Latin SL?

[BrookeK]

Is anyone out there taking Latin? I am currently taking it at SL, and I am struggling with it. I really love the language and I do all right in class, but can't seem to do well at translating my homework, completely alone. I'm doing Horace and Catullus as my poetry, Cicero as my prose and Pliny's letters. I am just wondering if anyone has some tips for the translations, or if anyone is in the same boat as me.

[Sandwich]

What do you struggle with in the translations?

[BrookeK]

Mostly I struggle with the grammar, not so much the verbs but the nouns and adjectives.

[vals]

I took three years of Latin in high school before moving to the IB program, and if there's one thing I've learned when it comes to translations is that you must look for a general sense in the text by looking at the cases you know. Start by identifying the verb in a sentence, then move onto the Nominative, and follow up with the remaining, more ambiguous cases.
Periphrastic sentences can be tricky, so make sure you know all of the forms to avoid unpleasant surprises in your translations.

For the first two years of my Latin course we've been learning mostly grammar with short texts to translate - grammar exercises and sample sentences to translate were our daily bread.
I'd suggest you to revise all the grammar rules you've learnt so far before getting to an actual translation.

[BrookeK]

Thanks

[Bude]

I'm doing SL Latin as well

There are only two students, including me, in my class and I really enjoy the seminar-like structure of lessons. We've just finished Catullus and we're moving onto Horace now.

[flinquinnster]

For nostalgia's sake, I thought I would post here as well. I had 2 people in my Latin class as well, and it was one of my favourite classes. Though I have to admit it was less of a "seminar" and more like a combination of random catch-up time and lame jokes - though it was surprisingly productive and resulted in good marks for all of our class. We did Horace and Catullus, and Aeneid.

Although this may be a bit late, my best advice for translation is to practice, practice and practice - knowing grammar is useful, but applying it is even more useful. Take passages of exam length from Cicero and set a timer - do it under exam conditions with a dictionary. Afterwards, if you can get your teacher or classmates (if you have any?) to help mark your translation, that would be wonderful - they can give detailed feedback. You would have to rely on looking at online translations to help - though you want to look at a translation which is more 'literal', otherwise it won't help with grammar.

If you feel not very confident doing translations, then I'd say try and buy and work your way through a Latin grammar study guide - they'll set out rules on grammar that you can learn, and exercises that will be useful in ensuring you understand each aspect of grammar. And for things like memorising noun declensions and verb conjugations, I have no other advice other than to recite, recite and recite - and potentially make diagrams to link together different areas of grammar and how the endings change (so, for instance, endings for imperfect active subjunctive versus imperfect passive subjunctive).

In the end, if you are truly desperate and have an astonishing memory, you could simply memorise the translations for the whole of your set text for Paper 1! But that's something which is almost impossible to pull off, sadly.

For Paper 2, this is where you could potentially have zero knowledge of Latin and still get 100%. If you're not confident in your translation skills, focus on memorising the translation of the passage, and memorising notable stylistic features. A really useful revision tip is not only to write summary notes, but to actually place yourself in the mind of the examiner and write down every potential question you think you could get asked - and answer it yourself. This really helps you practice and refine your answers.

[BrookeK]

Thanks for the advice, I'm the only student in my class so I can't get classmates help, but my teacher is already getting me to go through exam length cicero pieces for him to mark. I think I am doing much better than I was in February now that I am memorising my verb and noun endings and have had more practice, so I think I'll be all right, thank you for all the advice.