Heri ambulabam per Universitatem Cornellis cum matre mea et grege hominum. Subito desivi; audiveram aliquem Latine loquentem! In parvo atrio, paucis scalis remotus, vir tenebat librum _Lingua Latina_, et loquebatur septem discipulis Latine! Ambulavi de scalis, dum grex noster perrexit ambulare.
"Salve!" Magister inquit mihi Anglice, "Ecce classis Latine."
"Scio," dixi, "Sum discipula Latinae, et ego quoque utor libro _Lingua Latina_.
"Re vera?!" respondit Magister, "Hic est liber optimus! Ubi schola tua est?"
"In Los Angeles," dixi.
Tunc rogavit me quaestionem Latine, "Tu loquerisne Latine?"
"Ita! Loquor!" respondi Latine.
"Ita!" Magister pronuntiavit classi suae. Exposuit eum docuisse classem quomodo dicere "ita" et "minime" mane eadem die! Homines in classe erant discipuli graduati, qui inceperant discere Latinam hac aestate.
Constituimus conventum cum magistro ad loquendum Latine et de rebus Latinis, et tunc mater mea et ego perreximus ambulare et quaerere gregem nostrum. Postea magister nobis dixit se scire Patrem Reginaldum, qui est consiliarius Latinae Papae, (quem vidimus in televisione in classe Latina anno peracto), et quoque scire Terentionem Tunbergem, qui in Latinum convertit _Cattus Petasatus_!
Convenire magistrum Latinae in Cornelle erat aliud exemplum linguae Latinae in vita solita. Invenistisne Latinam in locis solitis hac aestate? Vidi Latinam nuper in sepulchris, scriptam infra statuas, in ampulla ketchupis (re vera!), in multis aedificationibus, et etiam in libellis discorum compactorum!
Ubi nuper invenistis Latinam??
-- ENGLISH TRANSLATION --
Yesterday I was walking through Cornell University with my mom and a group of people. Suddenly I stopped; I heard someone speaking Latin! In a little alcove, down a few stairs, a man was holding the book _Lingua Latina_, and speaking to seven students in Latin! I walked down the steps, while our group continued walking.
"Hi!" said the teacher in English, "This is a Latin class."
"I know," I said, "I'm a Latin student, and I also use the book _Lingua Latina_.
"Really?!" the teacher responded, "This is the best book! Where do you go to school?"
"In Los Angeles," I said.
Then he asked me a question in Latin, "Do you speak Latin?"
"Yes! I speak it!" I replied in Latin.
"Yes!" the teacher proclaimed to his class. He explained that he had taught the class how to say "yes" and "no" that very morning! The people in the class were graduate students, who had begun to learn Latin that summer.
We arranged a meeting with the teacher to talk in Latin and about Latin, and then my mom and I continued to walk and look for our group. Later on the teacher told us that he knows Father Reginald, the Pope's Latin advisor, (who we saw on TV in Latin class last year), and also Terrence Tunburg, who translated _The Cat in the Hat_ into Latin!
Meeting the Latin teacher at Cornell was another instance of Latin in everyday life. Have you found Latin in ordinary places this summer? Lately I've seen Latin on tombstones, inscribed below statues, on Ketchup bottles (really!) on lots of buildings, and even in CD covers!
Where have you found Latin recently??
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