If someone was to do a crash course on learning to read and write
Latin, what would a reasonable time frame be? I am writing a novel and
I want to have a character in 5th Century Britain do this but I need
to know if it's logically possible or not. Would 4 - 6 months be
appropriate?

Hi

I would have thought the first question shoud be whether and how much
Latin should appear in the book at all. Some food for thought:

http://www.booksincanada.com/article_view.asp?id=3394

http://home.usaa.net/~kimheadlee/writing.htm#Languages

Secondly, do you need to know the language yourself, it might be
easier to have someone else with the requisite skills do this job for
you. This might be especially necessary should specialist knowledge be
required, if for instance you needed to know the difference between
classical written Latin and that spoken in 5th century Britain, as
these are very advanced subjects and unlikely to be obvious to the
beginning learner. This returns us to the thought though, that if not
obvious, even to someone with some knowledge, how much does the
average reader need to know.

Probably the premier expert on British Latin of this period is David Howlett
article:  http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba33/ba33feat.html#howlett
you might like to try and find his Cambro-Latin Compositions: Their
Competence and Craftsmanship at a library.

You could approach your local universities or colleges that teach
Latin for advice both on self study, courses offered and assistance
from experts. Introductory courses may be offered in your area as
evening classes.

Here are some recommendations for self study with explanations at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/21KWP6ECZGD5S/104-4957534-4472735?%5Fencoding=UTF8
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/guides/guide-display/-/57PUYHV9R1YH/ref=cm_bg_guides/104-4957534-4472735
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/guides/guide-display/-/NYQFU14WM36L/ref=cm_bg_guides/104-4957534-4472735
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/guides/guide-display/-/230X0SHCMTWDG/ref=cm_bg_guides/104-4957534-4472735

a list of Latin resources on the web
http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/Latin/resources.html

but realistically I don't know how much you are going to be able to
pick up in 4-6 months, especially given that you will no doubt be
involved in other activities, and researching other aspects of the
writing.

Good luck.

Actually, my question is: is it reasonable to assume that a person in
5th Century Britain could learn to read and write basic Latin in 4-6
months if that was all they did? I am trying to decide whether that is
reasonable for a character I am developing. Thanks!

I would have thought the short answer is "yes" - after all, with
application, most Brits these days could get a working knowledge of
most European languages, including Latin, in 4 to 6 months. (In fact,
Latin is not such a difficult language.) However, one point for your
consideration is that the vast majority of Brits in the 5th century -
including even upper class people - would have been illiterate in any
language. So you had better have your character well educated, and
reading & writing English, to begin with; and obviously you should
have some plausible way of him/her learning Latin, as I doubt if there
were many language schools back then.

Thank you.

I agree with Geof, as usual.
This site might interest you  - or scare you, if it doesn't fit with
your concepts of the language situation in England at that time:
http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary/chapters/history.php

Note that the first Anglo-Saxon writing found is from that time and in
runic letters.
As Geof points out, your man would have been very unlikely to read or
write his native language.  I think he could learn to understand and
speak Latin in four to six months by "total immersion", but you are
going to need a scenario to provide for this.  It is too early to have
a monastery in England where he could learn it from the monks, though
in theory, perhaps he could in Ireland at that time.  But as an
illiterate person, I see no chance of his learning to read, let alone
write, Latin, even very poorly.

I hope this information doesn't upset your plot.
Regards, Myoarin

To the contrary, it gives me additional food for thought. I wanted my
character to be able to read the Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus
written by Patrick in the early 5th Century. I will check out the site
you gave me. Thank you!

One additional thought - I planned to have my character study Latin
with Ninian of Candida Casa fame in Whithorn. It wasn't a monastery
quite yet but he did possibly have some other priests with him there.

I am reassured, having been afraid that you might be out of touch with
the times (I only learned through your question).  Here a bit about
Ninian for others:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11084a.htm

I think I may have to re-think my plot, as the character I have in
mind to learn Latin is actually a girl! Perhaps instead I will have a
priest attached somehow in the neighborhood of Dumbarton, Strathclyde,
where Coroticus lived (when he wasn't out raiding!)Thanks again for
your help.

I just looked back at this thread, as I saw that the number of
comments had grown to nine. It's funny, but I thought you might have a
girl in mind as being the character learning Latin - like making it
difficult for yourself, don't you? I wouldn't worry too much about
getting the historical facts right -after all, those were the Dark
Ages, and nobody's very sure what was going on.(Though possibly
Scotland was a little more enlightened than down here, south of the
border.)

Thanks again!