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Latin Lessons: Directory
2573
Avete omnes!
Latin is a beautiful, complex and ancient language, and there is a consistent desire to see it on Duolingo. While we wait for Latin to be added to the incubator, here is a directory of some Latin lessons I have taken the liberty of creating, Duo-style. So far I have been able to keep to a pace of about one new lesson per week.
- Basics, Lesson 1
- Basics, Lesson 2
- Basics, Lesson 3
- Basics 2, Lesson 1
- Basics 2, Lesson 2
- Basics 2, Lesson 3
- Common Phrases
- 1st Declension, Lesson 1
- 1st Declension, Lesson 2
- 1st Declension, Lesson 3
- 1st Declension, Lesson 4
- 2nd Declension, Lesson 1
- 2nd Declension, Lesson 2
- 2nd Declension, Lesson 3
- 2nd Declension, Lesson 4
- 3rd Declension, Lesson 1
- 3rd Declension, Lesson 2
- 3rd Declension, Lesson 3
- 3rd Declension, Lesson 4
- Food, Lesson 1
- Food, Lesson 2
- Food, Lesson 3
- Food, Lesson 4
- Animals, Lesson 1
- Animals, Lesson 2
- Animals, Lesson 3
- Family, Lesson 1
- Family, Lesson 2
- Adjectives, Lesson 1
- Adjectives, Lesson 2
- Verbs Present Tense, Lesson 1
- Verbs Present Tense, Lesson 2
- Verbs Present Tense, Lesson 3
- Verbs Present Tense, Lesson 4
- Personal Pronouns, Lesson 1
- Personal Pronouns, Lesson 2
- Personal Pronouns, Lesson 3
- Personal Pronouns, Lesson 4
- Christmas Carols
- Colors
- Clothing, Lesson 1
- Clothing, Lesson 2
- 4th Declension
- 5th Declension
- Questions
- Household, Lesson 1
- Household, Lesson 2
- Household, Lesson 3
- Conjunctions
- Prepositions
- Time, Lesson 1
- Time, Lesson 2
- Time, Lesson 3
- Numbers
- Verbs Present 2, Lesson 1
- Verbs Present 2, Lesson 2
- Verbs Present 2, Lesson 3
- Verbs Present 2, Lesson 4
- Adverbs, Lesson 1
- Adverbs, Lesson 2
- Demonstratives, Lesson 1
- Demonstratives, Lesson 2
- Occupation, Lesson 1
- Occupation, Lesson 2
- Occupation, Lesson 3
- Objects, Lesson 1
- Objects, Lesson 2
- Verbs Present 3, Lesson 1
- Verbs Present 3, Lesson 2
- Verbs Present 3, Lesson 3
- Verbs Present 3, Lesson 4
- Verbs Present 3, Lesson 5
- Infinitives, Lesson 1
- Infinitives, Lesson 2
- Infinitives, Lesson 3
- Imperatives, Lesson 1
- Imperatives, Lesson 2
- Imperatives, Lesson 3
- Imperfect Tense, Lesson 1
- Imperfect Tense, Lesson 2
- Imperfect Tense, Lesson 3
- Future Tense, Lesson 1
- Future Tense, Lesson 2
- Future Tense, Lesson 3
- Corpus Humanum, Lesson 1
- Corpus Humanum, Lesson 2
- Perfect Tense, Lesson 1
- Perfect Tense, Lesson 2
- Perfect Tense, Lesson 3
- Perfect Tense, Lesson 4
- Relative and Indefinite Pronouns, Lesson 1
- Relative and Indefinite Pronouns, Lesson 2
- Relative and Indefinite Pronouns, Lesson 3
- Adjectives 2, Lesson 1
- Adjectives 2, Lesson 2
- Adjectives 2, Lesson 3
- Adjectives 2, Lesson 4
- Pluperfect Tense, Lesson 1
- Pluperfect Tense, Lesson 2
- Future Perfect Tense
- Passive Voice, Lesson 1
- Passive Voice, Lesson 2
- Locative and Geography
- Places and Geography 2
- Participles, Lesson 1
- Participles, Lesson 2
- Memrise course with sentences created by zsocipuszmak
- Memrise course for verbs created by zsocipuszmak
Carpe Lanam's course is now available on Wikiversity: Latin for Wikiversity
Some disclaimers: I have 16 years of experience teaching Latin to middle-school students, but I am not officially associated with Duolingo in any way, nor do I have any inside information about how, when or whether Latin will be added. I'm not trying to be a perfectionist or advocating one teaching method over another. I'm trying to follow Duo's model as closely as possible, keeping language learning fun without becoming overly fixated on pedantic rules. This is what I have enjoyed so much about Duolingo, and I consider these lessons the one way I can give back a little to the wonderful community of language learners here.
