Questions tagged [soft-question]
The soft-question tag has no usage guidance.
18
questions
17
votes
1answer
270 views
What have we learned about Latin in the last century?
I have studied Latin, but in none of the courses I have taken has there been discussion about any progress in understanding Latin.
I do believe — and hope — that classically oriented ...
15
votes
4answers
1k views
Where to find an online Latin text corpus and what can I do with it?
Suppose I want to search for a certain word, expression or structure in the Latin literature.
What online tools can I use for such purposes?
Where can I find a large collection of Latin texts in ...
14
votes
1answer
146 views
Research or other reliable statistics about Latin proficiency today
I would like to know how many people understand Latin fluently.
To that end, I would like to find research or statistics concerning Latin proficiency.
I am not asking how many people have studied ...
13
votes
1answer
410 views
Where does our knowledge of the ancient poetic meters come from?
I have seen several accounts of ancient poetic meters, but it just occurred to me that none of them discussed the origin of the information.
Where does our knowledge of the ancient poetic meters come ...
11
votes
2answers
1k views
Descriptive example of Cicero's style
Cicero has produced quite a lot of Latin prose in what is considered excellent style.
I would like to find ways to demonstrate briefly what Cicero's style is all about.
If you had to demonstrate ...
10
votes
1answer
201 views
Translating Scientific Latin
For my high school English class, which is a translation "workshop," we're all expected to give class-long, individual sessions focusing around a translation we've performed from whatever language we ...
9
votes
1answer
127 views
How much larger are Latin texts translated into English?
Judging by number of words, how much translation from Latin to English grow in size? Naturally, this would depend on the text (and the translator), but I imagine there might be some form of range or ...
8
votes
1answer
171 views
What are the benefits of studying Latin?
Many of us have studied Latin simply because we enjoy it, and many have found use for it when studying something like philosophy or history where Latin materials are commonplace.
However, I am not ...
8
votes
3answers
108 views
How to find scholarly articles related to Latin?
If I want to find research articles of some kind to learn more about a particular topic related to Latin, what should I do?
I am a trained scientist, but my own research is on a very different field.
...
8
votes
1answer
121 views
Garden path sentences in classical Latin
A garden path sentence is a sentence that leads the reader astray and forces them to reanalyze.
The obvious first interpretation when one starts reading is a red herring and it comes clear that the ...
6
votes
1answer
212 views
Material for learning new poetic meters
I like metric poetry, and sometimes I want to broaden my horizons by learning a new poetic meter.
This has proven quite difficult, because the descriptions in many guides are quite terse.
For example, ...
6
votes
1answer
114 views
A representative work of Ovid
I am considering reading some Ovid(ius), possibly with some colleagues.
I don't want too much due to time limitations; perhaps something on the order of a single book of Metamorphoses should be ...
5
votes
0answers
153 views
Statistics for why people choose to study Latin
I would like to know why people have chosen to study Latin.
I am not looking for personal anecdotes but statistics.
Are there any studies on why students who choose Latin do so?
If there are several, ...
5
votes
0answers
94 views
How much of Augustine's writing has been translated into English?
(I'm not entirely sure that this is an appropriate question for the site: feel free to comment or start a meta discussion if you disagree.) I'm also not sure what tag(s) would be most appropriate.
...
4
votes
1answer
802 views
How to better distinguish words in Gregorian Chant?
When listening to Gregorian Chant (in Latin), I find very hard to distinguish the words being sung, beyond some trivial regular words or phrases.
It might well be said that Gregorian Chant is ...
4
votes
0answers
134 views
How to instruct people fluent in English to pronounce Latin?
Sometimes people with little or no knowledge of Latin end up having or wanting to use it.
I am typically willing to help and I have learned how to do it effectively with Finns.
But how should I ...
3
votes
1answer
119 views
How do we know where the Roman prose stress was?
I have been taught that the stress in classical Latin is on the second last syllable if it is long and on the third last syllable otherwise.
In two-syllable words the stress is on the first syllable.
...
3
votes
0answers
26 views
Does any text corpus allow quantity-sensitive searches?
Is there a text corpus, preferably of classical Latin, in which one can or even must search with specific vowel quantities?
This came up when I wanted to search for pateĢre but not patÄre and had ...
