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Lingua Latina, by Hans Ørberg, saved my teaching career. 

For years, I taught Latin.  For years, I watched my students struggle.  I watched them memorize long lists of words and long lists of Latin endings. Worst of all, I watched as they struggled to read rudimentary Latin sentences. 

That’s right. They couldn’t read in Latin. And, to be honest, I could barely read in Latin. 

But we had stacks of endings memorized. Oh, could we rattle off those Latin endings!

I have some questions for you.

Have you ever learned a language by memorizing grammar charts? Have you ever learned a language by memorizing endings?   

I didn’t think so. Neither have I. Neither have my students. Neither has anyone I have ever met. 

I grew up around foreign languages. I spent over ten years in Europe. Didn’t see it there, either. I never met anyone who learned a language by memorizing grammar charts.

Do you have a multilingual friend? I’ll bet she grew up in another country. I’ll bet she was surrounded by foreign languages as a child. She probably grew up reading foreign books, as well as English books. I doubt she learned a second language by memorizing grammar charts.

Now, your friend is multilingual. And… you are jealous.

What would you think of me if I told you that you had to memorize all the parts of the car before I let you drive?  I mean all the parts. Carburetor, transmission, axle, ignition, dipstick… you get the idea. What would you think of me? You would think I was an idiot. 

That is how Latin is taught in America. Learn these endings, kid, and someday you will be able to read in Latin. 

That is not how Latin is taught in the Lingua Latina online class. In this class, we flip the order. Start reading in Latin today, kid. We will learn the endings as we go.

Lingua Latina teaches Latin the way we learn to drive cars.  Learn to drive the car, kid.  We will learn the parts of the car as we go.

Hans Ørberg believed that students would learn Latin faster, and understand more if they learned through stories.

Lingua Latina is a novel!

You read that right. Lingua Latina by Hans Ørberg is a novel, packed with interesting characters, stories, legends, family squabbles, fugitive slaves, pirates and twice the vocabulary of most Latin textbooks. 

As I said, this book saved my career. For years, I taught Latin the “traditional” way. Endings. Lists. Tests. Quizzes. Boring. My students were bored. They hated Latin.

After years of disappointing results, I was discouraged. I decided to quit teaching and return to the construction world. 

Then, in the spring of 2009, as a last-ditch effort, I ordered a copy of Lingua Latina. I started reading it the day I got my hands on it. A week later, I knew I did not have to stop teaching. 

I also knew that it was time to quit teaching the Latin old way.

Don’t get me wrong. Grammar is important. You will not, however, learn Latin by learning Latin grammar, Latin endings, and Latin vocabulary lists alone. I tried that for years. Trust me. It does not work. 

I knew it was time to change the approach. My students deserved it. Latin deserved it. In the fall of 2009, I began teaching Latin using Lingua Latina. 

I wish I could say that my students instantly felt the same euphoria I felt when I first opened the book. Some did. Most didn’t. This was still school, after all. To them, Lingua Latina was just another textbook.

Within minutes, they had isolated the biggest complaint about the book. They instantly protested.

“Mr. Thomas, this book is written entirely in Latin!”

They were right. There is not a word of English instruction anywhere in the entire book. 

They were terrified. Perhaps you feel the same way. I can’t read a novel in Latin! I don’t know any Latin!

That’s the beauty of Lingua Latina. You learn as you go.

Don’t worry. I will guide you through.

If you’ve completed my Visual Latin course (recommended for those 13 and younger and available here) Lingua Latina is a great next step. In a shorter amount of time than you thought possible, you will be reading Latin with ease. 

As for the second book, Roma Aeterna, beware. 

Roma Aeterna is a compilation of ancient Roman authors discussing Roman history. It’s written by Hans Ørberg, the author of Lingua Latina. I highly recommend that students who join this class first complete the Linga Latina course above.  This book is tough, tough, tough.  It will take you through Roman history… in Latin!