Maple  +  409665 Sun, 26 Aug 07 03:51 PM I know this is an English forum; and I'm reading English medical textbooks. But in those books I encounter a lot of Latin words (especially nouns for diseases and materia medica). I don't know how to pronounce them. So are there any online dictionaries available for us to check the pronunciation of Latin words? Thank you very much for your help! Maple Joined on Tue, Jul 11 2006 An ESL student in China Contributing Member 1,110 Pronunciation, Nouns

	Feebs11  +  411803 Thu, 30 Aug 07 08:50 PM A couple of sites on Latin pronunciation: http://www.saltspring.com/capewest/pron.htm  http://www.thebookmarkshop.com/latin/latinpronunciation.htm Medline gives pronunciation guides to medical terms, which will include those that are Latin : http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mplusdictionary.html Feebs11 Joined on Thu, Nov 23 2006 UK Veteran Member 5,015 Pronunciation

	MrPedantic  +  411850 Fri, 31 Aug 07 12:11 AM I would add that the pronunciation of medical terms often differs from the traditional Latin pronunciation(s). For instance, doctors seem mostly to pronounce the epithet in Clostridium difficile as "díff-i-séel", in a slightly French kind of way; whereas it has four syllables in classical Latin (either "diff-í-sill-e", "diff-í-kill-e", or "diff-ítch-ill-e", depending on your place of education). MrP MrPedantic Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004 Veteran Member 12,592 ...opella forensis / adducit febris... Pronunciation

	Tanit  +  412081 Fri, 31 Aug 07 12:54 PM  MrPedantic wrote: I would add that the pronunciation of medical terms often differs from the traditional Latin pronunciation(s). For instance, doctors seem mostly to pronounce the epithet in Clostridium difficile as "díff-i-séel", in a slightly French kind of way; whereas it has four syllables in classical Latin (either "diff-í-sill-e", "diff-í-kill-e", or "diff-ítch-ill-e", depending on your place of education). MrP Thanks for this, MrP! Cannot imagine "difficile" pronounced as "díff-i-séel" or "diff-í-sill-e" At my high school I was taught that "diff-í-kill-e" was the correct pronounciation in Classical Latin, and "diff-ítch-ill-e" the correct one in Medieval Latin. As far as I know, Classical Latin is still taught in Germany, where there's a strong tradition of philological studies; in Italy, Medieval Latin is mostly used, maybe because it's more similar to Italian. I'd be curious to learn something about the way Latin is being taught in the UK or in the US. Thank you again. Tanit Joined on Mon, Jul 31 2006 Senior Member 3,030 There is no greater pain than to remember a happy time when one is in misery. (Dante) Pronunciation

	Feebs11  +  412112 Fri, 31 Aug 07 02:10 PM Tanit, here's a site for you to start with: http://www.arlt.co.uk/ Feebs11

	Tanit  +  412127 Fri, 31 Aug 07 02:48 PM Thanks, Feebs I downladed some mp3's from that website. I must say that there are huge differences ... the way those poems are read is pretty far from the way we'd have read them in school. Not sure I'd have recognised them if I hadn't know what they were reading. Tanit Pronunciation

	Tanit  +  412130 Fri, 31 Aug 07 02:49 PM PS: Sorry, Maple, for hijacking your thread Tanit

	Maple  +  412438 Fri, 31 Aug 07 11:34 PM Thank you very much, Feebs11 and MrPedantic! (I posted this question elsewhere but no one has touched it there. English Forums are the best, always!)   Hi, Tanit, no need to say sorry. Your way of hijacking is legitimate! Maple Pronunciation

	MrPedantic  +  412447 Fri, 31 Aug 07 11:56 PM  Tanit wrote: Cannot imagine "difficile" pronounced as "díff-i-séel" or "diff-í-sill-e" At my high school I was taught that "diff-í-kill-e" was the correct pronounciation in Classical Latin, and "diff-ítch-ill-e" the correct one in Medieval Latin. As far as I know, Classical Latin is still taught in Germany, where there's a strong tradition of philological studies; in Italy, Medieval Latin is mostly used, maybe because it's more similar to Italian. I'd be curious to learn something about the way Latin is being taught in the UK or in the US. Thank you again. As far as I know, the "hard" pronunciation is still preferred, in UK schools; which makes more sense in the context of Roman orthography, transliterations from the Greek, contemporary grammatical texts, etc. But as you say, church Latin seems to favour the "diff-ítch-ill-e" style. Perhaps oddest of all are the pronunciations of gardeners and biologists. MrP MrPedantic Pronunciation