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As discussed in this question, we seem to have reached a way forward on compiling "big lists of resources for Latin learners" questions. In general we've reached a consensus that that's not what this site is about; at the same time, it seems like a good idea to have a few such questions for people who are new to studying Latin. The plan is to solicit suggestions for "most-needed resource questions," choose some of the most upvoted, and post them to the main Q&A with a banner explaining their unusual status.

Please reply, therefore, with suggestions for "most-needed resource questions," one question per answer.

Once a consensus is reached, a moderator will post the question on the main site (or explicitly ask someone else to do so). If you feel that a particular question has reached "consensus" status but hasn't been asked yet, feel free to flag it for moderator attention.

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    I edited your question in two respects: (1) I added a description of how the chosen questions are eventually asked at main. (2) I replaced the number 2–4 by "some" so that we can ask more at main if it seems appropriate. Edits and answers to the resource questions have not flooded our front page, so we might want to allow more than initially estimated. // Feel free to re-edit. – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ Oct 18 '16 at 18:38

15 Answers 15

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I propose a question about online dictionaries:

What good online Latin dictionaries do you know? What are their benefits and drawbacks?

Note: This question has now been asked at main.

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    What would you think about expanding this to include notable offline dictionaries? I'm thinking, for example, of Smith's Critical and Copious English-Latin Dictionary, which is far better than any online English-Latin dictionary I know. – Joel Derfner Apr 19 '16 at 23:46
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    @JoelDerfner, good question! Online and offline dictionaries have different uses and availability. Perhaps they could both be included, but then every answer should very clearly indicate which kind of dictionary is suggested. Another option is to make a separate resource list for offline dictionaries, but that sounds unnecessarily complicated to me. – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ Apr 19 '16 at 23:57
  • Problem solved: Smith's dictionary is online. – Nathaniel is protesting Apr 20 '16 at 0:33
  • @Nathaniel, excellent! – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ Apr 20 '16 at 6:43
  • @JoelDerfner, do you want to post the online version of that dictionary to the new question at main? – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ May 10 '16 at 13:29
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Text corpora, especially with good tools, can be very useful, in answering questions here and otherwise. I propose a question about them:

Suppose I want to search for a certain word, expression or structure in the Latin literature. What online tools can I use for such purposes? Where can I find a large collection of Latin texts in easily searchable form?

To describe the source or tool, please answer at least these questions:

  • How is the corpus limited? (Is it only classical Latin, for example?)
  • What kinds of searches can be made?
  • How can I link to a specific passage that I want to cite?
  • Is it connected to some other tools (like a dictionary or a full text translation) that make usage easier?

Note: This question has now been asked at main.

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I asked this in main, but I'm looking for online audio examples of Latin. I learnt some Church Latin about 50 years ago, but know pronunciation has changed enormously since then. I'm hoping to start a course in September, and would like to get a feel for "modern" Classical pronunciation.

Note: This question has now been asked at main.

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    I'm thinking we could use a single post for all audio pronunciation guides, both classical and ecclesiastical. Thanks for adding this here! – Nathaniel is protesting Aug 3 '16 at 16:56
  • @Nathaniel Thanks for your advice! I should probably change my user name to "Tiro"! – TheHonRose Aug 3 '16 at 17:06
  • I've seen many Qs on pronunciation. E.g., this recent one. That brianpck linked it to this one made me notice there is no general pron. question to point the casual user to the 2 main conventions and all the local XIX century variations. Do you want to generalize this question to include that? – Rafael Oct 27 '16 at 12:53
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    This proposal has a good score, so it should be asked at the site. (We discussed this in the chat briefly. Visit our chat room to discuss more if you want.) Do you want to ask the question? If not, someone else can take care of it, but you are of course entitled to do so. If you ask, please try to make it less personal so that it serves anyone who stumbles upon it (cf. Nathaniel's comment). – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ Apr 18 '17 at 23:18
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    I finally went and asked this question. If someone beat me to it and I had forgotten, let me know and I'll delete mine or merge it to the other one. – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ Jul 17 '17 at 19:23
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I propose that one of the questions be something along the lines of "I want to learn Latin, but I don't have access to a teacher. What are some resources that might help me?"

