Instruction in Latin
Encyclopedia
Philosophical aims
Although Latin was once the universal academic language in Europe, academics no longer use it for writing papers or daily discourse. The Roman Catholic Church also modernized its religious liturgies (such as the Tridentine MassTridentine Mass
The Tridentine Mass is the form of the Roman Rite Mass contained in the typical editions of the Roman Missal that were published from 1570 to 1962. It was the most widely celebrated Mass liturgy in the world until the introduction of the Mass of Paul VI in December 1969...
) from Latin into local vernacular languages as part of the Vatican II reforms
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
in the 1960s. Nonetheless, the study of Latin has remained an academic staple into the 21st century.
Most of the Latin courses currently offered in secondary schools and universities are geared toward translating historical texts into modern languages, rather than using Latin for direct oral communication. As such, they primarily treat Latin as a written dead language, although some works of modern literature such as Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
, Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and...
, Paddington Bear
Paddington Bear
Paddington Bear is a fictional character in children's literature. He appeared on 13 October 1958 and was subsequently featured in several books, most recently in 2008, written by Michael Bond and first illustrated by Peggy Fortnum....
, Winnie the Pooh, Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin is a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist , who wrote under the pen name of Hergé...
, Asterix
Asterix
Asterix or The Adventures of Asterix is a series of French comic books written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo . The series first appeared in French in the magazine Pilote on October 29, 1959...
, Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
, Le Petit Prince
The Little Prince
The Little Prince , first published in 1943, is a novella and the most famous work of the French aristocrat writer, poet and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ....
, Max und Moritz, Peter Rabbit
Peter Rabbit
Peter Rabbit is a fictional anthropomorphic character in various children's stories by Beatrix Potter. He first appeared in The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1902, and subsequently in five more books between 1904 and 1912. Spinoff merchandise includes dishes, wallpaper, and dolls...
, Green Eggs and Ham
Green Eggs and Ham
Green Eggs and Ham is a best-selling and critically acclaimed book by Dr. Seuss, first published on August 12, 1960. As of 2001, according to Publishers Weekly, it was the fourth-best-selling English-language children's book of all time....
, and The Cat in the Hat
The Cat in the Hat
The Cat in the Hat is a children's book by Dr. Seuss and perhaps the most famous, featuring a tall, anthropomorphic, mischievous cat, wearing a tall, red and white-striped hat and a red bow tie. He also carries a pale blue umbrella...
have been translated into Latin
Latin translations of modern literature
A number of Latin translations of modern literature have been made to bolster interest in the language. The perceived dryness of classical literature is sometimes a major obstacle for achieving fluency in reading Latin, as it discourages students from reading larges quantities of text . In his...
in order to promote interest in the language.
Living Latin
Conversely, proponents of the Living Latin movement believe that Latin can be taught in the same way that modern "living" languages are taught, i.e. by incorporating oral fluency and listening comprehension as well as textual skills. This approach offers speculative and stylistic insight into how ancient authors spoke and incorporated sounds of the language, as patterns in Latin poetryLatin poetry
The history of Latin poetry can be understood as the adaptation of Greek models. The verse comedies of Plautus are the earliest Latin literature that has survived, composed around 205-184 BC, yet the start of Latin literature is conventionally dated to the first performance of a play in verse by a...
and literature
Latin literature
Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings of the ancient Romans. In many ways, it seems to be a continuation of Greek literature, using many of the same forms...
can be difficult to identify without an understanding of the sounds of words. Living Latin can be seen in action in Scholahttp://schola.ning.com/, a social networking site where all transactions are in Latin, including conversations in real-time in the site's locutorium (chatroom).
Institutions that offer Living Latin instruction include the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
and the University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
. In Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, the Classical Association
Classical Association
The Classical Association is a British learned society in the field of classics, and a registered charity.The association was founded on 19 December 1903, and its objects are defined in its constitution as:...
encourages this approach, and Latin language books describing the adventures of a mouse called Minimus
Minimus
The Minimus books are a series of school textbooks, written by Barbara Bell, illustrated by Dr. Helen Forte, and published by the Cambridge University Press, designed to help children of primary school age to learn Latin...
have been published. The Latinum podcast, teaching conversational Classical Latin, is also broadcast from London. There are several websites offering Nuntii Latini
Nuntii Latini
Nuntii Latini is a news service based in Finland that broadcasts news in Latin. It has been broadcast since September 1989 by the Finnish national broadcaster YLE on YLE Radio 1 -channel.- Station output :...
(Latin News) which usually cover international matters: in Finland (weekly), in Bremen/Germany (monthly), and on Radio Vaticanhttp://www.radiovaticana.org/. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the National Junior Classical League
National Junior Classical League
The National Junior Classical League is a youth organization of secondary school students sponsored by the American Classical League...
