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my books dislike each other
Oct. 21st, 2011 07:18 amI have a book on Latin, called Amo, Amas, Amat, and All That. It's a fun and informative look at Latin, and how to speak it. Very enjoyable read.
That is, until the end, when the author starts shaking his fist at all those damn kids on his lawn, and yelling "Back in my day..."
His main argument seems to be:
1) Latin is wonderfully complex and technically challenging (ie: hard).
2) The Cambridge Latin Course makes Latin NOT hard.
3) This means that exams are no longer challenging.
4) The CLC is ruining our nation's Latin, by teaching through cutesy stories rather than good old fashioned grammar tables.
(I especially liked the part when he claimed that the CLC never teaches you about accusatives, or even mentions them.
Attention, grumpy author! Get CLC Book 1. Open to page 21. Note the thorough explanation of accusatives. Now stop talking.)
Now, I am just as inclined as the next snob to bemoan the sad lack of education among modern youth, what with their rock music, and their strange haircuts, and their lack of good old fashioned misery... but I'm not convinced teaching a language through sample conversations is actually responsible for dumbing down the populace. It is, after all, exactly the way that every other foreign language is being taught right now - and there's a reason for that. It works.
Hey, author? Repeat after me: FUN IS NOT AUTOMATICALLY BAD.
That is, until the end, when the author starts shaking his fist at all those damn kids on his lawn, and yelling "Back in my day..."
His main argument seems to be:
1) Latin is wonderfully complex and technically challenging (ie: hard).
2) The Cambridge Latin Course makes Latin NOT hard.
3) This means that exams are no longer challenging.
4) The CLC is ruining our nation's Latin, by teaching through cutesy stories rather than good old fashioned grammar tables.
(I especially liked the part when he claimed that the CLC never teaches you about accusatives, or even mentions them.
Attention, grumpy author! Get CLC Book 1. Open to page 21. Note the thorough explanation of accusatives. Now stop talking.)
Now, I am just as inclined as the next snob to bemoan the sad lack of education among modern youth, what with their rock music, and their strange haircuts, and their lack of good old fashioned misery... but I'm not convinced teaching a language through sample conversations is actually responsible for dumbing down the populace. It is, after all, exactly the way that every other foreign language is being taught right now - and there's a reason for that. It works.
Hey, author? Repeat after me: FUN IS NOT AUTOMATICALLY BAD.