TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Class Helps You Become A Latin Lover

ADVERTISEMENT

By JOSE PATINO GIRONA

jpatino@tampatrib.com

Published: October 15, 2008

TAMPA - Jack Coughlin is a children's surgeon by day.

But on Thursday nights, he enters the Roman Empire.

Coughlin, 52, of Davis Islands, has been taking free Latin classes with the Tampa Latin Group for 18 months.

"I tell people I do this because when I turned 50 I needed to stretch my mind, and a cello wouldn't fit in my Miata," he said. "It's a bit countercultural, which is fun. It is very hard. It's a challenge."

The 20 students and teachers sit at a large table in a room at Forest Hills Recreation Center. Once everyone is settled, they begin a Latin reading of the "Pater Noster" - in English it's the "Our Father." They do other readings and translations as a group and then split into three groups for personal study.

Their reasons for being there vary.

"What moves me about the Latin language, particularly in going into the literature, (is) the depth of its meaning and its feeling," said Roland Reis, 52, who travels from Bartow each week to study with fellow enthusiasts and help teach young students.

Reis has a bachelor's in classics, which includes Latin and Greek languages and literature, from Cornell University. He is an attorney for the Polk County Health Department.

He joined the class a year ago and calls it motivating. Before, he studied Latin on his own, reviewing his old college texts and checking out Latin books from the library.

Latin is the root of modern languages, but it is different and complicated, Reis said.

In "modern languages we go by subject, verb, object, but that goes out the window with Latin," he said. "In Latin, we depend on word endings to know what part that word plays in a sentence. And because of that the Latin language is a challenge analytically. To learn Latin, you almost have to develop a new way of thinking."

The founder and coordinator of the class is Don Ryan, known to students by his Latin name, Donaldus.

The mild-mannered instructor formed the group 13 years ago, starting with six students.

"We not merely read ancient texts, such as Cicero and Virgil," Ryan said. "We try to encourage people to use the language in a living way.

"Latin is not merely the language of ancient writers," he said. "There are today, people who are writing prose, writing history, writing poetry in Latin."

Ryan, 58, started studying Latin in 1991 and later earned a master's from the University of Florida. He wants to preserve a language with a long history and a connection to modern times. Last year, Pope Benedict XVI made it easier for Mass to be celebrated in Latin.

"Latin has declined in recent centuries," said Ryan, an appraisal manager with the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's Office. "However, we have to consider that approximately 50 percent of the vocabulary of English is derived from Latin. In romance languages, such as Spanish, the percentage is maybe 75 percent. Latin does continue to live on in these other languages it has influenced."

He hopes his young students improve their English vocabulary and develop an appreciation for the history, people and cultures of the Latin-speaking world.

"I get a lot of satisfaction seeing the students make progress," said Ryan, of Sulphur Springs.

Adriana Schiereck, 13, wants to be a botanist and zoologist. She takes the Latin class to develop a foundation for understanding medical terms and get a head start on Spanish and other languages.

"In biology there are a lot of Latin words and in zoology, too," said the home-schooled Tampa teen.

Laura Brown is taking the class with her daughters, Michelle, 13, and Melissa, 11.

She said the motivation is to boost her daughters' vocabulary and knowledge of science terms, and improve their thinking skills. Brown, who home-schools her daughters, said taking the class together allows them to practice on the fly, such as while driving to the grocery store.

But she also has a personal motivation. When she was a vice president of regional sales for Raymond James Financial in the 1990s, some senior managers sent inner-office memos that included Latin quotes to encourage or motivate colleagues and employees.

"Latin is a language of highly educated people," said Brown, of Carrollwood. "Sometimes you start feeling dumb and you want to learn."

LINGUISTIC LESSONS

Interested in learning Latin? There are several options available in the Tampa Bay area, including:

•The Tampa Latin Group meets at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays at the Forest Hills Recreation Center, 724 W. 109th Ave. Currently, the free class is not accepting students. Contact instructor Don Ryan at (813) 935-5966 or cbracdon@msn.com.

•Latinus Grex Dominicalis is a free Latin group and classes for elementary to high school students, and is geared toward helping them with college entrance exams. Classes meet at 9 a.m. Sundays at the University of South Florida's Cooper Hall, room 249, 4202 E. Fowler Ave. Contact Ryan at (813) 935-5966 or cbracdon@msn.com.

•The St. Petersburg Latin Group meets from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on alternate Saturdays at the Wunderlich Center, 8821 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St., St. Petersburg. For information about the free classes, call instructor Ray Wunderlich at (727) 822-3612.

VENI, VIDI AND MORE

Never taken a Latin class? You're probably still familiar with some of its words and phrases, such as:

•Veni, vidi, vici - I came, I saw, I conquered

•Carpe diem - Seize the day

•Semper fidelis - Always faithful

•Circa - Approximately

•Status quo - The current state of being

•Mea culpa - Through my fault

•Antebellum - Before the war

•E pluribus unum - One from many

Source: Cassell's Latin Dictionary

Reporter Jose Patino Girona can be reached at (813) 259-7659. To hear audio of the Tampa Latin Group, go to centraltampa.tbo .com or southtampa.tbo.com, Keyword: Learning Latin.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT