Can I teach myself Latin

[TeresasTonic]

To possibly become a Latin tutor?

I speak French reasonably well (lived in France for 6 months and studied the language).

How long would it take me to become proficient?

What's the best way to do it?

I learnt at school using the Ecce Romani books, they are a good introduction. I ended up doing Latin to A Level but I found it really easy - I have an affinity for languages.

Duolingo has a free basic Latin course. But some of the vocabulary is rather odd as there is an attempt to invent Lain words for modern items or ideas.

Most people who work as tutors have a solid base of knowledge. I used to be proficient in Latin, and taught it in a Grammar school, but only after O level , A level and a university degree in it.
it is not something you can pick up overnight.
Why not teach French?

The Cambridge Latin Course is great. However,
im not sure that would get you to Tutor level; the Latin teachers I know teach full time and have classics degrees.

Why not tutor French?

If you know French then that should help you with Latin. There’s a lot of lexical similarity between the two.

You could also consider learning Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian. They’re all derived from Latin.

I studied Latin in school but also had a tutor.

As for textbooks, look up ab initio prep 1, also ‘so you really want to learn Latin prep’ by Theo Zinn, and the Cambridge Latin course.

Not sure about tutoring but I taught myself enough Latin to take a literature course. I used Wheelock’s Latin which the course teacher recommended. I also got the first book of the Cambridge Latin course for the memes but it moves a lot more slowly than Wheelock.

My daughter when she was 12 years old taught herself Latin but she also taught herself Chinese as well so I think she might have a big of knack.
it’s certainly possible though.

Surely it's a better idea to start tutoring something you already have skills in, rather than trying to learn a whole new skill to the stage of being able to tutor someone else in it?

Thank you. The tutoring would be something much later down the line, ones I retired from my day job, which is in another 10 years. I've always loved latin words and phrases and would be keen to learn. The tutoring idea is more about putting it to use in a productive way but I appreciate that there are fully fledged classic tutors.

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