Books for Learning Latin

You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

Recently, we got an email question that sent me rummaging all around the Internet.

And Grant, of course, those are the kinds of questions we love, right?

Oh, yes, please.

Well, here’s the story.

The email was from a listener who’s several years out of college, and she’s interested in starting to learn Latin. Good for her.

But with her busy life, she doesn’t have a whole lot of time, so she wondered, where do I start?

And I realized as I thought about her question that it’s been so long since I started learning Latin that I wasn’t sure what was available these days for busy adults.

So I did some nosing around.

I found a book called Getting Started with Latin. It’s by William E. Linney. That’s L-I-N-N-E-Y.

And it’s a book designed for homeschoolers, but it’s really for students of any age.

And I like it because it’s well-organized, it’s not intimidating, it’s easy to digest, and it’s something that’ll help you start to make sense of Latin, and the exercises will keep your mental machinery well-oiled.

I also like that the author has posted audio files of Latin pronunciation and some additional commentary on his website.

Now, that website is gettingstartedwithlatin.com.

And as I told the listener, when you get through these lessons, the next thing I suggest you do is treat yourself to another book, which is called We Rent Owa, We Rent Perna.

You know that one, right, Grant?

No, I don’t.

That’s how Latin professors Jennifer and Terrence Thunberg translate the title of Dr. Seuss’s classic Green Eggs and Ham.

It’s a book that looks just like the English version with all the illustrations and everything.

And it has a Latin glossary in the back.

And the translation here isn’t word for word, but that’s precisely the point.

Because the translators took pains not only to preserve the spirit of Dr. Seuss, but also that wonderful musicality.

I mean, there’s nothing like sitting down and opening that first page and reading. I mean, hours of fun for the whole family, right?

Yes.

I might rather join the priesthood to learn Latin, but okay.

Well, it’ll be my guess, but that’ll be a little bit later Latin.

This is a classic.

But they did a whole series of these Zeus books translated into Latin.

And you know what, Grant? I imagine that the late Ted Geisel, and that’s the real name of Dr. Seuss, would approve because it turns out, get this, that Geisel, too, was a big fan of Latin.

And in fact, he once told an interviewer that the reason he loved Latin is because Latin, quote, allows you to adore words, take them apart, and find out where they came from.

He’s so right about that. And you can get a taste of it if you check out these books.

The titles, again, are Getting Started with Latin by William Linney and Wierent Owa Wierent Perna by Jennifer and Lawrence Tunberg.

We’ll put more information about both those books on our website, waywordradio.org.

And if you’d like to talk about Latin or pig Latin or green ham or green eggs, call us at the numbers 1-877-929-9673 or send an email.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.