BMCR 2009.05.38: Ritter on Minkova, Latin for the New Millennium: Student Text, Level 1; Teacher Manual, Level 1

Milena Minkova, Terence Tunberg, Latin for the New Millennium: Student
Text, Level 1.  Wauconda, Ill.:  Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 2008.
Pp. xxxiv, 442.  ISBN 978-0-86516-560-1.  $67.00 (hb).

Milena Minkova, Terence Tunberg, Latin for the New Millennium: Teacher
Manual, Level 1.  Wauconda, Ill.:  Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 2008.
Pp. lx, 442.  ISBN 978-0-86516-562-5.  $99.00 (pb).

Reviewed by Bradley Ritter, Ave Maria University
([email protected])
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To read a print-formatted version of this review, see
http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2009/2009-05-38.html
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Terence Tunberg and Milena Minkova's Latin for the New Millennium
('LNM') is a strikingly original and decidedly effective text for
introductory Latin. In it, the authors claim to strike a balance
between the inductive, or reading method, and the deductive method
commonly used in Greek and Latin instruction, and they are successful
in that (see p.vii in the Teacher's Manual). Though they do not mention
it explicitly, they have also transcended the cultural aspirations of
most reading-based texts with their successful adaptation of original
passages to the needs of beginning Latin students, helping students to
see for themselves some of what Latin literature has to offer them. In
their choice of authors for their adapted passages, they go in a
temporal sequence from Plautus to Boethius in level one, and from Bede
to the early modern writers (such as Copernicus or the lesser known
Ludvig Holberg) in level two. In doing so, they make a strong case for
Latin by constantly holding before their readers' eyes the vast
temporal reach of the language and its importance to European
intellectual history. These aspects of the text are fairly obvious
after even a passing glance. Much less noticeable initially, but of
equal if not greater importance, is the text's uncommonly rich supply
of exercises, both written and oral, which are as numerous as they are
effective.

The text is suitable both for high school and university students.
Representatives of the press (per litteras) say that university
students could complete the first level (the text here under review) in
one semester, and the second level in another (to be released in June
2009, according to the press). High school courses could take an entire
year for the first level, and at least that for the second level.
Because level two ends with ten sections of unadapted Latin from Nepos'
life of Atticus, both texts together could conceivably be used over two
or three semesters in university courses, and, for high schools, both
levels one and two could be used over three years. The teacher's
manual, which includes a reprint of the basic textbook, also includes
oral, supplementary exercises, a key for all exercises, and
translations of all the Latin readings. There is also a workbook, which
itself has a teacher's key. Online aids are plentiful.[[1]]

Each chapter begins with a quotation of the author who is the focus of
the chapter. So, in chapter three, we find 'Homo sum: humani nihil a me
alienum puto,' (Heauton Timoroumenos 77), followed by an adapted
reading from Terence, and in chapter seven, 'Odi et amo', followed by
an adaptation of Catullus 2 and 5. But the heart of every chapter is
the reading adapted from that author. The reading contains the basic
vocabulary to be learned, and its concepts and themes are often
reiterated in practice sentences throughout the chapter. This
repetition in the exercises also provides sensible and effective
reinforcement of both vocabulary and new grammatical concepts. The
adapted readings include the standard authors, Cicero, Caesar,
Catullus, Sallust, Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Seneca, Tacitus, as well as
the welcome additions of authors not so standard, including both
Augustine and Boethius, as well as Apuleius and Ammianus. After the
adapted reading, there is a gloss list on the facing page to help
students navigate through new vocabulary and unfamiliar morphology.
Because the reading includes elements of grammar to be introduced in
later sections, the glosses often include translations of forms
students would otherwise be unable to interpret on their own. Next come
two or three sections, called Language Fact I, II or III, each
providing an explanation of some new point of morphology or syntax.
Each of these sections also includes at least one, and usually more,
exercises to help students apply this morphology through
transformations, translation of forms, and analysis or translation from
Latin to English. Finally, the chapter closes with a dialogue of
conversational Latin focused on common situations in everyday life:
greetings and leave-takings, describing where one comes from,
vocabulary and formulae appropriate to the classroom, and related
items.

