LATIN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE– GENERAL OUTLINES AND SKILLS

• LATIN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE– GENERAL OUTLINES AND SKILLS

 LATIN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE  - GENERAL OUTLINES AND SKILLS

 
Language
 

At the end of the course, the student has acquired a sufficient mastery of the Latin language to orient himself in the reading, directly or in translation with facing text, of the most representative texts of Latinity, grasping their historical and cultural values. At the same time, through the comparison with Italian and known foreign languages, he has acquired the ability to compare linguistically, with particular attention to lexicon and semantics, Latin with Italian and with other modern foreign languages, achieving a more mature and conscious mastery of Italian, in particular for periodic architecture and for the mastery of abstract lexicon. He practices translation not as a mechanical exercise in the application of rules, but as a tool for getting to know a text and an author that allows him to identify with a world different from his own and to feel the challenge of trying to re-propose it in Italian.

 
Culture

At the end of the five-year period, the student knows, through reading in the language and in translation, the fundamental texts of Latinity, in a dual perspective, literary and cultural. He/she will be able to grasp the fundamental value of the Latin literary heritage for the European tradition in terms of genres, imaginary figures, auctoritates, and identify through the texts, in their quality of historical documents, the most significant features of the Roman world, in the complex of its religious, political, moral and aesthetic aspects. They are also able to interpret and comment on works in prose and verse, using the tools of linguistic, stylistic and rhetorical analysis, and placing the works in their respective historical and cultural context. Without prejudice to the irrepressible margins of freedom and the responsibility of the teacher - who will evaluate from time to time the most appropriate educational path for the class and most responsive to his or her educational objectives, to his or her idea of literature and to the peculiarities of the high school courses - it is essential that attention is focused on the most significant texts.

 
SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 
Language 

 
FIRST TWO-YEAR PERIOD
 

At the end of the two-year period, the student will be able to read fluently; knows the morphology of nouns, adjectives, pronouns and verbs; the syntax of cases and of the period in its essential structures, presented in parallel with morphology; basic vocabulary with particular attention to semantic families and word formation. The acquisition of morphosyntactic structures will take place starting from the verb (verb-dependence), in accordance with the most up-to-date teaching techniques (an interesting alternative to the traditional study of normative grammar is offered by the so-called "natural Latin" - nature method -, which allows a synthetic learning of the language, starting from the texts. 
This will make it possible to avoid grammatical abstraction, made up of rules to be learned by mnemonic and inevitable exceptions, privileging the key linguistic elements for understanding texts and at the same time offering students a rigorous and solid method for the acquisition of translation skills; It will also be necessary to give space to the continuous comparison with the Italian language also in its historical formation. When training in translation work, it is advisable to present texts accompanied by contextualization notes (information relating to the author, the work or the passage from which the passage is taken) in order to start an understanding of the text that is not only literal. It will also be appropriate to start as soon as possible from the comprehension and translation of original passages of Latin culture; In this way, the study, entering almost immediately into the heart of the texts, will progressively accustom students to master the usus scribendi of Latin authors, facilitating their interpretation. Useful in this regard, for example, are the texts of Phaedrus and the Vulgata.

 
SECOND TWO-YEAR PERIOD AND FIFTH YEAR 
 
The student consolidates linguistic skills through reflection on the author's texts proposed for reading by the historical and literary path. In particular, the student will become familiar with the complexity of syntactic construction and with the vocabulary of poetry, rhetoric, politics, philosophy, science; will be able to grasp the literary specificity of the text; reflect on your own or accredited translators' translation choices. In continuity with the first two years, language skills will be verified through duly guided texts, albeit of an increasing level of complexity, also by resorting to contrastive translation exercises.

 
Culture

 
SECOND TWO-YEAR PERIOD
 

The student's attention focuses on the most significant texts of Latinity, read in the language and/or in translation, from the origins to the age of Augustus (the theatre: Plautus and/or Terence; the lyric: Catullus and Horace; the other poetic genres, from epos to didactic poetry, from satire to bucolic poetry: Lucretius, Horace, Virgil; historiography, oratory and treatises: Sallust, Caesar, Cicero, Livy). The chronological delimitation does not imply that it is necessary to follow a diachronic treatment. Once the necessary information about the historical context of authors and works has been acquired, the study of Latin literature can in fact be profitably approached also by literary genres, with particular attention to the continuity/discontinuity with respect to the Greek tradition, or even as a search for permanence (through themes, motifs, topoi) in Italian and European culture and literatures, so as to also enhance the comparative and intertextual perspective (e.g. between Italian and Latin). We will not neglect to enrich the knowledge of the works with extensive readings in Italian translation. The student will have to understand the meaning of the texts and grasp their literary and rhetorical specificity; interpret them using the tools of textual analysis and knowledge of the author and context; appreciate its aesthetic value; to grasp the otherness and continuity between Latin civilization and ours.

 
FIFTH YEAR

The student will read the most significant authors and genres of Latin literature from the Julio-Claudian age to the fourth century A.D. (among the authors and texts to be read in the language there will be Seneca; Tacit; Petronius, Apuleius, Augustine). We will not neglect to enrich the knowledge of the works with extensive readings in Italian translation.