Edit 3/20/2019 - I am releasing the content of this course under cc-by-sa so that it may have a new home at Wikiversity.
224 Comments
1988
I hope you don't mind it CarpeLanam, but to bring the experience for myself even closer to an actual Duolingo course, I started to collect your example sentences on Memrise. So if anyone else is interested, here these same lessons can be practiced in "action": http://www.memrise.com/course/906792/carpelanams-latin-course-on-duolingo-sentences/ I know it's not optimal (one can say even detrimental) for learning Latin, because a lot of correct translations are not recognized, but I try to add at least the SOV word order as accepted alternative everywhere (in case it makes sense).
Thanks again for all your efforts, I'm really enjoying this course!
2573
I think it's great if you have the energy for all the data entry; that's what stopped me from adding sentences to my Memrise course. The sentences are really the best way to understand the context of the language, though. I'm glad if it helps you and maybe some others. Thanks for your support!
1988
Yes, the sentences looked so easy when I only read them here, and the vocabulary is very familiar, too, having learned some basic Italian and French, but when I have to actually look for the correct form of each word in a sentence, things can get really tricky with Latin - but I feel it getting easier and easier with practice :) I hope I can quickly catch up with the course (I'm importing the sentences as I progress in learning) and then I plan to update it regularly as you come up with new lessons. I don't know if there will be many people interested other than me, but I granted you full access to the database, so you can edit the entries, add or remove alternative answers if you feel like it.
1988
I imported the sentences with the word order CarpeLanam used in the lessons, but I tried to add the Subject-Object-Verb solution as alternative translation in every case it wasn't used. So if when promted with 'I am a woman' you answer 'Femina sum.', though it's not the "default" translation, it get's marked correct as well. Of course ideally every possible solution would be accepted, like on a real Duolingo course, but I just don't have the capacity for that in any regard. So if you want to play safe, always use the SOV word order (and also leave out the personal pronouns as subjects preferably).
2573
Thank you, and yes I have. It's been about a year and a half since then, and nothing has come from Duolingo officially. Many other people who are qualified have applied for Latin too. I'd be very happy to be chosen to help build the course, but for now, I'd rather light a candle than curse the darkness and I'm happy if this course is helping people. Bonam fortunam!
Hey, they've released the page for it! Please, reapply!!! Now's the time! https://incubator.duolingo.com/courses/la/en/status (You can even see it on the Incubator Phase 1 List).
I was hoping to see Latin at least in 2017, but it seems that never will be released, and you had all this work done, Jezz, you're just so awesome, you should be hired by Duolingo Staff
People interested in Latin on Duolingo vote here
-- https://www.duolingo.com/comment/10475469 --
Want to practice some Latin right now?
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/8053459
As you may see there is quite a lot of support for latin already on Duolingo so it might just happen. https://www.duolingo.com/comment/10492595 https://www.duolingo.com/comment/9143362 https://www.duolingo.com/comment/9699611 https://www.duolingo.com/comment/10413206 https://www.duolingo.com/comment/9569703 https://www.duolingo.com/comment/9537069 https://www.duolingo.com/comment/9459059
Hey! Have you applied to develop the course as a Duolingo incubator course? The application is open here:
https://incubator.duolingo.com/apply
Cheers and good luck!
Salvē!
3 years is too long to keep your post idle and without any mention of a Latin course coming to Duolingo. In all honesty, it would be an amazing day when Latin becomes an incubated language on Duolingo so that generations of students, who may not have Latin offered in school, learn it in their own time and find the beauty and power of the language.
Valē et Bonam Fortunam!
Hey, they've released the page for it! Please, reapply!!! Now's the time! https://incubator.duolingo.com/courses/la/en/status (You can even see it on the Incubator Phase 1 List).
