1. RULES – Make sure you understand each rule before you move on to the next one. Language learning is like building a house: each brick is only as secure as its foundation.
• Memorize rules aloud: e.g. “The relative pronoun takes its gender
and number from its antecedent, but takes its case from its use in
its own clause”, and think about what the rule means as you
say it.
• Grammar will help you understand how words and parts of speech are used in English and Latin sentences (Syntax).
2. MEMORIZATION – All languages require memory work. There are many ways you can memorize:
• Make vocabulary cards or lists of words for each chapter. If you
make cards, use color coding, keeping different parts of speech
on different color cards.
• Put Latin on one side, with principal parts for verbs and the nominative,
genitive, and gender for nouns. Put the English meanings
on the reverse side. A friend can help you drill, but it is also easy to
drill yourself.
• Use different colored inks for masculine, feminine, or neuter
nouns.
• When you memorize vocabulary meanings, remember that an
English derivative can be helpful, but is not always the best
translation.
• Shuffle the cards before reviewing, and remove the cards as you
master them so that you can concentrate on unlearned words.
For some students, listing vocabulary words on a piece of paper or in a notebook, dividing them by parts of speech, can be as helpful as making and drilling with vocabulary cards, but most students seem to prefer the cards. One can buy sets of printed Latin vocabulary cards, but students need specific words geared to the vocabulary in the text. The more words you know, the easier it will be to read a passage.