Getting Started with Latin: Beginning Latin for Homeschoolers and Self-Taught Students of Any Age

In David McCullough’s biography of John Adams, he shares a story about John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams. The two had a layover and were awaiting the arrival of a ship to board, leaving them with time to spare. They passed the time by translating a classical Latin work. Times have certainly changed. At one time, for the relatively small percentage of Americans who attended college, knowledge of Latin was assumed, not for graduation but for admission. As higher education came to focus on business, social science, and scientific and technical knowledge, the study of Latin was de-emphasized, if not omitted altogether from curricula. However, in recent years, there has been a renewed interest in classical education and in Latin, especially among homeschool students. William Linney’s book, Getting Started With Latin, is perhaps evidence of this trend. The book offers an ideal introduction to Latin for those who are (no kidding) truly new to the subject. Linney presents a unique, learn-by-translation approach to language study. Beginning with simple two-word sentences, each lesson progresses to ten Latin sentences for the student to translate to English. Words are repeated, thereby reinforcing learning. The book includes basic Latin vocabulary, present tense verb endings, conjunctions, prepositions, infinitives, noun endings, direct and indirect objects, and adjectives. By itself, the book will not make one a Latin scholar. However, the book is a good starting point before formal study of Latin or before pursuing more advanced informal study using a more academic text, such as Wheelock’s Latin. Additionally, Linney has written a follow-on Latin text, Keep Going With Latin. Linney’s book can not be recommended more highly. Unlike many self-study books, this book genuinely delivers on its title.

I’m not quite a “beginner” with Latin since I took it for three years during high school. That set me up for great success in being able to excel at medical and scientific terminology in college and my subsequent careers. How this book came to be in my life…learning is a hobby for me and I realized Latin was something I’ve always loved, but had dropped the ball on over the course of my life. I remembered the “old school” Wheelock’s textbooks and wasn’t quite ready for that level of learning again and came across this lovely book. I figured it would be a great refresher for me and it was! For adults: It’s easy to follow along with and you really don’t need outside clarification (like, you’re not going to have to google what words mean, etc.) It’s time efficient—no endless hours spent translating various declensions of the same word. I personally aim for one lesson a day, sometimes I’ll do two. I finished this book in about 3 months. I’m now moving on to the second book by this author before I pick up Wheelock’s again. If you’re a complete beginner…start with this book! It will save you loads of frustration. Once you get through this book and the second, you’ll be well set up for moving on to the harder textbooks. For kids: As a mom, I was analyzing this book for my own kids if they showed an interest in it. I think it would be a great introductory book for them (aged 16, 11, and 5.) The older two could definitely do these exercises and understand the concepts on their own. The younger one would need help for sure, but I think even she could learn the basic vocabulary with assistance. The author has utilized a well thought out learning format that builds upon itself. It’s easy to figure out “what went wrong” if someone is struggling with a particular translation. Overall, excellent book! Looking back on my high school years, I wish this book had been available then and utilized in our first year. I’ve started the second book and I suspect I’ll love it too. If these books had been available in our first year, I think Latin would’ve held more interest for most students. It would’ve been a fantastic way to “ease” into Latin as teenager instead of just doing rote memorization. No regrets on buying this. You won’t regret it either!

When Mr. Linney received a request from his sister to teach her two homeschool pupils Latin, he searched for a beginner's textbook that could be utilized without much input from a teacher (he lived a great distance from his sister). Finding nothing on the market adequate for the purpose, he penned his own beginner's Latin. The result was a volume that offers the best introduction to the Latin language for the self-educated student without a strong linguistic background that I have yet to find. I had been searching for years for a text that could ease me---a student with no foreign language experience beyond two years of high school Spanish---into Latin study, when I discovered this towering achievement in directed self-education. Anyone of any age or ability can master the material in this book, provided they put forth even a modicum of effort, by the end of which they will have a sound grasp on the fundamental principles of the Latin tongue. Linney's pedagogical approach of presenting bite-sized chunks of grammar in a systematic fashion with extensive review to ensure mastery, is simply unmatched in the world of beginner's Latin textbooks. There is no fluff or pretty pictures to be found here, but the self-confidence that comes from mastering lesson after lesson engenders an enjoyment and love of a subject all too often presented as austere and impenetrable to the uninitiated masses. In addition, he mixes it up with fun and interesting discussions on some commonly used Latin expressions (I was unaware of the meaning of "ca."). He also includes helpful audio lectures and pronunciation guides on his website for free. If, like me, you never had the opportunity to study Latin in a classroom environment under the tutelage of an instructor, and you have given Wheelock a whirl without much success, I implore you to forget all the others for the moment and start here. This book will afford you the proper foundation and motivation for pursuing more advanced works like Wheelock's, Orberg, or Linney's Latin Class.

