The real reason I abandoned the Restored Classical pronunciation.
My greatest problem with the “restored classical pronunciation”, is that its proponents tend to be pushy.
They spend a lot of time emphasizing the “correct” pronunciation. They spend a lot of time talking about the “correct” pronunciation… in English. They write books about it, reports about it, journal entries about it, and blog posts about it… all in English. They do not, however, produce free audio training in the”restored classical pronunciation”.
Use the “correct” pronunciation, they command.
“Fine”, we respond. “Give us something to practice with. Give us some free comprehensive audio training. Give us a simple audio book, something at about a 5th or 6th grade reading level. That would be helpful.”
Cricket. Cricket. Cricket.
Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic church produces this. For free.
Here you will find the entire New Testament, fully dramatized as an audio book, in Latin! Thanks to Biblium.is, you now have access to a massive Latin audio book. This is significant. Such an audio book has never been available in Latin before.
The day I discovered Biblium.is, I abandoned forever the “restored classical pronunciation” for Ecclesiastical pronunciation. I have never looked back.
I listen almost daily. This is what I use to practice pronunciation.
By the way, I’ve been told several times that I ought not recommend the Vulgate for learning Latin. The material is too familiar, the detractors point out.
I will let Dorothy Sayers, the famous English novelist, take this one for me.
“Nobody, by the way, need be afraid of setting pupils passages from the Vulgate, on the grounds that it would be over-familiar. In my experience, the Bible is unknown country to most young people nowadays.”
– Dorothy Sayers
She’s right, you know. I’ve taught children for nearly 20 years. Believe me. They know almost nothing about the Bible.
Do you want to practice Latin pronunciation? Go here.
