classical or ecclesiastical latin??

[Deana FL]

I just received my Lively Latin CD and am reviewing everything. I'll be learning along with my children.

So I'm wondering what's the difference between classical and ecclesaistical latin... which one should I teach? or am I supposed to teach both ...ahhh?

[tristangrace]

I'm 100% sure you will get more informative replies shortly, but I believe the only difference between the two is how a few letters are pronounced, so it doesn't really make too much difference which you go with. We will probably go with ecclesiastical or "church" Latin, because we hear Latin in our (Anglican) church now and again, usually in ancient hymns.

But again (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong) the differences are so slight that it would be extremely easy to switch from one to the other as necessary if your kids pursue or use Latin as teens/adults. (But naturally you'd stick to one or the other as they are learning the language.)

Susan

[NayfiesMama]

I just heard that it's fine to switch back and forth. There are just about 6 differences with sounds. V and W sounds C -v-CC? and a few others. I'm having my daughter do Classical with Classical Conversations and Ecclesiastical with Henle. She's 10, and I think she'll be fine.

[TracyR]

You could teach both. But first you need to pick one to teach. We chose the Ecclesiastical pronunciation because I like the sound of it better. It has a more 'Italian' sound to it and it just sounds nicer to us, and at times we hear latin in church.
Ecclesiastical prounuciation is also known as 'church' latin ,which was developed by the church in Rome and is still used today at the Vatican.
Classical is more what scholars believe the Romans originally spoke. Differences between the both are with C, J, G , R( Ecc is highly rolled, in Classical is slightly rolled)V, and Ecclesiastical uses Z where Classical doesnot. The vowels are pronounced differently and three out of the 4 dipthongs are pronouned differently.

There is no right or wrong when chosing really. They can eventually learn both. It will all depend on your goals for your children and if they plan on studying it beyond homeschooling( such as college) as most institutions use Classical pronunciation.

[Dana in OR]

We choose ecclesiastical because our church uses Latin quite a bit in prayer (Episcopal Common Book of Prayer). But it doesn't matter, I'd just pick one and stay with it.

Dana

[VickyC in SoCal]

I chose classical because it sounds like Spanish. As a native Spanish speaker, I was surprised to find out that Spanish was so similar to Latin. It is nice to know that as my kids increase their latin vocabulary, they are also expanding their Spanish one.