Latinitas in Lexington

Every summer in July, the campus of the university of Kentucky is the site of a total immersion workshop in spoken Latin, whose participants live for 9 straight days in a virtually all-Latin environment. Latin is the only language used in the sessions of the conventicula Latina (as they are called), and on the premises where the seminar is held. Of course what language participants use outside the premises is up to them. But even for those who might seek a break from Latin after hours and out of bounds, there isn’t much relief, since the sessions consume nearly the whole of each day. The conventicula started small (11 participants in the first event which took place in 1996), and rapidly grew to a size that strains our resources. Articles about the conventicula have appeared in classics journals, and they have been described or mentioned in publications designed for a wider audience, such as the Wall Street Journal and the New Yorker. This year (2001) we reached our limit of 45 registrants long before the deadline of May 1. The conventicula now regularly attract not only participants from all over North America, but also from Europe and Australasia. Several graduate students in Ph.D. programs in other universities (an MA is the only postgraduate degree in classical languages available at UK) have been motivated by the conventiculum experience to take time out from their studies to spend a semester or even a year at UK to participate in graduate courses in Latin composition (also available to advanced undergraduates, with instructor’s permission), which have been redesigned in light of our experience at the conventicula. In the first course students are introduced to writing and speaking in Latin at the same time, and in the more advanced courses Latin is sole language of teaching and class discussion, while the participants read Latin texts from a very wide range of periods, and write a series of Latin papers about their reading.

From these courses has evolved the Institute for Latin studies, a special Latin track in our MA program designed either for graduate students who want to acquire an exceptional command of Latin before proceeding to higher degree in the discipline of their choice, or for those who want a career teaching Latin in high school, and who want an active as well as passive command of the language they teach. Those interested in learning more about the Institute should look at the following web page, http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/institute_eng.html.

Neither the conventicula, nor, of course, the graduate level classes, are designed for those just beginning to learn Latin. I should stress that no previous experience in speaking Latin is required for those who want to take part in the summer conventicula. Nevertheless anyone who contemplates participating should have at least a working knowledge of grammar, and be able read texts that aren’t excessively difficult, even if slowly and with the aid of a dictionary. This minimum requirement of a working knowledge of essential grammar is imposed by the limits of what is practical: -- it would be impossible to design the conventiculum as an effective course of introductory Latin that could adequately cover “all you need to know” in 10 days - or even a whole month. So, of necessity, we aim for those who already have reached a certain minimal level of proficiency in Latin, and want not merely to advance to a higher level, but also to add a new active dimension to their command of the language. The conventicula as such are not official university courses, though I am happy to provide a written testimonial for anyone who completes a conventiculum, and wants to have documentation of this fact. We gain greatly by this arrangement, since participants do not have to pay university tuition. The only costs for participants are a modest entry fee, currently $65 per person (which we use to help defray the costs of mailing Xeroxing, and other operating expenses), the price of rooming in Lexington for 10 days (we have various low-cost housing options, of which the cheapest and ‘leanest’ is a room in the student dorms), and finally meals - which can be very cheap for those who want to continue speaking Latin after the regular sessions, and take part in a communal dinner preparation. Each participant in these post-session meal-preparations contributes anywhere from five to eight dollars per dinner.