
The Vatican’s Latinist - tintinnabula
http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/The-Vatican-s-Latinist-8618
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aaronharnly
Perhaps revealing my own biases: it's so unexpected to find such a radical,
irreverent, warm teacher as head Latinist of the Vatican, where one might
expect to find the most rigid and staid of people. The quotes about and from
him are great:

> “Sacred language?” he said when asked about Latin as the “sacred language”
> of the church. “In the first century every prostitute in Rome spoke it
> fluently—and much better than most people in the Roman Curia.”

And on his pedagogy:

> What was it that was so revolutionary in Foster’s approach? Some sense of
> what the experience was like can be found in his new book, the Ossa
> Latinitatis. The book is divided not into chapters or lessons but
> “experiences” and “encounters.” The language is significant. Foster’s method
> was primarily to be present in the room when exposing students to real
> Latin. He would settle on one particular thing he wanted students to look
> for, cold-call, and then correct mistakes publicly. About this method he
> said, “You don’t need a hydrology course to learn to swim. You don’t point
> at the water and say, ‘This is water, this is how water works.’ you just
> throw the babies in.”...

> Foster’s method put back together what language courses generally separate:
> the experience of learning a language and the cultural value of knowing it.

I think a lot of programming and computer science education has moved in this
direction, but it's notable that Foster isn't just throwing the babies in to
make todo list apps -- they're reading the erudite giants of two millennia of
Latin literature. What would a "Great Works" version of a programing or
computer science curriculum look like?

(Comment disclaimer: I'm a classmate and friend of the author, a remarkable
man in his own right; a Princeton graduate and fluent Latin speaker who lives
with his family in a cabin without running water or electricity.)

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johan_larson
I have to wonder about this teaching method of his. It sounds like one of
those terribly demanding programs that is just wonderful with the best
teachers and the most serious and motivated students, but falls flat with the
ordinary and the reluctant.

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tdumitrescu
Absolutely: the "application" process wasn't about proving your level; it was
90% about weeding out potential students who didn't want to go all in on the
course, kids who thought it would be cool to have college/parents pay for a
summer vacation in Rome and wanted to dip in and out of class when they felt
like it. He had very little patience for "the reluctant." What were they doing
in a completely voluntary, free-of-charge, no-credit, out-of-term advanced
Latin course? I was so so happy to be in a class where you could count on all
the students to be motivated and engaged.

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tdumitrescu
I went through Reggie's summer course in Rome for the first time in 1998.
Totally free of charge, you took care of your own housing and feeding, just
show up for class every afternoon, no slacking. It was an awesome experience,
both in terms of pedagogy - everyone expected to participate orally, class
really about reading and sight-reading Latin from many centuries, very
technical in a pragmatic way rather than scholarly - and in seeing just how
humble and down-to-earth the head Latinist of the Vatican really was. A real
blue-collar "no gods no masters" old-school Milwaukee guy whom you'd expect to
find at the Communists Local 282 chapter meeting in a community center
basement rather than a monastery on one of the hills of Rome. Shows just how
damn good he was that he got to the position he was in all the while thumbing
his nose at the formality and insane bureaucracy of the papal curia.

~~~
drakenot
Thanks for sharing your experience. Were you in Rome specifically to enroll in
this summer course? How much latin experience did you already have before you
started?

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thunderbong
I was so piqued by this article I wanted to see a video of him and found this
amazing one of Foster talking to Bill Maher.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExElEMpJN3M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExElEMpJN3M)

Really enjoyable!

~~~
tdumitrescu
Sweet! Here's a more extended local news "human interest" story about his
teaching back in Milwaukee:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inQ6CWx7V2c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inQ6CWx7V2c)

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throwaway7645
Very interesting article. Thanks for posting.

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Koshkin
> _every prostitute_

In the first century, the Latin that was spoken in the streets of Rome (the
Vulgar Latin) was very different from the literary Latin used in books,
speeches, and other kinds of formal writing - which is what one learns from
today's textbooks. (The same was true for Greek and also for languages of
many, if not all, other "civilized" communities of the time; it is still true
for some of the languages spoken today.)

[Edit: Sorry for the misplaced comment.]

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jegoodwin3
Notes from Fr. Foster's course (First and Third experience only, because the
second was an immersion speaking experience I believe)

have for some time been available at this site:

[http://frcoulter.com/latin/](http://frcoulter.com/latin/)

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drakenot
For someone who is interested in learning Latin on their own, what is a good
resource?

The article specifically mentions that Fr. Foster's book is ill-suited to self
learners and is more appropriate for a classroom setting.

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jhbadger
If you are interested in the "Living Latin" as a spoken language as Foster
teaches, you can't really do that on your own. But really, most people
interested in Latin aren't really interested in that but really just want to
read Latin. And you certainly can do that on your own. There are lots of
textbooks, but probably the most popular is Wheelock's Latin which has the
advantage that if you don't understand a particular exercise, you'll have no
problem finding someone to explain it to you on the Net.

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sparcpile
The Oxford Latin Course is a good standard college-level introduction. There
is also Lingua Latina if you want to go full immersion.

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drakenot
Is Lingua Latina appropriate for self-learners?

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cpr
We've used it with our home-educated high schoolers (though with tutors), and
it's also used at the International Theological Institute in Vienna, where
some of our kids go. Seems like a good program.

