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Summary: Making a dead language come back to life...
Review: Although I have studied (to some extent) quite a few foreign languages, I have never come across a textbook quite as beautiful and captivating as this one! Using the immersion method, the student is plunged into a study of Roman language and culture, instead of a detached, intellectual method that most textbook authors are accustomed to using. The language is taught in a series of interesting (and often amusing!) stories that tell the evolving tale of the Cornelii, an upper-class Roman family. And each chapter is illustrated with a lovely drawing by an artist that clearly put much time into it. By teaching culture, society, and mythology at the same time as the language, this book succeeds in bringing ancient Rome to life and interesting many an apathetic high-schooler. As for myself, although my school doesn't offer Latin III, I will gladly dole out the $$ for the third in this series to continue the study myself. If you're a first-time Latin teacher looking for a well-rounded text, then LOOK NO FURTHER!
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Summary: Takes the difficulty away from learning Latin
Review: Latin has a reputation of being a difficult and dull language to learn. Most textbooks present it in a scholarly way, focusing on transaltions of the works of ancient authors, and not giving modern learners a connection to their lives. The Ecce Romani series presents Latin in an innovative and attractive way. Every chapter begins with a a painted color picture and short story (in latin) about a fictional Roman family made up of Cornelius-a senator, Aurelia-his wife, Marcus-son, Cornelia-daughter, and Sextus- a boy staying with them for a period of time. Each tale develops the family and other characters as well as showing aspects of daily life. All the new vocabulary (old vocab is sometimes included too) is included on the same page. If you have every studied a foreign language, you know how easy paragraphs are to read when you have all the English words on the same page. The 2 column list contains nouns, verbs, expressions, adverbs, etc. A new grammar concept is introduced after each story, and future stories continue to use it, so it is not forgotton. This way, the stories become more detailed (and interesting) as you progress.
On the pages after the story are also pictures, maps, and helpful excercises that furthur your understanding on the language and culture. In between most chapters are short and informative lessons about daily life, myths, history, among other things. (For example: "A Roman Family", "Aeneas", and "The Founding of Rome") At the end of the book is an outline of all the grammar explored, complete with noun and verb charts. There is also a Latin to English, and English to Latin dictionary containing EVERY WORD in the stories plus their chapter number. I would recomend this book to ANYONE interested in studying Latin, as I think it's the best book on the market. It's easy to learn with, colorful, tastefully put together (no tacky graphics and layouts typically employed in textbooks), and packed with maps and pictures. Try this out and soon you'll will have a thorough understanding of Latin!
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Summary: Latin Level 1
Review: Latin Level 1 is a great book for begining Latin students. I have used this book for a year and I feel that i know what i should know about Latin 1. The book also tells you alot about Roman culture. It is not boring like I thought Latin would be. It has a pretty good story line.
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Summary: Excellent series
Review: This is a very well-written textbook series. I took Latin I and II using this series, but I had to switch to the Cambridge Latin series for Latin III when I changed schools. Ecce Romani is a much better series than Cambridge. It contains many assets (such as an English-Latin AND Latin-English dictionary, multiple challenging practice exercises in each chapter, enjoyable stories, well-organized vocabulary sections in each chapter, etc.) necessary for the enjoyable and productive study of Latin which the Cambridge books lack. The Ecce Romani books are well organized and more enjoyable to learn from. I highly recommend this well-written series to everyone.
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