5 tips to learn Latin quickly!

5 tips to learn Latin quickly! How to  Learn Latin Quickly! Chapters1. Learn a little bit of Latin Vocabulary2. Create Mental Pictures to Learn Latin Quickly! 3. Mobilize the Theory of Multiple Intelligences4. Use the Spaced Repetition Method to Learn Latin Rapidly! 5. Finding Mnemonic TechniquesIf you are fascinated by Roman civilization, history, geography, the ancient world of Greece and Rome and by ancient languages, choose the Latin option in secondary school. Making this decision will drastically help you if you are learning other Latin-based languages such as French or Italian.  A common trend among Latin students is that after they have finished their last classes and years go by they have completely forgotten what they learnt. All those late hours of studying go completely wasted!Once a vast empire, Roman culture still continues to fascinate people all over the world. Learning Latin has never been so cool! (Source: Visual Hunt)This may have to do with the teaching you received in High School, Latin is mostly taught in a way that you have to remember things by heart;  reciting each word with the first Latin declination and learning the cases (nominative, accusative, vocative, genitive, dative and ablative), without understanding the purpose of why you are learning Latin. At 15 years old, we may lack the motivation to play with Latin words and, for example, establish a bridge between the numerous European languages which Latin has birthed. We may not realize that learning Latin will help us better understand the syntax and grammar of Spanish and other Latin-based languages.In addition, dead languages, such as ancient Greek or Latin, may lose peoples interest in comparison to other subject matters or spoken languages used today. This can result in making learning Latin, boring, soporific and uninteresting. It is impossible to learn Latin quickly if you have those prejudgements…For experienced Latin students, teaching the exploration of classic Latin letters results in the interest of familiarizing yourself with ancient Roman texts written in the past and reading more about the history of literature, these strategies result in creating better students.  Therefore, here are 5 tips to learn Latin quickly.Remembering all Latins nouns, irregular verbs, qualifying adjectives or prepositions can seem like a bit of a headache especially for those who do not a visual memory. With Latin being a dead language, it is not spoken commonly as a mother tongue and is merely found in books.However, it is once again being taught in schools!With that being said, it is much easier to learn Latin when you base your studying on written works rather than audio files. In the mother tongue of Cicero and Seneca the Younger, there are many grammar points that can be easily confused: where to place the supine, how to determine the accusative from the dative, how to conjugate the verb to be, how to remember each declination?Creating a mind map, or in other words, a heuristics diagram can be a great help.This method con sists of putting down on paper a visual diagram that ranks the English words or each word form in Latin. It’s a very well known technique used in cognitive science to summarize a book, prepare for an exam or learn a new language. For example, we draw in different colours the superlatives issimus, errimus and illimus in a shaded box in the middle of a page, then we associate with each one the radical of the adjective, writing down expressions or comparisons for each relation. This helps to retain more clearly the relative superlatives and the absolute superiority: doctus (the wise one) becomes doctissimus which means, “the wisest one.” Soliciting the efforts from both sides of the brain and establishing links between ideas, the student will go directly to learning the most essential Latin and will create a shorter circuit to ease their memorization.4. Use the Spaced Repetition Method to Learn Latin Rapidly!There is nothing more boring and pointless than endlessly reviewing page s and pages of Latin theory and conjugation tables. When we read texts in an intensive way, “it goes through one ear and out the other.” Swallowing a colossal mass of Greek and Latin vocabulary during one sitting is frankly impossible and is the recipe for a learning indigestion! Our brain does not work in a photographic mode to maximize its retention of knowledge, it needs to take little bits of information and repeat, ruminate, revise and then repeat again. That’s the reason why it is preferable to take language classes at a balanced rhythm that contain regular, spaced intervals. This will make learning a lot more entertaining.The spaced repetition method was theorized by philosopher Allemand Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909),   who was considered being the father of experimental learning psychology. In fact, to avoid being overloaded, our brain sorts selects and in an exceptional way constantly forgets information that it judges not to be important. Now with this theory, the r epetitions of Latin phrases or quotations, the infinitive or subordinate proposition of a Latin grammar point, will diminish the impact and the time of forgetting and we can, therefore, increase the time between each revision session.That’s the forgetting curve put into practice by H. Ebbinghaus during the process of learning.Carefully spaced classes about Greek and Roman civilization, mythology or Latin literature (Ovid, Horace, Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger, etc.) will anchor each piece of information in the mind and create automatisms that will enable us to bring out the idea naturally.Taking your time is, paradoxically, the greatest method that can win you precious time.To learn Latin in a quick and practical way, it is better to do 10 sessions of revision for 20 minutes each time spread across one to two weeks, than an intensive two-hour session. 5. Finding Mnemonic TechniquesLearning the Latin language comes a little bit easier for those who are living in Latin-based co untries such as, France, Italy, Spain, Romania, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Quebec and the Latin American continent, than those who speak Germanic languages or even worse for those who speak Asian languages. Therefore, your mother tongue does play a key role. If you speak a Latin-based language, the etymological roots and Latin origins will come easier because it is as if your linguistic ancestors were from ancient Rome itself. To memorize the morphologic skeleton or this Italic language, mnemonic techniques need to be used in order to simplify and facilitate the learning process. Here is a list of what the Latin learner can do to become mildly fluent:Make theme based flash cards: the daily life of Romans, the first Latin declination, the Latin verbs, adverbs etc., Create mental stories with the conjunction of the subordination, the personal pronouns, the verbal adjectives, etc.,Plaster your indoor and outdoor walls with post-its that have words in English and Latin associated w ith things from the house, the garden, and other commonly used items,  Get to know certain words by heart that have to do with sounds, places and commonly done movements.These little notes are very useful for learning a new language. Write your new Latin words and stick them to the corresponding objects in your home. Piece of cake! (Source: Visual Hunt)Finally, our last Superprof tip: Latin students from all different levels can profoundly improve their knowledge of conjugation tables and word lists of Latin vocabulary. How? By singing. Singing is a great tool to learn dictation and can be great fun to help you decipher a Latin text!Now find out how you can learn Latin online...