(with more than 50,000 members) encourages high school students to pursue the study of Latin, and the National Senior Classical League
National Senior Classical League
The National Senior Classical League is an organization — mostly of college students — which promotes the study, appreciation and advancement of the Classics. It is the college-level affiliate of the National Junior Classical League , and both organizations are sponsored by the American Classical...
encourages college students to continue their studies of the language.
Influence on artificial languages
Many international auxiliary languageInternational auxiliary language
An international auxiliary language or interlanguage is a language meant for communication between people from different nations who do not share a common native language...
s have been heavily influenced by Latin; the successful language Interlingua
Interlingua
Interlingua is an international auxiliary language , developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association...
considers itself a modernized and simplified version of the language. Latino sine Flexione
Latino sine Flexione
Latino sine flexione , or Peano’s Interlingua , is an international auxiliary language invented by the Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano in 1903. It is a simplified version of Latin, and retains its vocabulary...
is a language created from Latin with its inflections dropped, that laid claim to a sizable following in the early 20th century.
Curriculum requirements in Australia
Latin is not offered by the mainstream curriculum; however it is offered in many high schools as an elective subject. Many schools, particularly private schools, offer many languages in year 7 to expose the student to languages as possible electives; Latin is often among these introductory languages. Alternatively, many universities or colleges offer the subject for students should they desire to study it.Dutch-speaking regions
Latin is optionally taught. Most students can choose Latin as one of the two majors. Other majors may be Greek, maths, science or modern languages.France
Latin is optionally studied in French secondary schools.Germany
Some 15% of the student population learn Latin, and a Latin certificate (called Latinum) is a requirement for various university courses. It is the third most popular language learnt in school. In some regions (e.g. Bavaria) it is still very popular, where nearly 50% of all grammar school students study Latin. However, in cities like Bremen it became very unpopular.Greece
The teaching of Latin has a very long history in Greece. Latin is today compulsory for high school students who wish to study Law, social and political sciences and humanities, and is one of the six subjects tested in Greek examinations for entry into university-level courses in these fields. In high school, the subject is taught in a very detailed manner that has provoked criticisms.Ireland
Latin until recently was extremely popular in secondary schools. Now however, Latin is not widely taught but can be taken as an optional subject in some secondary schools.Italy
In Italy, Latin is still compulsory in secondary schools such as the Liceo classicoLiceo classico
Liceo classico is a secondary school type in Italy. The educational curriculum lasts five years, and students are generally about 14 to 19 years of age....
and Liceo scientifico
Liceo Scientifico
Liceo Scientifico is a secondary school type in Italy. Along with Liceo Classico, it is considered the peak of the Italian upper secondary education. The access to this school is possible after the successful completion of the three year middle school and the corresponding final examination...
, which are usually attended by people who aim to the highest level of education. In Liceo classico, ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
is also a compulsory subject. About one third of Italian certificated (18-year-olds) have taken Latin for five years.
Poland
Latin is a non-compulsory foreign language that students of some high schools can choose to learn. Latin language and the culture of antiquity is also one of the extra examinations a high school graduate may take during his matura. Latin language is compulsory subject for students of law, medicine, veterinary and language studies.Spain
Latin is a compulsory subject for all those who study humanities (students can select from three sorts of study: sciences, humanities or a mixture) in grades 11 and 12.United Kingdom
In the first half of the 20th century, Latin was taught in approximately 25% of schools. However, from the 1960s, universities gradually began to abandon Latin as an entry requirement for Medicine and Law degrees. After the introduction of the Modern Language General Certificate of Secondary EducationGeneral Certificate of Secondary Education
The General Certificate of Secondary Education is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is equivalent to a Level 2 and Level 1 in Key Skills...
in the 1980s, Latin began to be replaced by other languages in many schools. Latin is still taught in a small number, particularly public schools. Only two British exam boards offer Latin, OCR
OCR (examination board)
OCR is an examination board that sets examinations and awards qualifications . It is one of England, Wales and Northern Ireland's five main examination boards....
and SQA
Scottish Qualifications Authority
The Scottish Qualifications Authority is a non-departmental public body responsible for accreditation and awarding. It is partly funded by the Education and Lifelong Learning Directorate of the Scottish Government, employing 750 staff, based in Glasgow and Dalkeith...
. In 2006, it was dropped by the exam board AQA
Assessment and Qualifications Alliance
AQA is an Awarding Body in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It compiles specifications and holds examinations in various subjects at GCSE, AS and A Level and offers vocational qualifications. AQA is a registered charity and independent of the Government...
