Reading Latin: Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises by Peter V. Jones (PDF)

Description

Reading Latin is a Latin course designed to help mature beginners read Latin fluently and intelligently, primarily in the context of classical culture, but with some mediaeval Latin too. It does this in three ways; it encourages reading of continuous texts from the start; it offers generous help with translation at every stage; and it integrates the learning of Classical Latin with an appreciation of the influence of the Latin language upon English and European culture from Antiquity to the present. The text, richly illustrated, consists at the start of carefully graded adaptations from original Classical Latin texts. The adaptations are gradually phased out until unadultered prose and verse can be read. The Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises volume supplies all the help needed to do this, together with a range of reinforcing exercises for each section, including English into Latin for those who want it. At the end of each section, a selection of Latin epigrams, mottoes, quotations, everyday Latin, word-derivations, examples of mediaeval Latin and discussions of the influence of Latin upon English illustrate the language’s impact on Western culture. Reading Latin is principally designed for university and adult beginners, and also for sixth-formers (eleventh and twelth graders in the USA). It is also ideal for those people who may have learned Latin many years ago, and wish to renew their acquaintance with the language. Its companion course, Reading Greek is one of the most widely used mature beginners’ courses in the world.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This course (3 volumes if you are learning on your own: Reading Latin, Vocabulary and Exercises, Self Study Guide) is excellent. It is prepared somewhat like a programmed course, giving little bits of information at each step with detailed explanations and full translations of the reading texts(in the self-study guide) and then having you test your mastery with exercises. Very effective. I have used a similar method to learn basic musical harmony and I can say that this step-wise approach which takes nothing for granted, explaining every piece of new information and then immediately testing it, is very effective. You can sense from the way the explanations are written that the authors really care about you learning Latin. I have used the Oxford Latin Course volume 1 and can say that that course is not for adult learners without a teacher. This is the one to get if you are an adult student learning on your own. Great course, highly recommended. The only problems I see with this method is first it’s very dense, so your progress is slow. The authors recommend to do a bit each day , even if it’s just half a page or so. I find that this works. Also, since if you are studying on your own you have to use 3 separate volumes, plus probably your notebook for vocabulary and notes to do the translations and the exercises, so it’s cumbersome to say the least but the method is very good.

⭐The ultimate question with Latin textbooks is whether to teach grammar and vocab first with a late introduction of real reading material (Wheelock), or whether to start the reading and comprehension from the beginning using only minimal changes to grammar complexity and vocab slowly overtime (such as Cambridge Latin Course or, even moreso, Lingua Latina).The trouble with the former approach (such as with Wheelock), is that the transition from the textbook to attempting real Latin (which would occur at the start of an intermediate college Latin course) is almost unbearable and produces sloppy classicists who then find themselves in need of “post-bacc” courses before they are ready for true graduated level study.The trouble with the latter variety (such as with Lingua Latina) is that they notoriously lack the more complicated grammar and syntax that is needed for intermediate college level students or beyond. This must be supplemented or the students end up being fluent with, albeit stuck at, kindergarten-level Latin.Jones and Sidwell have tried to get around this by subdividing their books into a grammar textbook (this one) and a separate, “Text” for reading comprehension and practice. There is also a must-have “Study Guide” which translates everything in the “Text” book which helps students know for sure that they are learning accurately.If the grammar is learned slowly and the reading text is rigorously supplemented, then you basically have a great one-two combo that should, theoretically, escape all the pitfalls of Wheelock and Lingua Latina. Some students who are learning via Jones and Sidwell on their second time through may find that it does just this (perhaps those who learned first with Wheelock and now feel stuck, for example).The trouble is, as many have pointed out in the reviews here, that Jones and Sidwell do many annoying things with their book(s), which impede first time students from learning as efficiently as possible.* Verbs are often introduced without all principal parts, including those which have a somewhat irregular pattern.* Nouns paradigms use an irregular order Nom, Acc, Gen, Dat, Abl …, versus the more common Nom, Gen, Dat, Acc, Abl (seen in most dictionaries and most other textbooks).* The Latin v/u is always written Capital `V’ or lowercase `u’, which is true to original classical texts, but is never seen in dictionaries or web resources, so it’s a nuisance for students trying to learn pronunciation and morphology of vocab for first time.* The grammar explanations are minimalist and less helpful than those in Wheelock or some other textbooks I’ve worked with in the past.* The reading `Text’ book has a list of vocab words to help translation, but these are contained in the `Grammar’ book. This is not only VERY inconvenient, but results in destroyed bindings for both books, due to all the flipping back and forth.* The practice sentences and `Text’ are boring as can be.Ultimately, these issues do not make Jones and Sidwell completely un-useful, but they do make the set fall short of what it could have been. All-in-all, I think Jones and Sidwell is great for students running through a second time, perhaps after a first year working with Wheelock. I also think some of the exercises and supplementary material could be used nicely as HW or in the classroom by teachers who are primarily using other textbooks with the students.Unfortunately, I think the English-speaking world is still left with the unsatisfactory resources to teach Latin in a way that promotes both complete grammar mastery AND complete reading/writing/thinking fluency. The best bet may still be to combine books using these separate methods (such as Wheelock with Lingua Latina), and this Jones and Sidwell set does not help fully relieve us of this predicament.

