Latin 2013!

[Mercury80]

Anyone doing Latin next year?
What are people doing to prepare over the holidays? Grammar? Vocab?

[brightsky]

Yep! Looking forward to it. Might do a few unseens, brush up on some grammar and revise some vocab. What about you?

[Mercury80]

I'm going to try to finish the Aeneid (I started in Year 8 . . . and never found time to finish the whole thing). But yeah, mainly grammar and vocab. Which Latin texts are are you doing in Unit 3?

[brightsky]

I'm going to try to finish the Aeneid (I started in Year 8 . . . and never found time to finish the whole thing). But yeah, mainly grammar and vocab. Which Latin texts are are you doing in Unit 3?

Haha yeah I bought the book, but I doubt I'll find the motivation to read the whole thing during the holidays.

I'm doing Cicero: In Catilinam. You?

[Mercury80]

Caesar - The Gallic Wars.
Is Book 2 of the Aeneid the set text next year?

[brightsky]

Caesar - The Gallic Wars.
Is Book 2 of the Aeneid the set text next year?

Indeed it is. And omg, we did the Gallic Wars this year!

[Mercury80]

Really? Did you like it?
We also did it last year - I guess we're doing two years in a row, but different lines. He sure does love his ablative absolute constructions!
I wish we were doing Ovid 

[brightsky]

Yeah, loved it! I think the profusion of ablative absolutes makes Caesar a bit easier to translate. My teacher thinks Cicero will be slightly easier though. Have you translated any Cicero before? Horace eclipses both in my opinion...

[Mercury80]

I think we translated a few lines from "De re publica", though I can't remember if that was Cicero or not. Do any schools do Horace? I've read some of his Odes in English and they were really good! I found Caesar easier to translate than Livy, for some reason.

[brightsky]

I think we translated a few lines from "De re publica", though I can't remember if that was Cicero or not. Do any schools do Horace? I've read some of his Odes in English and they were really good! I found Caesar easier to translate than Livy, for some reason.

Yeah Livy unseens are generally quite straightforward. Have you tried Sallust? It's impossible!!!

[Bad Student]

Does anyone have any tips for remembering vocab?

[WonderBunny]

Put your vocab on a poster on the back of the toilet door or on the bathroom mirror where you brush your teeth. I did this to learn my verb tenses. It really works!

[edwin]

Good luck folks, with the joy that is Latin Unit 3/4! Aeneid 2 is great though, so I'm sure you will enjoy it

Vocab/grammar tables on the back of the toilet wall definitely works - well at least it worked for me.

[watto_22]

For vocab, get used to looking words up in your dictionary as well as learning common words.
Mr Masterman made lists of these most common words (or in fact 3 lists..), which I collated into this list http://quizlet.com/7681558/mastermans-entire-tough-flash-cards/
Quizlet is really handy for learning words; after you finish a set, you do it again with only the words that you got incorrect. great tool for any Vocab/formula/definition memorisation work that you may have.
also, it can be printed out in a table format, which has the Latin (or whatever) on the left hand side, with the translation on the right. you can then fold the sheet down the middle and then it makes a nice double sided card (Latin on one side, English on the other) which is great for learning words.

Don't be scared though of not having a huge vocab. In the exam, you need to be absolutely sure of the meaning of the word, so you may well end up looking for words that you do know but aren't certain of.
For this reason, I probably consulted Mr Dictionary for about 20 words from the unseen.

More important I think is to know grammar really well, and to be able to recognise what sort of word it is (eg is that an adjective, noun or a verb participle) and so then you are able to look up that word in your dictionary quickly and without too much hassle.

Also I'd recommend reading the Aeneid, at least an abridged/concise version of it (doesn't need to be all of it in translation), in preparation for the essay section of the exam. you need to have a general understanding of the Aeneid as a whole, and this is the only real way to get this understanding.

good luck. should be one of your more enjoyable subjects

[brightsky]

For vocab, get used to looking words up in your dictionary as well as learning common words.
Mr Masterman made lists of these most common words (or in fact 3 lists..), which I collated into this list http://quizlet.com/7681558/mastermans-entire-tough-flash-cards/
Quizlet is really handy for learning words; after you finish a set, you do it again with only the words that you got incorrect. great tool for any Vocab/formula/definition memorisation work that you may have.
also, it can be printed out in a table format, which has the Latin (or whatever) on the left hand side, with the translation on the right. you can then fold the sheet down the middle and then it makes a nice double sided card (Latin on one side, English on the other) which is great for learning words.

Don't be scared though of not having a huge vocab. In the exam, you need to be absolutely sure of the meaning of the word, so you may well end up looking for words that you do know but aren't certain of.
For this reason, I probably consulted Mr Dictionary for about 20 words from the unseen.

More important I think is to know grammar really well, and to be able to recognise what sort of word it is (eg is that an adjective, noun or a verb participle) and so then you are able to look up that word in your dictionary quickly and without too much hassle.

Also I'd recommend reading the Aeneid, at least an abridged/concise version of it (doesn't need to be all of it in translation), in preparation for the essay section of the exam. you need to have a general understanding of the Aeneid as a whole, and this is the only real way to get this understanding.

good luck. should be one of your more enjoyable subjects

omg thanks for the quizzlet App, watto_22! I'm beginning to think I know you...are you by any chance DW from MGS?