Review: Getting Started with Latin
You've heard the old joke:
Q: How do you eat an elephant?
A: One bite at a time!
For many beginning students, Latin is an elephant. The trouble is figuring out how to take the first bite. This problem is particularly acute for older beginners who don't have the luxury of twelve or thirteen years to master Latin. They are typically given a choice between tearing through an elementary program that is too simplistic and diving straight into a full program that may overwhelm them with grammar and vocabulary lists.
Consider William Linney's Getting Started with Latin your fork. This new textbook helps you take not only the first bite, but the first 134. Each concise lesson teaches exactly one thing: one word, one grammar concept. It is the perfect format for adult self-study and for school-age beginners who are too old for a course like Latina Christiana but not quite ready for Henle.
Mr. Linney understands beginners. His warm tone and gentle humor reassure students that they truly can master this crazy language with all its -ums and -orums. Because he introduces new material in such small bites, students won't be overwhelmed and give up. The scope of the book is roughly equivalent to both volumes Latina Christiana, and students are given a choice between classical and ecclesiastical pronunciation. (The MP3 downloads are free from the author's web site.) Samples pages from the textbook will give you an idea of the format and the style of the exercises; the answer key is printed right in the book.
If you're hesitating over Henle, give Getting Started with Latin a try. Your success is all but guaranteed. Just take it one bite at a time.