Having used both Wheelock's and Latin Via Ovid, and having taken Latin coursework both in the U.S. and in Germany, I wholeheartedly hold Moreland/Fleisher's Latin: An Intensive Course to be the best Latin language education textbook I have encountered. I am a student of comparative literature, and therefore a large part of my studies is independent. I spend a great deal of time teaching myself languages (so far Latin, Ancient Greek, German, Italian and French either entirely or partially self-taught) and so it is critical that I find great textbooks. Moreland and Fleisher's Latin: An Intensive Course is both intensive (offering clear explanations of each concept in addition to examples, drills AND exercises for practicing it) and extensive (covering all of the most critical grammar topics and an impressive number of the subtleties of the language (i.e. etymological patterns)). It is no wonder that it is used as the foundation for two renowned Latin education programs int he US (Intensive summer courses at UC Berkeley and the Latin and Greek Institute at the CUNY Graduate Center and Brooklyn College).
Time and time again while working in Moreland and Fleisher's textbook I would come accross explanations of grammatical concepts that stun me in respect to their brilliance and cause me to reflect in disappointment on other textbooks whose authors simply weren't able to offer such great explanations. Examples are cum clauses (Unit 15) and the simply stunning coverage of participles (Unit 5).
The student is asked to learn how grammatical phenomena in translate from the Latin first literally and only then idiomatically. This develops an attention for Latin idiom and avoids the tendency pervasive in so many other Latin texts to encourage a lazy assimilation of Latin grammar and vocabulary into English idiom.
Students of Greek will be elated to see that Moreland and Fleischer explain the Latin tense system in a way that tacitly takes verbal aspect into account (i.e. the Latin perfect tense can have EITHER completed aspect in the present tense "I have done" OR simple aspect in the past "I did"). This latter distinction in particular, although elided in so many other treatments of the Latin verbal system, is in fact critical to understanding sequence of tenses in indirect questions, purpose clauses, and so many other complex grammatical structures in the language. (I.e. if the perfect verb has completed aspect in the present tense it is treated as a primary sequence verb and will be followed by present or perfect subjunctive verbs in subordinate clauses, whereas if it has simple aspect in the past it is a secondary sequence verb.)
All of these fascinating and critical details are not only treated with rigor in Moreland/Fleischer but are also explained with a level of clarity that attests to the profound knowledge wielded by the book's authors. Advanced students as well as motivated beginners will find in Latin: An Intensive Course a thoroughgoing and brilliant treatment of the ancient language which far outruns its peers in quality.
The one negative I can mention is the quality of the binding which is TERRIBLE but it nowhere near important enough to warrant a reduction in stars.
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