From the Mailbag: Telling Tales in Latin
Lorna Robinson sent this along:
The Iris Project delighted to announce the publication of a new Latin course and storybook, Telling Tales in Latin!
Telling Tales in Latin infuses learning Latin with the magic of storytelling. Narrated by the chatty and imaginative Roman poet Ovid, this brand new kind of Latin course takes the reader on a journey through some of the most wonderful tales from the Metamorphoses. Along the way, readers pick up Latin words and grammar and are encouraged to explore the connections between Latin and English, and the ways in which Ovid’s stories still speak to us today. Beautifully illustrated throughout, this Latin course reads like a story book, and as such, will appeal to a wide range of learners. It also contains the necessary vocabulary and grammar needed for the OCR Entry Level Latin qualification, so readers and schools can use this as the only Latin course geared towards this qualification.
Every chapter introduces the reader to a much-loved story from Ovid’s poem, encouraging him/her to start reading Latin which is adapted from the original text straightaway. It leads readers through the story, encouraging connections to be made between English and Latin words, and exploring new aspects of grammar in a playful but clear way. Each chapter ends with suggestions for activities, as well as ways in which the story can be explored from literary and creative perspectives. Emphasis is placed upon thinking about the resonance and universal appeal of mythical stories, and identifying why these stories developed. The book also encourages readers to think about the many ways in which the stories connect to modern ideas and features ranging from scientific advances to climate change and caring for the planet! Alongside all these cross-curricular connections, there is a continual focus on literacy and language.
A free teacher’s guide will be available to download in the summer from the Iris website.
Telling Tales in Latin is written by Iris director Dr Lorna Robinson, with illustrations by Iris illustrator Soham De. Advice on the Latin text is provided by co-ordinator of the Iris Literacy through Latin scheme in Swansea, Dr Evelien Bracke.
ISBN 9780285641792 £10, illustrated in colour throughout
Also available as an ebookTo order Telling Tales in Latin please send name and address to:
Trade Department, Souvenir Press, 43 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3PD.
Please make cheques payable to Souvenir Press Ltd.For credit or debit card sales call 01235 827702 and use the reference ‘Tales’
For further information call 020 7580 9307 or email: sp.trade AT souvenirpress.co.ukYou can now order the new Iris Latin course at http://bit.ly/Q3oUvK
Latin Gets Things Done!
Interesting item from the Art Newspaper … some clipping along the way:
In 1937, the Warburg Institute, recently arrived in London from Hamburg, found itself homeless. Permission was given for it to move into the Imperial Institute, but there was no shelving, which made the library unusable. Month after month, the director Fritz Saxl sent letters to the senior civil servant at the Office of Works, Frederic Raby, asking him for shelves to be provided.
Now Raby was also a considerable scholar of Latin poetry of the Middle Ages; finally, Saxl asked Ernst Gombrich to write Raby a request in Latin poetry in case that might move him to action. Here is that poem, in the style of the “Wandering Scholars”.
The effect was instantaneous: Raby sent back a poem in the same rhyme-scheme saying that they could have their shelves. As Sir Ernst said in sending these opuscula to The Art Newspaper, “The whole stands as a nostalgic tribute to a vanished tradition of the Civil Service”.
The Gombrich Plea
Stella desperantium, miserorum lumen
Rerum primum mobile, nobis quasi numen
Audias propitie supplicantem sonum
De profundis clamitat studii patronum
Otium molestum est, et periculosum
Menses sine linea vexant studiosum.
Statum hunc chaoticum noli prolongare
Animam et domum nos fac aedificare
Libros nostros libera turri de seclusa
Quibus mus nunc fruitur gaudeat et Musa.
O, duc nos ad gratiae sempiternum fontem
Unde tibi lauri frons coronabit frontem.
Qui in Bibliotheca Warburgiana
studiis se dedere ardent
—Frederico Jacobo Edwardo Rabio[...]
Raby’s reply (addressed to Fritz Saxl)
Doctor disertissime, rector venerande,
Omnibus amabilis semper et amande,
Congemiscens audio verba deprecantum
Imo corde vocibus tactus eiulantum.
