Latin Class online

May 29, 2019 7:07 AM

Are there any online courses (whether with or without credit) that teach latin that are worth paying for? (Or free?)

I have been loving duolingo and am disappointed they don't have latin, yet. I have some of my old latin books and want to do self study, but I'm finding the online learning model much more helpful that my own self study (also I would love to hear more educated guesses of pronunciation and use of spoken latin in the program).

Has anyone taken either free or paid classes in latin online they had a good experience with? My goal is to be able to read latin literature in latin, so I'm looking for an in depth serious class and not just an overview. I'd like a lot of vocab practice which is absent from a lot of the youtube videos in which they most often talk in English about grammar most of the time. I get it, I did two years of lectures about that, but I really would like a more functional class in the style of duolingo that gets your brain thinking in latin instead of thinking about the idea of latin. I'm familiar with some of the more popular latin language youtube channels and have not found them very helpful for self study.

I would prefer not for credit, but if for credit classes are the only way to get quality I am willing to do credit classes and pay if I know the program is good and available online only. I would LOVE to take the community college course here, but they don't have it online.

posted by xarnop to Education (9 answers total)

Here is the page for University of Cambridge School Classics distance learning program. Neither Harvard nor MIT seem to have Latin courses online right now, sadly, but there may be other universities that do.
posted by BibiRose at 9:15 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]

The Paideia Institute's "Telepaideia" program is reputable and (relatively) affordable. Unfortunately the intensive Latin course for this summer is full, but you might be able to get on a waitlist.
posted by dd42 at 10:03 AM on May 29, 2019 [3 favorites]

It's not online but I can recommend Latin for Reading as an awesome text/work book! It explains things well, has an answer key, and is easy to follow, especially if you have any prior foreign language learning experience. When I have questions, I double-check with a friend who studied Latin in college who happily helps.
posted by smorgasbord at 10:26 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]

resources I have not used:
Udemy has Latin courses (included good ol' Wheelock!) for ~11 USD (with a huge variation in how much content they each seem to provide)
iTalki has Latin teachers. I have heard good things about italki overall but have no particular tutor to recommend.
If you also happen to speak Italian, edX has two Latin courses through an Italian institute.

not recommended:
Mango Language Latin: totally set up for spoken languages. It's weird and clunky to using this or the Biblical Hebrew. Their spoken languages are great, though!
posted by carrioncomfort at 11:36 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]

For the classical languages, online classes may well not be adequate. Just in case you didn't know, if you live in a city with a big university, there may be adult education classes in Latin.
posted by praemunire at 11:49 AM on May 29, 2019

The Great Courses have a series of lectures on Latin which I plan to watch. I can’t vouch for it, and it may not be what you’re looking for, but it is a thing that exists.
posted by Orlop at 2:50 PM on May 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: For a few years, a former Latin professor of mine co-organized an online medieval Latin summer reading course. It's not running this summer, but you can access the texts and recordings of students translating, and together it's very much the flavor of a Latin literature course.
posted by yarntheory at 6:07 PM on May 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'm not sure if this is exactly what you had in mind, but my wife is a former Latin teacher and now tutors students, including online tutoring. She's also run online classes (for high school and middle school students) in the past. Most of her students now are just getting supplemental tutoring for classes they're already taking, but for a motivated adult interested in guided self-study she could work out a curriculum for a series of 1-hour sessions to go through vocabulary, reading comprehension, or anything else the specific individual was interested in, including targeted assignments between sessions for guided study at the student's chosen pace.

So as a general answer, there are several companies that offer online tutoring services which are mostly targeted towards high-school-aged students, but which in general don't care who the clientele are or what their reasons for study are; my wife contracts for one of these, and you could consider exploring online tutoring as a possible strategy for meeting your online learning needs.

As a more specific answer, my wife just sleepily mumbled that she'd probably be able and willing to offer what you're looking for via online one-on-one sessions, so if you'd like to explore that option specifically feel free to Memail me and I'll put you in touch. (I don't know your budget or her rates so if that's a significant factor I'd be able to find the answer to that question for you first.)
posted by biogeo at 9:55 PM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you so much for all your answers, I have a lot to look through!
posted by xarnop at 6:09 AM on June 7, 2019