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I'm not sure whether this question is allowed, but I'm preparing for a course starting in September. The last time I heard Latin spoken was about 50 years ago at school, and that was Church or Ecclesiastical Latin. Can anyone point me to online resources of Classical spoken Latin, if this is within guidelines? Many thanks.

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    It's probably possible for someone to give an overview of Classical pronunciation in an answer here. That is, explaining how the various letters and syllables are pronounced. Is that what you are looking for? Or are you looking for some other type of resource?
    – Nathaniel is protesting
    Commented Aug 3, 2016 at 16:13
  • @Nathaniel Thanks - I'm actually looking for some spoken/audio examples. Back in the 60s, I was taught "v" was pronounced as in "Valley", "Caesar" as in "seize 'er" ;) etc so I'm going to struggle with modern thoughts on pronunciation!
    – TheHonRose
    Commented Aug 3, 2016 at 16:26
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    That's tricky, then, because there are so many resources available. Here's a passage on Wikipedia, for example, and here's a guy with a free online course offering classical Latin recordings. There are probably dozens of other examples. Thus this seems more appropriate as a "big-list" resource question. See: Request for most-needed resource questions
    – Nathaniel is protesting
    Commented Aug 3, 2016 at 16:38

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There are lots and lots of recordings around. Check YouTube for Terentius Tunberg and Milena Minkova. Also for Wilifried Stroh, whom I find very entertaining to watch (a series of his lectures in Latin is here: Wilfried Stroh - Valahfridus - Latin Lectures.

There's also a collection of audio recordings of various lecture series of his at Wilfried Stroh (Valahfridus)

These should certainly be enough to get you started.

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I cannot state well enough how much I have learned from Luke Ranieri. He is a polyglot, speaking numerous languages, and is fluent in both Ancient Greek and Latin. Some good videos to get started:

He also regularly links to other Latin speakers’ channels or users’ entries, such as Alexius Cosanus, Dr. Balqis Al-Karaki (Vergil recital) or Metatron.

And let us not be mistaken: Latin may not have any native speakers, but Latin surely lives! Q.v. the introduction to LLPSI as well.

Ūtinam hoc tibī aliīsque accomodātum ūtileque possit!

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    I agree with you (+1!). Luke Ranieri has lots of very interesting material to learn Latin (Irene Regini's Satura Lanx is also an excellent source). Your final caveat is very appropriate: one should not put "very fluent speakers" on a par with "native speakers" nor even with "proficient" ones. For example, there are many people who are said to "speak Latin very fluently" and it is blatantly obvious that they often violate the information structure of this language when speaking it (and writing in it). This is not the case of Luke nor of the scholars mentioned by Joel Derfner in his post.
    – Mitomino
    Commented Aug 13, 2021 at 1:38
  • To your final comment: Why do you think that is? What is it that these speakers do differently that make them stand out? Brute force memorisation + LLPSI, ɔ: Dowling method?
    – Canned Man
    Commented Aug 13, 2021 at 7:01
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    I guess the only one who learned Latin with the LLPSI method was Luke. The academic scholars mentioned in Joel's post learned this language differently and, of course, with a more solid philological basis. In spite of this, I'd dare to say that Luke has an advantage wrt the others: he seems to be very gifted for learning languages. In a sense, he reminds me of Ken Hale, a legendary polyglot who "could converse in more than 50 languages, including Navajo, Hopi and the Australian aboriginal tongue of Warlpiri" (latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-oct-24-me-61058-story.html ).
    – Mitomino
    Commented Aug 13, 2021 at 15:59
  • +1 for that very educational reply! He wasn’t by chance a missionary? (I will look at the link at a later time.)
    – Canned Man
    Commented Aug 13, 2021 at 21:36

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