Top Tips for Learning Latin: A Guide for Adult Learners
Are you thinking about learning Latin, or have you recently started? Here's some advice to help you get the most out of your studies.
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New Learning Resources
This page features the activities that I've added most recently. More activities can be found in the Hieroglyphs Resources Archive, Coptic Resources Archive and Latin Resources Archive.
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Current Latin challenge
Latin (added 19/9/24)
Word order
(beginner)
In English, the usual word order is SVO (subject-verb-object), whereas in Latin it's SOV (subject-object-verb).
e.g. The girl (S) loves (V) the dog (O). =
puella (S) canem (O) amat (V).
Practise this rule by dragging the Latin words into SOV order.
Remember that the subject goes in the nominative and the object goes in the accusative, so focus on word endings to decide which noun is the subject and which is the object.
Click here to see the answers (including translations of the sentences).
Current hieroglyphs challenge
Hieroglyphs (added 21/10/24)
Vocabulary for Papyrus Westcar (The Wax Crocodile)
(more experienced learners)
Papyrus Westcar preserves a collection of Middle Egyptian stories of magic and wonder. This activity aims to help you learn some key vocabulary in preparation for reading the wax crocodile story. Alternatively you can use it to consolidate after reading.
It's available in two forms - flashcards and a pair/ no pair game - choose the one you prefer or try them both!
For more about Papyrus Westcar, take a look at my blog article What to read next in Middle Egyptian hieroglyphs: Papyrus Westcar (AKA 'Tales of Wonder' or 'King Cheops and the Magicians').
Current Coptic challenge
Coptic (added 13/8/24)
Basic vocabulary 2 - words for things
(complete beginner)
You can use these flashcards to help you learn some Coptic words for things. This activity follows on from Coptic - Basic vocabulary 1.
There are picture hints and, for those who are still learning the alphabet, the approximate pronunciation of each word is given in inverted commas.
Students of hieroglyphs might like to see if they can work out the Middle Egyptian versions of any of these words.
These resources pages are a work in progress. They are intended for use alongside a course of study (independent or taught); the target learner level is indicated in the title.
I welcome constructive comments and requests for particularly activity types/ topics - please email me at drthomas@principiaparva.co.uk.
I have used JSesh (an open source word processor for hieroglyphs) to write the hieroglyphs and transliterations in some of my games. I'm very grateful to its creator for making this resource freely available to Egyptologists everywhere.
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