what is a plosive, Mommy?

Master Green, commenting on What is a consonant, Mommy?:

I can only speak from personal experience, but most of the high school students I teach in Latin had (before they came to me) no idea at all what the differences are between consonants and vowels, never mind the distinctions between the types of consonants. When I explain the shift of 'n' to 'm' before plosives, and then explain what plosives are and why we call them that, it invariably prompts immediate "ooh"s and "aah"s before triggering a digression into all the English words they know that now "make sense" to them. There's also usually at least one student in the class for whom this revelation explains how the English prefix "im-" is the same as "in-" but they never knew it.

I'd give this all up and go teach basic English to small kids if I didn't know that I'd be drummed out in a week. But we do what we can, with a smile and a quiet sigh.

Tell us, too!

Please!

Latin III Honors

here

Jingle Bells in Latin

Jingle Bells in Latin

Nantes per nives
in apertā traheā
trans agros imus
omnes ridentes. (ha! ha! ha!)

Tintini tintinnant.
Animose sic
Lætissimi nos canimus
Canticum hac nocte.

(O!) tinnitus, tinnitus, semper tinnitus!
O tantum est gaudium dum vehimus in trahā!
Tinnitus, tinnitus, semper tinnitus!
O tantum est gaudium dum vehimus in trahā!


C.'s Latin class is going to go caroling through the halls of Hogwarts. In Latin.

(Sorry to be missing in action - lots going on here. For the next post).

Latin vs Spanish

Please tell Juan to recycle the plastic.

or

The centurion bravely slaughtered the barbarian.

choose one

Well....we may laugh (ha ha!) but, judging by events unfolding here in my own leafy suburb, twenty-five years from now we'll look back fondly on the days of Please tell Juan to recycle.

Twenty-five years from now schools will be teaching the critical languages and nothing but.