Quote from: MaterDominici

A random Latin question for those who know:

Do vowels in ecclesiastical Latin have more than one sound (short / long)?

no, but double vowels have a pronunciation that is longer in duration
for example in "tuum" the length of the pronunciation of the u is similar to the a'a in ma'am.  

It is not a longer u, but two "u's" both pronounced, as tu-um.

Quote from: Jaynek

Since very few of us speak Latin so well that it can be our everyday language at home, we do  not have the option of our children learning it as Roman children did.  

No, not in the sense of immersion, but rather via a natural progression.

When I was a child, we had friendly neighbours who spoke Latin at home and we used to visit them. They had 3 children, the youngest a girl of my age with two older brothers. The father was a judge and the mother a university lecturer (I think).

Yes, Ladi, you start off with "Pater, please pass the peanut butter", and then gradually use new words as they are acquired. After "Grace before meals" in Latin, of course.

http://rickmk.com/rmk/Latin/grace.html

Sign of the Cross and Grace Before Meals

In nomine Patris,  et  Filii, et   Spiritus Sancti.
in name  of-Father and of-Son and of-Spirit Holy

Benedic,  Domine,  nos  et  haec   tua   dona
Bless     Lord     us   and these  Your  gifts

quae    de   tua   largitate  sumus  sumpturi
which  from  Your  bounty     we-are about-to-receive

  per    Christum  Dominum  nostrum.  Amen.
through  Christ    Lord       our     Amen

Quote from: Jaynek

Since very few of us speak Latin so well that it can be our everyday language at home, we do  not have the option of our children learning it as Roman children did.  

No, not in the sense of immersion, but rather via a natural progression.

The Memoria press site has some articles on the theory of teaching Latin.  This one is an overview of the three main - teaching methods

This is a more detailed critique of the - natural method

I think that natural method would be very difficult to use by a teacher who does not have a thorough knowledge of Latin.  Even if it were theoretically a good method, I can't see it being practical for most homeschoolers.  

I think a more realistic way to introduce "natural" Latin is to have children learn their prayers in Latin and be very familiar with the Mass.  If one wants more than this, the MP Lingua Angelica program teaches Latin hymns.

That being said, I use Lingua Latina (), which is designed for the natural method, as supplementary reading with the Memoria Press materials at middle school age.

Yes, Ladi, you start off with "Pater, please pass the peanut butter", and then gradually use new words as they are acquired. After "Grace before meals" in Latin, of course.

My youngest son (age 13) has lately started calling me Mater.

Quote from: MaterDominici (Jan 31, 2015, 10:30 pm)

A random Latin question for those who know:

Do vowels in ecclesiastical Latin have more than one sound (short / long)?

no, [....]

Too perfect!  I can't think of a better choice for someone to emerge from the Novus Ordo smoke-of-Satan, and then provide readers with the wrong answer.

Which is not to claim that it makes him unique among the Novus Ordo faithful: According to reports, even that guy garbed in white in Vatican City nowadays has shown that he does not have a useful level of skill with Latin.

Quote from: Nadir (Feb 1, 2015, 2:44 am)

Quote from: poche (Jan 31, 2015, 11:46 pm, initially concluded)

[...] but double vowels have a pronunciation that is longer in duration for example in "tuum" the length of the pronunciation of the u is similar to the a'a in ma'am.

It is not a longer u, but two "u's " both pronounced, as tu-um.

That is the same as the double a in ma'am

Ecclesiastical Latin does indeed have vowels whose sounds are distinguished as short versus long.  And ironically, that's exemplified by the 4-letter word that's already been offered, albeit for the wrong reason.  The sounds of the 2 'u' in ecclesiastical Latin "tū-um" are significantly different (from each other), the word being pronounced approximately as "too'-(w)uhm", thus the 1st vowel being ' ū ' (i.e.: long), and the 2nd vowel being ' ŭ ' (i.e.: short).

•    That's in contrast to "tuh'-uhm in classical Latin, in which both vowels are short.
  
  So a correct answer about Latin should be credited to 'Nadir'.
  
  As for the pronunciation of the English contraction "ma d am", it almost certainly exhibits U.S.-regional differences.  E.g., in the Deep South, it's more like "mah'-yahm" or "mah'-yuhm", where the vowel sounds shown as "ah" in this instance are approximately the sound of the Old-English letter 'æ', which is exemplified by the (letter's) name in modern English: "ash".
  
  Note *: I trust that the computers at CathInfo Hq., and those of other established members of CathInfo, have already been equipped with fonts that're able to display what've been called the Pan-European characters of the Universal Character Set a.k.a. Unicode.  Textbooks for Latin were one of the reasons compelling the inclusion of Latin-alphabet vowelsprecomposed with the breve (short-sign) and the macron (long-sign).