.
Other countries
In DenmarkDenmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, and Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Latin is studied at high schools called Gymnasia
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
. In Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Latin is also studied. In Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Latin is studied at a small minority of high schools.
Canada
Latin is optionally studied in a small number of Canadian secondary schoolsEducation in Canada
Education in Canada is for the most part provided publicly, funded and overseen by federal, provincial, and local governments. Education is within provincial jurisdiction and the curriculum is overseen by the province. Education in Canada is generally divided into primary education, followed by...
.
United States
In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Latin is occasionally taught in high schools and middle schools, usually as an elective or option. There is, however, a growing classical education movement
Classical education movement
The Classical education movement advocates a form of education based in the traditions of Western culture, with a particular focus on education as understood and taught in the Middle Ages. The curricula and pedagogy of classical education was first developed during the Middle Ages by Martianus...
consisting of private schools and home schools that are teaching Latin at the elementary, or grammar school level. Latin is often taught and is sometimes a mandatory requirement at Catholic secondary schools. More than 149,000 Latin students took the 2007 National Latin Exam. In 2006, 3,333 students took the AP Latin Literature
AP Latin Literature
Advanced Placement Latin Literature was one of two examinations offered by the College Board's Advanced Placement Program for high school students to earn college credit for a college-level course in Latin literature.Due to low numbers of students taking AP Latin Literature, it was discontinued...
exam.
Chile
Latin is not a compulsory subject in school, and it is presented as optional in very few secondary schools. However, many universities impart Latin as a compulsory subject for the students of Philosophy, Literature, Linguistics, Theology and sometimes Law.Venezuela
In VenezuelaVenezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
Latin is taught as a compulsory subject in the branch of humanities of the bachillerato for two years. Bachillerato is a segment of secondary education similar to American high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
s and is divided into two branches: sciences and humanities. Students learn Latin grammar in their first year of study, then construct and translate Latin texts in the second year.
At university level, the University of the Andes offers a degree program for Letras Mención Lengua y Literaturas Clásicas (Classical Languages and Literatures). In this program (the only one of its type in Venezuela), the students learn Latin, Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
and the literature of both languages for five years. In other Venezuelan universities, Latin is a compulsory subject of the program for Letras (Hispanic Literature) and Educación, mención: Castellano y Literatura (Education of Spanish language and Hispanic Literature).
Latin is also taught in Roman Catholic seminaries
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
.
Taiwan
Latin is a rare language in Asia, including Taiwan. There are fewer than five universities offering Latin curriculum.As a Catholic university, Fu Jen University
Fu Jen Catholic University
Fu Jen Catholic University is a co-educational Catholic university located in Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City, Republic of China...
is the most important school to offer the Latin curriculum in Taiwan. It offers short-term Latin courses with dormitory
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
in summer vacation
Summer vacation
Summer vacation is a vacation in the summertime between school years in which students and instructors are off school typically between 6 and 12 weeks, depending on the country and district.-Students:In some countries, students participate in programs such as organized sports, summer camps, and...
and even attracts many students from Mainland China.
Independent Study
A number of people interested in Latin do not have access to formal instruction. In many countries, Latin has fallen out of favour in schools and colleges. As a result, there is a growing demand for resources allowing people to study Latin independently. Online study groups offer a certain degree of guidance to independent learners. The beginners' textbook Wheelock's Latin is particularly well-adapted to independent study because of its clear and comprehensive instructions, its numerous exercises, the included answer key, and the wealth of supplementary and third-party aids adapted to the textbook. Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata by Hans Henning ØrbergHans Henning Ørberg
Hans Henning Ørberg was born in Denmark and received a master's degree in English, French and Latin at the University of Copenhagen...
is an instructional book that teaches Latin entirely in Latin. A teacher’s guide and other support materials are available, including a spoken version of the book. There is useful public domain material online for learning Latin, including old school textbooks, readers, and grammars such as Meissner's Latin Phrasebook
Meissner's Latin Phrasebook
Meissner’s Latin Phrase-book is a nineteenth century book of phrases in Latin for students of composition or those wanting to learn spoken Latin.-History of the English text:...
. There are also a number of online courses, such as Avitus' Schola Latina Universalis and Molendinarius' Latin-only YouTube course, Cursum Latinum, and the Latinum Podcast.
Order of Declension in Various Curricula
In modern Latin instruction, there is no single international standard for the sequence of cases within each declension paradigmLatin declension
Latin is an inflected language, and as such has nouns, pronouns, and adjectives that must be declined in order to serve a grammatical function. A set of declined forms of the same word pattern is called a declension. There are five declensions, which are numbered and grouped by ending and...
.