Note: This question has now been asked at main.

6

I have been touring around the site and I have found one of the "resource questions". One thing that I noticed is that as of today, all the resources are in English (except for one which is in Latin and I would like to try it for my kids... I still recall fondly when I read Asterix and Donald Duck in latin, it was real fun).

So I propose that the canonical answers to these questions (I agree with all of them) mention, when relevant, resources in other languages. German or Italian come to mind as two languages which have been used to produce useful resources.

So this is a meta-proposal, in a meta-site :-)

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    I certainly have no objection to this. There may be SE norms about the issue, which our moderators will no doubt know. In the meantime, welcome to the site! – Joel Derfner Jul 14 '16 at 18:13
  • The main languages of the site are English and Latin (@JoelDerfner). But that does not rule out questions and answers about learning or translating Latin from some other language than English. I would much like to see answers to the resource questions that are meant for non-English speakers, although the answers themselves should preferably be in English or Latin. But as always, contribute in any language you can and the rest will help translating. I brought this up in our chat room in case people prefer to discuss it there. – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ Jul 14 '16 at 20:47
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    @joonas I am not advocating for the use of languages different from latin or English in the answers, but I would like to know if there is a good latin - German dictionary, or a good latin grammar written in Italian. That's all :-) – Francesco Jul 14 '16 at 21:25
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    @Francesco, then I understood you correctly. I just wanted to be sure. I, too, would welcome a good Latin-German dictionary or a good Latin grammar in Italian. Perhaps I should give some answers to the resource questions from a Finn's point of view to give an example. – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ Jul 14 '16 at 21:34
  • Please do, it would be a good example in my opinion. – Francesco Jul 14 '16 at 21:36
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    I answered the self-study question for Finns. – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ Jul 17 '16 at 21:31
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I'd like to propose a question about basic reference works on the historical linguistics of Latin, and maybe another about Greek if there's sufficient interest. See this Meta question for the kind of thing I mean.

Note: This question has now been asked.

  • This idea has gained enough support. Feel free to ask it! I can help with turning it CW and adding a broad resource request banner if you want. If you prefer someone else to post it, leave a comment (here or in chat) so anyone interested can do it. – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ May 10 '17 at 21:15
  • @JoonasIlmavirta, thanks! Probably won't find time to post the question for some days so if anyone else is interested, please feel free! – TKR May 10 '17 at 21:55
  • Take your time. I'm not in a hurry, but I won't stop anyone from asking it. I'll add a note here if someone asks the question. If anyone wants to do that, please see the linked meta post. – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ May 10 '17 at 22:02
  • I posted the question and edited this answer accordingly. Feel free to make any edits you want! – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ Feb 22 '18 at 19:10
2

As a companion to the previous suggestion, "What are the best all-in-one resources outside Wikipedia for learning about Latin literature."

The same deal stands for the print books in my other answer.

  • I like this suggestion. I don't know if "outside Wikipedia" is a necessary addition. Wikipedia would just be one of the answers. – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ May 7 '17 at 4:20
2

By analogy with this question, would a similar question about Ancient Greek resources be on-topic? (That is, "how can I study Ancient Greek on my own?")

2

To complement the already existent one on online dictionaries: best in print latin dictionaries.

My own personal requirements if I were to ask the question, but would probably be generalized for a big list question:

  • tends more towards beginners [i.e., probably not the unfinished many volume Thesaurus Linguae Latina]
  • it is an english-latin dictionary
  • reasonably priced [I unfortunately do not have $100 to spend on a dictionary =)]
  • Seems very reasonable to me! How about making your suggestion/Question more specific, as in your three criteria: "what are the best English-Latin dictionaries for beginners"? That way, "best paper dictionary (without qualifications)" could possibly be a different question (if people are interested in that). Or should the Question indeed be more general and ask for any kind of paper dictionary? I think looking for big and beginner's dictionaries are different things, so I would be inclined to separate them. – Cerberus♦ Dec 13 '18 at 2:39
  • @Cerberus Your suggested question makes sense ("best english-latin dictionaries for beginners") - making it too broad might make it unuseful. – heather Dec 13 '18 at 2:43
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I'm missing something about grammar! I think an all-in-one question fits best. Maybe something like:

Where can I find info about noun and adjective declensions, verb conjugations, common irregular forms, pronouns and other grammar basics?

