TRANSLATE!

Instructions
The links below will play my colloquial, extemporaneous translations of each chapter in the LLPSI: Familia Rōmāna text. Sometimes they are overly literal, at other times they are too colloquial, but generally they are accurate.

The occasional error should not negate my purpose here: to encourage and confirm the understanding of homeschooling students and parents when they may not be confident that they are really "getting it."  Some students and teachers hate the very idea of a translation. Personally, I believe the ability to move back and forth between languages, from Latin to English, from English to Latin, and back and forth within each language, is an invaluable skill which should not be abandoned because of an ideological quest after one particular learning method.

I remember reading about the Latin grammar schools in Shakespeare's time, when students would translate Ovid's verse into English and from their English translations compose new Latin verse. I believe there is value in that exercise. Therefore, I submit these translations for the use of the beginning Latin student with the following caveat: please use them only after struggling through the text on your own.

Oerberg's text forces you to make constant inferences about meaning and it is these inferences which build long-term memory and understanding. If you let somebody else (namely, me) do that work for you, you will short-circuit your long-term memory and your understanding. Build your own understanding first, and then listen to these translations for comparison.

13 comments:

  1. Great, You are a life saver. Love it.

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  2. As a purveyor of awesome bathroom faucets, sinks, tubs, fixtures, vanities, and such, I thought it would be fun to learn to ask this question in many different languages see more. Unfortunately, I only learned to say it in one language, thus far, but I figured French is a great place to start.

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  3. ME AND MY ROOMMATE SERIOUSLY LOVE YOU! Stay amazing, Mr. K!!!!!

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  4. Cap II line 55. In Graecia and In Italia magnus numerus oppidarum est.

    you translate this as "In Greece and in Italy there are a large number of towns"
    are would be sunt not est, I haven't been able to translate this correctly either. help

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    Replies
    1. The correct translation would be "In Greece and in Italy there is a large number of towns." Although it sounds a bit funny to our ears, the subject is singular and the verb is singular (you can hear the correct form better if you make it a question: "Is [not 'Are...?'] the number of towns large? The number of towns is large. There's a large number of towns." 'magnus numerus' is the subject while 'of towns' is a partitive genitive (not the subject!). ('magnus numerus est' + genitive) is equal to ('multī -ae -a [nominative] sunt'); ('there is a large number of ____') + ('there are many _____'). I hope that helps.

      In these translations you will find many colloquialisms like this. If my colloquial English is not enough to help you figure out the grammar of a sentence, please continue to post your questions here or e-mail me directly.

      Cura ut valeas!

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  5. Are you ever going to do Roma Eterna?

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  6. Can you help me translate chapter 41 line 114 - 117?
    Thank you

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  7. So that this thread does not become too long, please send translation questions directly to help@latin911.com. Here are the lines you requested:

    ... after Romulus had defended himself forcefully (lit. "by force"), they [the 'latrōnēs'] captured Remus and handed the captive to king Amulius, falsely making the accusation that [now you'll have indirect speech - accusative subjects and infinitive verbs] 'attacks were being made by them [i.e. Romulus' 'gang'] against Numitor's farms [fields]; that they, after gathering a gang of young men [lit. "with a band of young men having been gathered"] were hostilely [lit. "in a hostile way"] driving away his property!' Thus Remus was handed over to Numitor as a suppliant.

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  8. Is there a written version of these chapters?

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  9. Mr. k can you help me translate ch.25 lines 70-80?

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  10. This is our summer school reader. Thanks for keeping me company !

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  11. Thanks Mr. K! You are so kind to do this for us

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