Is listening worth the hassle?

Notascooby

Civis Illustris

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I'm spending a lot of time reading and writing in Latin but I want to improve further.

Is it worth listening to texts or should I just read, or both?

What are the benefits of audio?

Cheers
 

Quasus

Civis Illustris

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Location:
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Both. The more kinds of memory are involved, the better. Moreover, it's easier to repeatedly listen to a text than to read it and you needn't be as much concentrated. This benefits both vocabulary and grammar. And never mind the pronunciation. I used original recordings of Le latin sans peine and in spite their phonological shortcomings, they helped me a lot. It's primarily about vocabulary and grammar, not phonetics.
 

Quasus

Civis Illustris

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Regarding vocabulary, it's constant reinforcing. Even if you don't remember the meaning of a particular word, you may remember the word itself, and then it's easier to attach a meaning to it afterward.

Regarding grammar, you see the declension, conjugation, and syntax in their natural habitat. The brain figures out the patterns and you learn to analyze grammar automatically. This is what you arguably never achieve by learning tables by heart.
 
 

cinefactus

Censor

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I would say definitely. I would start with conversations first though rather than texts. They are easier, help you understand some of the expressions that you read in authors like Plautus, and give you practice in 2nd person verb forms which you don't tend to read so often.
 
 

rothbard

Aedilis

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Listening is an integral part of learning and maintaining any language. When I was studying Latin I would listen to Latin podcasts almost every day on the way to and from work.
 

Notascooby

Civis Illustris

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Okay thanks.

Almost for years of studying Latin and I've listened to almost none:eek:
 
D

Deleted member 13757

Guest

I'm spending a lot of time reading and writing in Latin but I want to improve further.

Is it worth listening to texts or should I just read, or both?

What are the benefits of audio?

Cheers
Yes. It is more important to listen than to read in my opinion. When I was starting out I would listen to hours and hours and hours of audio to the point that I would get headaches. Headaches stopped eventually.
 
B

Bitmap

Guest

Okay thanks.

Almost for years of studying Latin and I've listened to almost none:eek:
I never listened to any Latin when I was studying the language.

The contexts in which most people need Latin mainly involve reading; in far fewer cases, also writing ... and in little to no cases listening and speaking.
 

Pacifica

grammaticissima

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Location:
Belgium
I never listened to any Latin when I was studying the language.
Ditto. Well, not much anyway. My Latin proficiency was acquired through reading and now I find that, on the rare occasions that I actually listen to Latin, I usually have no trouble with it.* It seems my reading was enough to make me able to understand spoken Latin in spite of a lack of listening practice.

If you like listening, though, why not. It can be a worthwhile exercise if the material is good.

*Referring to spoken Latin here. Sung Latin can be a lot harder, but that is so for me with every language I know.
 
 

rothbard

Aedilis

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If one has time, then of course reading is best, at least for an ancient language.
 

Quasus

Civis Illustris

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Águas Santas
They are just different and complementary. Writing is good, too: motor memory. If a word is constantly slipping out of one's memory, it may help to write it a few times. That's not practicing composition skills, that's just using another kind of memory. And of course, there can't be a single best way for everyone, because properties of memory are individual and change over time at that.
 

Notascooby

Civis Illustris

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I've been listening to the audio on latinitium and it's quite enjoyable but there isn't a whole lot on there. I like these because I can download them onto my phone(no computer). Can anyone recommend other Latin audio that I can download onto my phone? Don't mind paying for it as long as it's good.

Thanks.
 
 

Matthaeus

Vemortuicida strenuus

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There are links on that website to further audio, like on Youtube.
 

Iáson

Cívis Illústris

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ut mihi vidētur, ūtile est sī potes intelligere (aut partim aut omnīnō). tantummodō audīre nec quid comprehendere, hoc nīl prōdest.
 
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