Set nunc tibi nuncio gaudium suave,
Te et tuos liberans studiosos a ve.
EANT LIBRI LIBERE. Deus sit tutamen
Libris et legentibus in eternum. Amen.
- via: From The Art Newspaper Archive, May 1993 (The Art Newspaper)
… the original article includes translations … Both verses almost sound ‘Carmina Buranaish’ …
Gamifying Latin Redux
A couple weeks ago we had an item from the Old Gold and Black on Ted Gellar-Goad’s efforts to gamify Latin prose comp (Gamifying Latin Prose Comp). Science Daily has an item in the same vein, but with a bit more detail for folks wondering about the method:
Choose your character, write spells, map the dungeon and move up levels. It sounds like Dungeons and Dragons, but it’s not. It’s Latin class.
Each student plays a hero from Graeco-Roman myth with a backstory, personality and actions determined largely by the student. Over the semester-long journey the players face obstacles, challenges and opportunities both independently and as a group.
And they learn to write Latin.
Game theory for teaching languages
“The best way to learn a language is by immersing yourself in it,” says Ted Gellar-Goad, a post doc teacher-scholar in Wake Forest’s classical languages department who teaches the class. “And it’s even more fun in a world not quite our own, in time, place or nature.”
The first day of Latin prose composition class, the most challenging required course for Latin majors and often the dullest, the 12 students chose a character to guide through the 20 levels of the course.
Sophomore Amy Templin chose Ariadne as her play character (PC) — the princess of Crete who clandestinely helps Theseus slay the mythological Minotaur. “My PC tends to help solve riddles and puzzles,” says Templin. “She matches my actual personality nicely.”
Templin says generally other women in the class were more hesitant to embrace role-playing than the men, something Gellar-Goad expected might happen. “But the class is not a video game, it’s a paper-based role-playing game, and its extrinsic value is to create increased engagement in the class. Something I think we’ve definitely accomplished,” he says.
“I look forward to the class, and I’m not constantly checking the clock,” says Templin. “Though I was initially intimidated by the set up, especially starting the class at level zero, I’ve noticed so much growth in my abilities. I’m looking at the dictionary less and less. That we craft our sentences according to our character and the motivations of game players is a big challenge, but so much more fun than translating the vanilla sentences someone else wrote from a 1940s textbook.”
Experience points: Level zero to level 20
Students earn experience points, not grades. They gain levels. They learn Latin in a “super-structure of fun,” says Gellar-Goad.
This includes:
• Scribing spells (complete translation projects),
• Mapping the dungeon (construct visual representations of Latin grammatical constructions);
• Crafting magic items (produce creative projects); and
• Completing side quests (establish standards of a Latin author’s style, for example).
The idea for the course setup came from a Teaching and Learning Center book group on José Antonio Bowen’s “Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning.” Gellar-Goad was most interested in Bowen’s exploration of using games as a useful pedagogical tool. “The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game,” was another useful resource for course design.
Learning through avatars
As game master, Gellar-Goad moderates the class, provides the setting and helps guide both the storytelling and the adventures. Students work as a class to figure our how their player characters will respond to given situations. Gellar-Goad sets up the simulation: We are in a city in ancient Greece and the Mycenean people are rebelling against their queen. The rebels have caught you, and you have two options: Confess you are gathering information on how to defeat the Sphinx or hide your true motives. The group discusses the options and possible outcomes, and then composes sentences in Latin to move the game forward.
“One of the biggest takeaways for me from the class is that Dr. Gellar-Goad’s unique approach is inspiring students in our class who have different ways of learning,” says senior Matt Sherry, an aspiring high school Latin teacher. He encourages creativity and that creativity gives students different ways to approach learning.”
- via: Role-Playing Game Brings New Life to a ‘Dead’ Language (Science Daily)
Also Seen: Greek and Latin Plurals in the News
Not really sure if I (personally) would call these pretentious, but your mileage may vary (insert smiley here):
YLE’s Nuntii Latini in the News!
