Latin for Reading: A Beginner's Textbook with Exercises

I had access to other texts - the Cambridge series, Wheelock's text, and other material - but I chose Latin for Reading as the foundation for my teaching approach. While other texts provide a greater breadth of vocabulary, extended prose, (many exercises in Latin for Reading are 2-3 sentences at most), and historical references, this text provides a fundamental and carefully constructed analytical approach to learning the grammar, syntax and semantics of the Latin language.

For those who would suggest that the exercises in this text are overly difficult, I would suggest that as opposed to other approaches to Latin study, this text, and its concepts of 'kernelling' and sentence mapping, demand an understanding of language at the most basic of levels. In fact, I would use this book as a supplement for any linguistics course.

I highly recommend this book.


If Gradgrind taught Latin...   June 7, 1999
 11 out of 12 found this review helpful

This book is recommended for those who are more interested in charting and graphing sentences than learning Latin. The focus is primarily upon dismantling sentences and placing them on "kernal charts," with little or no emphasis on reading. The "basic sentences" frequently contain material not yet covered. It is poorly glossed. In its favor, the book moves relatively slowly through paradigms, addressing the cases as need arises. And, if one works through the book, one is likely to accidently learn some Latin. However, the same end could be reached with almost any other book. I know half a dozen other languages, and have never seen a less efficient textbook. Like Gradgrind, the authors of this text seem hellbent on making certain that learning Latin is not tainted by pleasure. Despite wonderful instructors, this book left me with a dread of approaching Latin class.


The only approach that truly makes sense!   January 30, 1999
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

The common texts that have been around since Julius Caesar do not teach learners to "read" Latin. The approach used in Latin For Reading is well tested and works. There is no magic bullet for reading the classics. The magic is in the systematic and linguistic approach used in this text to teach students to read Latin. Only those "poor souls" who are still memorizing declensions in a vacuum will have difficulty appreciating this masterpiece. I taught Latin using this text and couldn't imagine teaching it any other way.