The basic arrangement of grammatical material will come as no surprise
to any Latin instructor, and any changes to the standard presentation
are subtle and welcome. The goal of the level one text is to present
the basic morphology of nouns, pronouns and adjectives, the functions
of the cases, indicative and infinitive verbs and the principal parts,
the irregular verbs sum and possum, relative clauses, indirect
discourse, and two participles (perfect passive and future active).
Accordingly, the list of morphological and syntactic points found in
the level two text is equally unsurprising:  subjunctives, ablative
absolute constructions, the passive periphrastic, other irregular
verbs, comparatives and superlatives of adjectives and adverbs, and the
present participle. The authors depart from the norm where appropriate.
The concept of case and the names of the five Latin cases are explained
quickly so that students can memorize whole declensions immediately
(pp. 6-7). But the main functions of the cases are unpacked gradually
over several chapters (the nominative and accusative in ch. 1, pp. 6-7;
genitive and vocative in ch. 3 (p. 37); dative in ch. 4 (p. 62); the
ablative in ch. 8 (pp. 128-129)). Again, the book introduces the
accusative with infinitive construction relatively early (in ch. 7, pp.
116-19), so that students grow familiar with this over time and can add
in new grammatical features as they are gradually revealed (such as
perfect active and passive infinitives, pp. 354-357, and, later, future
(active) infinitives, pp. 368-370).

A review follows every three chapters, and includes a vocabulary
summary and exercises on the chief new material, followed by three
sections, in English, which are cultural sidelights. These include,
first, an account of one of the major Roman gods; second, a small bit
of social history (such as slavery, Roman attire, cities and road
systems, gladiators); and, last, a short summary of some aspects of
Roman social, political or literary history, written by outside
contributors. The contributions from William Anderson on Roman comedy
and from James Keenan on Roman Law are particularly successful for
their engagement and explication of the texts students have read, and
that of Jacqueline Carlon on Roman families, for its constant recourse
to Latin vocabulary. All three sidelights in these review sections will
doubtless have a greater role to play in high school courses assessed
through the National Latin Exam or other state exams, which inevitably
include  questions about the Roman Pantheon or Roman social and
political history. But for the purposes of simple cultural enrichment,
the adapted readings are often sufficient.

To give a better sense for the book's composition, it is useful to look
in detail at a specific chapter, such as chapter 15. The chapter begins
with an adapted reading from Seneca's Epistulae Morales (12). The
reading is greatly altered from Seneca's original, but to good purpose.
Vocabulary is pared down; subjunctives and tenses of the indicative not
yet learned have all been removed. Futures of the third and fourth
conjugation have been carefully added (one of the primary grammatical
goals of the chapter). The reading is just long enough to capture both
the humor of the passage as well as Seneca's central observation in the
letter: the theme of memento mori. The adaptation is significant, but
judicious. Although not the original texts, these simplified passages
from ancient prose are a wonderful avenue for covering themes from the
literature in the target language.

After the adapted reading in chapter 15, the first 'Language Fact'
section presents the future active and passive of third, fourth and
third conjugation -io verbs (p. 249). An exercise follows that requires
transformations of present and imperfect tense verbs into the future
(p. 250). The student is then required to translate both the original
form and the derived form into English. The Teacher's Manual contains
an oral exercise of similar transformations for additional oral
practice (p. 249).  Next is the vocabulary for memorization, a subset
of the gloss list found at the start of the chapter. In every chapter,
this list is followed by an exercise meant to teach English derivatives
from the vocabulary.

