Living Latin ( in Latin itself), also known as
Spoken Latin or
Active Latin, is an effort to revive Latin as a spoken language and as a vehicle for contemporary communication and publication. Involvement in this Latin revival can be for purely recreational purposes or pedagogical purposes, In the late 19th century, Latin periodicals advocating the revived use of Latin as an international language started to appear. Between 1889 and 1895,
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs published in Italy his . This publication was followed by the , published by the architect and engineer
Aristide Leonori from 1898, twice a month, until 1913, one year before the outbreak of
World War I. In 1889 and 1890,
Eduard Johnson (using pseudonyms) published small German phrasebooks for learning conversational Attic Greek and conversational Latin. These books were republished and translated into several modern languages. The early 20th century, marked by tremendous technological progress, as well as drastic social changes, saw few advances in the use of Latin outside academia. Following the beginnings of the
re-integration of postwar Europe, however, Latin revivalism gained some ground. One of its main promoters was the former dean of the
University of Nancy (France), Prof.
Jean Capelle, who in 1952 published a cornerstone article called "Latin or Babel" in which he proposed Latin as an international spoken language. Capelle was called "the soul of the movement" when in 1956 the first International Conference for Living Latin () took place in
Avignon, marking the beginning of a new era of the active use of Latin. About 200 participants from 22 different countries took part in that foundational conference.
Pronunciation The essentials of the classical pronunciation had been defined since the early 19th century (e.g. in K. L. Schneider's , 1819) but, in many countries, there was strong resistance to adopting it in instruction. In English-speaking countries, where the
traditional academic pronunciation diverged most markedly from the restored classical model, the struggle between the two pronunciations lasted the entire 19th century. In 1907, the "new pronunciation" was officially recommended by the
Board of Education for adoption in schools in England. Although the older pronunciation, as found in the nomenclature and terminology of various professions, continued to be used for several decades, and in some spheres prevails to the present day, contemporary Latin as used by the living Latin community has generally adopted the classical pronunciation of Latin as restored by specialists in Latin historical phonology.
Aims Many users of Contemporary Latin promote its use as a spoken language, a movement that dubs itself "Living Latin". Two main aims can be distinguished in this movement:
For Latin instruction Among the proponents of spoken Latin, some promote the active use of the language to make learning Latin both more enjoyable and more efficient, drawing upon the
methodologies of instructors of modern languages. In the United Kingdom, the
Association for the Reform of Latin Teaching (ARLT, still in existence as the Association for Latin Teaching) was founded in 1913 by the classical scholar
W. H. D. Rouse. It arose from summer schools which Rouse organised to train Latin teachers in the
direct method of language teaching, which entailed using the language in everyday situations rather than merely learning
grammar and
syntax by rote. The
Classical Association also encourages this approach. The
Cambridge University Press has now published a series of school textbooks based on the adventures of a mouse called
Minimus, designed to help children of primary school age to learn the language, as well as its well-known
Cambridge Latin Course (CLC) to teach the language to secondary school students, all of which include extensive use of dialogue and an approach to language teaching mirroring that now used for most modern languages, which have brought many of the principles espoused by Rouse and the ARLT into the mainstream of Latin teaching. Outside Great Britain, one of the most accomplished handbooks that fully adopts the direct method for Latin is the well-known by the Danish linguist
Hans Henning Ørberg. It was first published in 1955 and improved in 1990. It is composed fully in Latin and requires no other language of instruction, thus it can be used to teach students of many different languages.
For contemporary communication Others support the
revival of Latin as a language of international communication in academic, scientific, or diplomatic spheres (as it was in Europe and European colonies through the Middle Ages until the mid-18th century) or as an
international auxiliary language to be used by anyone. However, as a language native to no people, this movement has not received support from any government, national or supranational.
Supporting institutions and publications , Poland A substantial group of institutions (particularly in Europe, but also in North and South America) has emerged to support the use of Latin as a spoken language. The foundational first International Conference for living Latin () that took place in
Avignon was followed by at least five others. As a result of those first conferences, the (ALF) was then created in Rome. Among its most prominent members are well-known
classicists from all over the world, like Prof.
