Professor Alan Ross Scaife & Professor Robert Rabel UK Dear Sirs,
being asked to express my opinion about the UK Institute for Latin Studies I present the following viewpoints that might be taken into account in its evaluations.
In the recent times the knowledge of Latin has declined in many countries and there have been academic teachers of classics with poor or insufficient Latin proficiency which has brought discredit even on serious and competent Latin philology. Nowadays, however, the most appreciated specialists of Latin agree that if we intend to conserve the cultural heritage represented by the Classical, Medieval and later Latin literature, a thorough connaissance of the language is necessary, not only the ability to read and translate Latin texts but also to write and use Latin with the same ability as any language.
The activities of Prof. Tunberg and his colleagues in the UK Institute of Latin Studies correspond to all the modern methodological requirements of teaching Classics and Latin philology. The authors included in the courses are not limited to a few works of the classical period (as lamentably is still the case in many high schools) but comprehend already in Semester II some post-classical texts, in semester II Latin of Late Antiquity, the Patristic and the Middle Ages, in Semester IV Latin of the Renaissance and Modern world. Prose and poetry are well balanced in each stage of the studies.
I find it praiseworthy that intensive composition and speaking exercises are included from the very beginning (semester I). In all studies of foreign languages this is the essential part, the omission of which is fatal. In my forty years of teaching Latin in all academic levels I have too often met professors who are not able to write or pronounce correctly three words of Latin and are still amazed that their students escape from them.
In broadening the cultural content of teaching and adoptiong modern methods leading to mastery of the Latin language the Curriculum of UK Institute of Latin Studies could serve as an example to many European Institutes of Classics.
Helsinki, February 12th, 2001-02-12 Yours very sincerely Tuomo Pekkanen, professor of Latin Vicepresident of the international Latin Academy, ALF, Rome Member of the Collegium libellis conficiendis in the Latinitas Foundation in Vatican
Created on ... March 26, 2001