by Annarella Perra, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Do you want to look for information on the web, using Latin in your search engine? No problem - Google Latina is just what you have been looking for! Every serious web-user knows Google (a free service, complete, updated and an excellent search engine), but users now, especially Latin teachers or just keen classicists, can use this in Latin version.

You can find a lot of Latin and Greek resources with any search engine but if you want to explore the Classics and ICT connection further, try logging on to "Google Latina" (©2004 Google) at http://www.google.com/intl/la/. Here you will find all details, instructions and definitions on the pages have been written in Latin, so both we and our students can practise our Latin, while doing Internet research. The graphic interface is uncluttered and intuitive (the same for all versions of Google), as you can see.

Here, above the blank field for your search criteria, you will find the following headings:

• Tela for a web search
• Imagines for images - the so-called Locupletissima imaginum investigatio in Tela
• Circuli, web forums, the so-called Usenet diputationum fora explorare percurrere, leading to categories such as Res hodiernae disputationesque... A word of caution, however, should be added - that many of these further categories revert to English quite quickly!
• Index, for searching categories, as science, arts, the so-called "Tela pro argumentis in genera distributa". Again, these subheadings quickly revert to English, as it is the search engine itself which is written in Latin and not the links emanating from it.

You can press on either of active buttons below the blank field. We suggest you use "Explorare Googles ope", not Fortuna, to start your searches! If you want a controlled search rather than a generic one, you can select from 3 search modes to the right of the Latina home page:

• Excogitata investigatio (advanced research), to restrict some of your search criteria
• Optiones, to specify details about language and the search results
• Instrumenta de linguis, to make choices about languages and countries (somewhat suprisingly, Latin is not included here as a language option!)

Under the "Excogitata investigatio" (advanced research) page, you can specify criteria for making searches under different headings (as with most search engines, this is done by filling in fields and using drop down menus).

Results can be found (proventus invenire) with all of the words, with the exact phrase, with at least one of the words, without the words, by the number of results, by language, by file format, by date, by numeric range, by occurrence of words in the pages, by domain, or within Safesearch mode. You can also find similar pages or linked pages by selecting Similes or Vincula options. Remember that you have to save your choices (Servare Electiones) before going back to your last page. As you can see, there is a great number of possibilities, from simple to complex search work: with a lot of time you can test all functions of this system.

Utinam vobis proficua investigatio sit!