  • Do you mean something that discusses material like what you mention in at least basic detail, or just tables? It might help to clarify this in the question. – Joel Derfner May 12 '16 at 0:53
  • Woah! I haven't even thought of that. However, I think if the goal is to point people to the answer of an expected common off-topic, both ideas may fit, like one answer for tables and one for deeper discussion – Rafael May 12 '16 at 1:05
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"What online resources are there for spoken Latin?" would be useful for those learning Latin for everyday conversation and writing rather than reading. (un-scripted)

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"What is/are the best scholarship/overviews/studies on Latin literature as a whole?"

I know the majority of questions on this site are about the grammar, but I can't imagine there's not a major overlap between those interested in the Latin language and those interested in Latin literature.

The question might have to be tweaked and even broken up into two or more depending on how precise we want to be.

  • I don't think it needs to be narrowed down. You just need to make it clear enough that the source doesn't have to cover the entirety of everything ever written in Latin, but any significant chunk (an era or a genre) is also fine. Would this match your intention? – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ May 7 '17 at 4:24
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I am new to learning Latin and would like to improve my vocabulary, translating and conversing skills. Are there any interactive websites or downloadable programs like Duolingo which could help a Latin beginner like myself improve? Interactivity is important for quick feedback and the easy testing.

  • Are looking for websites with interactivity, or any kind of website? Are downloadable self study materials (programs or textbooks) okay, or do you want it to be browser-based? I'm just trying to understand what exactly you are after. – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ Jul 16 '17 at 9:55
  • @JoonasIlmavirta, I was looking for websites with interactivity, where I could test myself in order to remember the vocabulary and/or help quickly read and translate back-and-forth from english and latin. However, if there are any other materials as well in order to improve my latin, it'd be great. Either browser based or downloadable programs should be fine. – Himal Jul 17 '17 at 3:57
  • Thanks for the clarification! I tried to edit that into your proposal. Feel free to edit more if you want to. Now we'll just have to wait for others to come, read, and vote. – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ Jul 17 '17 at 8:57
  • Thanks for your help! – Himal Jul 17 '17 at 12:30
  • Here you are hitting a massive category of smartphone apps that can help you with the learning. Maybe this is just too broad. – luchonacho Apr 28 '18 at 11:29
1

What organizations focus on funding projects related to Latin?

Suppose I want to organize a Latin event, publish a book in Latin, or complete some other project related to Latin, but it requires funding. Of course I can apply from general cultural foundations and such, but they might not be all that favorable towards my choice of language. Are there foundations or other funding organizations with a pronounced focus on Latin? Can you briefly describe the funder and limitations for applicants?

I'm not sure how well a question like this would work, since it has economic and other aspects which are unusual for our site. This might be something of a shopping question. However, I would be very interested to know of any such organizations and whether they might (in principle) be willing to fund something I do.

Of course, if anyone recommends a funder that has funded their work or is otherwise related to them, it should be disclosed in any answer. If such relations are not disclosed, an answer is considered spam by SE's definition. If the question attracts unwanted attention, it can be protected from new users and spambots.

1

Coming from this other question of mine, I want to propose the following question in the main site (worded perfectly by Joonas):

"What are the most important Latin books that have not been translated to vernacular languages yet?"

The goal is to produce a list of books that have not yet been translated, but that allegedly are considered "important". Naturally, this is ultimately a subjective criteria, but I would expect this to be informed by the fame of the author, perhaps if not for a general audience, amid a certain discipline (philosophy, history, mathematics, etc). Whilst one book per answer would be fine, I would not oppose answer which focus on a particular author or discipline, highlighting more than one book. In any case, I would require every answer to justify why such book fits into the "important" category. This might help filter some bad/poor answers.

I think this question is highly relevant because it could motivate translations, and also because there is pretty much no equivalent listing online (this one for instance is not quite the same thing). Latin.SE filling this gap in the universe would be amazing, in my opinion.

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