Customer Reviews

Scribblers, Sculptors, and Scribes: A Companion to Wheelock's Latin and Other Introductory Textbooks

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This text gives the beginning student a nice exposure Latin epigraphy (study of inscriptions), and includes a pretty good range, from funerary inscriptions to graffiti. Each chapter has a few short Latin inscriptions transcribed first using more or less standard epigraphical notation, and then a second time in expanded format using capitalization, spacing, punctuation, etc. A vocabulary list of words not learned (keyed to the corresponding chapter in Wheelock) follows each passage, and there is a full vocabulary at the end. Overall, this makes the inscriptions quite accessible to the beginning student (which can be fairly satisfying!). Each chapter is also concluded by a short epigram or the like, and by a section entitled "proverbia et dicta" (which feel an awful lot like Wheelock's Sententiae Antique -- i.e., very short, discrete sentences taken out of context).

If you are using this book as supplementary readings for Wheelock (or any traditional "grammar-translation" textbook), however, I'm afraid it won't be enough. Wheelock is an excellent textbook in many ways. The presentation of the grammar is clear and well-organized, and there are lots of great ancillaries to help you get through the book. By far its biggest draw-back, however, is the lack of reading passages of any significant length. This means that the course, while teaching the grammar and syntax quite nicely, does not develop proficiency in reading Latin as much as it should. Students who finish Wheelock often have great difficulty making the transition to reading actual Latin texts (if the assignments are of any significant length). To ameliorate this situation, a student should supplement his or her studies with extended reading passages as soon as possible (certainly from the latter half of Wheelock to the end). Scribblers, Sculptors, and Scribes is an excellent book, but it doesn't have nearly enough longer reading passages.

One choice for more significant supplementary readings might be War with Hannibal: Authentic Latin Prose for the Beginning Student. It presents a considerable amount of a real Latin (enough to get you acquainted with reading Latin prose, yet not so much that you can't finish the book), and includes helpful notes geared toward the beginning student. Another possibility -- if you are brave -- is Augustus' Res Gestae. The Res Gestae Divi Augusti (Greek Commentaries Series) is quite inexpensive (though the notes could be a bit more thorough for the beginning student). You could also try reading some of the graded passages in Jones and Sidwell's Reading Latin: Text (say starting with the adapted Cicero about half way through the book). I myself am not crazy about Groton and May's 38 Latin Stories Designed to Accompany Frederic M. Wheelock's Latin (Latin Edition) (the Latin -- even from the latter half of the book -- feels too Anglicized). Many people like it though, and the main point is to read!

In any case, if you are using a standard grammar-translation textbook (as most of you are!), you really *must* supplement the textbook with as much reading as possible. It really is the only way to become a fluent reader (and feel prepared to some degree when you finish your textbook and begin to read real Latin texts). Exercises and discrete sentences are fine, but they are no substitute for reading, reading, reading!

This is a really charming book, ideal book for anyone who wishes to get a feel for both the Latin language and the common people who used it. It also shows that the problem of graphite is neither modern nor new. A great read.

This looks like an excellant book, full of valuable material for the Latin beginner, but Kindle users beware. Check out the sample before you buy.

The spacing and paragraphing of the Kindle edition are all mixed up, at least on my original Kindle. The font used for the long vowels does not match the regular font, especially if you change font sizes. The proverbs are all run together instead of being in a numbered list.

I'm buying the paperback!

This book, along with the other Wheelock products, mislead the buyer. It does have good material and if you are an expert at Latin it is fine, but if you're trying to learn Latin you have no way of knowing if what you're doing is correct or not. The answer key is unavailable, in spite of the advertising. I've spent the past three days with Harper Collins trying to download the answer key. The best I could get is a little bitty screen shot of the pages that you can't print. What good is that? I'm contacting the Wheelock website and try to return my books for a refund. I'll go to another author to study Latin. This is absurd.