This one was mentioned on the Classics list last week … YLE’s Nuntii Latini was the subject of a feature in the New York Times. Here’s the first bit:
Leah Whittington, an English professor at Harvard, catches the news bulletins on her iPod while strolling to classes. Daniel Blanchard, a professional countertenor in Paris, used to listen on shortwave radio, but now he uses an iPod, too. The BBC? NPR? No, it’s a weekly summary of world events and news broadcast by Finnish state radio — not in Finnish, but in classical Latin.
Nobody knows exactly how many listeners the Latin program reaches. “Tens of thousands is my wild guess,” said Sami Koivisto, a reporter in the station’s news department. But it seems clear that the Internet is injecting new life into a language often described as dead.
No, there are no traffic reports from the Appian Way, nor does the station assign a political reporter to the Forum. But, on Friday evenings before the main news broadcast, the Finnish Broadcasting Company presents five or six short news stories in Latin. In recent weeks, the subjects have included the financial crisis in Cyprus, an unusually brilliant aurora borealis and the election of Pope Francis.
“There are no scoops,” Mr. Blanchard, 37, said recently, over coffee. “But it is a great way to hear the news.” A request to the French national broadcaster to do something similar, he said, failed to produce a response.
Not even Vatican Radio, which broadcasts some prayers each day in Latin, reports the news in the ancient tongue.
Tuomo Pekkanen, a retired professor of Latin who helped start “Nuntii Latini,” or “Latin News,” as the program is known, said the language is very much alive for him and for many educated Finns of his generation deeply influenced by Edwin Linkomies, his Latin professor at Helsinki University and prime minister during the difficult years of World War II. For them, Latin was a part of Finnish identity as well as of a sound education.
“In order to be educated,” said Mr. Pekkanen, 78, who is proficient in not only Latin but also ancient Greek and Sanskrit, “it was once said that a real humanist must write poetry in Latin and Greek.”
Mr. Pekkanen helped start the news program almost on a lark, then saw it steadily gain popularity. “Picking the subjects, that is the most difficult part of it,” said Mr. Pekkanen, who in his spare time has translated all 22,795 verses of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, into rhymed Latin verse. “One principle is that we don’t want to count the bodies of how many were killed in this or that country,” he said. “That is dull.”
It may be no coincidence that the broadcast began in 1989, the year Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe and the Finns turned toward Western Europe. For educated Finns, Latin had long been the country’s link to Western culture, and they were required to study the language in school.
“It’s a brilliant idea,” said Jukka Ammondt, a university lecturer in English and German who dabbles in Latin and regularly tunes in to the broadcasts, even though he confesses that he cannot understand everything.
Mr. Ammondt, 68, has certainly done his part to promote Latin — and Finland. After a difficult divorce two decades ago, he turned increasingly to the songs of Elvis Presley, an idol of his youth, for consolation. For the fun of it, he began singing them in Latin. [...]
- via: Latin Makes an Appearance on Finnish Radio. News at VI. (New York Times)
… scroll down a bit for the latest edition; from this point on, all the ‘Nuntiis’ will appear as part of the regular Monday offerings at rogueclassicism (in the hopes that Latin teachers might incorporate them into their lessons)
Gamifying Latin Prose Comp
From the Old Gold & Black:
In a classroom where students battle away at mythological creatures and Latin grammar, Dr. Gellar-Goad has reinvigorated an out-dated course and brought new teaching methods with a twist of adventure.
In his first year as a Teacher-Scholar Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Classical Languages, Gellar-Goad has developed a unique and innovative method for teaching Latin Prose Composition, a class which is a major requirement for Latin majors. It is typically a course designed to be an intense review of Latin grammar and rigorous practice translating English sentences into Latin.
The original textbook used for the class contains material that is largely antiquated; the original publication of the book was in 1839. As Gellar-Goad pointed out, while not only is the subject matter very hard, the support in the text is not necessarily sufficient.
“This can lead to disengagement because the examples [in the textbook] don’t match the modern American experience of studying Latin,” said Gellar-Goad.