The second 'Language Fact' section presents interrogative pronouns and
adjectives, illustrated by some easy sentences of both types of words.
Paradigms of each are then presented. Numerous exercises follow. In one
exercise, students are asked to translate simple sentences into Latin
which make use either of the interrogative pronoun or adjectives (such
as 'Whose villa is old?'and 'Whose (plural) villas are old?') (p. 254).
An exercise in the Teacher's Manual (p. 253) contains simple sentences
which students are to read and then transform, orally, into questions
by replacing underlined forms with interrogative pronouns and
adjectives. Another brief oral exercise encourages active use of the
interrogative pronoun. The teacher, it is suggested, could ask various
students such pre-formulated questions as 'Quis es?', 'Quis sum?',
'Cuius liber est?' and so forth (Teacher's Manual, p. 252). Sample
answers are given. This sort of exercise is a good example of the often
charming hints tucked away in the Teacher's Manual which could help
enliven an otherwise dreary grammatical point and present an additional
way to help ground the students in the morphology. Another textbook
exercise contains a skillful review of the reading: questions are asked
(in Latin) about the content of the Seneca passage, and students are
asked to pick the most appropriate response from among three possible
answers in Latin (pp. 254-55). In yet another exercise, students work
on translation and composition. They are to read a short dialogue based
on the reading, translating Latin into English and English to Latin (p.
256). The grammatical points tested most intensively are third and
fourth conjugation verbs as well as interrogative pronouns and
adjectives, the chapter's main points. Such useful exercises, found
throughout the text, form the backbone of the book.

Finally, the chapter ends with a short dialogue between the recurring
cast of student characters. The topic is a trip to the country, an
appropriate topic given Seneca's own trip to his villa in the chapter's
adapted reading. It contains a mix of mostly vocabulary with ancient
pedigree (rus, along with ruri and rure, semita, deambulare, sub divo,
vehor) and occasional, but sensible neologisms (birota, mantica
dorsualis, tentorium plicatile). Then follows an oral exercise based
upon the dialogue, which tests the students' reading comprehension and
reinforces vocabulary with simple Latin questions which the students
are to answer in Latin. The final oral exercise is a short dictation
based on the chapter's opening reading. Afterwards, the students may be
asked reading comprehension questions to which they are required to
give Latin responses.

As my review of chapter 15 indicates, the book's rich and diverse
supply of useful classroom exercises is one of its most important
contributions. The authors are careful to suggest a number of the tried
and true oral drills:  practice conjugations and declensions, work with
principal parts, declensions both of isolated nouns and of noun phrases
complete with demonstrative pronouns and adjectives, and basic
translation from and to Latin. But there are subtle touches which
improve their overall effect. In their translation exercises, they have
been careful not to encumber students with multiple variables, as the
sentences are normally focused enough that they help students exercise
the specific skill currently being reinforced. Moreover, these
exercises invariably use the vocabulary of the adapted reading,
providing useful repetition. But in addition to these more standard
drills, there are also a number of transformational drills and
completion exercises ('cloze tests'), which prove to be extremely
effective both for improving and testing comprehension. The teacher's
manual contains even further exercises, including oral transformational
drills and dictation exercises. A number of the 'Teacher's Tips' and
almost all the oral exercises are enormously innovative and
tremendously effective (for some examples, see p. 202, ch. 12; p. 223,
ch. 13; p. 252, ch. 15; p. 291, ch. 17; p. 169, ch. 10). It would be
difficult to think of another textbook which rivals this one in the
number and quality of these transformation, completion and dictation
exercises.[[2]] The exercises should be of interest to all Latin
instructors, whether or not they adopt the textbook for their courses.


