Teach Yourself Beginner's Latin [Paperback]

GDA Sharpley (Author), George Sharpley (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071424512 | ISBN-13: 978-0071424516 | Publication Date: December 1, 2003 | Edition: 3

If you find learning Latin daunting, Teach Yourself Beginner's Latin is just what your language teacher ordered. The book makes for a friendly introduction to the language that's easy to follow, from start to finish. In contrast to other courses, it presents an exciting and humorous text, set in a medieval monastery that is under threat of attack from Vikings. It includes:

• Enhanced English-Latin and Latin-English vocabularies
• A special section on pronunciation
• Fascinating language and cultural information
• CD for quick and easy access to lessons, dialogues, and exercises

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

G. D. A. Sharpley is an experienced author of Latin learning materials.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 3 edition (December 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071424512
• ISBN-13: 978-0071424516
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #542,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful guide to learning Latin, January 1, 2001

By 

K. Wallace (Bedford, MA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teach Yourself Beginner's Latin (Teach Yourself Books) (Latin Edition) (Paperback)

I am still working through this book, but so far I like it very much. The continuing story through which the reader learns new vocabulary is extremely amusing. It is worth noting that the vocabulary words are not conversational. (Although not many people have conversations in Latin.) For example, the first few words the reader learns are woods, mule, watches (verb), scared, and slow. Or something similar to that.

I bought the book with two audio tapes, which don't appear to be offered here. The tapes were the short stories being read.

One thing about this book that could be improved is the number of practice exercises. I could definitely have used more of them. Also, it would have been nice if the book had had more straightforward grammar explanations. For example, instead of giving examples of verb endings they could have come right out with a chart telling all the endings for the different categories of verbs. However, the grammar explanations were mostly very clear and easy to learn.

I had not taken any Latin classes before reading this book, and did not have difficulty understanding anything. I reccommend this book highly for anyone interested in learning Latin.

55 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Latin Without Tears, April 20, 1998

By 

Mia Soderquist ([e-mail]) (Cheswold, DE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teach Yourself Beginner's Latin (Teach Yourself Books) (Latin Edition) (Paperback)

This is one of the least painful introductions to Latin that I have seen. It doesn't assume any knowledge of grammar terms, and it doesn't dump whole declensions in your lap in the first lesson (unlike most of the other Latin textbooks lining my shelves). If you ever thought that Latin looked too frightening to tackle, this is probably the book you want.

93 of 100 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not if you want to learn Classical Latin, January 10, 2000

By 

Melinda Gottesman (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Teach Yourself Beginner's Latin (Teach Yourself Books) (Latin Edition) (Paperback)

This is an excellent book which provides the reader with a very user-friendly approach to learning latin. Nota Bene, however that the book focuses on Medieval (ecclesiastical) Latin, not Classical Latin (although it does mention it occasionally)