The Fuel: Comprehensible Input
LLPSI (Familia Romana), extensive reading, intensive reading, thinking without translation
Learning Activities
Choose an activity to practice and master your skills
Level 2 • Grades 6-12 • 4 techniques
The Fuel: Comprehensible Input
You cannot decode your way to fluency; you must also absorb the language in context. This level applies Stephen Krashen's Input Hypothesis: the brain acquires language from input it can mostly understand. The vehicle is Hans Ørberg's Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata — a book written entirely in Latin that teaches itself.
1 The Gold Standard Text: LLPSI Phase 2
Procure a physical copy of Hans Ørberg's Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata: Familia Romana. It is written entirely in Latin, starting with simple sentences (Roma in Italia est) and building complexity using only context clues, marginal illustrations, and previously learned words. No English appears anywhere — meaning your brain never gets the chance to lean on translation.
A text that explains itself in Latin trains you to think in Latin.
Practice it: If you can already read 'Roma in Italia est' without help, what does that tell you about how much grammar you need before starting to read?
2 Extensive Reading Phase 2
Read without a dictionary. Allow the context and the marginalia in LLPSI to explain the meaning. The goal is volume and flow: large amounts of mostly-understood Latin, read for the story. Tolerating a little ambiguity is the skill — every unknown word you infer from context is encoded more deeply than one you look up.
Volume of mostly-understood input beats perfect understanding of a trickle.
Practice it: Why might stopping to look up every unknown word actually slow down your long-term progress?
3 Intensive Reading Phase 2
Extensive reading has a partner: take a small, complex paragraph and dissect it completely. Ensure you understand the grammatical function of every single word before moving on. This is slow by design — one paragraph done properly teaches more grammar than ten pages skimmed. Alternate the two modes; never let one replace the other.
Read a lot loosely, and a little exactly.
Practice it: Choose one sentence from today's reading. Can you state the case and function of every noun in it without guessing?
4 Avoid Native Translation Phase 2
Train your brain to see canis and picture a dog — not the English word 'dog.' Translating in your head creates a bottleneck: every Latin sentence must pass through an English toll booth before it means anything. Fluent readers skip the booth entirely. Build the direct link between Latin word and mental image from day one.
Meaning should attach to the Latin word itself, not to its English shadow.
Practice it: When you read the English word 'dog,' do you consciously translate it into anything? What would it take for canis to work the same way?