This book was made primarily for homeschoolers and for self-study. Linney does a great job at keeping things simple and proceeds logically and methodically throughout the book. He also provides free sound files online to help guide pronunciation, thus helping self-studiers gain an ear for the language. If you have never tried to learn an language before, and if you have no idea what the nominative, accusative, dative, or genitive cases are, then this is the right book for you. If you've already had some Latin, then this book will probably be too simple unless you really suck at grammar.

El método es fantástico, puedes hacer cada unidad en 5-10 min e irte con la sensación de haber avanzado sin tener en ningún momento la de haberte roto la cabeza. Yo hacía 2 ó 3 al día antes de dormirme (y otras días un pequeño repaso en su lugar), usando la función marcapáginas del Kindle con las cosas fundamentales para poder reencontrarlas fácilmente. ¡Y antes de darme cuenta habia llegado al final! Eso sí, las explicaciones y frases a traducir son en inglés, pero no son muy técnicas y los nombres de las declinaciones son casi iguales que en castellano, ¡ya que proceden todos del propio latín! Y las palabras introducidas son básicas (hombre, mujer, ciudad, orilla, tener, poder, dar...). Por cierto la que escribe esto es una persona de mediana edad, no una joven, con lo cual creo que este libro vale para todas las edades 😉

William E. Linney is a Genius with didactic he knows how to convert complex things into something easy to understand and makes the brain of the autodidact student operate like a computer relactiong not only the English with the Latin, but making the student have an understanding of the matter that is far superior to the understanding that app DUOLINGO can make, and I used both, so I can make this statement. It's hard to find a linguist and a teacher gifted like this author. I did not completed yet the book, I am with 59% completed, but I am anxious to complete and start the continuation in the other book. I have a real pleasure to learn with this author. My advice is to learn all languages he teaches, that are the Latin, Greek, French, German and Spanish. All I knew from syntax analysis were a misconception and William E, Linney clarified in a perfect and indelible way. I wish I could thanks personally the author, because he is the language teacher for autodidact students.

The author of this book has invested a considerable amount of his own time in providing a set of free resources to help people learn Latin. The free course looks quite good, but it is not exactly beginner material. So, as the author suggests, I went back to his book with the intention of returning to the free materials later. I started using the sample Kindle edition of this book and absolutely flew through the lessons in no time, without any frustration. I bought the Kindle edition and I'm still flying through the lessons. In fact, they are so easy that I decided to squeeze out every drop of information by writing all my answers in Latin and in English, and by reading aloud all of the questions and answers. About 30 years ago, I taught myself Italian from the book "La Lingua Italiana Per Stranieri" (The Italian Language for Foreigners). The teaching style is very similar to that used in "Getting Started with Latin". I was speaking Italian comfortably after about three months, and I now speak Italian fluently. I don't expect to become fluent in Latin, but the knowledge I gain from this book will definitely improve my understanding of other languages. I'm also looking forward to reading classics in Latin. Highly Recommended!

I have learnt - and understood - more Latin in two months working on my own from this book than I ever did from two years in school. Super clear explanations, builds knowledge in small, logical steps. When grammar points are explained there is no dense, obscure blah blah, just good, clear examples. You work with 1st and 2nd declension nouns, and conjugation 1 and 2 of verbs. Exercises at the end of each lesson build in complexity. I am getting to the end of this book and now have the confidence to start with the next book. This is a perfect book for those teaching themselves.