I received this question:

Hi, Mr. Thomas!

I’ve been taking your Henle II class. (The previously recorded ones, I have not been able to attend your live classes because of schedule conflicts.) I started my study of Latin my freshmen year of high school purely out of interest and enjoyment. Look, to be honest, I am not enjoying my studies with Henle II. At all. I feel stuck. I’m not a natural when it comes to learning Latin, it’s super challenging for me, but I want to be able to read, speak and hear latin with more understanding. I want to be able to stumble through the New Testament, read the Church Fathers, walk into a Latin Mass and follow along. Basically, I don’t want to just be stuck memorizing endless endings and reading stuff I just don’t really care for. What do you recommend? Are my goals a little over the top? Should I perhaps try another language? 

Here is my reply:

I apologize for the delay. Finally catching up this afternoon…

It isn’t you.  It’s Henle Latin.  I see this all the time.

If you are going to stick with Latin, here is what you need to do.  Abandon Henle Latin, and go with Lingua Latina.  I teach this class, too.  As a subscriber, you already have access to the Lingua Latina classes.  The book is tougher than Henle Latin but in a really good way.  It teaches you so much more vocabulary and, best of all, the vocabulary is not focused on war words.

Not only that, Lingua Latina is a novel, so, unlike Henle Latin, it’s actually interesting.

I hope I answered your question.  Feel free to contact me if you have more questions.

Hope you are having a great day!