Conversational Latin for Oral Proficiency

412 Pages·2006·1.75 MB·English

by  John C. Traupman

Other Publications by the Author
The New College Latin & English Dictionary,Second Edition,
1994. Amsco School Publications, Inc., 315 Hudson Street,
New York, NY 10013-1085. ISBN 0-87720-561-2. Second
Edition, 1995.
Simultaneously published by Bantam Books, Inc., 1540
Broadway, New York, NY 10036. ISBN 0-553-57301-2.
Latin is Fun: Book I: Lively Lessons for Beginners.Amsco, 1989.
ISBN 0-87720-550-7. Teacher’s Manual and Key.Amsco,
1989. ISBN 0-87720-554-X.
Latin is Fun: Book II: Lively Lessons for Beginners.Amsco,
1995. ISBN 0-87720-565-5. Teacher’s Manual with Answers.
Amsco, 1995. ISBN 0-87720-567-1.
The New College German & English Dictionary.Amsco, 1981.
ISBN 0-87720-584-1. Bantam, 1981. ISBN 0-533-14155-4.
German Fundamentals: Basic Grammar and Vocabulary.1992.
Barron’s Educational Series, Inc., Hauppauge, NY 11788.
Lingua Latina: Book I Latin First Year. Amsco, 1999,
ISBN 1-56765-426-6 (Hardbound); ISBN 1-56765-425-8
(Softbound).
Teacher’s Manual and Key, 1999, ISBN 1-56765-428-2.
Lingua Latina: Book II: Latin Second Year. Amsco, 2001,
ISBN 1-56765-429-0 (Softbound);
Teacher’s Manual and Key, Amsco, 2001, ISBN 1-56765-431-2
Contents
Acknowledgements...........................................................8
How to Use This Book......................................................9
Pronunciation...................................................................10
Abbreviations..................................................................14
Chapter I: Greetings........................................................15
Boy meets girl.
Mario runs into his friend Julia.
Tullia introduces her friend to Luke.
Chapter II: Family...........................................................20
The censor asks the father some questions.
A son learns about his family tree from his
father.
Two friends discuss their family circumstances.
Chapter III: School..........................................................25
Checking on homework.
Getting the lesson straight.
A teacher conducts her class efficiently.
The Pledge of Allegiance
Chapter IV: Daily Activities...........................................35
Mother calls from downstairs to wake her
daughters.
Two sisters bicker as they get ready for the day.
Mother and daughters do the daily chores.
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4 Conversational Latin
Chapter V: Sports and Other Leisure Activities............40
Her teacher asks Dorothy how she spends her
free time.
His teacher asks Theodore how he spends his
free time.
Paula and Robert discuss sports.
Chapter VI: The Human Body........................................55
The teacher notices that Linda looks sick. She
asks Linda what is wrong with her.
A doctor is called in for the sick little girl,
Scintilla.
A doctor arrives at the scene of a fire to treat
one of the victims, a young man.
Chapter VII: Health and Physical Fitness.......................60
A trainer interviews a young athlete.
The trainer attends to an injured athlete.
A mother checks her daughter’s health.
Chapter VIII: Food and Drink.........................................67
A waitress waits on a senator.
A waiter serves dinner.
Planning a shopping trip.
Chapter IX: Days, Weeks, Months, Years......................74
Two friends discuss their birthdays.
Two friends discuss their favorite seasons.
A father gives his son some family history.
Chapter X: Expressions of Time.....................................82
Marie asks her friend how he spends his days.
A coach interviews a new athlete.
A traveler is about to take a bus trip to Florida.
Chapter XI: Useful Colloquial Expressions....................90
Brian finds Jeffrey to be in a hurry.
Phyllis wants to discuss a problem with Marie.
Annette turns to her sister for advice.
Contents 5
Chapter XII: Clothing and Jewelry...............................113
Priscilla buys clothes.
Peter buys some winter clothes.
Two daughters get dressed for a party.
Chapter XIII: House and Furniture...............................119
Cynthia tries to persuade her friend Gloria to
come to her house to play.
A potential buyer wants to purchase a home
through a real estate agent.
Sabina tries to impress her friend Silvia with the
big home her parents own.
Chapter XIV: Buying and Selling.................................127
Lydia explains to Diane why she bought new
clothes.
Sulpicia explains why she is going shopping.
A storekeeper makes a sale.
Chapter XV: The Weather............................................132
A boy and a girl in Rome contrast the weather
of Rome with that of Switzerland.
Martha explains to her teacher how the weather
kept her from going to school.
The weather of Rome and Switzerland is again
debated.
Chapter XVI: Animals..................................................138
A visit to the zoo.
A visit to a pet shop.
Young Mark visits old Cato’s farm.
Chapter XVII: Emotions and Qualities.........................146
Diane and Debbie discuss the new teacher.
A new girlfriend is the subject of discussion.
Sizing up a political candidate.
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Chapter XVIII: Trades and Professions........................160
Donna gets a new hairdo.
Choosing a career.
A man plans to build a home.
Chapter XIX: The City and Public Buildings...............171
Discussing the merits of city life.
Jennifer wants to go to town.
Asking for directions in the city.
Chapter XX: Government.............................................175
A father explains to his son his involvement in
politics.
A senator explains how government works.
How the senate conducts business.
Chapter XXI: War and Peace........................................182
Jenna finds that Dennis joined the army.
A grandson asks his grandfather about his
military service.
Discussing the merits of alliances.
Chapter XXII: Law and Criminal Justice.....................190
News of an important trial.
The arrest of two hoodlums draws a crowd.
A client gets himself a lawyer.
Chapter XXIII: Geography and Topography................198
Colin wants to migrate to the U.S.
Rene wants to learn about the Tiber.
Traveling from Rome to Greece.
Chapter XXIV: Travel...................................................211
