OHS Latin 1/2 Course Tips

Salve! We’ve compiled a list of tips from peer tutors for Latin 1 (OLA11) and Latin 2 (OLA12).

1. Please do not skimp on vocabulary work. It will help so much, especially as you start to read authentic Latin.

2. Stay on top of vocab flashcards! (It is so much easier to do a few every week than to have to catch up on a ton later.) Make lots of flashcards and don’t stop!

3. If you are struggling with translating a certain sentence, it can be very helpful to just look at the verb first. You can even write down (or mark in some way) the subject(s), main verb(s), and so on.

4. Going to office hours and just sitting there while doing readings is very helpful. If you have any questions, you can ask them and get answers immediately.

5. Most of us have crammed before the weekly quizzes, but this is just not a good idea. It is very difficult to remember "crammed" information in the long term, and, for understanding the language, this is important.

6. Specifically for Latin 2: Manage novella difficulty. If a novella is really easy (you're speeding through it, you don't really have any grammar or content questions about it because you understand everything perfectly), see if you can find a slightly more difficult one. Even if you aren't reading as quickly or as easily, you’ll learn way more from reading Latin that is a bit challenging for you.

7. Study over the summer so it’s easy to come back to Latin classes.

8. Finally, if somebody asks whether or not Carthage should be destroyed, the answer is always a resounding YES!