Last summer, he came upon a book called The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game by Lee Sheldon, which has inspired him to reimagine the way Latin Prose Composition is taught.
In the style of a classic tabletop roleplaying game (RPG), each student selects a character from Greek or Roman mythology at the beginning of the semester. Students then assume the roles of these player-characters and use them in class and for homework the rest of the year. The assignments include scribe spell-scrolls, side quests, dungeon maps, and more — all of which require the use of the appropriate Latin grammar.
“A typical class will consist of about half the class going over nitty-gritty grammar details — more of a traditional class format. The second half will then be an exercise on that day’s lesson or review tied to some in-game element.”
Grading in the class is also non-traditional. Instead of beginning with an A and only having the opportunity to lower their grade, students improve their grade by gaining experience points through assignments, homework, and projects.
“There is the extrinsic value of getting to the next level — which is tied to their grade — and the intrinsic value of learning Latin,” said Gellar-Goad.
Though it is only his first semester teaching the course, so far Gellar-Goad has seen encouraging student response. He finds that given room for creativity, students are able to find things which make them happy within the class material, a feature some might say is unusual of the typical course.
“The students do work extremely hard, but I feel like they don’t see it as drudgery; the improvement I have seen is amazing,” he said.
“I think we were all a little shocked the first day when we told that our class would be modeled off of Word of Warcraft and that we would all have to choose characters to role-play for the rest of the semester,” sophomore Sarah Stewart said.
“Professor Geller-Goad’s class is an experiment in 21st century pedagogy; a synthesis between technology and ancient works that makes students capable of grasping the most poignant and powerful messages of what would be highly exclusive materials,” sophomore Lee Quinn, a classics major, said.
“He teaches the students to develop a personal connection to the information,” Quinn said.
Gellar-Goad also said he is fairly certain this is the first time the course has ever been taught this way.
“It’s teaching Latin Prose Composition as a semester long mythological adventure for fun and profit,” he said.
- via: Challenge of the Sphinx: An innovative course in latin prose composition (Old Gold & Black)
… folks might remember Ted Gellar-Goad as one of the minds behind a lolcattish ‘Take Latin’ campaign last summer (e.g. Promoting Latin Internets Style:The Series I)
Scansion Basics
Over at Dickinson College Commentaries there is a nice little set of videos to help you learn/teach scansion (one of my MAJOR weaknesses):
Why Take Latin?
Tip o’ the pileus to Karen Stears on twitter who directed our attention to an interesting blog post at Coming of Age in the Middle which has a nice summary of the ‘other effects’ of learning Latin … definitely one to have nearby for quick reference:
Latin Ain’t Dead ~ Pontifical Academy
Nice little video from Rome Reports:
Teaching Classical Languages ~ Fall 2012
Not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this interesting online journal from the CAMWS folks before, but the latest issue includes three very interesting articles (all pdfs):
- Mark Thorne, Using Manuscripts in the Latin Classroom
- Christine Hahn, Latin in the Homeschooling Community
- Antonia Syson, Reading the Aeneid with intermediate Latin students: the new Focus commentaries (Books 1-4 and 6) and Cambridge Reading Virgil (Books I and II)
… in case you want to peruse the back issues …
Latin Not Tough Enough … and Should Be Taught in Every School
Oh oh … Facebook appears to have finally figured me out. This is the first time it has actually sent me a “Trending Article” that actually seems applicable to me … from the Independent:
Latin and Greek GCSEs have lost much of their “intellectual force” and should be replaced by tougher new O-level-style exams, say campaigners.
Students who take the subjects at Oxford receive lessons in basic grammar and syntax because their school education has been so lacking, according to the Parliament Street report. Too often, the report argues, the school syllabus is closer to studying classical civilisation than the language.
“There is (deliberately) no systematic learning of grammar and syntax and emphasis is laid on fast reading of a dramatic continuous story in made-up Latin which gives scope for looking at aspects of ancient life,” it adds. “GCSEs should be replaced by a modern version of the O-level that stretches pupils and does not hamstring them as at present.”
