Cambridge Latin Course Book 1 4th Edition Paperback – 6 Aug. 1998

A few of my friends had studied the Cambridge Latin Course at school, and having always wanted to learn Latin I took up their advice and bought this for myself.This book is suitable if you have absolutely no prior understanding of Latin, or indeed languages in general.Lingustic terms that are important for the understanding of the language are clearly explained (e.g. nominative, pronoun, infinitive).I believe this book was aimed at pre-GCSE level children so it's definitely suitable for a wide range of ages.The pacing of the learning is gentle and there is relatively little expectation at this stage for vocabulary (there is a list of essential vocab at the end of each chapter - though you may want to go ahead and learn all the words introduced if you're an older learner).The way the book is set out means that the stories are grouped into chapters which have a common theme and introduce new vocabulary (though vocabulary features in previous chapters also appears). Because of this it is important to read through the book in the correct order, as you are less likely to come across unfamiliar vocabulary (though if you do there is a comprehensive Latin to English dictionary of all the words in the back).Another point to make is that there is a good number of freely accessible online activities relating to the CLC at all stages, including vocab tests, games and further reading.The best thing about the book is that it uses recurring characters in various scenarios, which really helps when putting the words in context and getting a feel for the uses of various words. This also gives a good understanding of the types of lives Latin speakers had, and unlike modern language courses, the vocabulary is geared towards this rather than modern lives.One of the previous reviews mentioned that there is no pronunciation guide within the book. This is true, though it should be noted that the entire course is geared towards being able to do no more or less than comprehend and translate pieces of Latin text - not to speak it, nor to understand spoken Latin, thus pronunciation would be superfluous. Additionally pronunciation of Latin is subjective, as well as being much more phonetic than English.All in all this is a great buy, I have no regrets about buying it and would readily recommend it to anyone interested in picking up some Latin.

I'm just trying to be helpful here but I really think there's a misunderstanding about this book. As far as I know, the book is not intended to be used on its own - it's just the text book for the Cambridge Latin Course which involves various other learning aids both in the form of other books plus electronic aids, a website and even a personal tutor. That's why, if you look at the book, there's no introduction or preface or anything at all to tell you how to use it or any kind of introduction to the Latin language. I strongly advise anyone thinking of buying this book or any other Latin text book to go to the Cambridge Latin Course website where they will find all the information they need about the Cambridge Latin Course and how this text book fits into a properly structured distance learning or independent learning course.At an absolute minimum, if you wanted to use this book, you would need the Cambridge Latin Course Independent Learning Manual (Book 1) to accompany it which as far as I know is only available from the Cambridge Latin Course HQ. You would also find it helpful to use the online resources available on the website.As a parent I got my oldest child started off on the Galore Park books which teach Latin the way I learned it at school - by rote, declension by declension and conjugation by conjugation. Then I stumbled upon the Cambridge Latin Course and signed my oldest up for the course which I think cost £175 including all the home learning materials (except this text book) and the services of an online personal tutor for the best part of a year. We're only a few weeks into it but I think it's absolutely fantastic and in a completely different league from the Galore Park books. It spends as much time teaching you about life in Roman times as it does teaching you the language which I think has two virtues: first, it makes learning the language interesting instead of simply a chore, and second, it is important for those working towards GCSE exams which nowadays put much more emphasis on Roman culture and civilisation.I do appreciate that some people would prefer to learn the language the old-fashioned way and I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all, except possibly in so far as you may not gain the requisite knowledge and understanding of Roman civilisation needed for exams. However, for those who prefer a more modern approach I wholeheartedly recommend the Cambridge Latin Course. I think it's marvellous, fascinating and highly effective and so apparently do educators since, apparently, it's used in the great majority of schools where Latin is taught!Edit: since writing the comments above I've learned that you can in fact use this text book in conjunction with "Cambridge Latin Course 1 Student Study Book: Level 1" which is listed by Amazon.co.uk. That would be far cheaper than enrolling on the Cambridge Latin Course and you could still use the resources available on the CLC website. I haven't actually seen the the Student Study Book so I don't know to what extent it's an effective substitute for the course offered by CLC. However the point I was trying to make still stands, that the text book reviewed here isn't intended to be used on its own.

Both my husband and myself are studying this coursebook. It's informative about Rome and Roman life at the time of the Vesuvius eruption. You learn about members of a family and their everyday life and are soon able to make up short sentences. Lots of pictures some in colour make this interesting. There are tests within the book so that you can see how you are doing. Grammar, which can be boring to learn is introduced slowly so that you don't feel overwhelmed.

I bought this book to teach myself Latin in my own time, at home and I have not been disappointed. I was denied the opportunity to study Latin at GCSE (something which has greatly vexed me), and after seeing this book available, I bought it on a 'whim' not really expecting much from it. I was completely wrong however, as it makes Latin accessible and easy to understand. The new grammar and vocab is introduced in every chapter and the subsequent stories really build upon everything you have learnt in previous chapters. I am definetly buying the other books once I have finished this one.The reason why I haven't given this book full stars, is because I have come across a few words that are missing completely from the vocab at the back and in the vocab list at the end of each chapter. Even with these words missing, once you have translated the rest of the sentence and you understand the gist of the story, you are able to make an educated guess as to the meaning of the word allowing you to continue with the exercises with confidence.