Textbook Recommendations
Eventually we hope to have longer posts about these textbooks in the blog, since there is so much to say about each of them. We will reserve this page for a more abbreviated summation of each title.
Each textbook is unique. Some are better than others, but not all have the same goal in mind. If you are an absolute beginner looking to learn on your own, you might require a different book than a classroom teacher seeking a book for their students. Read through the list and the notes below to see which books might be right for you.
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Who is this for: Teachers, all levels of students, everyone
The bottom line is that this is the best first resource for anyone looking to learn or improve their skills. Those who have run through a book like Henle Latin and have learned all the basic grammar and vocabulary will still find this book challenging, especially towards the end. Even if you have no experience with Latin at all, the book is designed to be picked up and read on day one with no other resources.
Lingua Latina’s claim to fame is its lack of second-language intervention. The only language in the book is Latin, and that is both its strength and its weakness. The absence of a true glossary forces the the reader to pay close attention to an array of images and carefully crafted margin notes. Even the best notes and images, however, are hard pressed to demonstrate the finer points of the language. For that reason, I think that this book is best enjoyed in tandem with either another book like Henle if you are learning yourself, or under the guidance of an experienced teacher.
For the teacher who is considering this book in their classroom, it is an excellent resource, and your students should have it, but it requires some skill to use both on the teacher’s end and the students’. The text does not follow the well-trod path of introducing logically sequential concepts e.g. first declension in the first chapter followed by the second declension. The first chapter, which is only a few pages long, throws in the first and second declension, along with est/sunt and the preposition ‘in’ with the interrogative ‘ubi’. That might sound manageable, and most students will easily understand the chapter, but you will run into difficulties after you have sped through the first few chapters and realize that understanding the meaning of a sentence and truly knowing how the sentence works are two different things. I have a lot to say about this wonderful book, but I will go ahead and wrap up here and save the rest of my thoughts for a future blog post.
The next couple titles are in the Lingua Latina series of books, but are not full textbooks in their own right. If you have decided to purchase Familia Romana, I would recommend that you purchase these as well.
1.1) COLLOQUIA PERSONARUM
A small companion book to the first Lingua Latina text. It is designed to provide a little more repetition for the vocabulary and grammar introduced in Familia Romana and also fills in more of the main book’s narrative. It is divided into twenty four chapters, each corresponding to the first twenty four chapters of the main text.
This book is an excellent resource for teachers. Assuming none of the students have access to it, the text can be used on tests to assess whether students are generally tracking along with what is going on in Familia Romana since the vocab and grammar for each chapter are essentially the same.
A 300-page companion for the Familia Romana text that breaks down the vocabulary and grammar for each chapter. There is an Latin-English glossary at the back and interesting tidbits sprinkled in about the ancient Roman world. The autodidact would be remiss to not have the college companion, since it fulfills the role of a teacher in some ways, and helps bridge the gap between understanding what the Latin is saying and understanding what the Latin is doing in Familia Romana.
I had a Latin professor in college who had us purchase these texts, but warned against relying on it too heavily. I agree that this book should be used with care, and if you are a middle/high-school teacher, I would not have this book openly available to students, since it has the potential to ruin the mystique of the original text. Part of what makes Familia Romana so great is that it forces the reader to make logical conclusions about the meanings of words, a process that makes learned vocabulary stick better. This text has the potential to deprive the student of the learning journey, but if used wisely, it has legitimate potential in the classroom.
N.B. The link above is for the newest color edition of this book. However, if you can get your hands on a black and white edtion, I would highly recommend it.
Who is this for: Those who have read through all of the first book at least once
Even if you have read through the first book once, Roma Aeterna is not exactly a walk in the park. The follow up text to Familia Romana is not nearly as intuitive as the first book, but it is also more grand in its scope. The first book’s goal was to introduce all of Latin’s high-frequency vocabulary and basic grammar. This book attempts to hand you off to unadulterated Latin prose, a difficult transition. Hans Orberg, the editor of these books, slowly removes the training wheels as you read through the early history of Rome according to Livy, Vergil, Eutropius, Sallust, and Cicero while continuing to introduce more morphology, syntax, grammar, and vocab through images and margin notes. Admitedly, the images are not always sufficient, especially when encountering things like the so-called “subjunctive of reported reason” or unreal conditions, but the general aesthetic and experience of reading this text with all of the unique pictures is still enjoyable, especially if you have a teacher or the college companion helping you along the way. You should get this book if you are an intermediate to upper intermediate student or even a veteran looking for more reading. There is nothing quite like it out there.
I have not personally taught a class that is ready to take this text on, but I would imagine that many of the things I said about the first part of the series remain true here.
It is not impossible to work through Roma Aeterna without the companion book, but it will make your experience so much smoother. The author breaks down the grammar for each chapter and puts it into plain English. I personally bought the digital version of this book when I was working my way through Roma Aeterna a few years ago, and it saved me a lot of heartache. The digital version is searchable and it saved me a lot of time.
Just like with the last companion, a teacher should be careful implementing this book with students, lest they completely obliterate the journey of learning that the Familia Romana series tries so hard to cultivate.
3) Henle Latin year 1
Who is this for: Beginner students, and teachers looking for a more standardized introduction to grammar for their students
This book makes the cut for me in part because it was the first book I ever used, but it also has some serious advantages that are worth highlighting. There is a plethora of exercises in this book, and it is perfect for a self-motivated learner, or a teacher looking to focus on a little more grammar. It is a good book to use in tandem with Familia Romana even though the two books do not introduce concepts in the same order. Some of the early sentences are a bit repetitive, since the vocabulary is so limited, but if you are looking for a textbook that hits all of the basic vocabulary and grammar beats with tons of exercises to boot, this is the textbook for you.
Henle Latin is a Christian themed book, and many of the early practice sentences are Christian mantras on repeat, but the book teaches classical Latin and ultimately prepares the student to read Caesar in the second-year book and then Cicero and Vergil.
GREEK
Coming Soon
Image Credit – By Unknown author – Digital photo of original manscript, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=312028