The Latin language is variously imagined in popular culture: as a masculine language, a language of imperialism, a classical language, a lingua franca, a dead language. No matter the preferred metaphor, Latin was among the first world languages in human history, and it has unmatched cultural significance in the West.
Latin Beginner course, planned to cover two semesters (Latin Beginner I and II), is designed for all students with no or little previous knowledge of Latin, and it aims to equip students with essential Latin, i. e. its morphology and some very basic syntax, so that by the end of the year students should be able to read original Latin texts at lower intermediate level, for example (Pompeian) graffiti, inscriptions, isolated sentences, and short passages taken from the original Latin prose and poetry.
Latin Beginner II, offered in the Winter term, is designed as a continuation of Latin Beginner I, taught in the Fall term. It is also open to students with little knowledge of Latin grammar and vocabulary, and with little reading skills acquired elsewhere.
Latin Beginner II will continue where Latin Beginner I left off, and will cover the inflection of consonant, -i, -u, and -e nominal stems (i. e. the third, fourth, and fifth declensions), subjunctive mood and passive voice of the three tenses (present, future, imperfect) built on the imperfectum stem (i. e. the present stem) in all four conjugations, and demonstrative pronouns.
The class meets once per week for a 100-minute session that will be divided into two distinct 50-minute parts: 1. the first part will be an interactive practice session in which we will thoroughly go through the assigned homework and revise and practice the grammar covered the week before; 2. the following 50 minutes will be a lecture proper covering a new grammar topic.
- Instructor: Dora Ivanisevic