S. Worthen | Weblog

It depends on what your goals are in learning latin, and if you want to learn Medieval or Classical latin - they're rather different, in the way that medieval and modern French are rather different from each other. It also depends on how strong you are at learning languages on your own. I'm absymal at it, and thus rely on courses.

If all you need are some materials to work with, Wheelock's Latin Grammar book is the way lots of people - including myself - began. It has plenty of excercises to work through and a correction key for many of them at the end. For straightforward, overwhelming amounts of raw grammar, Charles Bennet's Latin Grammar book is pretty good.

But if you really want to learn medieval latin, there are a number of particular places at which do courses in it, including summer courses at Notre Dame and, of course, the University of Toronto. I regularly run across brochures and posters for more courses, sessions, and workshops on learning medieval latin if you're interested in working through it that way.

Once you have the basics of grammar down (whether you acquire it through a classical or medieval class doesn't much matter when it comes down to the absolute basics), you might want to work through one of the major readers or reading series to get practice in.

Like any language, if you really want to get it down, the more reinforcement the better. If you have more questions, I'd be happy to try answering them, or I can pass them on to friends who are currently teaching the summer medieval Lating course here.