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- Latin is in the languages lis…
Latin is in the languages list!
It has a flag. It has a description. It's 90% complete. It's due for mid September.
It's Latin! I love the flag choice (except that I would've chosen a gold background with the red leaves). That is an amazing description too!
Thank you, Latin-team! We all appreciate this!
161 Comments
Yes, hold my beer. Kudos Latin team!!! Just a word of warning for the general public -- don't hold your breath for a mid-September release. I remember following the development of the Swedish course with much anticipation, and even after it had reached 100% it took months and months before it was released in beta.
EDIT: Oh my goodness, I was wrong, wrong wrong! They actually got it out today in beta, and it's still August (2019)! The tree is really, really short though. Anyway, Kudos to the Latin team!!!
367
And the Vatican uses it, right? So it isn't dead when one thinks about it deeply. I am looking forward to this one!
213
Do not be so hard on yourself! My native Spanish language helps me a lot understanding some inscriptions in Latin. I can follow along a written article in almost any romantic language I have yet encountered. When it counts to pronunciation that's a different matter. I find Italian very easy to follow...also Portuguese from Brazil, French is a little harder but not so difficult. You didn't state what language you switched to....but if you picked any of the romantic languages, you will be all right! ¡Buena Suerte!
I’m dreading that it will also look as cheap as Hawaiian and Navajo trees
I’m doing the Hawaiian tree and I don’t think it’s cheap. I’m enjoying it. Sure, the notes can be expanded a lot more and some of the lessons improved but I think I am building a good foundation as I am going slowly through the course.
The good thing about releasing a short tree first and then expanding it later is that feedback from the short tree can be used to improve the tree when it is expanded later on.
Reaaally looking forward to do the course. I hope they use reconstructed pronunciation. For several reasons:
- It makes Latin easier to learn since there would be a very good correspondence between letters and sounds.
- It is the pronunciation of the classical period, the time of the standarisation of the language.
- Italian pronunciation is very anachronistic (um pronounced as /um/ but ae as /e/).
- Latin had as many regional pronunciations as countries (French, English, German, Spanish Latin pronunciations). Reconstructed pronunciation would be a more neutral choice.
- Not all of us are catholic and the Latin course should be religious-neutral (teaching both Roman and Catholic myths and rituals).
952
Meanwhile, I've been wondering whether there will be any audio at all! What are the odds that a Latin TTS even exists?...
718
I think a link to your wonderful How I'm preparing for the Latin course is apt.
⠀• Here's the course on the language list: Add a new course - Latin.
⠀⠀(If we scroll all the way down, we can find it listed as "Hatching".)
⠀• The incubator status report: Latin - Status Report.
⠀• Learn about the Latin course, meet the contributors
⠀⠀and get notified when the course is available ☞ Here.
Here's the Duolingo Latin Language Flag:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
【⦕Benediximus ad omnes!⦖】
And remember: Plenus venter non studet libenter... ;-)
My grandmother (which I love dearly and was an amazing woman) used to say this.
At the time I found it a weird phrase. (and disliked its truth. I still do...)
Now, I'm glad I've learned all of those phrases. Scientia potentia est.
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I used to be rather good in Latin when I was young - a long, long time ago :-). In any case, I am looking forward to dealing with this beautiful language again. Thanks to all the contributors and to duolingo.
2657
I'm excited for this course too, but we know that....In the beginning, there will be errors and problems in the course. We've to be patient!
817
How would you compare it to Italian? Do you find them to be even remotely similar? Also: Do you love French?
I took 2 years of Latin in high school in the 60's, I don't recall us using accent marks at all. As to pronunciation, that was back in the days before Vatican II when Catholic masses were still conducted in Latin and much of what the choir sung was was in Latin as well, so maybe I was already used to the pronunciation.
Our Latin teacher was also our Freshman English teacher, and he had a tendency to pronounce 'V' as 'W' even in English. When he was discussing Kipling, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi came out as Rickety-Tickety-Tawawi.
In my school book there were macrons in the vocabulary lists and grammar book. I didn't understand them then because we pronounced the non-marked vowels often long too. I doubt my teacher understood the theory about them.
The classical pronunciation of "v" was [w]. It only developed to a fricative later. Merging with /b/ between vowels like in Spanish and finally turning into [v] in most Romance languages.
The etymology can help with related languages, of course - though native English speakers and speakers of Romance languages, especially those more literate, get a lot of that cognate bonus to start with. Otherwise, it works with any language really - the second one is easier because you get the basic idea of how to learn and what does and doesn't work for you.
If someone from the Latin team reads this: Please mark long vowels like they did in the High Valyrian course (ā or â). You can accept answers without them but it's so important that you mark them.
For many people who are serious about the language this is essential and otherwise the course would not be very useful to us.
Grātiās agō
Without them we'd have to learn every single word and ending from a different resource than Duolingo. But we would like to learn Latin the Duolingo way! :)
If you agree: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/33618227
I definitely disagree. You never need the macrons; they are just a crutch to try and help people but you will never encounter them when reading an original text or inscription. I have never used them and I know they have their fans but I think the context should give the meaning of the sentence/phrase when the form is ambiguous.
you always need macrons if you don't already know which vowels are long and which are not. and well, you need to learn it first to know it, and macrons a great help with this besides good audio recordings. and it is not so much about distinguishing different forms but about valuing the nature of the language.
817
People are talking about phonetic symbols and which pronunciation should be used, but isn't it possible that there will be no audio whatsoever? (in the upcoming Duolingo Latin course)
1469
Shane, you're absolutely right. The Romans did not use macrons. They were added much later and only serve to confuse, rather than help.
1469
They did not use apexes in the same sense as macrons. They are crutches, mostly added by German 'scholars' . Most macrons, other than the line over the ablative 'a', serve to instruct on pronunciation, which is all speculation. Even when Ovid used Dactylic Hexameter, he didn't use macrons. We added them to help with meter.
It is not all speculation, it is based on prosody, the fact that in some texts there are indications of vowel length, and all sorts of other considerations such as what the vowels became in various romance languages. While it is true that we don't know the length of all vowels for sure, we know a lot about vowel length.
862
Thank you 'ChevyBarnes05' for the heads-up... however I'd have preferred an eagle on the flag... well, you can't have everything from life... have a nice evening!
635
How cool! I would love to learn! I am not aware of the vowel issue, because I don't know anything about Latin, but I trust those here who are saying they should be marked - it sounds very much like these people know what they're talking about, so I trust they're right, and hope Duo follows their advice.