High-School level Latin Student here. Some of the stuff that I've picked up from the Wheelock books could definitely apply here.
Just some constructive criticism: You may want to reorganize some of the lesson plans at the beginning. If we're teaching this to a general English population, most people won't be used to declension and inflection. Throwing all the different declensions into their face at once may make the first lesson disproportionately hard. Sticking to a more limited vocab list for the sake of easing new students into the program may be a better idea.
Basics I:
-First conjugation verbs and declension nouns
-Learning to recognize different cases.
-Learning the system of pronunciation for macrons vs. un-macron'd letters
-Note: Definitely don't get into the unusual declensions here. Is, ea, and id are helpful, but because of the function of third-person in Latin they are only used for emphasis. Same thing for words like ille, hic, ipse, etc.
Basics II:
-Second Conjugation verbs
-Learning to recognize different cases in the second conjugation
-Basic conjunctions (et, sed)
Latin teacher here: I respectfully disagree with the declension and conjugation idea there. Based on my observations and those of my colleagues, learning one case across several declensions is easier than learning all of them from one declension at a time: it simplifies inflection. If you threw all cases at a student at once, they generally flounder, particularly if they are not used to inflection. Conjugation is the same. Language learning, any language, requires small, bite-sized pieces of comprehensible input. Memorizing 5-7 cases without learning what they actually mean is not efficient.
Believe me, I am learning under one of the guys who worked with Wheelock himself, and has a near 100% pass rate on the AP Latin exam. By learning all cases among one declension, you allow students to pick up the patterns that form the individual declension. Which is easier, learning the differences between a, ae, ae, am, ā; or learning the difference between a, us, um, all the third endings, all the third io endings, us, ēs? Plus, add on to the fact that you can't mix declension and you have a recipe for disaster, not success. As a student, I can tell you that it simply works better when you ensure that students know how to tell the differences between different declensions. That way you don't get people becoming confused and writing things out with the wrong mix of endings. E.G., moving from -a to -uum because they don't know exactly how to recognize the words. Latin is based on patterns, you can't teach it through rote memorization, only through teaching students how to pick up on the patterns themselves.
I am not going to argue the finer points on here (feel free to msg me if you want to hear the arguments though). I will leave it at this: I learned from Wheelock, so I know how it works. I think it's inefficient and many students find it boring. The main problem with Wheelock is that it ignores almost everything we have learned about language acquisition in the past 40 years. It is in arrested development, and while it has its uses, it does not work for everyone, or even for a majority of people. If Latin is ever going to thrive again, we need to learn how to use more tools than the grammar methods that never taught a Cicero or an Augustine. As a teacher (who was also once a student with Wheelock), I can tell you that you are missing 90% of what happens in class, because each student cannot see how others are learning. If Wheelock works for you, great! But you are not every student.
Hey, they've released the page for it! Please, reapply!!! Now's the time! https://incubator.duolingo.com/courses/la/en/status (You can even see it on the Incubator Phase 1 List).
I just added a course on Memrise with all the Latin paradigms. It may be useful as practice for anyone who has been taking this course. http://www.memrise.com/course/1182526/latin-101/
1988
I published another little course on Memrise just with the verbs we encountered in this course, to help memorizing their principal parts: https://www.memrise.com/course/1493103/carpelanams-duolingo-latin-verb-principal-parts (CarpeLanam, I added you as a contributor, so if you feel like checking it out, feel free to edit the entries if you see any mistakes)
2573
Optime! I will add that to the list of resources next time I publish a lesson. I have hit a busy patch and I haven't been working on writing new lessons. Hopefully next week, if not, then in two or three. I appreciate your work.
Thank you so much for helping so many people for free, and now after all this perseverance and waiting we finally have Latin in the incubator, I am ecstatic! It looks like there will be plenty of people to contribute. I have been been seeing many hopeful comments over time I've followed this conversation, and this is the culmination of it all!
2573
I am so grateful for your encouragement! I think that I would like to pursue this, given that Duolingo is going with a different team for their course and the forum here is limited. I want my work to be freely available to the public, while still being acknowledged as the author and having the ability to add and edit. I see it still as a work in progress. Migrating it to Wikibooks might be a very good solution. I may not have all the technical skills to accomplish that at this point though.
