Cambridge Latin Course 1 Student s Book: Level 1
£7.73
Too trendy! - I am only give it a couple of stars for the insight into life in Pompeii and the lovely pictures, but I do not think it is that great for learning Latin.I am teaching Latin to my daughter and we started of with this book. She did not do very well, although she was keen to learn. We now use the more traditional So you really want to Learn Latin, published by Galore Park, which is brilliant - lots of exercises, with the grammar taught in a logical order. You go straight into 4 tenses of amo in the first chapter and my daughter is coming on leaps and bounds now.My main problem with the CLC is that it is all over the place, ie you start by learning only the nom. and acc. of nouns and by the end of book 1, only the dat. is added. I feel it is much easier to learn all 6 cases for each type of noun at the same time. I also do not think that the exercises are that good, as they mainly seem to consist of filling in gaps, rather than translating whole sentences. There are too few exercises as well.
An excellent study guide but for some vital info missing - I bought this book to teach myself Latin in my own time, at home and I have not been disappointed. I was denied the opportunity to study Latin at GCSE (something which has greatly vexed me), and after seeing this book available, I bought it on a whim not really expecting much from it. I was completely wrong however, as it makes Latin accessible and easy to understand. The new grammar and vocab is introduced in every chapter and the subsequent stories really build upon everything you have learnt in previous chapters. I am definetly buying the other books once I have finished this one. The reason why I haven t given this book full stars, is because I have come across a few words that are missing completely from the vocab at the back and in the vocab list at the end of each chapter. Even with these words missing, once you have translated the rest of the sentence and you understand the gist of the story, you are able to make an educated guess as to the meaning of the word allowing you to continue with the exercises with confidence.
Better than Wheelock s - I may be treading on some classical toes here, but I started with the Wheelock s set of books and was completely lost, even though I feel I am somewhat near an expert in English, quite fluent in French, and conversant in Spanish and German. I found the Cambridge course to proceed at the right pace of introducing new features and vocabulary, with interesting stories to use the grammar and new words. The Cambridge Latin Course web site has additional online exercises, which I found I needed as the book exercises were a bit skimpy. The Independent Learning Manual has a few additional exercises but seems geared toward young students and not really worth the extra cost.
Style over substance - The Cambridge Latin Course ruined my introduction to Latin at GCE O level! Great on context and culture - but light on really the useful practicalities of grammar and syntax. Great if you want trendy educational ideology - (well, in a nostalgic 1970 s sort of way) but if you want to learn Latin...give this course a miss and go for something useful than Metella s latest hairdoo.
Brilliant way to learn - In my quest to learn Latin, having been disappointed by other books, this was recommended to me by a friend. After reading the positive reviews on Amazon I decided to buy it.I was not disappointed in it at all. This was exactly what i was looking for in a book:It had stories to translate that focussed around one family so there was a familiar thread to them. Sometimes it even has (although in a very learning is fun way) humour.It had a gradual increase of vocabulary, giving any new words in a story down the side of it.It had a full dictionary of all the words used in the book at the back of it, along with a section on all the grammar taught.The grammar was introduced at the right rate and there were exersizes to test how well you had understood the new points. There were three-four exersizes every chapter (with 20 chapters in total), along with the translations.The end of the book leads nicely on to the start of the next one so it is not difficult to continue.I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn to read Latin. You will not regret buying it!