Latin? What?

[derien]

Over breakfast I tortured myself with the first chapter of a first year Latin textbook which Eor kindly bought me because I often say that I wish I knew more Latin. *shudder* What was I thinking? I don't freakin GET it. Supposedly the way the word is accessorized is supposed to tell you how it relates to the other words, yet simultaneously there can be three 'different' forms of the word which sound identical and I'm supposed to somehow understand 'from context' which meaning is intended?

Also, why do they refer to Latin as an 'older' language? Surely it's actually 'younger' than English, having been created by the Romans for political reasons and frozen as it was?

Not that I'm saying I'm not happy with having a Latin book to beat my head against - I am. I do want to try to understand it a little more. I have a feeling that very little is going to stick, but maybe some will. I suppose now I should go join a Latin community. ;)

Comments

[bravecows.livejournal.com]

It's difficult, isn't it? I tried it once with a Teach Yourself Latin book, which is prolly not even near as difficult as a first year Latin textbook, and even so the grammar was pretty mindbending. Yet cool! Imagine how much better you'll be at Romantic languages after this. *g*

Cephas is doing Neo-Latin this year; I'm a bit "well! your funeral" about it, really.