No problem at all!
Yes, all this is easily accommodated via a Wiki system. Of course there is the possibility others will want to contribute too. There can be risks as well as benefits to that.
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Portal:Latin
looks like the place to ask. If they feel it's not right for them, then a self-hosted Wiki or a Wikia wiki might be good alternatives.
2573
It sounds like they're open to it. I'm afraid I will have a steep learning curve to get my data on there, but I've at least created an account. I am greatly appreciative of your help!
I can definitely help with porting the data. In order to do that to their satisfaction, they would need some evidence that you'd agreed to this. That could be as simple as editing the page here to say that you are allowing the content to be released as cc-by-sa in order that is can be given a new home at Wikiversity. Or alternatively, to put a similar message onto the Wikiversity Latin Portal page.
2573
In my opinion, Latin is Latin. It has been spoken and used by people of all social classes for 2000+ years, and the core vocabulary and grammar remains essentially the same. The classical texts are more difficult than medieval and later ones, but those who start with the simple elements of grammar (as most modern courses do) can arrive there with time and persistence. Think of it like a native English speaker, who reads Dickens, or Shakespeare, or Chaucer. Each is a little more difficult as you get farther back from modern spoken English, but each is still recognizably English. Modern Latin has to have new words coined to handle modern concepts, but they are done using the same grammatical framework as the Classical era. Some people make a divide between Classical and Ecclesiastical Latin, but I think of them as being mainly different in pronunciation. And just as there is no one "correct" accent in English and it would be considered rude to mock those who speak with, say, a Southern (USA) accent, I tend to see those pronunciation debates as distracting from the real issue. Latin has been a way for people of all backgrounds to gain access to professions like the law, medicine, and academia for hundreds of years. It's challenging enough for modern students without being prescriptive about exact methodology and pronunciation.
Quick note to people on this thread that there is a new lesson on participles on on Wikiveristy (more to come hopefully); and the whole course is now ported to that site, with some audio as well.
Here is the first lesson:
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Latin/Basics_Lesson_1
The first 10-20 lessons have audio for common words.
and here is the new lesson:
fun fact: you can smoosh that ego amo into Amo; amo amas amat amamus amatis amant would be in order, I love, you love, he/she/it/ loves, we love, y'all love, they love. Dictum turns into dicere for the infinitive, and latine; so the whole thing is dicere amo latine and you'll get I love to speak latin
2056
Thank you for providing this information and sharing your years of teaching experience with the community. It is much appreciated by this user.
10
Thanks for all your hard work on this! I was wondering if there was some sort of reading material in Latin you could recommend that would fit well with your course. I've been doing your memrise course with sentences as well, but would like to try my hand at something longer.
2573
I'm glad you're enjoying the course! For extra materials, so much depends on your own learning style and personal objectives. For free materials, I'd start with vicipaedia, the Latin wikipedia, and the ephemeris, daily news in Latin. See if you enjoy them and can follow them enough to get by. Another free resource is Julia, a Latin reading book. If what you want is more of a traditional Latin course, the texts I'm most familiar with are Latin for Americans, Henle, and Wheelock's. These all are designed for the deductive/analytical approach, and there are many more. If you want a more immersive/intuitive approach, where the grammar is not spelled out in advance, you might enjoy Hans Orberg's Lingua Latina. Eventually I want to add a link to this directory with an extensive list of resources; this is really just the tip of the iceberg. Bonam fortunam!
Thanks again, Carpelanam. I just finished the Latin tree... (is it a tree in Memrise or something else?) yesterday. I found the course really excellent and enjoyed it a lot, associating it with Zsocipuszmak's course (I should finish it tomorrow, as I have only one lesson left). If you're looking for a Latine native speaker... well, I come from Rome, and I'm not so young, after all. :) No, really, I do come from Rome but I studied Latin in France, so that I have learned the "pronuncia restituta". Anyway, tibi multas gratias iterum ago. Vale!
