DEBATE: Should you learn Classical or Ecclesiastical Latin?

Should you learn Ecclesiastical or Classical Latin? This is a question I am often asked, and it’s worth exploring in detail. Related questions include: Is Classical Latin superior to Ecclesiastical Latin? Is Ecclesiastical the same as Mediaeval Latin? Where did the Ecclesiastical Pronunciation come from? Is Ecclesiastical Pronunciation the same as Vulgar Latin? This and more will be answered in this heated debate from the streets of Rome! 🏛️ Take my course LATIN UNCOVERED on StoryLearning, including my original Latin adventure novella “Vir Petasātus“ — click on this link for a 33% discount for a limited time: ⬅️ SEE SOURCES BELOW Note: the “accents“ I am using here in English are merely exaggerated caricatures of a British-type accent and a New York-type accent, but are not attempts at authentic representations of either, and I used for comic purposes only. 🦂 Support my work on Patreon: 📚 Luke Ranieri Audiobooks: 🦂 Sign up for my Latin Pronunciation & Conversation series on Patreon: ☕️ Support my work with PayPal: And if you like, do consider joining this channel: 🏛 Latin by the Ranieri-Dowling Method: 🏺Ancient Greek by the Ranieri-Dowling Method: 🏛 Ancient Greek in Action · Free Greek Lessons: 👨‍🏫 My Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata playlist · Free Latin Lessons: 🦂 ScorpioMartianus (my channel for content in Latin, Ancient Greek, & Ancient Egyptian) 🎙 Hundreds of hours of Latin & Greek audio: 🌍 polýMATHY website: 🌅 polýMATHY on Instagram: 🦁 Legio XIII Latin Language Podcast: 👕 Merch: 🦂 🦅 📖 My book Ranieri Reverse Recall on Amazon: Intro and outro music: Overture of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) by Mozart SOURCES Vox Latina, by W. Sidney Allen The Pronunciation of Greek and Latin, Edgar Howard Sturtevant Institutiones Stili Latini, by Aemilius Sprighetti The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC - AD 600, by JN Adams An Anthology of Informal Latin, 200 BC–AD 900: Fifty Texts with Translations and Linguistic Commentary, by JN Adams Social Variation and the Latin Language, by JN Adams Early and Late Latin: Continuity or Change?, by JN Adams Late Latin and Early Romance in Spain and Carolingian France (Arca Classical and Medieval Texts, Papers and Monographs, by Roger Wright Breve grammatica storica dell’italiano, by Paolo D’Achille De recta Latini Graecique sermonis pronuntiatione dialogus, by Erasmus (1528) ~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost16/Erasmus/ Ecclesiastical Latin Versus Classical Latin, by Raphael Turrigiano: History in 3D channel: A.Z. Foreman’s channel: TIMESTAMPS — see notes and further commentary in the pinned comment. 0:00 Intro to the Debate 0:58 Is Ecclesiastical Latin just Mediaeval Latin? 3:35 My course on StoryLearning: Latin Uncovered 5:32 Which sounds sillier: Classical or Ecclesiastical Pronunciation? 6:55 Is Ecclesiastical Pronunciation descended from the Roman Empire’s pronunciation? 8:16 How do we know what Classical Latin sounded like? 11:55 The true origin of Ecclesiastical Pronunciation 18:30 How old is Ecclesiastical Pronunciation? 19:50 Phonemic vowel length is part of Ecclesiastical Pronunciation too! 22:35 So which should you learn?! 24:03 Outtakes! 24:59 What are you laughin’ at?!