Living Latin in Paris is an intensive Latin experience focusing on Medieval Latin and set in Paris. In two seminar-style meetings every day, participants read and discuss Medieval Latin literature, history and culture. To the extent possible, the language of instruction in these seminars is Latin.
In addition to the daily seminar sessions, the program includes a variety of optional programming designed to build students’ facility in speaking and understanding Latin, as well as lectures on topics relating to Medieval history and culture, and visits to historical sites in Paris and its environs that are relevant to the program’s theme.
The 2022-2023 Living Latin in Paris program will focus on The Letters of Abelard and Héloïse and visit Chartres Cathedral.
Prerequisites
Participants should know the basics of Latin grammar. This usually means the equivalent of one year of college or two years of high-school Latin. No experience speaking Latin is required, but experienced Latin speakers are also encouraged to apply. Paideia alumni and Nexus members are particularly encouraged to apply.
Living Latin in Paris is based in Paris’ Quartier Latin, the “Latin Quarter” that takes its name from the Medieval students at the Sorbonne, who continued to speak Latin long after the rest of the city had begun speaking French. Classrooms are located at La Congrégation du Saint Esprit, one of Paris’ last functioning monasteries.
Housing & Other Costs
Participants must arrange their own housing in Paris. The Paideia Institute has negotiated discounted group rates with a trusted housing provider in a hotel. Approximate rates for each type of lodging for the duration of the program are listed below. Contact information for housing providers and group discount codes will be provided upon acceptance.
Costs of housing at suggested hotels are below (subject to availability):
Triple room shared with other program participants: €365
Double room shared with another program participant: €440
Single Hotel Room: €695
Airfare transportation to and from the airport, daily expenses for meals, and spending money are not included in the cost of tuition. The cost of life in Paris can vary greatly depending on one’s tastes, but at the very least we recommend that participants budget €30/day for food. Please consider the exchange rate when planning your budget.
Tina Chronopoulos is a British-infused Greco-German transplant whose teaching and research interests range all over the Mediterranean and span more than a millennium, from Greco-Roman antiquity to the medieval period and beyond. Trained by old-school philologists (at Durham University in the north of England and at King's College, London), she enjoys deep dives into libraries and archives, as well as close readings of texts, contexts, and medieval manuscripts. In the classroom, she gets excited about speaking in Latin as much as possible and encouraging her students to read both the past and the present contextually whilst wearing the lenses of race, class, and gender.
After a decade of service to Benedict XVI and Francis as a papal Latinist, Daniel Gallagher was named the Ralph and Jeanne Kanders Professor of the Practice in Latin at Cornell University in 2017. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan, the Catholic University of America, and the Pontifical Gregorian University and has published extensively in medieval philosophy, especially in the areas of metaphysics and aesthetics. He is dedicated to handing on the Latin language based on the principles and methodology of his long-time mentor, Reginald Foster.
Roberto Salazar is an experienced polyglot language coach and nomadic classicist, with a passion for teaching Latin and Greek as spoken languages, and an impossible desire to speak all tongues imaginable, and to teach them to those who want to learn them.
He has taught Latin, Greek, Arabic, German and more in different places around the world, including various Paideia programs, online and on site. A former fellow of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris, where he studied Classics and Philosophy, he's currently writing a PhD dissertation on the reception of Greek tragedy in the Arab World, Modern Greece and Latin America. He has also done research on European Classical Reception and Neo-Latin.
He has published fiction translations into French and Spanish from various languages including Swedish. In 2017, he was the head literary curator for the French-Colombian Year.
That's probably why he's still scrambling to complete his PhD at the University of Versailles.
He currently lives between Athens, Cairo and Saint Denis, France.
Tuition and Fees
The tuition for Living Latin in Paris is $1600. This payment covers program instruction, transportation to and from site visits, museum and site admissions, and two group meals.
Scholarships
The Paideia Institute is able to offer a number of full and partial scholarships to participants with financial need. Please visit our scholarships page to learn more. Scholarship applications received by the priority application deadline for the program (October 1, 2022) will receive fullest consideration.
Request an Application
For best consideration, please submit your completed application by the priority deadline of October 1, 2022. Applications received after October 1 will be considered on a rolling basis while space is available.
