Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you make it through, you'll know Latin!, January 13, 2001
"Dense" is the word that comes to mind when I think of this book. The typeset is not the easiest to read, especially the bold print. And the grammar is introduced at a demanding pace. (Which is OK; nobody said that learning had to be easy. You're definitely allowed to take your time, and absorb the material.)The presentation of grammar follows a fairly traditional path. Each lesson introduces a large number of grammatical points, but there are plenty of examples given. Early lessons have vocabulary lists; the vocabulary for readings in later lessions must be looked up in the glossary in the back. Most critically, the answers to the exercises and translations of the readings are given in the back of the book. Unless you have a high level of linguistic sophistication, my recommendation would be to start your study of Latin with something a little gentler (like Wheelock). But this is a great resource, and should not be missed. My suggestion would be to work through Wheelock's "Latin" (or at least halfway through), and then tackle this book. It will be a good review of the grammar you know already, you'll learn a LOT more about Latin grammar and syntax, and you'll get a great deal of practice reading some pretty tough Latin (with the translations available to check your understanding). In summary, you might not want to START with this book, but you will definitely benefit from working through it somewhere along your path.
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40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A well structured and effective text for learning Latin, June 30, 1999
By A Customer
This text is well structured and presented for anyone wishing to learn Latin. Though it is heavy on grammatical terms, the grammar glossary and frequent reading/translating practice will most definitely correct any deficiencies. The text is organised into 31 units where within each unit, aspects of vocabulary and grammar are presented. Exercises are then given at the end of each unit consisting of short authentic Latin passages. However, beginning in Unit 15, an extra reading exercise follows the regular execises. These extra reading exercises are much longer passages from various Latin authors. In addition, at the end of every three units, there is a summary exercise (these numerous exercises are what I admire most about the structure of the course!). Since Latin is no longer a primary means of world communication (a pity really!), the book is strongly geared to reading and translations (there is a short pronounciation guide at the beginning). However, this text would form a very suitable complement if one would also wish to learn how to speak Latin by purchasing a commercially available Latin language software (I have one from the Transparent language series - LatinNow!). All in all, a great text!
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good method, but written in uncompromising style, August 6, 1998
By A Customer
This book teaches the essentials of the Latin language and presupposes no prior knowledge. Yet, due to its heavy reliance on technical grammatical terms, and the fast-paced nature of the course, I would not recommend this book to anyone who had not learnt some other foreign language first (I had learnt German). Whilst a glossary is there to explain technical terms, the high degree of proficiency and 'feeling at home' with these terms that is demanded right from the start is, I would imagine, enough to bewilder those who come to this book without a clue what a "genitive" is (for example). The book has 31 teaching units, with handy revision exercises interspersed. Its real strength is the structure of the course, and expecially each unit. Betts achieves within each unit a balance between the nuts and bolts of Latin grammer, syntax, examples, exercises, and interesting facts about the Romans (Unit 1 has where Latin came from, for example). I particularly li! ked how the book keeps together the grammatical rules with how to use them. Right from the start the reader can put into practice what they have learnt. Though moving quickly, with information never repeated, the reader does not have to memorize a huge amount of vocabulary (c.50 words) before progressing to each new lesson. However, the style of writing I consider unnecessarily difficult. (A taste: "An adjective, when not itself used as a noun (see next subsection), will always be qualifying a noun or pronoun, and must agree with this noun or pronoun in number, gender, and case." p.24). As you can gather, Betts is clear but rather dry. On the whole, I did not mind, but for those people who desire less-technical language and a warmer general manner, I should say there are other courses on the market which cater for this. The presentation is superb, with all latin words in bold type, well set-out appendixes (which one constantly refers to), and an attractive cove! r - all important considerations when buying a book that wi! ll be studied and refered to as much as a 'Teach Yourself' book.
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