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Rating: 
Summary: Scary!
Review: Ah excuse me, but these people on audio are not using "accurate" classical pronunciation.
What is this all about? I counted three speakers. None of them were in agreement about "y" or "ng." I caught that right off the bat. This was on the first CD. I did not go any further with it.
They do demonstrate that something might be "off" in this "revival of an ancient language through scientific method." People are having too many problems. Too few "get it." Our ancient ancestors did not have speech this difficult. Common sense has to prevail. These are highly educated and brilliant people on that audio. They are not Joe Blue and THEY cannot accurately demonstrate for you that classical latin pronunciation! They drip with competence. No one dareth to "attack" them or their professionalism. And I am not "attacking" them. No put down is intended. They can't speak it! It is to be noted. A person has to ask, "Am I that magical and different? These cream of the crop people struggle and yet I am going to be okay?"
I made the choice at this point for the simplified Church Latin exclusively. People
"get it." You have to go to the memoria press kiddie program (It takes an adult one month per kiddie Latin year program) for that or you'll come out with odd little dialect twists. Their dialect is matching entities such as the SSPX reciting the rosary.
I was blown away! I could cope with mispronunciations in the popular Classical Latin commercial computer programs but not when people like these are struggling!
My impression of the PEOPLE themselves was on the level of "We (You and I) go to the great masters (Them) honored to even be in their presence. Who reveal to us without meaning to that it is only a matter of time before this 'revival' is scrapped,
and we return now to Church Latin or Classical English as the standard."
These Latin instructors aren't people from the "dumb down."
The walls are shaking. When the creme de le creme is in crises- we're all in a crises.
What buying this would do for you is what the old fad of punishing yourself would do. Remember if you broke a self promise you were to send the 100 dollars to the terrifying political cause or something? You spend 200 dollars to punish yourself for your own arrogance.
Oh careful, careful with your money on this campaign to learn "Classical Latin." That "scientific revival" seems to be skidding into failure. Even if that "revival" is accurate it will probably land just with a few linguistic researchers. Most people in America are learning Church Latin. You don't see it because it is so easy to pronounce that no one needs "audio." That is why "Church Latin" looks like a ghost town.
My arrogance was over with this set. I ran it and all the other "Classical Latin" pronunciation material to my trash can. I was "cured." When this level of professionalism falls...I'm gone.
These three people weren't young. Years, oh the years of experience they must each have with Latin. Brilliant, masters of it, experienced....Their course is a razzle dazzle of effective teaching all of which I ran to my trash.
Yes, my trash can. It's "Oh great masters, you didn't mean to do it in this sense, but you taught me well."
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent study tool!
Review: As they say in the English middle schools:Latin is a language
A language as dead as can be
First it killed the Romans
And now it is killing me However, it is not too difficult if you study diligently. A teacher is always of help, but if you put your mind to it you will slowly conquer Latin and become proficient at it. Just throw on some elbow grease and get to it!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Introduction to a Living "Dead" Language
Review: I studied Latin in High School. I took two semesters of Latin in College. Then I got a real job, and my Latin was growing rusty. Oh I have Wheelock's, and the accompanying materials. Then I found "Latin Via Ovid." Suddenly, I rediscovered the joy of studying this "dead" yet very "living" language by reading passages of the great Roman poets, in the original , without the tedious declensions , or conjugations , but I could READ Latin! I could READ and UNDERSTAND Latin! Suddenly, words became living organisms. . .I could listen to someone, and mind go into Latin, and make almost miraculous comebacks. . .breaking ordinary English into Latin roots. . .Never mind that. If interested in the Language of Scholarship, but don't know much about it , this is the book (and please, get the accompanying workbook!) for you. Buy Confidently! Study Hard! Carpe Diem!
Rating:
Summary: Delightful book for learning Latin
Review: If you're learing Latin on your own and this is one of your first books, you may enjoy getting the recordings that go with this book. Even though pronouncing Latin is not hard, it helps to get used to it and it's more fun going through the book with recordings.
