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 Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:49 am
Ecce Romani is the most awesome language book I have ever seen. All language books should be modeled after it.
What they do is start with words that are cognates to english, and give you a very short paragraph that starts a story that will be told through-out the book, and down below the paragraph is a list of vocabulary (since the story can't be told with cognates only) and then after that chapter of the story, they go over the grammar points that came up in the chapter, and each chapter adds more grammar stuffs and more vocabulary words. It's really awesome.
Oh, yeah, Ecce Romani is a Latin book.
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:26 pm
How many cognates does English have with, say, Javanese? Or Yoruba? Or Croatian?
I don't think that your "start learning with cognates" idea would work that well, also I don't think it would be a good idea to start someone off with mostly cognates, seeing as that might give them scewed expectations/views of the langauge.
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 7:17 pm
When the languages aren't similar, it is easily modified to just start with simple sentences and give all the vocabulary below. I admit there might be some languages it won't work for, so I take back the claim that ALL language books should use this method and revise it to, "This method should be used as much as possible." XWraith_LordX I don't think it would be a good idea to start someone off with mostly cognates, seeing as that might give them scewed expectations/views of the langauge. No one in my class seemed to have that problem.  Ecce! In picturā est puella, nomine Cornelia. Cornelia est puella Romana quae in Italiā habitat. Etiam in picturā est villa rustica ubi Cornelia aestate habitat. Cornelia est laeta quod iam in villā habitat. Cornelia iam sub arbore sedet et legit. Etiam in picturā est altera puella, nomine Flavia. Flavia est puella Romana quae in villā vicinā habitat. Dum Cornelia legit, Flavia scribit. Laeta est Flavia quod Cornelia iam in villā habitat.
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Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:50 pm
Haha, i had that book when i took Latin in middle school x3
I like the part where the boy pushes one of them in a pond, or something with someone in the pond.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 1:40 am
I remember them knocking a statua into the piscina.
Anyway, that thing about them getting a skewed view of the language seems like a lame objection to me. I mean, as the book progresses there will be more not-cognates, so why would they continue to think the language is just like english. And besides that you could just tell them what the method is.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:33 am
Wow, I was shocked to realize I understood everything written there. First time I see a Latin text and don't look for my dictionary.
Anyhow, I see so many books that use the same method. The Lithuanian Language book I use in class (by Dambriunas & others) is exactly the same as this one. This method is pretty nice for the very basic language learning, but at some point, comparing that language to your own constantly can be a great block on your way to improving in it, because different languages are structured differently. At some point you can't keep translating every word to understand what you're reading. You just need to make the connection between how they say it in Latin and what it is, and how they say it is in English. This is why I like the Berlitz technique better.
Anyhow, in Latin we use mostly original texts. I think that makes sense actually, because no one learns Latin to actually speak it. You learn it in order to read Roman texts / learn about the structure of Romance Languages. So it might be a little more helpful using the type of structures and vocabulary you would most likely run into, this can help prepare you for later on.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:28 pm
Im A Little Pea At some point you can't keep translating every word to understand what you're reading. That's how I do it. But since I made this thread I realized it's silly to think that what works for me will work for everyone else. I understand a new language by analyzing its similarities to and differences from the ones I already know. But there's no reason other people should do it that way. But I bet there are some (a few, a handful, many, thousands, millions?) people who would like my method.
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 9:30 am
AH, I love Ecce. Raeda est semper in fossā. : D
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