I am learning Italian for two reasons.
First, I am learning Italian to master Latin pronunciation.
Second, I am learning Italian because… I want to learn Italian.
Back to the first reason. When I was first learning Latin, I looked high and low for a pronunciation help. Almost everything was contained in books. Um… have you ever learned to pronounce a language using only books? I will help you with that question. No, you haven’t. Neither has anyone else.
I went looking for pronunciation help, and I found mostly academic arguments. Then, in 2011, I found this. The Catholic church had produced a dramatized Vulgate (the Latin Bible). The day I found this site, I switched to Ecclesiastical Latin. I have never looked back. Ecclesiastical Latin is Latin with a different pronunciation. Some people call it the Ecclesiastical pronunciation. Some call it church pronunciation. Some call it the Italian pronunciation. I call it the “pronunciation you could actually use someday.”
If you learn Latin using the restored classical pronunciation, you will be able to talk to about 30 people. Maybe.
If you learn Latin using the Italian pronunciation, you will be able to talk to thousands of people in the Roman Catholic Church.
Best of all, if you learn Latin using the Italian pronunciation, you may later decide to learn Italian. Learn Italian, and you will be able to talk to millions of people.
The road from Latin to Italian is not that long. However, it is longer if you only focus on classical Latin and if you learn classical pronunciation. There is a shortcut. Learn Latin with an Italian pronunciation.
Which brings me back to Italian. Just an update. I continue to struggle through. Some people say that Italian is an easy language to learn. Perhaps my brain is old and slow. I have never studied an easy language.
Perhaps my brain is old and slow. I have never studied an easy language. I have studied easier languages, but never an easy language. Italian, so far, is easier than Latin. I am also studying Greek. Both Italian and Latin are easier than Greek. At least to me.
To master Italian pronunciation, I have been using DuoLingo. I highly recommend it. It just keeps getting better.
DuoLingo has a built in review feature. For example, I have finished the Italian “tree”. But, that does not mean I am done. In fact, every night, as I sleep, DuoLingo wipes out some of my progress. The next morning, I have to spend some time reviewing. This is one of its most useful features, in my opinion.
