Latin For Dummies eBook: Tracy Barr, Clifford A. Hull, Steven R. Perkins: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Product Description

Earn-lay atin-Lay? No, not that kind of Latin! You can learn true Latin, with conjugations, declensions, and all those extra syllables – and it’s easier than you think. In fact, most people mistakenly think of learning Latin as perhaps the most useless, tedious, and difficult thing to do on earth. They couldn’t be more wrong.

Latin For Dummies takes you back for a quick jaunt through the parlance of ancient Rome, as well as discussing the progress of Latin into church language, and its status today as the “dead” language that lives on in English, Spanish, Italian, and most other Western tongues. Written for those with zero prior knowledge of Latin, this snappy guide puts the basics at your fingertips and steers clear of the arcane, schoolmarm stereotype of endless declensions and Herculean translations. Easy-to-understand sections describe:

Latin you already know
Grammar
Pronunciation
Latin in action
Latin in law
Latin in medicine
Latin for impressing your friends
And much more

No dusty tome or other such artifact, Latin For Dummies makes learning fun and brings the language to life by presenting conversations in various Roman settings, as well as providing fun facts and stories about classical life. And if you feel you may actually have a negative aptitude for the language, don’t worry; pronunciations and translations follow every expression, and a helpful mini-dictionary graces the book’s last pages. You’ll also find out about:

The quotable Roman
Latin graffiti
Latin authors who’s who
Gladiator Latin
Latin in love, marriage, and family
From the mouth of Julius Caesar
Romans on drink
Helpful Latin-related Web sites
Fun and games exercises

Designed to introduce and familiarize you with the language rather than make you the next Cicero, Latin For Dummies gives you all the tools you need to work at your own pace to learn as much or as little as you like. So noli timere (no-lee tih-may-reh) – “have no fear” – and carpe diem (“pick up Latin For Dummies today”)!

From the Back Cover

Packed with tons of examples and sample dialogues

Make sense of Latin in no time!

Noli timere! (no–lee tih–may–reh) As the Romans would say, "Have no fear!" You’ll be reading and speaking Latin in a flash with this friendly guide, which covers all Latin language essentials, including grammar, usage, and vocabulary. You’ll even see how to use Latin in modern situations, from the law to medicine to impressing your friends at cocktail parties.

The Dummies Way

Explanations in plain English
"Get in, get out" information
Icons and other navigational aids
Tear–out cheat sheet
Top ten lists
A dash of humor and fun

Get smart! @www.dummies.com

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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful

Terrible 27 Jan 2009

By Mr. J. D. J. Brown

Format:Paperback

I very rarely take the trouble to write reviews, but on this occasion I am happy to make an exception. This is a truly terrible language book. The authors spend more time trying to be funny that actually teaching you the language.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Mmmmm, 13 Aug 2011

By jena

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Mmmmm, not quite so useful as I hoped. I had forgotten it was American, and it so far has not been as handy as another in the series which I tried - for essay writing, which transformed my essays. I have found it difficult to engage with this text. As I am doing university level Latin the book has not given quite the back-up that I hoped it might.
Jennifer

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

Oh dear! 4 May 2010

By Contribis

This is a very bad book if you have no experience of learning languages. It gets too technical too quickly and as another critic mentions, the authors seem to be trying too hard to be funny rather than concentrating on helping the reader to grasp the basics. As far as I could see there wasn't even a list of the Roman alphabet. To be fair though the book states that the Roman alphabet is the same as the English one, but such a list would have been useful, if only as a guide to pronounciation.

I've looked at books for other languages, such as New Testament Greek, and I found it relatively easy to pick up the basics within a week, but this book just seems to fly all over the place and doen't clearly list the appropriate word endings for example. I've tried reading and re-reading the introductory chapters in the desperate hope that I can learn something, but the format and presentation of the whole book in general has actually put me off learning Latin (unless someone recommends one for a true dummy, like me!)

To sum up, I would only use this book if I needed expensive toilet paper with latin written on it. Avoid this as you would something nasty on the street floor. If you want to learn Latin you are probably better off looking on the internet.

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