Teaching yourself Latin vs having a Latin teacher: pros and cons

One of the first things you have to decide once you’ve made the great deci­sion to learn Latin is whether you should do it on your own or with the help of a teacher or a tutor. 

Choos­ing between teach­ing your­self and hav­ing a teacher is a mat­ter of pref­er­ence. There is no “right” answer; it ulti­mate­ly comes down to how you as a stu­dent learn best. That said, this can still be a hard deci­sion to make, as there are dif­fer­ent aspects to consider.

So to help you choose, I’ve list­ed some pros and cons. Keep in mind that you might rank among the cons some of what I con­sid­er to be pros. Read through the pros and cons of each and con­sid­er – with an open mind – which aspects seem rel­e­vant to you. 

Learning Latin on your own: pros & cons

Pros

• If you learn Latin on your own, you will have com­plete auton­o­my to choose the method, mate­ri­als, and pace.
• You get to make your own sched­ule and study when it suits you (2 pm? 8 am?).
• Study­ing a lan­guage on your own gives a great sense of achieve­ment when you succeed—you did it on your own!

Cons

• Study­ing Latin on your own requires great ded­i­ca­tion, patience, and dis­ci­pline. If things get dif­fi­cult, or you lose inter­est for some rea­son, quit­ting is a def­i­nite risk.
• Study­ing on your own can get lone­ly: you won’t be around peo­ple doing the same thing, strug­gling with, or enjoy­ing the same texts.

Sug­gest­ed read­ing: First day of learn­ing Latin: What to do

Having a Latin teacher, taking a class: pros & cons

Pros

• If you take a Latin class, you don’t have to wor­ry about what method and mate­ri­als to choose.
• With a Latin teacher to guide you, you will have some­one to ask as soon as you run into a problem.
• You will have class­mates to talk with about your stud­ies, prac­tice with, and keep the moti­va­tion going.

Cons

• If you par­take in a Latin class, you usu­al­ly have lit­tle say in the method, pac­ing, and materials.
• Depend­ing on your loca­tion, it might cost quite a lot to take class­es in Latin.
• You have to fol­low a sched­ule which might be dif­fi­cult if you’re work­ing or are busy with oth­er things.

Private Latin tutor or coach: pros & cons

Pros

• Hav­ing a pri­vate tutor means that you don’t have to wor­ry about decid­ing on method, mate­ri­als, and pace.
• With a tutor, you can usu­al­ly plan your ses­sions around your oth­er activities.
• You can try dif­fer­ent tutors and see what method and mate­ri­als you like; you are not bound to one.
• A pri­vate tutor can help you every step of the way, which is not pos­si­ble in a class of 10–20 students.
• You can get answers to all your ques­tions quickly—however sil­ly you might find them.

Cons

• You’ll have to decide among a pletho­ra of teach­ers and coach­es, espe­cial­ly if you are learn­ing online. To fig­ure out who tru­ly knows what they are doing can be dif­fi­cult, and take a lit­tle time.
• Hav­ing a pri­vate tutor will usu­al­ly cost much more than reg­u­lar classes.

Teach yourself Latin or have a teacher or a tutor: My recommendations

This is first and fore­most your deci­sion, and you need to be bru­tal­ly hon­est with your­self regard­ing what you like and what actu­al­ly makes you study. While learn­ing Latin on your own might seem the most fun, if you know by expe­ri­ence that you tend to lose focus, then per­haps attend­ing a class or hir­ing a tutor will be bet­ter for you. 

Con­sid­er all of your pref­er­ences and think about how you actu­al­ly study and how you function. 

With that said, my rec­om­men­da­tion for every­one – if means are of no issue – is to com­bine them all into one great learning-Latin-combination.

You would then study Latin on your own but use a tutor or coach to help you plan your stud­ies, answer ques­tions, and help prac­tice your speak­ing. I would then take the odd Latin class to meet fel­low Latin stu­dents and per­haps even go to a Latin immer­sion course where you drench your­self in the lan­guage for days.