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

Hans H. Orberg (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1585102385 | ISBN-13: 978-1585102389 | Publication Date: February 21, 2006

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 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 Ørbergs 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

Hardcover edition of first textbook in Lingua Latina series

About the Author

Hans Henning Ørberg (1920-2010). 1946 MA in English, French and Latin at the University of Copenhagen. 1946-52 and 1961-63 teacher at various Danish highschools. 1953-61 on the staff of The Nature Method Institute, Copenhagen. 1963-88 teacher at Grenaa Gymnasium. Author of the Latin course Lingua Latina secundum naturae rationem explicata, first published 1955-56. New revised edition published 1990-91 under the title Lingua Latina per se illustrata, with a number of supplements. After his retirement he ran a publishing house called Domus Latina, which his children now run.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Co. (February 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585102385
• ISBN-13: 978-1585102389
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #353,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #75 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Nonfiction > Latin

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Latin Primer?, August 24, 2007

By 

J. R. Bombadil (Brew City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lingua Latina: Pars I: Familia Romana (Pt. 1) (Hardcover)

Of the ten to fifteen series of Latin Primers I've looked at and taught from, this is the best. The next best is probably Oxford or Cambridge. The problem with Henle and Wheelock is that although one can thoroughly understand grammar, one does not acquire the idiom. I mean idiom as Cardinal Newman in Elementary Education (in Idea of University) describes it. Oerberg best gives you a knack for "how the Latin sentence is thought" or put together (not merely idiomatic expression). It is harder to teach, but much more enjoyable. My students love learning. It also has rave reviews from teachers at the publishers' forum for Oerberg. There is also a brand new companion book that is supplement to the grammar.

It is a "natural" approach. Everything is in Latin. My students learn to recite the Latin in 2 months of 6th grade, and learn about 4 times the vocabulary without ever using a dictionary (and I only give them a few difficult words, in particular some prepositions and conjunctions).

It is difficult on your own I imagine, but there are additional resources. It's by far the best approach, the closest to actually acquiring the language by immersion. Suitable for adults and used in colleges. (Oerberg has a very subtle and also not so subtle humor, making it suitable for all ages.)I studied Latin formally for ten years and never acquired a knack for the idiom. Teaching from Oerberg has actually improved my Latin. It is, I think, an answer to Dorothy Sayers who said her biggest complaint was that after 20 years of study, she never really acquired Latin -- she started when seven.

Vive, Hans! He's done a great service for Latin pedagogy. It's really a brilliant little work as are the best Latin text books -- the difference is, this works. Latin is the toughest elementary "subject" there is -- I've taught almost all of them including AP Calc. It's also the most beneficial. I'm grateful to the Oerberg for having made it a little easier.

FINALLY, if I haven't yet convinced you, I suggest that you get it as a supplemental reader. Just read it in the Latin and try not to translate. Read and reread until you master the first book. It will help all future Latin reading. (BTW the second book is helpful too, and Hans is attempting to make an intro. to the Aeneid.)

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Dream Come True, November 22, 2007

By 

Kathleen Kamibayashi "Book Lover" (Philadelphia, PA, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lingua Latina: Pars I: Familia Romana (Pt. 1) (Hardcover)

My name is Matthew (the name above is my Mom's name), and I am a 16-year old homeschooled highschool student. I just recently started studying this curriculum, and am thrilled! Last year (my freshman year) I struggled through Henle Latin, a terrible curriculum, and had almost given up hope that Latin could ever be rewarding and enjoyable. Then a friend recommended Lingua Latina to my Mom, and we bought it immediately. The moment I opened the book, I knew it was perfect. Instead of bombarding students with conjugation after conjugation, declension after declension, word after word, and rule after rule, all Lingua Latina requires is that students read the fun and interesting stories that are so well presented in this book. Although this sounds too good to be true, it works! Through the use of detailed pictures and clever diagrams, the meaning of each sentence is made clear. Even if students are fuzzy about the translation of a word or phrase, Orberg repeats it plenty of times, so by the end of the chapter nothing is left unclear. The characters: Julius, his wife Aemilia, and their three children - Marcus, Quintus, and Julia (along with a multitude of servants!) The episodes in their lives are often witty and humorous, making the learning of new words and sentence structure easy and enjoyable. Lingua Latina has proved to me that the Latin Lanuage need not be boring and discouraging! I would highly recommend this curriculum!

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, April 15, 2008

By 

Greg McClure "desmodromic" (Newport Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lingua Latina: Pars I: Familia Romana (Pt. 1) (Hardcover)

I am doing my MFA in English at UC Irvine, where I'm also taking a Latin reading course. Reading courses usually amount to, more or less, a student standing in place while an instructor tries to throw a grammar at the student's head, hoping for a direct hit. The student is then handed some passages to translate, along with a healthy pat on the back and some words of encouragement: "Figure it out! It's really hard, isn't it? Learning Latin can sure suck! Have a great weekend!"

Okay, there's a little more academic structure than that and some courses are undoubtedly better than others. But the traditional approach to learning Latin has been, seemingly to me, a rough road. This book comes to the rescue. It's amazing. The only English in the entire book appears to be on the publisher's page and the back cover. The rest is all Latin -- you pick it up and start reading. You don't even have to pick it up. You could prop it up against something and start reading that way.

The experience isn't quite magic. You need to pay careful attention to what is happening in each and every paragraph. Concepts in this book come at you fast, and while they are reinforced, it helps to pick them up clearly the first time around. For example, some distinctions of case are very subtle, as with the genitive which is, at times, indicated by a mere long vowel mark. Because Latin is inflected, it can be very compact. But if you're astute and not in a big rush, learning is accelerated by this text's approach.

I am in love with this book. It's a revelation and a lot of fun. But I don't recommend it to anyone who prefers their learning to be painful, frustrating, or unpleasant. I also don't recommend it to anyone who believes that the acquisition of a language should exclusively be a slow, classroom process punctuated by nights of stressful cramming for the next morning's test. For those people, definitely go with Wheelock and enjoy the pain.

But if you want to work toward reading Virgil and Cicero in the most pleasant way available today, this book is the way to go. I also recommend the supplementary materials, especially the grammar, the student's guide (which is very useful), and the Exercitia Latina (which really works concepts well).