The historical scope of the material contained in LNM is so vast that
the textbook itself becomes an implicit argument for the value of
studying Latin, given its longevity as a literary language and in
various scholarly disciplines. The book, however, as far as can be
judged in level one, adheres strictly to the norms of Classical Latin
in its description of the grammar (the perfect is simply described as,
e.g., laudatus sum, not laudatus fui), and the vocabulary intended for
memorization is straight from the canonical authors. The level two text
will include Bede, Einhard, Abelard, the Gesta Romanorum, Petrarch,
Erasmus, Thomas More, Sepulveda, and Copernicus. There too, it appears
that the Latin texts of the standard canon will be given privileged
status since the unadapted texts which begin to be used in the level
two text are from the letters of Cicero and Nepos' life of Atticus.
This primacy of both the grammar of Classical Latin as well as its
literary monuments should be stressed if level two's vastly increased
scope causes some hesitation for instructors deciding whether to adopt
the text. If anything, Terence and Cicero seem to take on added
importance as foundational authors in a two-thousand-year tradition of
thinkers who expressed their thought in Latin.

The Latin dialogues at the end of each chapter are a helpful supplement
to the text and succeed on two levels. Since they concern the daily
life of students at roughly the age of those using the text, they will
be contextualized by the reader's own experiences. As a result, they
can be read with relative ease, giving students fairly rapid exposure
to more Latin. Second , and less tangibly, their familiar content gives
students a helpful psychological link to the language. The dialogues
arm them, to some extent, with some of the vocabulary and modes of
expression which they would be acquiring in a modern language class
and, hence, often expect to learn in the Latin classroom. Incidentally,
they are reminiscent of their medieval and Renaissance era
counterparts, especially those of Erasmus, Corderius and Juan Luis
Vives.[[3]] Doubtless in the Renaissance, there was a pressing
motivation to learn to use Latin actively, and there were plentiful
opportunities for students aspiring to university studies to make
active use of it. This is to say, one hoped from such colloquia to
become a better speaker of Latin. But even Erasmus intended such
formulae loquendi, simple sentences for common situations, to be used
as a preface to reading of ancient authors.[[4]] The Latin dialogues in
LNM serve a similar function by allowing for additional practice in the
language and a closer connection to it before the hard work of reading
unadapted authors begins.

Some sections of the textbook could be improved upon in later editions.
The transition to the perfect tense, while never a particularly
pleasant shift in the classroom, could be handled more gently than the
authors do. The perfect active and passive have been presented as if
the difficulty students encounter is only with adding the personal
endings to the stems, and not the memorization and recollection of the
numerous irregular stems. The authors cover basic points about the
perfect, including the meaning of the third principal part, perfect
tense personal endings, as well as the standard stem changes seen for
each conjugation in the perfect tense. But there is no mention of the
mostly anomalous quality of the third conjugation in the perfect. This
is curious, because in the next exercise five of the eleven forms
students have to provide are third conjugation, and only one of the
other six actually follows the patterns they describe as sometimes
operative (p. 279). Lastly, only two of the forms (misisti and dixit)
have had their principal parts presented within the chapter. While
students have been presented with principal parts in the vocabulary
from chapter one, they would benefit from a synopsis of principal parts
of more common verbs already learned. Otherwise, students will either
need to have exceptional recall, or look for each form individually in
the glossary. A similar point can be made about their presentation and
exercises for the perfect passive participle, perfect passive
indicative and perfect infinitives (see pp. 334-35, 338-40 and 341 of
the textbook, and p. 341 of the Teacher's Manual).

