Thinking In Latin

Have you ever had the experience of hearing or seeing something that brought back a memory related to what you heard or saw?

Growing up, my father always had a band. Almost everyone in our family played an instrument and we would often sit around playing old songs in a circle on the back porch or around a campfire. One of my favorite songs my dad played was an old Willie Nelson song, “Funny How Time Slips Away.” The rundowns and words ingrained themselves into my memory so deeply that whenever I hear the song, I can hear my dad singing it, and I begin wandering through a host of other old country classics.

A similar thing happens to us when we see a particular mountain, tree, or creek. Sometimes it might be a person or animal that awakens the memory or even a home or some other building. Occasionally, even a particular smell can produce the same effect.

Each of these objects reminds us of an experience that in turn draws on a unique set of associated words and phrases available for our use without even thinking about them. Consider, for example, the word “bridge.” What comes to mind? What kind of bridge is it? Where is it? What else lies nearby? What other words, phrases, or thoughts come to mind as you imagine this bridge?

If you were to map out every word or phrase that comes to mind on a piece of paper with the word bridge written in the middle and begin drawing a line to connect each new word that comes to mind, a linguistic map would begin to take shape on the paper. You would see a complex web of connections that you are largely unaware of existing and from which you make subconscious use freely at any time.

What’s even more interesting is that when you encounter a new bridge an entirely new set of words drops onto this intricate linguistic web, and like moving sand, the entire web shifts taking on a new shape to adopt the new members. This language-forming structure is called a developing system.

The amazing thing about our developing system is that it is fundamental to acquiring a language, to thinking in and understanding a language. Much of our language instruction focuses on output, on writing, translation, vocabulary quizzes, grammar charts, and speaking. Unfortunately, this attention is premature. These activities are the results of acquiring a language, not the causes. Rather than focusing on output, we should direct our attention towards building our developing system by encountering and engaging language in context, i.e., through stories, literature, and songs.

Next month I am leading a week-long workshop at the CiRCE Institute on teaching Latin. In this workshop, you will discover tools every language learner can apply to begin shaping the developing system and to start thinking in the language. If you are interested, visit the Latin summer course page or send me a note at buck@circeinstitute.org