Rating: 
Summary: a latin student
Review: I first encountered Wheelock's latin as a text for a one semester beginning latin course. With the instructor's help and numerous quizes and tests it seemed very useful. When I later attempted to relearn what I had learned in the course and continue on, I found it impossible to take in and master the sheer volume of information, mostly grammar, in each chapter. Each chapter has a large section of grammar, a long vocabulary list, and then a long list of excercises. For anyone who is attempting to learn on their own this text is overwhelming. Inspite of the clear writing, useful tables and charts, and the available resource materials I would discourage any beginner from using this text. I recommend the Oxford Latin Course for the beginner because of its slow but steady imersion in the language.
I still give the book four stars, because it is a great and comprehensive text on Latin, and I recommend that anyone serious about mastering latin get this text after having completed a more progressive introduction course such as the oxford or cambridge texts. Wheelock is the best text for mastering latin grammar, but it is best used as an advanced text following a better introductory text.
Rating: 
Summary: Not very pleased
Review: As a person in my late twenties who enjoys learning independently, I do not recommennd Wheelock's Latin. The approach is very grammar-based and gives me horrific flashbacks to the AWFUL "Warriner's English Grammar and Composition" textbook series that was forced on most American middle and high schoolers.
I am more interested in learning Latin (1) to familiarize myself with the language's connection to our language today and (2) to be able to read Latin so that I may read classic literary works.
I have found better success with "Ecce Romani 1" and "The Cambridge Latin Course". These two alternate textbooks are more vocabulary driven and present grammar but do not put a student into a full immersion of it from the start. I feel that "Ecce Romani 1" and "The Cambridge Latin Course" also closely mirror many other World Language texts used today including "Spanish for Mastery 1-3" and "Voces Y Vistas", "Pasos Y Puentes", and "Arcos Y Alamedas" (from ScottForseman) both of which I learned from in high school... from Spanish I all the way up to Spanish IV.
I am fully aware that I need a text that keeps the material at a more basic level, but I am sure there are others out there who learn just as I do and will walk away from Wheelock's unsatisfied and feeling that they have learned nothing.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: This book is excellent in explaining the concepts and grammatical rules of Latin. Even though it might feel like a lot to remember, there are Grammatical Summary Forms in the back of the book along with adapted Latin Literatures (Loci Immutati). There are exercises along with answers in the back of the book. So if you do practice correctly, this book is just amazing. Just buy it if you're serious about Latin.
Rating:
Summary: not for the faint of heart
Review: Many criticize this book difficult because of the strong emphasis on grammar. However, I would have to assume that this is the case with any dead language. Since Latin is no longer a spoken language, you don't have the opportunity with it that you do have with French, German, etc. to learn to speak a language quickly by means of audio tapes or cultural immersion. With dead languages, grammar is the ticket. If grammar isn't one of your strong points, Latin is not for you. Don't blame it all on Wheelock.
The translation exercises are taken from classical sources, so you get some exposure to Roman culture. There is some historical and literary content at the end of each chapter, but it's inobtrusive and won't hinder people who want the meat of the matter--the grammar. The book is all about learning Latin grammar, not culture.
If you are the kind of person who learns best in a "no-nonsense" setting, Wheelock will be perfect for you. Many textbooks today employ colorful sidebars and references to pop culture to hold the student's attention. This is not the case with Wheelock. If you are not accustomed to learning in this style, you will be best suited to finding a different book or perhaps a different language altogether.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for most people
Review: Critics call Latin a dead language. If Wheelock really is the standard textbook throughout secondary and tertiary education in North America, then I can see why it's dead. All the people learning it have committed suicide.
Wheelock's approach is severely grammar oriented. Everything revolves around inflections and declensions, with vocabulary being secondary. Yes, you have to learn the grammar eventually, but you don't necessarily have to have all of it shoved down your throat from the very beginning.
I suspect the glowing reviews are from those students who have a type of intellect specifically geared towards understanding the systematic nature of languages. Such people I feel are in the definite minority, and the majority of students would be better served by a more holistic approach to language. If you love memorizing endless tables of declensions and inflections from the start, you'll love Wheelock. If you want a more gradual and less boring approach to the religion - especially if you're trying to study on your own! - then Wheelock will probably leave you feeling cold and jaded.
