"Familia Romana and A Companion to Familia Romana came as a complete revelation. I'd heard they were unique, but they are literally nothing less than a work of genius. They would completely revolutionize the classroom, and I would urge all teachers of first-year Latin at universities and all high school teachers to seriously consider adopting this radical approach to learning Latin. The companion volume provides all the traditional exposure you would want, but the main volume shows every prospect of genuinely internalizing Latin in the learner's brain as a living language, calling on a whole set of language-acquisition skills and instincts normally neglected in the teaching of a dead language. Mind-blowing."
—Jack Mitchell, Department of Classics, Dalhousie University
Hans Ørberg’s Lingua Latina per se Illustrata is the world’s premiere textbook for Learning Latin via the Natural Method. Students first learn grammar and vocabulary intuitively through extended contextual reading and an innovative system of marginal notes. It is the only textbook currently available that gives students the opportunity to learn Latin without resorting to translation, but allows them to “think” in the language. It is also the most popular text for teachers, at both the secondary and collegiate levels, who wish to incorporate conversational skills into their classroom practice.
Lingua Latina incorporates the following features:
- The most comprehensive treatment of Latin grammar available in an elementary textbook
- A vocabulary of almost 1,800 words, reinforced by constant and creatively phrased repetition, vastly expands the potential for later sight reading
- A complete line of ancillary volumes, exercises, and readers both in print and online
Seasoned secondary and college teachers often find their own reading facility enhanced by using Lingua Latina.
About the Author
Hans Henning Orberg(1920-2010) was a Danish linguist and teacher. He received a master's degree in English, French and Latin at the University of Copenhagen and taught these languages in schools in Denmark for over 40 years. He is the author of the Lingua Latina per se illustrata series, the world’s premiere series for learning Latin via the Natural Method. After his retirement, he founded the publishing house Domus Latina.