I was slightly interested because I am thinking about studying history. Now your course really got me! But do I need the macrons for the latinum exam? And does anyone has some advice for learning latin on autodidact for the latinum? :) (eg. a good app, book, easy texts/ other ways to repete what I learn here so it really keeps in my mind, instead of just reading it again and again and formulating phrases on my own)
2573
Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying the course. I'm not familiar with that exam, so I can't say what aspects it covers. You may want to check with the recommended preparation for the exam and look at a typical textbook that they prefer. There are many good textbooks; Wheelock, Jenny, Cambridge, Henle, and Orberg (which is completely in Latin with no English explanations at all). Popular books such as Harry Potter (books 1 and 2) and The Hobbit have been translated into Latin, and this may be a more enjoyable way of pushing your knowledge to the next level. One day I want to add a list of Latin resources on the internet and elsewhere, and add it to this directory. It will be a very long post!
2573
I'm most familiar with Henle, which I guess is closer to Wheelock (heavy grammar emphasis) but with a 1950's Catholic boys' school feel. I like Wheelock and have worked through it myself, but given the ages I mostly teach, it's a bit too complex. I'll use whatever works and makes the class fun, if I can... like any teacher.
2573
I still maintain and add to the course, but the glitch with inaccessible posts is a problem with Duolingo, I think. You can file a bug report if it affects you. It doesn't seem to affect everyone.
Hey, they've released the page for it! Please, reapply!!! Now's the time! https://incubator.duolingo.com/courses/la/en/status (You can even see it on the Incubator Phase 1 List).
Hi Carpelanam
Could you please explain why Duolingo does not have Latin in the incubator? Why is there a delay? Is it a lack of people wanting to commit to the process? Are there other reasons? Could you explain what Duolingo needs to begin the process? What are their requirements? What steps does the process take?
If possible, could you please shine some light on the reason that Latin is not yet available.
Thank you for your time.
Jane
2573
As filipmc pointed out, I am not connected with Duolingo staff in any way. But from comments made by staff, I have inferred that (1) Priorities at this point are living languages, preferably those that can help people who are seeking job opportunities, such as English for Spanish speakers, etc. (2) The problem of how to fund Duolingo is also something that needs to be sorted out, and if it's not, there will be no Duolingo. With these two priorities in mind, I'm not willing to press the staff beyond noting that Latin is one of the most-requested languages, and is the 4th most commonly studied language in American schools. There are many qualified people who have applied in the incubator, and I at least am confident that basic Latin could be taught quite well using the Duolingo format. And I would be more than happy to help, if and when Latin becomes a priority for the management. I hope these lessons are a demonstration of that.
182
carpelanam is not a duoLingo staff member, so is probably as in the dark as the rest of us as to why they haven't done anything with Latin.
I'm really excited to see how much work you've already put into this. I hope this becomes a real Duolingo course someday and I'd like to contribute if possible. I'm a Latin teacher and nearly fluent in English (I think). I'm not that experienced in writing in Latin, but I applied through the incubator and wrote this as my "passionate response":
In novo instrumento creando studiis Latinis iuvare volo. ❤❤❤❤ Duolingonem aptissimum studiis linguae Latinae esse quia magis scripta quam locuta lingua nobis interest. Patrius sermo esse desiit, sed multi homines adhuc lingua Latina utuntur. Haec lingua maximi momenti nostrae culturae fuit et etiam nunc magnam partem hereditatis nostri litterarii fingit. Linguae Latinae peritis opus est ne traditio illa pereat.
Linguam Latinam artem principalem in universitate habeo et brevi gradum magistralem Latinitatis suscepturus sum. Prius iam magister theologiae factus sum. Complures annos quoque linguam Latinam in schola secundaria, universitate et adultis studiosis disco.
What do you think, how would you grade my text? I'm sure there are a lot of mistakes that I don't see right now, but it was fun to try this.
Hi, guys. I study latin on my own. Just books. And I need help with translations of two sentences. I would appreciate your assitence. So:
"Puellam bonam et pulchram amō." Does it mean "I love good and beautiful girl."?
"Sapientia virōrum perītōrum saepe ā poētīs cantātur." Does it mean "The wisdom of experienced men is often sung about by poets."?
Thanks!
1069
Latin is in the incubator right now but no one is working on it, I think you shoud apply.
2573
Thank you to you and all the others who called my attention to this great news! I have put my application in again and now we'll wait and see. I would love nothing better than to help with creating the official course.
