Laura Gibbs's Comments

I was asked to translate a motto that is on the fireplace of the mayor's study in a Dutch town. Translation wasn't difficult, but perhaps you know the motto and it's source?

"Focus Meditandi Locus".

Ingrid

Thanks for these! I was able to puzzle them out, and they were fun--though I think I'm going to need to read the essay to understand how fortune is like a glass. :) Orberg's the first textbook I've been able to stick with in self-study. I actually look forward to the next chapters, rather than dreading them.

Thanks, I am trying to teach myself Latin using Orberg's Lingua Latina I, and I just found your fables and proverbs. They're a little above my level right now, but they just looked so fun.

My tuxedo's named Lucy, BTW :-)

I mainly want to be able to read Latin fluently.
I've went through a lot of Rosetta Stone Latin, and the Minimus books, and some Wheelock's.
My Rome built a forum recently. We have 7 hills here as well. Sometimes the city adds something classical - we just added some new column statues at the city welcome - but I wish we'd do more.
We have a replica Romulus and Remus given to us by the city of Rome, and it stands in a prominent place to this day. Sometimes people go and put diapers on the babies.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/120/312263513_a591067a20.jpg

I have already read some of the books and found them very interesting.
Since I'm also teaching French and English, beside Latin, to my children, I would be glad to have the code you're writting about.
I have already translated the vocabulary of some of the Fables from Latin to Japanese and will begin to read the first of the Aesop's Fables with the children in September, after our summer vacations.
Thank you again.
API

Thank you for your message.
Yes, I'm a French citizen... but I have lived in Japan for the last 15 years, as a consequence it may be that I'm not anymore so French.
I teach Latin to my children (two boys and two girls) and find your Latin via Fables very useful and convenient for this purpose. Thank you for all this work.
API

Thanks a lot. OMG, we all learn by our mistakes, including me.
Since you put a lot of work into your books please make your publisher distribute them in Europe. Amazon.uk still only sells Aesop's Fables via their market place (GBP 44.00 plus postage). I got my copy from Amazon.com. The postage was USD 12.48 but OK still worth every cent. Bolchazy-Carducci seem to publish a lot of good latin readers. Lately I saw a review of Susanna Braund's "A Lucan Reader" in Bryn Mawr Classical Review. http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2009/2009-06-21.html

Well we southeners...In the south of Sweden we use very broad diphthongs but still I have no problem to differentiate between long and short vowels. The reason I like macrons is that they help me memorize the words plus I'm very interested in the historical reconstruction of the Latin language, compensatory lengthening etc. My very personal reason for learning Latin is that I lack an important part of Indo-European linguistics and Hittite just has to wait.
I've macronized fables 42-80 on my own. I only want to check if I did it correctly.
I'm very fond of your accent marking. It gives the flowing rhythm of the Latin text. Yes, the accents are used in many Catholic books. I'm old enough to know Holy Mass in Latin by heart. There's only one crux: the pronounciation. Mine is today regarded as highly erratic and unhistorical. But what the heck. Codrington's text was published in the 17th century and therefore I continue reading your accented text in my own idiosyncratic way, gladly confessing that I have great fun.
Take care and don't work too much during your summer vacation.

I'm surprised that you are surprised "to find out how many folks consider macrons essential even at the intermediate level". I consider them being a perfect mnemonic even for a beginner like me. Of course, everything is individual. I'm sure you put in a lot of work on your videos but I can't use them since they trigger my ADHD. A question: Since you have resumed marking macrons for the fables of the book why do you give them for the fables 1-41? They are all available down below on the homepage "Latin Via Fables:Aesopus" under the heading "Blog Posts/View All"?

Thank you for your kind note, Laura. Am I a student or a teacher? That's a good question because I always regard myself as a student even though I have now been doing Latin for 65 years. I simply enjoy reading it from my collection of antique Latin books, some dating from the 15th century. I studied Latin at school, studied medicine at The University of Sydney and later Latin and Greek at graduate level. As I approach my 77th birthday I find that Latin keeps my mind active although I am not as quick as I used to be. That unfortunately is the price of growing old. I enjoy reading Aesop's fables in their many forms over the centuries. Plutarch is more like a cryptic crossword but I enjoy reading it. At the moment I am translating Virgil's Aeneid for one of my sons, to whom I taught Latin, with comments and illustrations. Purely personal use, not for publication.I don't have a copy of your Aesop's Fables in Latin yet, but I will chase one up. Thank you for your contribution to a language that is as perennial as the sun.Cura ut valeas. Peter

The site has been a source of joy. Thank you for what you do.

Thank you very much, my site started from a need for a gifted support community and I try my best for them.

I am still beginning in Latin, fueled by a belated desire to study classics myself. I started using Latinum for economy, but quickly found that Evan's methods for learning were priceless anyway and have been avidly continuing. It was there I came across a reference to your book. Looking at the samples, the book is absolutely amazing both visually and content-wise. I've put it on my must-have list, while I explore the site to do some active learning.

Salve Laura.
Thanks for the link. I'll dive into them immediately. At the begining even the simplest of proverbs gives you a sense of accoplishment after you've mastered it.
Peter

Your name is so familiar. Did you teach in Texas. I taught in San Antonio with Mary Jane Bickley, Carol Ellis and Randy Thompson. I will be working with Bob Patrick at Parkview next year. Am I lucky or what!!
Caroline

When I lived in Uppsala I had some Polish friends. They were very erudite and thus I've heard the name Jan Kochanowski. He was at the court of king Sigismund II, whose nephew Sigismund III Vasa was king of Sweden for some years in the 1590's. The Jagiellonian University at Krakow, as I'm sure you know, still has its beautiful motto "Plus ratio quam vis".

Polish seems very interesting.My parish priest comes from Poand. Their knowledge of Latin and French is good

Welsh and Irish aren't THAT difficult. They are Indo-European. Irish has a lot of loanwords from Latin, e.g. liber=leabhar. It was when I read the graffiti or rather glosses left by old Irish monks in the margins of the Vulgate that I realised my lack of Latin.

I'm glad you enjoyed Stockholm. I worked there for 18 years. And thanks for calling me a student, considering my age. Learning Latin (and Greek) is an old dream of mine. Ever since I did Celtic studies at Uppsala and Dublin in the 70's I felt I lacked a background in Classics. I got to know about your site via the blog "Laudator Temporis Acti". Your way of teaching Latin via Aesop's fables is very paedagogical. First you simplify and comment them and then you send us back to the originals, obliquely telling us that we need to study a bit more. I'm waiting impatiently for the book. By the way I wasn't able to order it directly from Amazon.uk. Perhaps you could give your publisher a hint.

Thanks, Laura. I'll look into it and see how it works.