Latin pronunciation

[loumum3]

Hi

We have just received the Minumus book and the boys have made a start (which is good!) however I don't have a clue how the words are pronounced as I have never studied Latin.

The first word was quis and all of us had a different idea of how it might be pronounced!

Does anyone know where if anywhere we may be able to hear how these words are pronounced?

Many thanks

This website might help:

www.transparent.com/learn-latin/phrases.html

There are only a few examples there, but they might help as a starting point.

My son did Latin at school many years ago, and I did Latin at school 'millennia' ago.

I'd say quis as kwiss.

i don't think it matters in this day and age.

Basically, nobody really knows the "correct" pronunciation. Also, the Roman Empire was so vast, it was probably pronounced differently in Palestine and Northumberland, for example. Generally, in UK we say it as if it was written in English.

With one occasional exception which is that sometimes people say the v as w so "ita vero" becomes "ita wero" or whatever.

But really it's not a spoken language so not really relevant, if you ask me.

[scholarly nod at specialmagiclayd] i too have seen life of brian

Thanks very much for your help !

It was interesting how we all thought it would sound different...one thought it would sound like quiz, one like kwiss and one like kwee so it got us all thinking which can't be a bad thing

when I did Latin at school many years ago it was said as kwiss. I think it is generally said with all letters pronounced and fairly even emphasis on syllables.

But as specialmagiclady says it is a heck of a long time since it was a spoken language as a first language. It has only been used for ecclesiastical and scholarly circles since then.

ask boris johnson he is always breaking into latin

you can order a CD for Minimus.

With Latin, you can basically decide between the classical pronunciation - which gives you Kikero and Kaesar for Cicero and Caesar for instance but apart from that pretty straight forward.

Or you can go the ecclesiastical Latin route (which I use being a medieval nut anyway).

If you are working with Minimus though and unsure of how to pronounce it , why not try the CD or the Minimus website first.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Minimus-Audio-CD-Barbara-Bell/dp/0521681464/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1 271934544&sr=8-1 cd

doesn't receive rave reviews onthere. Otherwise you could look in the library for a Latin Grammar which probably has a couple of pages of pronunciation guide included, just photocopy that and have it handy.

My mum, who is in her 70s, did Latin at school at a time when pronunciation was considered important. She does Latin with DD2 who says her "v"s as "w"s (eg, salve is pronounced "salwe") and she always insists that all "c"s are hard, not soft (eg Caecilius is pronounced Kaekilius). She is very fussy with DD2 over pronunciation.

However, my brother did Latin A level in the 90s and pronuncation was not considered important. This is still the case today, I believe, as it is not a spoken language as such. He teaches DD1 and the difference is astounding - he doesn't care at all how she says things.

Interestingly, my mum also likes DD2 to give a fairly literal translation, whereas bro with DD1 makes the translations of Cambridge Latin sound like something you might hear on Jeremy Kyle.

They are both a couple of years off of GCSE, so time will tell which approach gets better results!

Thanks everyone for your help.

We were at the Natural History Museum this week and they had great fun trying to work out what the Latin names for things were