Terence Tunberg | |
|---|---|
 Professor of Latin | |
| Born | 1950 |
| Occupation | Latinist |
| Spouse | Jennifer Tunberg |
| Parent | Karl Tunberg |
Terence Tunberg is a professor of Latin at the University of Kentucky, specialising in Neo-Latin studies, especially the use of Ciceronian language; and the use of spoken Latin as a teaching tool. He is also Director of the university's Institute for Latin Studies.[1] His academic output is in both Latin and English.
Terence and Jennifer Tunberg, his wife, have translated a number of children's books into Latin. These include Cattus Petasatus: The Cat in the Hat in Latin in 2000, How the Grinch Stole Christmas,[2] Arbor Alma: The Giving Tree In Latin in 2002, and Green Eggs and Ham In Latin: Virent Ova! Viret Perna in 2003.[3]
They described translations of the Grinch as difficult, given the informality of the language, but attempted something that was playful but not so idiomatic as to be hard to read.[2]
He is a "proponent of Latin speaking as a means of helping with language learning and, for more advanced students, as a way to consolidate knowledge of the language."[4] He founded and convenes the annual Lexington Latin Conventiculum, the first of its kind in the USA.[4][5]
Together with Milena Minkova, Tunberg founded an MA programme in Latin that uses the language as the medium of instruction in the University of Kentucky in 2000. Students from these programmes have gone on to found their own Living Latin events around the US, helping to build the practice.[6] While he is "convinced that using Latin for communication and active discourse with students enhances the quality of both learning and teaching", he also believes that Latin should be taught differently from living languages, not least as reading is an early goal, and does not practice 'full immersion', i.e. teaching Latin through Latin at an early stage.[7]
He was elected a fellow of the Academia Latinitati Fovendae in 1998, an institution that promotes the use of spoken Latin.[8] His own spoken Latin is of a very high standard, sometimes better than his English,[9] and he is able to "discuss absolutely any subject in Latin with clarity and eloquence".[10]