Michael von Albrecht or Prof. . The ALF held its first international conference in Rome in 1966 bringing together about 500 participants. From then on conferences have taken place every four or five years, in
Bucharest, Malta,
Dakar,
Erfurt, Berlin, Madrid, and many other places. The official language of the ALF is Latin and all acts and proceedings take place in Latin. Also in the year 1966, Clément Desessard published a method with tapes within the series of the French company
Assimil. Desessard's work aimed at teaching contemporary Latin for use in an everyday context, although the audio was often criticized for being recorded with a thick French accent. Assimil took this out of print at the end of 2007 and published another Latin method which focused on the classical idiom only. However, in 2015 Assimil re-published Desessard's edition with new audio CDs in restored classical Latin pronunciation. Desessard's method is still used for living Latin instruction at the . In 1986 the Belgian
radiologist Gaius Licoppe, who had discovered the contemporary use of Latin and learnt how to speak it thanks to Desessard's method, founded in Brussels the for the promotion of Latin teaching and use for communication. In Germany, Marius Alexa and Inga Pessarra-Grimm founded in September 1987 the (LVPA, or Association for the Promotion of Living Latin). The first (Amöneburg Latin Week) was organized in 1989 at Amöneburg, near Marburg in Germany, by
Mechtild Hofmann and Robertus Maier. Since then the Latin Weeks were offered every year. In addition, members of the supporting association (
European Latin Weeks) published a text book named that contains dialogues in modern everyday Latin. At the located in Rome, Italy, all classes are taught by faculty fluent in Latin or Ancient Greek, and resident students speak in Latin or Greek at all times outside class. Most students are supported by scholarships from the Mnemosyne foundation and spend one or two years in residence to acquire fluency in Latin. The living Latin movement eventually crossed the Atlantic, where it continues to grow. In the summer of 1996, at the
University of Kentucky, Prof.
Terence Tunberg established the first Conventiculum, an immersion conference in which participants from all over the world meet annually to exercise the active use of Latin to discuss books and literature, and topics related to everyday life. The success of the Conventiculum Lexintoniense has inspired similar conferences throughout the United States. In October 1996, the (SALVI, or North American Institute for Living Latin Studies) was founded in Los Angeles, by a group of professors and students of Latin literature concerned about the long-term future of classical studies in the US. In the
University of Kentucky, Prof.
Terence Tunberg founded the (known in English as the Institute of Latin Studies), which awards Graduate Certificates in Latin Studies addressed at those with a special interest gaining "a thorough command of the Latin language in reading, writing and speaking, along with a wide exposure to the cultural riches of the Latin tradition in its totality". This is the only degree-conferring program in the world with courses taught entirely in Latin. There is also a proliferation of Latin-speaking institutions, groups and conferences in the
Iberian Peninsula and in Latin America. Some prominent examples of this tendency towards the active use of Latin within Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries are the annual conferences called Jornadas de Culturaclasica.com, held in different cities of southern Spain, as well as the CAELVM (), a Latin summer program in Madrid. In 2012, the was founded in Puebla, Mexico, by Prof.
Alexis Hellmer, in order to promote the study of Latin in that country, where only one university grants a degree in Classics. Most of these groups and institutions organise seminars and conferences where Latin is used as a spoken language, both throughout the year and over the summer, in Europe and in America. Less academic summer encounters wholly carried out in Latin are the ones known as (European Latin Weeks), celebrated in Germany and attracting people of various ages from all over Europe. In Germany, the magazine was founded in 1965 by Caelestis Eichenseer (1924–2008) and is to this day published wholly in Latin four times a year in the
University of Saarbrücken. In Belgium, the magazine
Melissa created in 1984 by Gaius Licoppe is still published six times a year completely in Latin. is a free online magazine of crosswords, quizzes, and other games in Latin language. It is published by the Italian cultural Association Leonardo in collaboration with the online Latin news magazine and with ELI publishing house. From 1989 until 2019, Finnish radio station
YLE Radio 1 broadcast a weekly review of world news called completely in Latin. The German
Radio Bremen also had regular broadcasts in Latin until December 2017. Other attempts have been less successful. Beginning from July 2015 Radio F.R.E.I. from
Erfurt (Germany) broadcasts in Latin once a week on Wednesdays for 15 minutes; the broadcast is called . In 2015, the Italian startup
pptArt launched its catalogue () and its registration form for artists () in Latin and English. In 2016, ACEM (
Enel executives' cultural association) organized with
Luca Desiata and Daniel Gallagher the first Business Latin course for managers (). The government of
Finland, during its presidencies of the
European Union, issued official newsletters in Latin on top of the official languages of the Union.
In public spaces are in English and Latin as a tribute to Wallsend's role as one of the outposts of the Roman empire. Although less so than in previous eras, contemporary Latin has also been used for public notices in public spaces: The
Wallsend Metro station of the
Tyne and Wear Metro has signs in Latin. The
Vatican City has an
automated teller machine with instructions in Latin. ==Original production==