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Texts can come alive for us in new ways when we are able to look at them in the language in which they were written. The aim of this year-long course is to give a basic grounding in classical Latin, sufficient to begin reading a selection of texts, classical, medieval and modern independently. This term’s section of the year-long course will be suitable for first timers and returning Latinists.
We shall be using Jean-François Mondon’s Intensive Basic Latin (Routledge, 2015) as a course-book and you will need to purchase or have access to your own copy, (approximately £50in paperback but around £35 on Kindle) so that you can do the exercises. For learning grammar, you will need access to Kennedy’s Latin Primer. An early version is available free online, a shorter version and the latest version are available as books.
Language learning is immensely rewarding. However, for all but a lucky few it is also demanding. We shall only meet for 1 ½ hours a week, but because frequency and regularity are very helpful for developing long-term memory, we would encourage participants to form independent working groups to do exercises together later in the week. If it is not possible to make every session, you are asked to make sure that you work through the course material for that session and do the prescribed exercises for yourself.
John Moffatt SJ works at the London Jesuit Centre. His first degree was in Classics. He taught in London secondary schools intermittently between 1985 and 2016 and has worked briefly in University Chaplaincy. He has been involved with teenage and adult faith education in Britain and South Africa and has recently completed a doctorate in medieval Islamic philosophy.
