Searching the internet for the best way to learn Latin, I found a page aboutย learning Latin via the ‘Dowling’ method. As far as I can tell, Dowling is a professor at Rutgers who, though not a Latin teacher, has come up with a method that he thinks will help you learn Latin faster and better than by going through the chapter of Wheelock’s Latin.
What’s his secret? His method relies on good-old-fashioned rote memorization. You copy the word endings out of the back of Wheelock’s several times until you have memorized them. First you start with the noun declensions table. When you can copy that entire table from memory, then you copy the whole thing 200 times. Now, claims Dowling, you will know the declensions for the rest of your life. You then move on to adjectives (100 time each because they are similar to nouns). After that, you move on to the regular verbs in indicative active, regular verbs in indicative passive, and finally, the subjunctives (active and passive).
All in all, you will have memorized 6 big tables and written down each one 200 times from memory (except the adjectives, which you write 100 times). This is expected to take 6 months during which time you will probably feel like you know no Latin at all.
This hard work pays off when you start reading through Lingua Latina. Apparently, Lingua Latina teaches you Latin very gradually, while providing a lot of practice. According to Dowling, you will learn Latin almost without being aware of it.
I have started memorizing the noun declensions using Dowling’s method and plan on ordering and working my way through Lingua Latina when I am ready. So far, this method of writing the declensions over and over again from memory is working very well. I do not find it draining, so it’s easy to stick with it and It seems to be working very well to help me remember.
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