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| Wheelock's Latin (Wheelock's Latin) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Frederic M. Wheelock, Richard A. Lafleur
Publisher: Collins
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy Used: $7.00
You Save: $14.95 (68%)
New (51) Used (68) from $7.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 13793
Media: Paperback
Edition: 6 Blg Rev
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 560
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.8
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.6
ISBN: 0060783710
Dewey Decimal Number: 478.2421
EAN: 9780060783716
ASIN: 0060783710
Publication Date: May 31, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Some missing pages, Some detached pages ,missing back cover , Light highlight, Some writing, Some wear, will ship within 12-24 Hours DB-TOP
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| Customer Reviews:
 Latin Review Text November 3, 2007
This book is a great review of Latin and the pedagogy of Latin but it is not for the first-time student in place of a live teacher. It is complete, a bit different that the text I have used but is worth every cent. It is a great text and a supplement to a course but it is not a course unto itself. The first-time student needs a live teacher and someone to hear their utterances. There are workbooks and other companion texts to accompany the text. A Good Buy!
 Buy _Learn to Read Latin_ Instead! October 20, 2007
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
This is a decent textbook...
However, it is rather dated, and LaFleur's additions aren't very helpful. The 3rd edition (used) of this book is by far the best...
Instead of going all the way through this book and still not being able to READ actual Latin, buy the textbook _Learn to Read Latin_ by Andrew Keller and Stephanie Russel. No synthetic Latin passages to read, and quite a large variety of readings (Propertius, Ennius, Vergil, Quintillian etc...) The best of Moreland and Fleischer and Wheelock combined, minus the flaws of both. And the workbook exercises are checked against the PHI cd-rom for syntax and correlation with actual usage in the Latin text corpus.
Add in a PDF answer key from the authors, and you are good to go.
No, I'm not affiliated with the authors, I am a former UMass Amherst student who just got frustrated with inferior textbooks (Athenaze, OLC/CLC, etc!)
 A good college text... July 10, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This latest edition of Wheelock's Latin is much improved from past year's editions. While the book retains much of the copious factual and many of the grammatical features, each chapter now contains a section called "Latina est gaudium -- et utilis!" which brings a little light-heartedness to the format. Dr. Rick LaFleur has done a great job with his additions to the book, and this book is the preferred text for many U.S. universities.
I only have a few irksome issues with the book, but this is because I learned Latin originally from the Ecce Romani series of texts. I can understand why the writers choose to leave out some obscure forms and spellings, but then again, when they are encountered in "real" Latin, one wonders what he's seeing then. A good bit of the translation, especially the self-tutorial sentences, is "canned" Latin, changed from the original, and while this is necessary in the begining chapters, later it is not. It is kind of a shock to try to then go over to something like the Aeneid. As well, some of the grammar is called by different names in Wheelock versus other texts, gerundive vs. future passive participle, for example.
In all, the text is a compromise between the old school approach to Latin pedagogy (memorization and regurgitation) and the newer approaches that concentrate more on understanding Latin as Latin rather than stilted English translations.
The Standard Text June 23, 2007
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
Wheelock is a very decent textbook which has been a staple for the Latin community for a very long time, and for good reason. It progresses in a logical manner and is full of drills and review, which makes it somewhat comprehensive. However, it doesn't teach EVERY use of certain cases, such as the partitive genitive, which, although basic, is glossed over. Also, it omits alternative case endings. "You'll learn that in your second year", is what is claimed, despite the fact that some of us using this to teach ourselves have no other resource. The major flaw with wheelock is that this book teaches you how to translate Latin, not to read it. You have to sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil after you have completed all forty chapters in order to read anything or understand anything.
I recommend as an alternative "Learn to Read Latin". This text is very comprehensive, covering all of the major aspects of latin and prepares a student for actual reading. The workbook availible for that course is EXTREMELY comprehensive and thorough, with hundreds of individual drills. Personally, I would utilize both products.
 Potentially the WORST instruction book for Latin April 8, 2007
24 out of 117 found this review helpful
This book is for you if you want to study Latin as it is currently thought to have been spoken during Roman times (dispite the fact no one is really sure and there aren't any Romans around to speak with anyway). This has its good points such as etymological aids and what not but the kind of Latin studied in the book is not for those who wish to use Latin for Modern purposes. This book will perpetuate the concept in the user's (not reader's) head of Latin as a Dead Language. Most of the vocabulary is for things that we don't have or say anymore. As stated above the Pronunciation guide is off from Modern use and there really aren't any Latin Speakers speaking this way. This text will not build fluency and after a while it become very redundant with the user knowing about a houndred ways to translate the sentence "Philosophy is good." There are numerous points of mention of the old Roman and Greek gods and the plural form of the word Deus is shown and used which will put several users of monotheistic background on guard.
