Languages Were Made to Be Spoken
The student of French of Spanish comes home on the first day having learned to say a few simple phrases. From the first moments in the classroom, they are beginning to speak in another language, taking the step towards thinking with a foreign mind. The Latin student could be excused for coming home on the first day with the firm conviction that not only will they never speak this language, but that it is in fact fundamentally unspeakable (pun intended).
And yet, this language was spoken fluently across Europe for centuries, and was capable of handling not just complex philosophical, theological, and scientific ideas, but also was able to be used to train a dog, to get the children to do the chores, and to buy the groceries. Ancient languages may be more complicated than modern languages, but they are still first of languages.
This 12 week course will train your child to speak in Latin. They will develop a basic ability to speak about everyday matters in Latin, and will develop greatly in their aural comprehension of Latin as I speak it to them each class session. Through games, scripted dialogues, English to Latin translation, and active listening, they will encounter the language as a living form of communication. The result is both empowering and transformative: it makes reading Latin easier, and it makes Latin about so much more than 2000 year old texts.
Wednesdays, 5:00-6:30 pm (CST)
January 10 - May 8, 2024
registration deadline January 9, 2024
$250 / student
To learn more about the value of spoken Latin to your child's study, see my video on natural language learning:
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The Speak Like a Roman course was incredibly fun and informative. It was super exciting to apply the concepts that I had learned in other Latin courses to speaking in Latin. Dr. Junius made speaking in Latin not terrifying by helping us have discussions amongst ourselves. My favorite part was listening to him speak in Latin and trying to figure out what he was saying. He would describe and give hints about a Latin word in order to get us to understand it without having to hear an English definition. It was like sneaking a game of charades into a school day, except it was even better because it was in Latin.
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Mr. Junius is a treasure trove of Latin knowledge. He loves the subject and knows it intimately. He oozes that love and his students will pick it up. His class was fast-paced, engaging, and a ton of fun for my son!
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Mr. Junius has a contagious love and appreciation for Latin. He held my attention, was funny, and very knowledgeable.
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With humor, intelligent discussion, and deep insights, Junius Johnson gives you more than an overview or introduction to Latin, he inspires you to keep learning hard things while giving you a vision and much fuller picture of Latin.
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Junius has such a robust understanding of the language, and his passion is contagious. His approach invites parents, educators, and students to re-imagine how they think about Latin, moving from merely transactional to experiential. He’s also not afraid to address many of the “why” questions that all too often go unanswered. Highly recommend!
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Simply put, Junius Johnson is the best Latin teacher I have ever experienced in my many years of supervising education. He is a true scholar of the Latin language from the classical period to the neo-Latin present; he has success teaching every age and skill level. Junius is compassionate with those who are less gifted than he, but still manages to stretch his students in a friendly and inviting manner. I wholeheartedly recommend him to you as your teacher. Trust me, the encounter will be memorable.