+++
title = "Doing Latin without thinking about it"
author = ["George M Jones"]
publishDate = 2022-02-06T00:00:00-05:00
lastmod = 2023-12-06T05:46:23-05:00
tags = ["latin", "100DaysToOffload", "duolingo"]
categories = ["blog"]
draft = false
+++

This may be obvious to people who are fluent in several languages, but
communicating in different languages does not have to be like working a proof in
geometry. The Latin I learned focused on being able to consciously understand
all 144 different inflected forms (yes, 144) of any standard Latin
verb.  Pretty sure most children in antiquity could not separate a
genitive geurnd from a supine from a plural perfect passive
participle.  But they could talk.

{{< figure src="/ox-hugo/ForumRomanarumNocte.jpg" caption="<span class=\"figure-number\">Figure 1: </span>[\\\"Forum Romanarum Nocte, Anno MMXIX\\\" by George Jones](http://curious.galthub.com/ox-hugo/ForumRomanarumNocte.jpg) is licenced under [CC SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)" width="600px" >}}

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I've been doing both the Spanish and Latin courses on duolingo for a
few weeks (24 days, per the app).  Today, I had an experience I've not
had in 35 years of toying with Latin:  I was translating without being
aware of conjugations or declensions or even if I was translating to
or from Latin.  They flip quickly between reading, listening and
written translation exercises in the native language and the language
being learned.  It was so effective that I forgot which language I was
working in.  It was just ideas and words.

To repeat a quote from [an earlier blog post](http://curious.galthub.com/blog/2022-01-29/):

> There is no reason why learners should be made to treat every Latin
> text as puzzle to be deciphered into translation, rather than a
> specimen of normal human communication to be understood as such.

<http://blogicarian.blogspot.com/2019/03/argumentum-ad-ignorantiam.html?m=1>

Euge, Duolingo!

\#4 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, <https://100daystooffload.com/>.