⭐It came quickly (thankfully because I needed It for class). It was clearly brand new and in good condition.

⭐The entire three volume set of Reading Latin is excellent. Peter Jones and his fellow authors provide a highly structured, easy to follow, and excellent method for learning Latin. For those that can’t take a formal course or courses, it doesn’t get any better than this. Even for those like me who minored in Latin, it’s the best review of Latin that you can get on the market.John F. Gilligan, Ph.D.

⭐I bought this one book out of the set because I have Peter Jones’ “Reading Ovid” and “Reading Virgil” books which refer you to grammar points in “Reading Latin” so you can pull out your copy and read up on that grammar point–IF YOU COULD ONLY FIND IT. He seems stuck in the days of the old grammars where simply having PAGE NUMBERS was too much to ask (in fact there ARE page numbers, but they don’t seem to be referred to in the index)–instead you are directed to places like “179.2, J5(c)2”. Wouldn’t a page number be a lot easier?? I think so. I have yet to see another textbook so confusingly indexed.

⭐Excellent quality 🙂 This book provides a thorough approach to learning Latin grammar and vocab for beginners, with supplementary exercises. Simple and effective 😀 Really recommended it to fellow students.

⭐This is just a preliminary review – but already I have to take major points off, because the v letters are all replaced by u letters. I realize in ancient Latin manuscripts this was the case. But thankfully modern book publishers don’t do this anymore. What is to be gained by inflicting this extra, confusing complexity on beginning students?Why on earth make learning Latin harder than it already is?Also, I see in the end Latin-English vocabulary that there is a separate “additional learning vocabulary” section – why not include these in with the main Latin-English vocabulary? Now students are forced to look in both places.I haven’t started using this book yet, so I may revise my opinion later. But based on what I’ve seen so far, I can only conclude this book was produced by people who aren’t thinking at all of students’ needs.

⭐The three books in this series by Peter Jones are well worth studying. Will improve skill.

⭐This book doesn’t stand alone, you need to buy the companion volume Reading Latin: Text and Vocabulary. That means you’re paying for two books, but that isn’t the only reason why I’m voting it down. It’s because I have grave doubts that even with both books, this is an effective way of learning Latin. I’m not a new learner, and I find the presentation hopelessly confused and very very old-fashioned. I have serious doubts that a new learner could learn Latin from this pair of books, although an established and committed learner might be able to get something out of it.However, the bottom line is that there are many better (and cheaper) books than this.

⭐This book was written especially for mature beginners, or those wishing to revise Latin. It was recommended by a teacher on an online course and has been extremely helpful. Best studied in conjunction eith compsnion volume Text and Vocabulary by the same authors. The book arrived extremely promptly in excellent condition.

⭐Brand new book. I’ve opened it at the first page and the early pages are all falling out of the spine. As this touted as a school book its not robust enough.

⭐A really useful tuextbook

⭐Pages 137-168 missing.

Keywords

Free Download Reading Latin: Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises in PDF format
Reading Latin: Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises PDF Free Download
Download Reading Latin: Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises PDF Free
Reading Latin: Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises PDF Free Download
Download Reading Latin: Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises PDF
Free Download Ebook Reading Latin: Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises