Latin Pronunciation?

My brother and I hemmed and hawed on the issue when we decided to study Latin together. Because the ancient Romans were his motivation, he favored the Classical pronunciation. Because I was more interested in ancient music, I favored the Eccesiastical.

Then we found out that with the Classical pronunciation, Julius Caesar’s immortal words “Veni, veni, vici,” would become “Weni, weedi, weeki.” And we looked at each other in horror and said, “Forget THAT.”

Shallow, but true.  More seriously, I found this blog post helpful in making the decision (though I’m not Catholic).

You need to understand that this is not a one-time irrevocable decision.  The differences are not that great.  I began with ecclesiastical with our children, but when my oldest went to college, his classes used classical.  It was no problem.  He said it took him a couple days to get used to the new enough to remember to do it, no biggie.  What course were you thinking of using after Song School?  If you will be continuing on with CAP products, then it does not matter a lot.  You can pick one.  Or even teach both.  It really matters surprisingly little.  Unless the child plans a career as a Latin instructor, the vast majority of his Latin will be read.  You can read something to yourself and the “pronunciation” doesn’t matter a lot!