Plaid Dad or anyone else - re: Henle and Lingua Latina

[JennifersLost]

I noticed that you used both Henle and Lingua Latina to learn Latin - did you use both simultaneously?

And did you do the Dowling Method's six months of memorization first, or get right to using the texts, too?

[LisaNY]

If you are just beginning with Henle, the best plan is to cover 6 or so chapters of Henle, then switch to the readings in LL until it hits grammar topics you have not covered yet in Henle. Go back to Henle, and then repeat the process. It is impossible to cover them simultaneously since the grammar sequence is so different.

Lingua Latina is an excellent way to practice reading "Latin as Latin". You really get a feel for Latin this way. LL also gives you a lot more vocabulary than you get with Henle. There are no vocabulary glosses in LL. Since it is an immersion approach, you have to figure out word meanings via the clues in the margins which consist of pictures, synonyms, etc.

If you are going to use both texts, then treat Henle as your grammar text, and LL as your reading text. It will give you the best of both worlds, IMO. :)

[JennifersLost]

I've got some more questions:

When you do the Dowling Method for memorization, did you just write out the endings? Or did you use example words for each of the variations?

[LisaNY]

I have not used the Dowling Method, but I think he recommends using a grammar text, which would have the words, and not just endings. You can use Henle's Grammar for that.

[LisaNY]

One more thought - I would read the chapters in LL at least 10 times. You will be surprised at how much you will understand with each subsequent reading.

[Plaid Dad]

I had taken a crash course in Latin in graduate school - all of Wheelock in two months. I kid you not. Not surprisingly, I forgot everything almost instantly.

When I decided I wanted to relearn Latin, I worked through the first 9 units of Henle - I think it was 9 - and then went back and used the Dowling method to really get the forms in place. I went on and did some beginning literature reading after that. I only got a copy of Oerberg last year, and it really helped my fluency in reading. Before that, I did a lot of hunting and pecking; now I can tackle a Latin sentence head on. :)