He says that Latin is an example of an ancient language that offers its students many practical advantages. Each year, more than people from all walks of life turn up at the Macquarie Ancient Languages school to study week-long intensive courses in such arcane tongues as Latin, Ancient Greek, Hieroglyphic Egyptian, Coptic Egyptian, Ancient Hebrew and Akkadian — the language of ancient Mesopotamia. Far from being irrelevant, students of these ancient languages find that a good deal of what they learn is useful for understanding not just the use of English, but also much of the terminology of science. Versions of Latin are spoken today, in the form of languages like Italian and Spanish; just as modern Greek is a descendant of ancient Greek, he adds.

This free course, Getting started on classical Latin, has been developed in response to requests from learners who had had no contact with Latin before and who felt they would like to spend a little time preparing for the kind of learning that studying a classical language involves. The course will give you a taster of what is involved in the very early stages of learning Latin and will offer you the opportunity to put in some early practice. You can start this course right now without signing-up. Click on any of the course content sections below to start at any point in this course. If you want to be able to track your progress, earn a free Statement of Participation, and access all course quizzes and activities, sign-up.

Make Your Own List. What books should you read if you want to learn Latin? Harry Mount and Katie Walker recommend the best books for learning Latin—the language of a small, central Italian tribe that managed to conquer most of Europe. Interview by Katie Walker. Before we get to number one, I should ask you— we know the answer to this, but for the unenlightened—why should anyone learn Latin?

To learn the classical languages seems simply out of our reach. But it is possible for a busy adult to learn a language, modern or ancient. If you have the means to take a language course, then do so.