin, it is obvious what these sentences mean. And once you get through those, it usually becomes obvious what new words mean, and what contexts to use them in.

The cases and declinations of verbs and nouns are not given to you as in other language books: like a punch in the face using a table and a stern admonition to memorize the endings. Lingua Latina lets you thoroughly understand one case or declination before moving on to another. As the knowledge builds, the reading becomes easier and easier.

Each chapter consists of a reading, marginal notes (in Latin) and pictures to explain concepts that may not necessarily be clear from the text, a grammatical summary (in Latin), and three types of tests at the end of each chapter: endings, vocabulary, and comprehension. Together these cement the knowledge gained through the reading.

There is not a speck of non-Latin in this book except for the copyright page.

My only beef with Lingua Latina is that some of the words are not so obvious from context. Because of this, I would recommend either a Latin dictionary, or, better yet, the program "Latin Words" (free from http://users.erols.com/whitaker/words.htm). The program allows you to type in a Latin word including its ending, and gives you back the meaning, plus case, number, gender, and so on.

Also, a warning: unless your native language is Latin-derived (as English is), you will probably not get anything out of this book, since your language and Latin are probably alien to each other, and there would not be enough overlap for you to make sense out of the Latin.

I'm extremely satisfied with Lingua Latina! Carpe Linguam Latinam!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect way to learn Latin!, November 12, 2006

By 

Mikaela (Tucson, AZ, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lingua Latina: Pars I: Familia Romana (Pt. 1) (Paperback)

For those studying independently or in a dedicated group, this book aims to make you fluent in Latin, in reading it at least, but also it helps for those wishing to speak it better. It's a complete course in the language and works great as review. I'm not sure I'd recommend it as the _only_ text for complete beginners, especially if those beginners have never studied a second language before, but it would work fine in conjunction with another text such as Wheelock's.