About the Latin Language

Latin (lingua latina) is the language of ancient Rome and the ancestor of the modern Romance languages: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan, etc. Latin is also the language of the Roman Catholic Church. While its liturgical use in Catholicism may be declining, an increasing number of students are learning Latin in public schools in the United States. It may never again achieve its former status as the lingua franca of the Western world, but the Latin language continues to live in our midst.

Latin belongs to the Italic group of the Indo-European family of languages. Roman soldiers spread the Latin language from the Tiber River throughout an Empire that spread from Spain to Mesopotamia. In later times, Catholic missionaries carried Latin to farther reaches of the world.

The long history of the Latin language can be divided into periods:

• Early Latin, from the founding of Rome in 753 B.C. until 81 B.C.;
• Classical Latin, from 81 B.C., when Caesar and Cicero were writing, until 14 A.D., when Augustus died;
• Silver Latin (a brilliant literary period), until 130 A.D.;
• Late Latin (also called Vulgar Latin);
• Medieval Latin (also called Christian Latin);
• Renaissance Latin (also called Erasmian Latin); and
• Modern Latin (also called Neo-Latin).

English speakers cannot avoid learning Latin vocabulary, even if they make an effort to do so by opting out of a Latin language course in school. Half the English vocabulary comes from ancient Rome, and our everyday communications are peppered with Latin phrases like et cetera and per capita. But because the Latin language is inflected, with words changing form to express grammatical meaning, learning Latin grammar can be a challenge.

Traditional teaching methods often make matters worse. Just when you are resigned to the fact that Latin nouns have something called an "absolute case," the instructor announces that the absolute case can be subdivided into the "ablative absolute," "ablative of attendant circumstance," "ablative of degree of difference," "ablative of fine or penalty," "ablative of time during which," etc.!

Wouldn't it be great to just plunge into the Latin language and have the all the Latin grammar explanations sitting off to the side, waiting to be summoned whenever you need them? That was what we thought, too, which is why we designed LatinNow! to be an effective, fun way to learn Latin.

Regular practice is necessary to learn to speak Latin well. That's why good Latin software and other Latin products can be so useful. It's easier than ever to learn Latin and to begin to speak Latin with the language resources and Latin language software from Transparent Language. With LatinNow! and our other language learning products, you will speak Latin, learn the Latin alphabet, learn Latin vocabulary, conjugate Latin verbs, understand Latin grammar, and master Latin pronunciation quickly. Best wishes as you learn Latin!

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