Three smaller points can be mentioned. First, it would be of great use
if the authors were to include citations for all original passages used
in the text, whether adapted or not. A constant practice of citing the
text would help teachers who are eager to move beyond the textbook's
adaptation, whether curious about the origin or context, or eager to
investigate occasional obscurities, or seeking to find some
supplemental material. I can only suspect that this will be more
critical in level two, as the sources and editions become even more
obscure for most prospective teachers. Second, some discussion of the
vocabulary of Neo-Latin would be welcome and useful, even if only in
the Teacher's Manual. Few Classicists will have a deep acquaintance
with this literature, and would be helped by a brief synopsis
explaining the principles of certain neologisms (though some of these
terms are now centuries old) and the literature and lexica from which
they are drawn. Something similar exists already in these authors' own
works, and could be fruitfully restated and expanded upon in the LNM
Teacher's Manual.[[5]] The bibliography is helpful in pointing the way
to some useful texts, but falls short of exposition (see pp. 427-28).
Lastly, because the Teacher's Manual contains many of the exercises
I've discussed, it is one of the most useful contributions the text
makes. Unfortunately, at legal size, it is almost unportable. It
contains a full copy of the actual page of the text, along with
additional exercises in the margins. But it is not only unwieldy, it is
also delicate. Because it is paperback, I would assume its spiral-bound
cover has little hope of surviving serious use for any prolonged
period. At its current price ($99), it seems that the Teacher's Manual
should be more convenient and more durable.

LNM is an attractive text. On a physical level, the text is brilliantly
illustrated. But its beauty is not skin-deep. The images are often as
lavish as they are instructive, and the art gives students a sense of
the deep importance of the Classical tradition for European education
until the twentieth century.[[6]] Its texts and exercises are clearly
the fruit of years of thought and practice. The scope of the book
itself reflects a long-standing belief on the part of Terence Tunberg
for the need to broaden the canon covered in Classics departments to
include medieval and Neo-Latin texts.[[7]] Whether or not his arguments
can gain traction, the text which Tunberg and Minkova have produced
makes a strong case for Latin's enduring ability to communicate
high-level thought, whether in ancient texts or in modern ones.
Moreover, its exercises and dialogues, drawing on the authors'
considerable experience and expertise in both oral and written
composition, succeed in offering a tremendous array of classroom
practice which can enrich any Latin classroom.

Corrigenda in the textbook:

p. 2: For 'Amulius' daughter Rhea Silvia', we should instead read
'Numitor's daughter Rhea Silvia'.

pp. 77 and 78: neuter plural accusative is given as 'pulchram'.

p. 78: Feminine accusative plural of 'miser' given as 'miseros',
vocative given as 'miseri'. (Both this and the preceding noted in an
online forum by Marla Neal of the Girls Preparatory School in
Chattanooga, TN).

p. 87: Instead of 'potens' and its gloss, we should perhaps read
'potis', 'able'.
p. 172: 'occultati' should read 'occultatis'.

p. 225: In exercise 3, number 7, there is a missing macron on
'invide^'.

p. 240: The directions to exercise 5 seem to imply a previous
discussion of the use of nominative personal pronouns of the first and
second persons for emphasis, though nothing, so far as I can tell, has
been explicitly stated up to this point (cf. p. 21).

p. 357: 'illam arborem petivimus' here rendered 'We looked for that
tree'. It seems their original intention was to suggest that
Augustine's band of juvenile malefactors headed for the tree. The
authors have supplied 'arborem petivimus' in place of Augustine's
original 'ad hanc (sc. arborem) excutiendam...perreximus', and the
glossary itself lists this sense of 'petere'.

p. 359:  The caption, probably not attributable to the authors,
suggests that the word 'numismatics' comes from the Latin 'nummus'.

Corrigenda in the teacher's manual:

p. xxv: the letters 'civs' in the inscription, in reality the end of
the name of M. Porcius M. f. (CIL X, 852), are erroneously related in
the caption to the word 'civis'.

p. 182: In exercise 1, number 4, 'you (pl.) were calling' should read
'we were calling'.

p. 186: (not necessarily a mistake made by the authors, see p. xxiii of
the Teacher's Manual) Saguntum lay south, not north of the Ebro river.
This mistake appears in ancient authors from time to time, explicitly
(see Appian, Hisp. 2.7, Hann. 1.3) or implicitly, but is not found in
more trustworthy historians.

p. 189: In the last line of the dictation, there is a false quantity on
the last syllable of the word 'debet', repeated on p. 190, number 10.

