Extracurricular Latin

[sunflower21]

Have you or your children/students ever read works in Latin, in addition to their coursework?

After which Latin class would you say, could a student read Jonathan Edwards' valedictory address, and master's thesis?

Kind thanks 🌻

[Bonnie]

Without seeing these particular Latin texts, I would make an educated guess that a very ambitious student might tackle them after finishing the lessons of Henle Second Year Latin. And it would certainly be even more beneficial if the student had some practice in reading Caesar and perhaps even some Cicero (Henle Third Year) -- or even had independently read parts of the Vulgate (Latin Bible). You would definitely need a Latin dictionary for some of the vocabulary.

Hope this helps.

Bonnie

[sunflower21]

Hello Bonnie, Thank you so much for your response! I am so thankful for your help.

Here's the link to the Valedictory Oration: https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2004539 for reference.

[sunflower21]

I believe this is the Master's Quaestio: https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2004825

[Bonnie]

Wow -- handwritten! I notice the use of the old English medial-s, so that, for example, esse looks like effe, and sicut looks like ficut, and conspicio looks like confpicio, etc. That alone would slow me down in reading it, but maybe that is part of the charm of the experience of reading the document just as he wrote it. Just glancing through it, I stick with my original answer as to which studies you would need to have completed beforehand.

Bonnie

[Bonnie]

I just meant to add that it is wonderful that you have particular Latin texts that you aspire to read. That is the main point of studying Latin, isn't it? -- to get to the point that you can read Latin and connect directly to the great minds of the past by means of the language in which they conceived great thoughts.

[sunflower21]

Wow -- handwritten! I notice the use of the old English medial-s, so that, for example, esse looks like effe, and sicut looks like ficut, and conspicio looks like confpicio, etc. That alone would slow me down in reading it, but maybe that is part of the charm of the experience of reading the document just as he wrote it. Just glancing through it, I stick with my original answer as to which studies you would need to have completed beforehand.

Bonnie

I know - isn't it so unusual to study a handwritten document?! Thank you for pointing out the old English lettering. I so appreciate your wisdom and insight regarding the studies we would need to have completed before tackling these.

[sunflower21]

I just meant to add that it is wonderful that you have particular Latin texts that you aspire to read. That is the main point of studying Latin, isn't it? -- to get to the point that you can read Latin and connect directly to the great minds of the past by means of the language in which they conceived great thoughts.

I so appreciate your encouraging and insightful words! Merry Christmas to you, Bonnie 🎄