1988
To start 2019 with such wonderful news! :))
That said, I hope the same thing isn't happening as was with the Japanese course, (if I remember correctly) that one appearing multiple times in the incubator with no contributors than quickly disappearing then later reappearing in an almost finished state. Of course what counts is that there will be Latin on Duolingo, but it would be nice of them if they don't ignore your application to contribute and all the work you already put in towards developing a course.
2070
Thanks so much Katherine. Your attention and demonstrated Latin abilities have already helped us so much, and is appreciated! I hope the process of adding Latin to DL goes easily and as quickly as possible.
Thanks again. : )
1819
I was just checking in here to make sure you'd heard about the incubator addition. Awesome. I really hope they add you soon! So excited here!!!! :) :) :) :)
2070
Yes, carpelanam, please do apply as a DL Latin Contributor; for the sake of all of us who have been waiting so patiently for a DL version of Latin.
And if you know of any colleagues who have teaching or other Latin knowledge at your level, can you ask them to contribute also?
https://incubator.duolingo.com/courses/la/en/status
https://incubator.duolingo.com/apply/la/en
2064
Thank you very much for sharing your valuable knowledge! I have just seen that there is a Latin course in the incubator, WITH 0 CONTRIBUTORS! I hope (I wish) you will engage in it.
922
Latin was recently added to incubator. It looks like many people signed to be collaborator.
It's in the incubator, but I don't see you as a contributor!!! What's wrong? https://incubator.duolingo.com/courses/la/en/status
2573
I applied when the Incubator slot opened Jan. 1, but have heard nothing. I can only assume the management of Duolingo wants to take a different approach than mine. It is disappointing, but I am proud of the work that I have done here at least.
You should be proud. I can say at least that I've benefited more from your course and zsocipuszmak's version with sentence practice than any other single course. I do other things of course, and reading is very important to consolidate, but I think actually writing out the sentences and memorising why they are as they are is a very powerful technique.
TBH I think it's probably a better approach than Duolingo's approach which is a bit softer and less challenging.
2070
I am grateful that you applied; after all, this is all one can do in this process with the DL management, right? : )
Again, I am grateful for your hard work, and organizing power in the lessons you have made available to us here at DL before any "official" version gets released. Thanks Katherine!
182
Is the memrise course yours?
I get burned on it because when it asks for "man" sometimes it wants "homo" and sometimes it wants "vir" -- and I think "woman" has the same problem.
I guess the problem is that I am used to duoLingo style, where I am free to type any valid answer. So when memrise asks for "woman", I type in "mulier", and then it calls it incorrect.
I think this is a structural difference between duoLingo, which has the concept of multiple correct answers, and memrise, which does not have that concept?
2573
Yes, the Memrise course linked above is mine. There is at least one other Latin course labeled Duolingo on Memrise that is not mine. It is a big programming or text editing job to enter every possible answer for the prompts, and I'm doing that as I become aware of alternate answers and have time. But it's really not the ideal interface for the course I have in mind, with shades of meaning. For example, I'd like to get across the idea that "vir" means man, a masculine guy with testosterone, a husband, a grown-up male as opposed to a boy; whereas "homo" means man, a human being, a person (and theoretically could even be applied to a woman, or a child). I'm not sure there's a good way to do that on Memrise, or even Duo for that matter. And they are used interchangeably. So I think I need to add them to my list of corrections!
2573
Yes, I think so. At this point the last lesson is the future perfect; I believe everything to that point is roughly the equivalent of a 1st-year high school level course. There is a great deal of extra vocabulary that would lend itself to a more modern, conversational Latin. It might not be the best option if your main goal is to read classical Latin texts, but it would certainly be a step in that direction. Bonam fortunam!
Hey, sorry to bother you, but I was going through saving this amazing resource to my HD, and it looks like the links to "Colors," "Infinitives, Lesson 3," "Adjectives 2, Lesson 2," "Adjectives 2, Lesson 3" and "Classified Vocabulary List" are broken (they're all Error 404).
Thank you for all your hard work!