To make a boring textbook even more soporific, the readings concentrate primarily on Cicero and his insipid Stoic philosophy. They could have served some stories, whether from historical or fictional authors, on Rome's endless military campaigns or Coliseum games. Something with a little action, in other words. Instead we get Rome's iconic Old Fuddy Duddy admonishing us to value friendship over money. I'm sorry, but money is dear to me. Which is why I regret spending any on Wheelock.
Rating:
Summary: Great, simple book
Review: If only textbooks for all languages were this well laid out! Very easy to follow, pretty much everything you could ask for in an introduction to the language of Virgil and Caesar!
Rating:
Summary: Really the best Latin grammar
Review: Wheelock's Latin is simply the easiest approach to the declensions, conjugations, and other grammatical constructs of the language. Latin is probably one of the easiest languages to learn, anyway, considering the number of roots words we extrapolate from English, and this book orders the lessons logically and easily. Take it from me, I've failed or dropped classes in Spanish, French, and German, and then I took Latin in high school as well...and failed that too. But then in college I took it again, only this time using the Wheelock version, and ended up getting a bachelor of arts degree--yes, in Latin. Since then, I've taken Ancient Greek and Old English, both of which have similar structures, and I've had successes in those as well. I still have my Wheelock text, though now it's old, faded, and the pages (after 15 years) are falling out, but I treasure as one of my most prized books. If the Wheelock text can change my mind about language learning, it can help you too.
Rating:
Summary: Snotty
Review: Wheelock deliberately brow beats to the point of rendering the book useless. You begin learning the vocabulary through references to French, German, and musical in the know. You also discover as you start the work book that the introduction in 6e is a three to six week course unto itself, and that with Wheelock you aren't taught to think but are taught that you must memorize the slightest and almost every sentence in 6e. It's a bad book but we're all stuck with it. How this book ever came to be published is a mystery and possibly reveals that personal connections achieve the publication of a book.
I had already been using the Rosetti Latin course as an independent. You'll need that too, because you're sure not going to learn months, yes, no, and the complexity of the spoken numbers, etc with Wheelock. On the flip side you won't get any syntax mastery from the Rosetti.
It's a nightmare out there for anyone trying to learn Latin as an independent. The material is bad! I don't advise running out and taking a course. The academic schools are producing bad fruit as we can see from the lack of daring people and their audio mp3's.
A commercial school might be the wisest choice but only after a long time mastering as much as possible independently first.
Wheelock is a waste of money but as I said we're all stuck. Just try to get other methods in as well. I am finishing the Rosetti and waiting for the delivery of Transparent Language. Good grief! For a million dollars in material MAYBE you too can learn Latin! Me? I am still stuck on the French, German, and musical in the know references to sounds.
Oh it is bad out there. Wheelock is just one more BADLY produced "Learn Latin!"
Rating: 
Summary: Don't even think about using this without a teacher
Review: I don't know what geniuses mingle amongst my fellow reviewers, but I am not one of them.
After chapter 10, this book, WITH the workbook and WITH other help, is entirely out of my league. I have dabbled in a few languages, and I must say this is one of the most cryptic approaches I have ever encountered.Marketed and originally written for self study, it amazes me this book ever got published.
(But then again, "da Vinci Code" is a bestseller, so perhaps there's my answer.) For one, the information is not complete. Irregular verbs and nouns and exceptions to the rules are mentioned fleetingly, charts are regularly broken up and hard to follow as a result. Answers are only available to half the exercises. What good are exercises without being able to check your answers, in a self study situation ? The authors make it a hunting game in order to understand fully. There are definitely not enough practice readings and the accompanying book "Wheelock Reader" is only after you have covered about half the textbook. To prove my point, I ask you to try and discover here, in the book description of the "Wheelock Reader" which exactly which chapter one should begin to use the Reader. It's not given. So what good is the book if you don't know when to use it ? Dale Grote generously offers an inexpensive study guide as well as all his lectures for free, online. If you are an exceptional student, then you will have luck with this series WITH the help of Mr. Grote. Don't even think about not getting his study guide if you go this route. The Wheelock Workbook, for extra exercises for some bizarre reason does not include answers.
Instead, one must write away for them. Why ? I dunno. According to accounts posted in various places on the internet, receiving the answer guide is successful about 50% of the time. Why ? I dunno. Learning is challenging enough without being further taxed by inane antics and sadistic scavenger hunts for confirmation of your progress or simply trying to round out a full picture of a concept. This book might be good for a university class. But as a self study book it serves only as a deterrent.
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