Do not be fooled by reviews that basically point to this as being the Bible of Latin (as opposed to the Bible in Latin). This text is not exhausetive and really will only give you a very elementry education in Latin that leaves you ill prepared for reading modern Latin text. When reading you will undoubtably be saying English in your head using the translation formula provied by the author as opposed to actually saying the Latin and understanding the meaning. In that sense the Latin is really only shown as a code for English thus forwarding the perception of Latin as a Dead Language. Also some of the authors comments are really strange and he even admits that his goal is the make the learner Groan.
If you are not Catholic and want to pretend that you can go back in time and talk to Caesar or Cicero then you should use this book. This book is only for thost that think of Latin as neat but have no use for it in Daily life.
If you are a Catholic and have serious uses for the Latin Language as a living language that will play a part in your daily life then do not use this book for it will put you off Latin and make you feel that the Latin Language is worthless. The prununciation uses in this book is not the correct pronunciation used in the Chruch. Catholics should look for Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin which is a better book anyway and will actually foster Fluency. Then look for Let's Read Latin With Tape which will give you your prayer in Latin with very good explanations to what they mean.
Just so I can be clear, this book is not for Catholics and is not Catholic Latin. This book is loved by those who specifically want to use Latin that is not used in the Catholic Church which is why they changed the Pronunciation.
If you are a Catholic, do not buy this book.
If you actually want to study Latin to value it as a language do not buy Wheelock for the following reasons:
The non use of the letter J
The use of Macrons
The pronunciation presented in the book actually makes many of the words difficult to say and forces the student to only be able to recognize a word in written form. You will be sounding like you are speaking German instead of Latin, Italian or French.
The book fails to give the correct information about the formation of the perfect tense so that students can conjugate in their heads so instead students must look up the perfect form in the dictionary.
The book fails to give proper information on the stress of a Latin word that lets you hear the difference in a word apart form seeing a visual macron.
Only 40% of the book is dedicated to teaching the language, the other 60% explains about Ancient Rome and props Cicero up on a pedistal. There are also very inapropriate sections authored by Catullus.
The book doesn't present nearly enough grammatical structures and should have spent more time on language acuasition and less on "isn't Cicero great for putting people to death without trial."
The grammar comes way to slow.
The teaching method used in the book is the grammar memorize, translation method that has been shown to be a hinderence to students who actually want to understand the language and express themselves in the language.
This book assumes Latin to be a dead language and promotes this idea in the author's notes.
This book lies to students about certain grammatical structures in how to form them and why they are formed that way. The subjunctive looks like the infinitive by accident not design as stated in the book. The author mistakes the gerund for the gerundive in chapter 39. The book aserts that fear clauses used to be seperate jussive clauses, this is not true, they were always part of the same sentence. The book actually tells students that the present paraphrastic can not be formed, it can. The book tells the student that the subjunctive is a 'coulda, shoulda, woulda' tense of a verb when it is just not true. The subjunctive is a grammatal tense with no meaning outside of idiom as almost all inflexive languages includeing Japanese has. The ablative is shown to be a preposition/adverb case when really it, like the subjunctive, is used only for syntax and grammar to you can understand the sentence. Wheelock tells these lies to get the student to more easily translate into English but they prevent the correct understanding of the Latin Language.
The vocabulary fucused on in Wheelock is strange and not very useful for daily life and thus not retained by the student. Many words presented for vocabulary study are only ever used by one author and maybe only once.
Wheelock fails to give enough information about how the declentions are related to each other.
Wheelock fails to present many very common prepositions that were in frequent use even before Cicero.
Wheelock has the student translate sentence after sentence so that they will only understand the English meaning. It lacks drills for person, case, mood changing that would build fluency and have the student creating new Latin. Students that use this book will not be able to create a Latin sentence off the top of their heads by the end of it.
The name of this book really should be changed from and introductory course in Latin to Cicero and the Late Republic. This book is not worth your money if you actually just want to study Latin as a Language. If you want to study Cicero and Catullus almost exclusively and don't care to be able to read any other authors then this book is for you.
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