p. 204: The first word in the question 'Qui Mucium cupiunt?' is missing
a macron.

p. 217: The phrase 'casus belli' has lost its macron on the first word,
both in the phrase and in the gloss.

p. 223: 'relinquere - relinque, relinquere' should instead read
'relinquere - relinque, relinquite'.

p. 308: 'eritis' of exercise 4, number 4 is mistakenly glossed as 'you
(pl.) were'.

p. 314: In Oral Exercise 7, in the sixth question on the page, given
the future perfect in the cum-clause, 'debebit' is expected in the
question instead of 'debebat'.

p. 329: In the last sentence we should instead find 'By propitiating'.


------------------
Notes:


1.   This includes several handouts in PDF format downloadable from the
Bolchazy-Carducci website, at least within posts in an online
'teachers' lounge' (http://newmillatin.ning.com) , also useful for
updates on the text (requires login). There are also question banks on
Quia for teachers to draw on for quizzes. For students, there are
recordings of selected readings from the textbook, which are promised
to expand to include all readings within the next academic year (
http://www.lnm.bolchazy.com/lnmmultimedia.html
(http://www.lnm.bolchazy.com/lnmmultimedia.html) ). Students can
download digital flashcards which they can purchase and use on an iPod
( http://ipodius.bolchazy.com/ (http://ipodius.bolchazy.com/) ).

2.   There are, on average, about 12 exercises per chapter, in addition
to whatever exercises can be found in the workbook, which compares
rather favorably with most texts on the market. The workbook has a
number of exercises, as well, which I haven't taken account of in this
figure.

3.   The bulk of the school dialogues were done in the 16th century and
early 17th centuries (see Alois Boemer, Die lateinischen
Schuelergespraeche der Humanisten, vols. 1 and 2, Berlin, 1897 and
1901). They enjoyed a long afterlife. Vives was used in Italy as a
preparation for Classical authors for some time (see, e.g., Paul
Grendler, Schooling in Renaissance Italy, Baltimore, 1989, pp.
199-201); Corderius proved popular in England and, later, the American
colonies. He continued to be in print until the early 19th century.
Routinely such dialogues were used after the initial study of the basic
grammar and before students' first reading of authors.

4.   See his comments in the De Ratione Studii (675:32-676:8 in the
Toronto translation, vol. 24).

5.   For example, in one of the appendices in Readings and Exercises in
Latin Prose Composition (181-85) (Newburyport, Mass., 2004) and in
Minkova's Introduction to Latin Prose Composition (111-14) (London,
2001).

6.   To give a few examples, the image of the rota fortunae at start of
chapter 21 is quite appropriate and illuminating. Laurent 'Pe/cheux's
Mucius Scaevola is perfectly suited to the adaptation of Livy's account
of the same (chapter 12, pp. 191-92), and the image of the Via Sacra
today is appropriately placed with Horace's satire on the bore (1.9)
(pp. 219-20). Some illustrations may be used to bring up points not
covered in the texts but which could provide cultural enrichment, such
as Henryk Siemiradzki's Pochodnie Nerona ("Nero's torches"), showing
the Christians about to be burned in retribution for their supposed
responsibility for the fire (p. 287), recalling Tacitus' Annales 15.44.
The image of St. Augustine and Monica might recall the 'ecstasy at
Ostia' (p. 349) of Confessions 9.10.24-25.

7.   Compare Tunberg's own words from a piece on this very subject:
"From the very beginning of the process of learning Latin, students
should be made aware of its entire history. Students at every level
should have some contact with more recent works in Latin, not merely
the ancient ones. They should acquire some notion of how vast and
complex is this later Latin tradition and what a fundamental part of
our intellectual heritage is contained within it and handed down by
it." ("Latinitas: The Misdiagnosis of Latin's Rigor Mortis," American
Classical League Newsletter, 22. no. 2, Winter 2000, pp. 21-26).