Latin/How to study a language on the Internet and in your head
This page may need to be How do you think about languages as you study them? Typically, you will consider every punctuation mark and letter, all the verbs and nouns, adverbs and adjectives, and study them in order to make connections. Ideally, you will have a teacher to point you in the right direction, and help you make those connections. But when you have no teacher, these connections are left for you to discover. They may be clear or hidden, but either way you will have to make them yourself. As you explore the Wikibook on Latin, it will require critical thinking, and we shall teach you how to do this.
You will never go wrong in studying a language if you remember that exposing yourself to a language, even if you stumble in practice, is in itself learning. Looking things up too much can be a crutch. Stretch your memory. Read slowly. Re-read. As you will soon discover, you are about to study a language that is rich and full of meaning, and an ancestor of many modern languages spoken around the world today, including Spanish, French, Italian, other romance languages, and even English.
[edit] So do not assume that...
...Latin is like any other language. Do not assume the ancient Roman culture is like any other culture. Every culture is different, and yet the values of every culture are surprisingly similar. The questions with which the Romans grappled continue to have universal appeal.
You must develop a Latin muscle, and a willingness to write or type things out, or drill using software, or with a friend. When you were a child, you played with colored blocks and were fascinated by patterns. You were willing to accept that you knew nothing. Accept that now.
Note the patterns after you have memorized the forms, not before. Allow yourself to be mesmerized by them. Similarly, seek out explanation only after you have memorized forms. Memorize forms, then make sentences.
In Israel, children are introduced to Hebrew letters at a young age. A Rabbi told a young child, "Yes, they dance." When the Latin grammatical suffixes dance in front of you, you will know you have studied a concept well.
If you also want to hear a teacher read out the declensions and verb conjugations aloud, you can find spoken lessons for free at http://latinum.mypodcast.com . These lessons can be downloaded and played over and over, until you have memorised the declensions, conjugations, etc.