The wonderful thing about this book is that all the lessons consist of beautiful stories from Ovid's Metamorphosis. Instead of learning Latin by memorizing disjointed words, from the very beginning you get to read several paragraphs of text. You may discover that you already know more Latin than you thought. The stories are so enjoyable to read that you'll feel eager to continue until you get to the end of the book and discover how much you've learned almost effortlessly.
Rating:
Summary: Latin Via Ovid
Review: Latin Via Ovid is a wonderful book. I'm on my second semester of Latin, planning to taking two years, and this book has become my constant companion. Each chapter has a story in Latin to translate, Verba (words, aka vocab words), Structure, Exercises, and Etymology. The stories (with the exception of the first chapter) are myths (for example, Atalanta et Hippomenes, Europa et Taurus, Echo et Narcissus, Bellum Troianum). Having a teacher certainly helps, but I could and would do the course alone if I had to. This is the only book I would use to learn Latin. With it I would also recommend Edith Hamilton's Mythology (which is so enticing I read ahead [accidently], finished the book, and bought my own copy). EH's Mythology also includes a fascinating bit about Norse mythology. Latin Via Ovid earns it's keep time and again. You have to be careful, otherwise you start chatting away in Latin and people start thinking you're crazy (believe me, I know). P.S. I really wish people could shut up about the "dead language." For one, a language can never be dead. For another, if people speak and/or know it, it's not dead. If you truly loved Latin, how could you insult it by calling it "dead?" If you loved a person, would you call them "dead?" I doubt it. Latin is quite alive; please, honor it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent introduction to Latin poetry
Review: This is an excellent choice for those who are interested in Latin in order to read Roman poetry. Unlike texts that prepare students for Caesar or Cicero, this one prepares you for the Aeneid. The initial readings are prose adaptations from Ovid's Metamorphoses, which get closer and closer to the original poetry used from Lesson 30 on. The authors deserve credit for being good storytellers as well as good teachers, crafting prose versions of Ovid in simple Latin which nevertheless hold entertainment value over the multiple re-readings useful for drill; these are much more enjoyable to read than the stray bits of modified Cicero and Livy on which Wheelock's text is based. As a bonus, in addition to covering the basics of Latin the student will get a grounding in Classical mythology.
Rating:
Summary: Salvete Omnes
Review: Those Romanophiles lacking proper schooling in Latin must take the pains to teach themselves the language. There are dozens of Latin textbooks in circulation. How is one to decide among them for the best tool in self-study?
The most standard text in North America used by universities and high schools is Frederick Wheelock's Latin. Unfortunately Wheelock's Latin does not commend itself to self-study. It is extremely grammar intensive from the beginning and may overwhelm those without the aid of an instructor. The readings are also mind numbingly dull, concentrating mostly on Cicero's insipid Stoic philosophy.
A little known alternative to Wheelock is Latin Via Ovid. This textbook introduces Latin's complicated grammar in less intensive, more manageable installments. As one might expect from the title, the reading passages are based on Ovid's poetry, specifically on his Metamorpheses. Here one can enjoy the colorful tales of Roman mythology instead of Cicero's dry lecturing. The text begins with a simplified version of Jupiter's rape of Europe, then progresses to more complex passages regarding the Trojan War.
The combination of delightful reading passages and manageable grammar exercises earns this book high marks for independent study. The text contains the usual exercises, charts, dictionaries, and cultural readings one expects from a language book. An optional workbook is available (for a cheap price), as are audio tapes (for a considerably greater price).
The proof is in the pudding, as they say. I've tried at least three or four textbooks in my Latin studies and discarded them all. They were all too complicated and boring to sustain my interest in independent study. With Latin Via Ovid I have progressed through the first few chapters with remarkable speed. Those who for some reason detest Roman mythology may find another text more suitable. Otherwise, I highly recommend this product.
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