NOM-VOC-ACC-GEN-DAT-ABL-LOC
NOM-VOC-ACC-GEN-DAT-ABL-LOC has been the usual order in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and many Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
countries since the publication of Hall Kennedy
Benjamin Hall Kennedy
Benjamin Hall Kennedy was an English scholar and schoolmaster, known for his work in the teaching of the Latin language.-Biography:...
's Latin Primer (1866). It is also usual in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, whose native languages have all largely lost their own case systems. This order reflects the syncretic trends of different cases to share similar endings.
NOM-GEN-DAT-ACC-ABL-VOC-LOC
The alternate sequence NOM-GEN-DAT-ACC-ABL-VOC-LOC arose from ByzantineMedieval Greek
Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, is the stage of the Greek language between the beginning of the Middle Ages around 600 and the Ottoman conquest of the city of Constantinople in 1453. The latter date marked the end of the Middle Ages in Southeast Europe...
grammarians who were originally writing about Greek. It is standard in the United States, although modern texts increasingly move the VOC at the end to minimize disruption to the 4½ declensions in which it is identical to NOM; some introductory texts such as Wheelock's Latin almost entirely ignore VOC and LOC except for a few brief notes.
NOM-GEN-DAT-ACC-ABL-VOC-LOC is also used in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, as it closely corresponds to the conventional case order in the Polish language
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, except for the latter's use of an instrumental case
Instrumental case
The instrumental case is a grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the instrument or means by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action...
instead of an ablative
Ablative case
In linguistics, ablative case is a name given to cases in various languages whose common characteristic is that they mark motion away from something, though the details in each language may differ...
. The same sequence is predominant in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, although the modern Dutch language
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
has largely lost its case system
Dutch declension
Dutch, like many other Indo-European languages, has gradually moved its nominal morphology from synthetic to chiefly analytic. It has retained some vestiges of the original case system, more so than English, but to a much lesser extent than German...
; instead, the rationale is that this general order is convenient for the consistent teaching of three different commonly-studied declensive languages: Latin, Ancient Greek, and modern German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
.
The order NOM-GEN-DAT-ACC-ABL-VOC is also used in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
itself to echo the conventional order of German noun cases (NOM-GEN-DAT-ACC), and also in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
despite the disappearance of cases from Italian grammar
Italian grammar
Italian grammar is the body of rules describing the properties of the Italian language. Italian words can be divided into these lexical categories: article, noun, adjective, pronoun, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection.-Articles:...
. This order is also used in Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
because the conventional order of Lithuanian noun cases is the same. LOC is dealt with separately as it is seldom used in Latin and might be considered to be on the verge of extinction in Classical Latin.
NOM-GEN-DAT-ACC-VOC-ABL
The order NOM-GEN-DAT-ACC-VOC-ABL is the standard order used in Italy (with the Vocative case before the Ablative).Most unemphatic sentences in Latin will follow the word order of Nom-Dat-Acc-Abl-V. Vocatives were usually placed at the very beginning or at the very end, or occasionally as a post possitive. A Genitive acts as an Adjective and thus can go anywhere in a sentence to be near the word it modifies. The Locative was usually used adverbially so it fit into the adverb slot in a sentence where the Ablatives and prepositional clauses would also go. Since grammatical function in a sentence was not based on word order but on inflection, this usual word order in Latin is often anbandoned with no detriment to meaning or understanding. Latin being a pro-drop language would often omit the Nominative if it was redundant, resulting in two-word sentences that were either "Adjective Esse (to be)" or "Accusative plus transitive verb". This basic word order in Latin has been retained in the way Romance languages require pronouns which have kept inflections to be placed in this specific order in a sentence. If a sentence in a Romance Language is made up entirely of Pronouns and a verb, then the pronouns will follow Latin word order and place the Verb at the end of the sentence with the pronouns arranged as Nom-Dat-Acc-Abl. The only exceptions to this are the tendencies to place the Pronouns for "I" and "you" before pronouns for "he, she, it". This is however considered emphatic.
Others
Brazilian grammarian Napoleão Mendes used the unusual sequence NOM-VOC-GEN-DAT-ABL-ACC. In FinlandFinland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, where the Finnish case system
Finnish language noun cases
Finnish nouns as well as any modifying adjectives, superlatives or comparatives, can be declined by a large number of grammatical cases, which are detailed here. See also Finnish grammar....
is alive and flourishing, most Latin textbooks use the order NOM-ACC-GEN-DAT-ABL, limiting the study of VOC to second declension and separating LOC into its own chapter.
The Latinum podcast uses NOM -VOC - ACC- ABL- DAT- GEN , as this facilitates memorisation. Latinum deals with LOC separately.