I was wondering what you think about this—do you consider Latin a difficult language to learn in general? Let’s say, aiming for a solid B2 level (even if the CEFR scale isn’t officially used for Latin).
How long do you think it might take using LingQ, for example, if studying around 15 minutes a day? Would that kind of time investment make sense, or is it too little to expect steady progress?
idk, but ta long ass time
I’d assume it would take you as long as any other language, with the typical factors counting in. So basically as long as Spanish, French or any other Roman Language would take you. Well, an additional constraint is that it is a dead language, so you will have some restrictions in regards to content. And the historical material you may find covers several centuries, I assume, and I can only guess to which degree the language has changed over the course of that time.
I had Latin in school and never got into it, but maybe because I didn’t saw any use in learning it. And it is more on the grammar heavy side, I’d say. You have conjugation, declination (3 genders, well, actually 5 as there are 3 versions of neuter), a different word order (SOV, don’t know if that bothers you, but as some people seem to experience this as a hurdle).
Have fun 
I was quite good at Latin at school and wanted to brush up my Latin skills with LingQ a few years ago. I also tried it with about 15 min a day, but it wasn’t enough to make progress that felt like progress.
The problem was also that Latin had the lowest priority in my life, so it was the first thing I skipped when I had to, which was not a good attitude to have.
The question is probably: do you have a good reason to learn Latin?
If not, then maybe it’s not a good investment of your precious time.
15 min a day for a few months is fine to establish a habit/routine. But after that, it’s better to increase the daily time you spend on Latin.
Good luck,
Peter
Thank you guys, and nice to see you Peter.
I might have a good reason to learn Latin, but it’s not a priority for me right now. I’m mostly trying to understand how much daily time investment would be needed. Ideally, I’d want to keep it casual at the beginning—something I can sustain over a longer period without it weighing too heavily on my mind.
I’m also a bit unsure whether 15 minutes a day would really be enough.
The good news is that I wouldn’t need to write in Latin or use it for real-time conversations. My focus would mostly be on reading and maybe some audio comprehension. Even though it’s a dead language, that wouldn’t be a problem in this case. Since my foundation is in Italian, I often find myself understanding parts of Latin already—at least randomly.
I also assume the vocabulary hasn’t expanded much over time, and in any case, I’d be focusing on older texts.
LingQ could be perfect, since it would be almost entirely input-based.
Actually, now that I think about it—does LingQ also use AI-generated audio for Latin?
Thanks. I definitely cannot dedicate so much time for this right now.
Maybe once I get C2+ with English, I can start Latin with more dedication. I was wondering if in the meantime, just building some vocabulary by casual reading could be useful or not.
Considering that, yes, English is around 57-60% similarity, but Italian in 89% like French, and Spanish is 82%. And I know all these languages. Pronunciation wouldn’t be a problem.
The grammar cases, instead, would be a nightmare, but I don’t think too much about it just for reading comprehension!