The pamphlet also argues that Latin should be a core part of the curriculum – rather than the preserve of independent and selective state grammar schools, “There is a substantial body of evidence that children who study Latin outperform their peers when it comes to reading, reading comprehension and vocabulary,” pamphlet author, John N Davie, said. Only 13 per cent of state secondary schools in the UK offer Latin.
… afraid I have to agree on the grammar and syntax part of things …
Translating Pliny’s Letters
I finally got a chance to check out Pedar Foss’ latest blog-related project … here’s an intro from his very self:
This begins a series of posts that will translate and comment upon Pliny the Younger’s two letters (6.16 and 6.20) about the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79–the disaster that buried Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other sites. These posts are part of a book project that intends to understand the scholarly and popular reception of those letters. I am also teaching these letters in LAT 223 at DePauw this Fall term, so this is a good time to do it.
I will provide the Latin (using Mynors’ 1963 Oxford Classical Text [OCT]), and then work through it with a translation, dissection of grammatical constructions, and discussion of what the letters tell us. I will doubtless make mistakes as I proceed, and will be grateful for comments and corrections; the essence of scholarship is rectification through better evidence, arguments, or questions.
… the posts are being gathered under the Pliny category at [quem dixere chaos] … definitely worth a look
Latin Today
Tip o’ the pileus to Joseph Yarbrough for alerting us to this item in the Gyrene Gazette:
“Salvus sīs!” says your classmate, walking into the room.
You smile as you respond, “Salvē! Ut valēs?”
“Bene. Et tū?”
“Nōn male.” Soon, the room is sparkling with foreign chatter—before the professors have even arrived. Sermo Latinus Hodiernus has begun.
Latin Conversation Today, as the class is known to English speakers, is a living challenge to the assumption that the language of Caesar and Augustine is dead and gone. Every Friday, members meet under the instruction of Dr. Ritter and Dr. Yarborough for an hour of linguistic gymnastics that includes everything from telling time to describing objects—all conducted in Latin.
In the past, AMU students have gathered informally for the same purpose, but this is the first year the school is offering the course for credit.
Latin Today is not what Dr. Ritter would call a “typical” language class. By getting an inside look at the mechanisms of the language, students are able to step outside the normal pattern of learning and see Latin as more than a two-dimensional puzzle.
The course is geared toward taking the passivity out of studying Latin and turning it into an active experience through immersion and a diversity of exercises—in the words of Dr. Ritter, “doing Latin without really realizing you’re doing Latin.”
“It’s very hard to say, ‘What does it mean?’ at the end of the day,” Dr. Ritter says about straightforward memorization and translation. His goal is to “take a Latin class and do something a little bit more.”
Still, the class is more than a cryogenic experiment. Up until the nineteenth century, Latin pervaded everyday communication; indeed, for medieval Europe, it was a way of life. A working knowledge of the language, then, provides an inlet to philosophical, theological, and even historical goldmines. In order to cultivate an appreciation for classical writers, Dr. Ritter hopes to eventually have his students working with ancient texts, such as Genesis, the Gospel of John, and St. Augustine. He agrees with Pope John XXIII, who saw Latin as that link between past and future which allows us to read into other cultures and prevents ideas from growing stale. Dr. Ritter himself objects to the view of Latin as a “dead language” when it continues to enrich so many lives. “It would be naïve to sell it short in that way,” he says.
But let’s not forget the element of fun involved: namely, what Dr. Ritter calls “the joy of naming”—the rush of life that accompanies learning, for the first time, how to express oneself in a new language.
“It’s that delight of ‘I’ve found something,’” he says, experienced only when you learn how to say “window” as Aquinas might have, or the connection you make when you realize that Romans furrowed their brows when we ourselves frown.
Dr. Ritter recalls how “shocked” he was the first time he heard anyone speaking Latin for any length of time. But he acknowledges the sense of accomplishment that comes with “passing on with great ease what you learned with great difficulty.” It Dr. Ritter’s hope to imbue his pupils with this skill.
While the Latin language certainly wasn’t born yesterday, one thing remains certain: at Ave Maria, students and faculty continue to show that Latin today is very much alive.
