Learn Latin from the Romans: A Complete Introductory Course Using Textbooks from the Roman Empire

UPDATE: Now about 1/3 through this book and the Keller & Russell text mentioned below, I have an additional comparison to add. This book sometimes oversimplifies a fine point of grammar; the author's purpose is to prepare the student for an intermediate reading course, in which details of grammar would be pursued further. Keller & Russell is extremely thorough, which makes it sometimes dense to work through. I continue to find it very helpful working through the two together, taking advantage of the strengths of each to offset the other's weaker points.Also, for those who feel they need an answer key, Google Translate can be very helpful!ORIGINAL:Responding to the many reviewers who reject this book because it doesn't have an answer key for the exercises: I have now worked my way through the first 25% of this book, and do not find an answer key at all necessary. Unlike many language textbooks, the exercises are not at all difficult to complete after one studies and refers back to the lesson section they go with.The purpose of the exercises is not to quiz the student, but to lead the student to practice the lesson material so that it starts to "sink in." Dickey has designed them based on her study of memory and learning. The exercises typically focus on one point of grammar at a time.This textbook is relatively low on "required" vocabulary, with the emphasis on grammatical and syntactical constructions. The "colloquia" (ancient Latin texts designed for Greek-speakers to learn Latin) are an excellent source of teaching material, and also shed light on ancient Latin culture. The readings are presented with full annotations to allow the student to translate the passages with ease, no need to constantly turn to a lexicon or grammar.I am working back and forth between Dickey's textbook and that by Keller & Russell, "Learn to Read Latin" (2nd ed) and find the two very complementary. They present the grammar in a somewhat different order than Dickey, and include much more vocabulary to learn. They also present a good amount of linguistics to explain why some words are the way they are. Their readings are drawn strictly from the classical writers, which means it takes longer to get into readings that are more than a sentence or two.Dickey's strength is the use of the colloquia to get the student reading longer Latin passages much sooner, and the large number of exercises that lead the student to master the material.

Pristine - well packed

Just received my copy today and it appears to be a very thorough textbook on learning Latin. There are numerous exercises to translate to and from Latin included in the book; plenty of examples are included for practice. Unfortunately, it appears there is no answer key for these exercises. I would love to use this as a multi-year study for my homeschooled son, but I don't know enough Latin to verify if the answers are correct. Is there a supplementary text to follow with the answers?

Never take Latin as a grade. It will ruin your college semester!!!

I have some knowledge of Latin, and decided to use this book to further my knowledge.The author' explanations of grammar is probably the best I've found. She really reinforces your learning by providing lots of translation work. My only complaint is that I wish that she had provided an answer key for the English to Latin translations.I am almost halfway through her book at this point, and highly recommend it -- even to someone just beginning their study of this great language.

Needs to have an answer key considering half of the text consist of exercises.