At the New York train station.
At the airport.
Getting ready to go by car.
Contents 7
Chapter XXV: Teaching Grammar in Latin.................220
The Parts of Speech................................................220
The Noun................................................................220
The Pronoun...........................................................223
The Verb.................................................................225
The Adverb.............................................................231
The Adjective.........................................................232
The Participle.........................................................233
The Gerund.............................................................234
The Gerundive........................................................235
The Conjunction.....................................................235
The Preposition......................................................236
The Interjection......................................................237
The Accent.............................................................237
The Parsing of Words............................................238
Appendix I: Yes and No in Latin..................................250
Appendix II: Colors.......................................................251
Appendix III: Numbers.................................................253
Appendix IV: Proverbs and Sayings.............................254
Appendix V: Computer Terms......................................260
Appendix VI: Cant»s Lat¿n¿ (Latin Songs)...................263
General Vocabulary.......................................................267
Selected Bibliography...................................................411
Acknowledgements
A debt of gratitude is due to Professor Terence O. Tunberg, of the
University of Kentucky, to Professor Jeffrey Wills of the Ukrainian
Catholic University, to Professor David W. Morgan of Furman
University, SC, and to Professor Christopher Gerald Brown of
Ohio State University, for their many suggestions for improvement
in both form and substance and for sharing their resources with me.
Dr. Domenic M. Roberti, chemistry professor turned desktop
publisher, gave much helpful advice; he is responsible for the page
design and typesetting of this book. Iam also grateful to Thomas
Reed, Sterling, VA, and to Mark Miner, Scottsdale, GA, for
proofreading the text. The author gratefully acknowledges the kind
support of Dr. Ladislaus J. Bolchazy and the staff of Bolchazy-
Carducci Publishers, Inc.
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How to Use This Book
Unlike your usual textbook, this book The topical vocabulary of each chapter
allows you to start at any chapter that contains not only the words that have
interests you. Why? Because the chapters occurred in the model conversations but
are not arranged in the order of difficulty. also additional words on that topic that
On the other hand, the model conver- will make it possible for you to have new
sations in each chapter are arranged in conversations. The general vocabulary
order of difficulty. That is, the grammatical that occurred in the conversations of each
structures of the conversations at Level 1 chapter is assembled at the end of the
are simpler than those at Levels 2 and 3. book, together with additional useful
Therefore it is quite possible to go through words. But that general vocabulary will
the entire book using only the conver- not meet all your needs. You will then
sations at Level 1 and then go through the have to consult a Latin-English dic-
book again, using Levels 2 and 3. tionary. Be sure to make full use of the
In the conversations you may run topical vocabulary of the various
across grammatical forms that you have chapters, no matter what topic you are
not covered in class as yet. For instance, dealing with. For instance, Chapter XI
you may come across the subjunctive form contains hundreds of everyday expres-
e§mus (let’s go). It happened to be called sions that will come in handy in any
for in that conversation. So what if you conversation. Furthermore, whenever you
haven’t learned the entire subjunctive need some expression of time, you will
system as yet? You now know what it probably find the expression you want in
means, and so you can use it. Chapters IX and X. You should use both
You may be used to working your way the topical and general vocabularies to
through a Latin sentence in order to come look for the words you need.
up with a translation. In this book you are To make it easier for you to find what
provided with an English translation of all you are looking for, the phrases are
the Latin. (And you’ll notice that the arranged alphabetically according to the
translations are not the stiff, literal versions key word in each phrase. For example, you
that are sometimes found in textbooks.) So want to say that someone is “feeding a
the idea is to practice the model conver- person a line.” In Chapter XI you will find
sations until you have pretty well mastered it under the word “line”, like this: line:
them. One way to do this is for you to that fellow is feeding you a line iste tibi
switch roles with your partner and repeat verba dat. Sometimes there could be two
the dialogue again. Then you can proceed possible key words in a phrase. If you do
to the next stage. This is most easily done not find the phrase under the one key word,
by drawing on the topical vocabulary in the check under the other. For instance, in the
chapter to form new Latin conversations of phrase quoted above, either “feed” or
your own choosing on the topic at hand. “line” can be considered key words. In this
Because the book is arranged with its case, the phrase is listed under “line;” it
facing Latin and English texts, it lends could have been listed under “feed” as
itself to your covering one side, whether well. Such double entries would have
the Latin or the English, and then speaking made the book too bulky.
the part in the language that is covered; In conversational Latin, meaningful
you could then uncover the concealed text and realistic communication is the aim and
to see how you have done. goal. Accuracy comes with practice.
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