Hans Ørberg

Hans Henning Ørberg (21 April 1920 – 17 February 2010) was a Danish linguist and teacher. He received a master's degree in English, French and Latin at the University of Copenhagen, and taught these languages in schools in Denmark. He was the author of Lingua Latīna, a widely used method for learning Latin using the natural approach.

Hans H. Ørberg

Career

From 1953 to 1961 he worked in the Naturmetodens Sproginstitut, an institute where the languages are taught according to the "natural method" of learning. While there he created a new course in Latin: Lingua Latīna secundum nātūrae ratiōnem explicāta published in 1955.[1] Besides the author's name, there isn't a word in the book that is not in Latin. The method has been revised a few times, including in 1983 and 1991, the title now changed to Lingua Latina per sē illūstrāta.[2] In his retirement, he directed the Domus Latīna publishing house and gave lectures in Europe and the United States on the natural method.

Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illūstrāta

Ørberg's Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illūstrāta is based on the method of natural approach[3] or contextual induction.[4] In this method, the student, who needs no previous knowledge of Latin, begins with simple sentences, such as "Rōma in Italiā est" ("Rome is in Italy"). Words are always introduced in a context which reveals the meaning behind them, or they are explained in the margins of the text with images, Latin synonyms or antonyms, or short Latin definitions. Grammar is gradually made more complex, until the student is reading unadapted Latin texts. Unusual for a Latin course, pronunciation and understanding, rather than translation, are stressed. A dictionary is not necessary in this system: because the textbooks are composed entirely in Latin, they can be used by speakers of many languages. Knowledge of the Latin alphabet and a familiarity with a Romance language or English are assumed. The course consists of two parts: Familia Rōmāna and Rōma Aeterna along with a series of classic texts like Julius Caesar's Commentāriī dē Bellō Gallicō (Commentaries about the Gallic War). By means of illustrations and modifications, these texts can be understood through context and by reference to words already learned.

Chapters consist of an illustrated and annotated reading, followed by a concise and formal discussion of the grammar used in the chapter as well as several Pēnsa, or exercises, that require the student to apply these grammatical concepts to selections from the chapter's reading. These exercises ask the student to manipulate the grammar of Latin sentences rather than to translate. Even the grammar discussions are entirely in Latin, grammatical terminology being introduced as necessary.

References
  1. Dales, Jacques (1985). "Review of Lingua Latina per se illustrata by Hans H. Ørberg". Latomus. Société d'Études Latines de Bruxelles. 44 (1): 251–52. JSTOR 41543604.
  2. Monat, P. (1993). "Lingua Latīna per sē illūstrāta. Pars I. Familia Rōmāna et Pars II. Rōma aeterna by Hans H. Ørberg". Latomus. Société d'Études Latines de Bruxelles. 52 (1): 239–40. JSTOR 41536583.
  3. Schmid, Juliane (2015). Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata? Ørbergs Latein-Lehrbuch in der Schule (Thesis). ISBN 9783955497897.
  4. Miraglia, Luigi & Brown, C.G., editors, Latine Doceo: A Companion for Instructors, p. 4


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