"Classical languages are neither more nor less difficult than modern ones; the method of learning them is the problem"

Sunday, March 14, 2010

An article here in Spanish includes that quote from a professor of Spanish in Andalucia named Carlos Martínez who believes (correctly) that Latin is not inherently harder than other modern languages (las lenguas clásicas no son ni más difíciles ni más fáciles que las modernas; el problema está en el método) and teaches it in the same way one would any other language. I suspect his method is similar to this teacher who also comes across in the classroom not as a teacher imparting Latin grammar on the students, but simply a person who speaks the language and wants to give the students the experience of speaking it as well. The method he uses is "first listen, repeat, reflect and after that go on to things like rosa/rosae".

Apparently he was the first to use this method in Andalucia but now it's being used by 20 other places.

At the same time he notes that a study of Latin shouldn't be too focused on modern usage alone, since learning Latin is best used for reading material written in the language, and not so much for chatting on the bus or in the cafeteria.

The article leads to this site apparently formed by like-minded professors, which then branches off into a ton of other links in Spanish and/or Latin such as this one calling for it to be added to secondary schools in Spain.

2 comments:

cafaristeir said...

I agree; that's what I've always said, and that's why I am far better at Latin than the ones who learnt it at school...

cafaristeir said...

I agree; that's what I've always said, and that's why I am far better at Latin than the ones who learnt it at school...

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