For more inforamation about Latinus Hodiernus and the Classics and Early Christian Literature department of Ave Maria University, please visit their web page: classics.avemaria.edu.
via: Dead or Alive? They Say Alive (Gyrene Gazette)
What Latin Do You Know?
I’m still trying to track down the official Papal Bull which established the Latin Academy which the pope recently decreed, but until then, this Rome Reports video is actually really good:
… I wonder what would happen if they asked the same question on the streets of some North American city (both knowledge-wise and ‘accent-wise’)
Storifying the Latin Tweetup/Pipiatio Latina
As you might be aware, a couple days ago Darius Arya hosted another Latin Tweetup and although I wasn’t able to participate myself, I thought it might be fun to Storify the event:
… for the record, I did edit a bit, taking out some posts which were more technical than anything else; also anything that had a RT in front of it.
Practice Latin, Feed the World
I first heard of this Free Rice site a year ago when some of my Grade Sevens were playing with it … essentially it’s an online quiz and for every question you get right, they’ll send the equivalent of ten grains of rice to a place/person in need. Well, now they have a Latin-based game and by the looks of it, it would be a great place for students to practice their Latin while providing some service, as it were, to a good cause. Heck, imagine if every Latin class around did this at least once a week … or if Latin teachers had students regularly go here for ‘free time’. Maybe on World Food Day or other appropriate days, Latin teachers could get together and have a Latinathon or something … just sayin’ …
Latin and Greek Acquire Hipster Status in Australia
Some excerpts from the Sydney Morning Herald:
LATIN is up. So is legal studies. Visual arts and studies of religion have dropped slightly in the rankings but remain in the top 15 most popular courses for students undertaking this year’s Higher School Certificate, with exams to begin on Monday.
[...]
Latin is slightly up on last year with 173 students enrolled in the continuers course, making it the 14th most popular language course. Classical Greek has nine enrolments in continuers and six in extension despite being taught in only five high schools in the state. Classical Hebrew has experienced something of a revival this year, with 37 students enrolled in continuers, up on 28 last year.
”Classical languages are alive and well in NSW which is not necessarily the case in other places,” Ms Taylor said. ”There is always a small but significant number of students who see value in classical study. They are a very passionate group of students and teachers, I can tell you.”
The head of classics at Pymble Ladies’ College and president of the Classical Languages Teachers Association, Emily Matters, said reports of the demise of dead languages have been grossly exaggerated. ”People sometimes express surprise that they are still being taught but it hasn’t stopped. The one thing I regret is that more children aren’t given access.”
Dr Matters has adapted the 2nd-century story Cupid and Psyche for the stage in a production in Latin and Classical Greek. More than 60 students from 10 schools are involved in the production.
Grant Kynaston, a Sydney Grammar School student who plays Cupid, is studying Latin and Classical Greek and believes the ancient languages are coming back into vogue. ”They are hipster subjects,” he said. ”But seriously, it’s interesting to be able to read things which have maintained their relevance for two or three thousand years.”
Emily Baird, from Sydney Girls High School, who plays Psyche, was drawn to Latin for its meditative qualities. ”It’s quite therapeutic – that’s my inner-nerd coming out,” she said. ”I find it quite calming to go to Latin after doing English.”
… checking out the original article is a good thing: there’s a brief newsish video about the Cupid and Psyche production mentioned above …
The New York Latin Leaflet
Ron Janoff brought this very interesting turn-of-the-previous-century newsletter to my attention … it languishes in Google books, but Dr Janoff is sending them out on a regular basis to those who drop him a line. They’re rather interesting and very tongue-in-cheek. The first one is sort of the mission statement of the publication, which includes this little tidbit:
The second issue’s focus is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek review of a Latin teacher, which includes this excerpt (in medias res, obviously):
Click for a larger version
At least as entertaining as the columns are the accompanying advertisements from the time … besides the usual booksellers and the like that one would expect, the editors clearly have done some legwork to get revenues to fund this little publication. One which caught my eye:
click for a larger version
It’s interesting how they carefully separate the hours when men and women might attend; it’s probably similar to how Roman baths operated at various times in their history. In any event, if you’d like to be added to the distribution list, contact Dr Janoff at chiron.nyc AT gmail.com
Has This Inscription Been Published?
