Helps to Latin Translation at Sight

Edmund Luce

• Publisher: Perlego
• Year: 2009
• eBook ISBN: 9700000028890
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Ancient Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Helps to Latin Translation at Sight Edmund Luce The aim of the present book is to help boys to translate at sight. Of the many books of unseen translation in general use few exhibit continuity of plan as regards the subject-matter, or give any help beyond a short heading. The average boy, unequal to the task before him, is forced to draw largely upon his own invention, and the master, in correcting written unseens, has seldom leisure to do more than mark mistakes-a method of correction almost useless to the boy, unless accompanied by full and careful explanation when the written work is given back. Now that less time is available for Latin and Greek, new methods of teaching them must be adopted if they are to hold their own in our public schools. When Lord Dufferin could say, 'I am quite determined, so far as care and forethought can prevent it, that the ten best years of my boy's life shall not be spent (as mine were) in nominally learning two dead languages without being able to translate an ordinary paragraph from either without the aid of a dictionary;' and Dr. Reid could write, 'It is not too much to say that a large number of boys pass through our schools without ever dreaming that an ancient writer could pen three consecutive sentences with a connected meaning: chaos is felt to be natural to ancient literature: no search is made for sense, and the Latin or Greek book is looked upon as a more or less fortuitous concourse of words;' when Dr. Rouse can assert, 'The public schoolboy at nineteen is unable to read a simple Latin or Greek book with ease, or to express a simple series of thoughts without atrocious blunders: he has learnt from his classics neither accuracy nor love of beauty and truth'-it is obvious that, for the average boy, the system of perfunctorily prepared set-books and dashed-off unseens is a failure. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.