There actually are several members here who are Latin specialists. They are fluent enough, and they actually have contributed a lot to learners like me already, even though the course was not added to the incubator yet. I don't know why Duo has not accepted the offer yet, but my guess is that it's not a priority right now for the staff, like Luis has mentioned before, even though they intend to make it happen sometime. As for why Klingon and Valyrian have been added already but Latin still has not, well, these artificial languages are learned mostly in a casual way, but a significant number of people interested in Latin want to be able to read classical texts or even become translators, and helping these people is certainly a bigger challenge. Since they haven't added any Ancient language yet, the staff might also be hesitant about how to make the course fit the method in a satisfactory way. However, I do believe the course is going to come (at least Luis said he intends to add it), but we don't know when.
Salvē. I understand your point about Latin being an ancient language but it can be very useful to have a casual, even cursory knowledge of it. It can improve your overall knowledge of the English language and other Romance languages. It also makes you think deeply as each word in a Latin sentence usually changes its ending from its textbook form (Except adverbs, etc). So you have to think about each word and how it is used; this was the language of great orators and scholars. The Latin Language is also just good to know if you ever intend to visit Italy, especially Rome, as the language is scattered and embedded everywhere in the city. So that's why I think Duolingo should add Latin.
Valē et Bonam Fortunam!
I was just looking for Latin on DuoLingo and was really surprised it's not one of the official languages. I know it's an old language but it's still quite a very important language, many inscriptions are still wrote in Latin today, in church a number of parts of the service are still in Latin and if you understand Latin it helps to understand more of where the English and many other European languages originated from and why certain words in English are the way they are
2573
Yes, I have one partially written. It is getting harder to write the more advanced lessons with good sample sentences, but I've also been distracted by other things and I haven't put a high priority on getting new lessons out. I will try to have the next one ready sometime soon though. Thanks for asking!
Thank You very much for this and I truly hope that You application will be accepted. If it does, please inform all of us on the progress of the "official" Latin course here on Duolingo.
I have a Latin textbook in Italian that I have purchased in Genoa but I would love nothing more than to actually hear the language and learn it in English, a language I am more comfortable with than Italian.
Hi all, the course notes are now all copied across to https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Latin — they will need a lot of tidying and proofing so please do take a look and help!
Hey hello I personally think that Latin should be added to this app asap because no one can deny that this language is still really relevant in the world plus there are still a lot of books in Latin, and have you seen that duo lingo has Valerian a language that is used in a show if they can incorporate that language then I'm sure that they can incorporate Latin quite easily
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But you can creat a course here on duolingo, join the incubator team or something else, tell them !
How to add Latin on Desktop:
- Go to your profile image, wait for language list to come up, and select "Add an New Course".
- Scroll down and select "Contribute to a course".
- You should be in the incubator. Click on "Contribute to course" in the top centre.
- Fill out page, and submit application to Duolingo. I look forward to working with you to make this course.
Gratias tibi ago.
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Strictly speaking, that's how you apply to contribute to a course in the Duolingo incubator. Many have applied for Latin from English, but in the absence of communication from Duolingo staff, we have to assume that other languages are a priority right now. And even if Latin is put into the incubator, there is no guarantee that everyone who applies will be added as a contributor. That's why I started this course, to give the community of people on Duo who want Latin a place to gather and learn, even if it's not official.
I am really grateful for your post. I am always checking to see if duolingo adds a Latin course because it really would be a nice way to learn in a practical, and active manner. I did six years of "passive" latin in high school, and I was always frustrated with the fact that latin was brought more as a puzzle than as an actual language. It simply kills curiosity.
P.S. not so much to you as to Duolingo's priorities: If there is Klingon, why shouldn't there be Latin???
You can have a Klingon course come out around the time a new Star Trek movie comes out and have ads related to Star Trek in the app, which generates money. Also, Klingon is much easier in the case of the system for obvious reason it can be shorter and doesn't need a bunch of exceptions to rules. Lastly, with Latin you start a fire and debate of which Latin you will use, which vernacular you will use for audio, etc. Also, you may need to add a lot of notes to the system for someone to understand the complexity, but Notes aren't available on mobile yet, which is the number 1 priority, since the vast majority of users are using mobile.
But if you really want Latin the best thing you can do for Duolingo is find a ton of schools willing to pay money annually to use a Duolingo Test Center for Latin. That will get Latin created very quickly. You find a way for Duolingo to make money, they will create and support it no matter what language you are looking for. Just remember however, their plan is and will always remain, free language learning, so any ideas of money need to be outside the learning process.