Familia Romana (Lingua Latina)

I don't write reviews for everything I buy on Amazon but this one merits good publicity because it is excellent. I have learned a number of languages and used a lot of language course books in my time but this is the best, the most stimulating and the most enjoyable to use that I have come across in any language.What I like about it is that while many Latin primers tend to end up with you learning about Latin, which is not the same as learning Latin, Familia Romana (Lingua Latina), in contrast, has you immersed in using the language from the outset. This is partly because it is entirely in Latin with no recourse to translation - instead guiding the reader with illustrations and Latin to Latin hints and explanations - and also because it is not packed full of tables of declensions and inflexions but introduces these by gradual use of the language itself in genuinely amusing tales from daily Roman life. As you are guided through the inflexions by this means patterns emerge that you don't spot by staring at endless grammatical tables and explanations. When you think about it, that is how we learn languages naturally. No toddler sits down and looks at a verb table; they listen and use the language and get the patterns by demonstration and use rather than explicit explanation. That is the approach this book takes too, and, for me, it works wonders.Another feature that I initially had my doubts about, but now appreciate, is that there is no separate section with the correct answers to the questions. You do the exercises and can find the correct answers in the text. This keeps you checking back through the text and in that way learning a lot more than you would by just looking up the answers in the back. It's more stimulating and keeps the book lighter too - such ergonomics in book design matter to me.The result is that you end up learning Latin, not just about it. And that is, essentially, what I love about this book. It engages the student to the full and I am so enthused by this approach that I want to spread the word.Just one thing I would point out for the sake of balance however: my own use of the book is complemented by being fluent in one or two Latin based languages already and also by having all those other lesser latin primers I tried out before finding this one, plus a Latin dictionary, to hand as study aids. So I am not using the book entirely on its own. On the other hand, Familia Romana is the base for my Latin studies while the other primers are no more than occasional aids in using it.In conclusion, I can't praise this book enough and I hope many readers of this review will be encouraged to try it out, just as I was by other positive Amazon reviews.

I can't recommend this book highly enough and I only wish that I had found it sooner. It was very kindly recommended to me by a friend, to whom I will be eternally grateful!I'm studying Classics as a mature learner and I needed something user friendly to try and get a head start for my next course beginning in October. This book is a revelation to me. Forget the pages and pages of nouns and verb declensions other books have - while there are some charts in this book this is unlike anything I have ever seen before and, right from the start, it has you reading, and more importantly, understanding Latin.I'm baffled as to why these books (there are two in the series that I'm aware of) aren't more widely known. I am only about 40 pages or so in and I'm loving every second of it so far. There are some illustrations in the book but these aren't of the comic strip variety and just enrich the book further. The book is based around a Roman family and the language gradually builds up in complexity but it's very easy to understand and there are some notes in the margins which help but, as each chapter appears to build on the previous one, it's very easy to work out what is happening.There is a grammar and vocab section at the back of the book also which is incredibly helpful too.I have ordered the student's companion/guide to this book also to try and get as much from it as I possibly can but I'm thrilled with how enjoyable and how easy it makes the experience of learning Latin.I really can't rate this book highly enough. If you are serious about learning Latin and understanding the finer points of it this book is invaluable.

I took the module 'Reading Classical Latin' as part of a language degree with The Open University, where we worked through Sidwell and Jones's Reading Latin. The course was good; I enjoyed it and achieved a high 1st in that module. But I still couldn't read fluently and resorted to the unnatural way of reading that is often taught with Latin: skipping about in the text, seeing which words agree with which others.I am just astonished by this course. I started about a week ago and am on chapter XX and can now read fluently and 'properly' (linearly). One doesn't, however, need any previous knowledge of Latin (and if one is starting 'from scratch', one shouldn't expect to match my speed of progress!)The book is beautifully presented with glossy paper and beautiful colour illustrations (realistic, not googly cartoons as seem to be popular in books for language learning).The course is suitable for children and adults and is enjoyable for both. It doesn't patronise the reader or insult their intelligence. The texts are based mainly on a Roman family and their household; it's a good introduction to Roman life and one even starts to feel like one knows the people - I will be sad to leave them at the end of the book!I don't know why this method of language learning hasn't caught on - I've looked around to find similar books for other languages and am dismayed to see there are none, though I cannot understand why.I simply cannot recommend this book highly enough!