Does anyone know if this inscription has been published (I’m trying to figure out if this is a new find that hasn’t been reported or is something that has long been known):
click for a larger version
Absolutely!
Tip o’ the pileus to Andrew Reinhard on Twitter:
Living Latin
Nice video from the AIRC on their Living Latin Living History program in Rome:
Pope Plans a Latin Academy!
This is getting a bit of coverage … the Guardian seems to have the version that’s most appropriate for us (but see also Harry Mount in the Telegraph … link below):
Alarmed by a decline in the use of Latin within the Catholic church, Pope Benedict is planning to set up a Vatican academy to breathe new life into the dead language.
Long used by the Vatican as its lingua franca, Latin is currently promoted by a small team within the office of the Holy See’s secretary of state, which runs a Latin poetry competition and puts out a magazine.
But Benedict – a staunch traditionalist – is backing a plan for a new academy which would team up with academics to better “promote the knowledge and speaking of Latin, particularly inside the church,” Vatican spokesman Fr Ciro Benedettini said on Friday.
The academy, added one Vatican official, would be “livelier and more open to scholars, seminars and new media” than the existing set-up.
As the study of Latin dwindles in schools, it is also on the wane in the church, where seminarians no longer carry out their studies in Latin and priests from around the world no longer use it to chat to each other. Until the 1960s Vatican documents were only published in Latin, which remained the language of the liturgy.
Today cash machines in the Vatican bank give instructions in Latin and the pope’s encyclicals are still translated into the language, but the new academy could provide much needed help to those charged with translating Latin words for 21st-century buzzwords such as delocalisation, which appeared in Benedict’s 2009 document on the economic crisis as delocalizatio.
That choice was criticised by Jesuit experts, reported Italy’s La Stampa newspaper.
“Some don’t like that kind of translation because it simply makes Italian and English words sound Latin, rather than being more creative with the language, although both ways are valid,” said father Roberto Spataro, a lecturer at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome, who described the idea of the academy as “very opportune”.
Jesuit critics were more impressed with the more elaborate translation of liberalisation in the encyclical as plenior libertas and fanaticism as fanaticus furor.
Lost in translation?Vatican officials tasked with finding Latin words for new English words call the internet inter rete and emails inscriptio cursus electronici. The 2003 Lexicon Recentis Latinitatis also offers the following translations:
Photocopy exemplar luce expressum
Basketball follis canistraque ludus
Bestseller liber maxime divenditus
Blue jeans bracae linteae caeruleae
Goal retis violation
Hot pants brevissimae bracae femineae
VAT fiscale pretii additamentum
Mountain bike birota montana
Parachute umbrella descensoria
- via: Pope Benedict to open new Latin academy in the Vatican (Guardian)
See also:
- Latin rebirth in schools (Telegraph)
- Mirabile dictu! The Pope saves Latin (Harry Mount in the Telegraph)
- Breathing Life Into a Dead Language (New York Times)
Of course, we should note that this has been a sort of constant thing for HH Benedict:
- Vatican Promotes Latin (May, 2008)
- The Pope’s On Our Side … March, 2011)
- Dial-a-Bishop for Latin Test Help? (December, 2011)
Latin, Greek, and Hebrew in Rome
Interesting news item from Rome Reports:
… I did some poking around, and this seems to be the institution(s) involved (in case you’re looking to do this next year) …
Gallic Wars Map Animations/Commentaries
Another one which was lost back in March … from the Latinteach list came notice of these very useful youtube map animations/commentaries of various bits of Caesar’s Gallic Wars. They’re from Dickinson College, with the Latin being read by Christopher Francese … we need more of this sort of thing:
Classics For All
A video from the Classics for All folks, showing the benefits of Latin (amongst other things) at the grade school level … perhaps it might inspire folks on this side of the pond:
… the Classics for All website …
