Salvē! Ut valēs? I'm Victor, but in the Latin internet community (which does exist!) I’m also known as Unbrutal. Not your usual nickname, I know, but it's pretty cheeky, and who doesn’t like to be a bit cheeky sometimes?

I was born and have lived all my life in Russia, receiving a linguistic education at the former Saint Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance, where I studied English and German with a goal of becoming a translator/interpreter. Secretly, though, I wanted to be a linguist, and Latin seemed like a mandatory language to know for anyone of that description, especially those interested in historical and comparative linguistics. I had a brief encounter with Latin at the university, where it was taught through grammar translation. As frustrating as this experience was, it made me wonder whether the language of the Romans could be taught and learned properly, as an actual medium of communication. 

Then I came across LLPSI: Familia Romana, and instantly fell in love. For the first time in my life, I was looking at a book that attempted to teach a language entirely in the target language. And it wasn’t just a language textbook - it was a story so engrossing that I simply couldn’t stop reading! Now there was no going back - I simply had to learn Latin. Besides the language’s linguistic and cultural value, this was the next closest thing to time travel I had ever seen. 

I hadn’t even finished reading LLPSI: FR when I decided that there had to be others. By sheer luck, I found a polyglot, a citizen of the world and an AVN alumnus by the name Emilio who spoke Latin (as well as Greek) with amazing fluency. Next thing I knew, I was walking about my home city of Saint Petersburg and its various museums, constantly bombarding Emilio with “quōmodo dīcitur?” and “quid sibi vult?” (and returning the favour in my native Russian). 

This experience convinced me that the most effective, not to mention emotionally fulfilling way to learn Latin was as a medium of live communication. Lacking face-to-face options, I became very active in the internet community of Latin studiōsī where I had opportunities to hone my skills through both speech and writing. Since I wanted to bring Latin to life for myself and others, I had to know how to pronounce it, and so I undertook to meticulously research and reconstruct the pronunciation of Classical Latin and to model it for others, indulging my passion for poetry in the process. 

I was very eager to share what I learned with those who asked the same kinds of questions as me, and as a result, ended up participating in various forums and platforms (Discord, Reddit, Stack Exchange, Latin Discussion), organising various reading and conversation groups, and taking on private students. There, I met Jessica, a former Latin teacher who loved all things spooky and magical and shared my passion for bringing Latin pedagogy up to date with modern SLA research. We joined our efforts to help develop the Latin internet community and make the language more inclusive by creating opportunities that traditional education programs simply didn’t provide. As part of that effort, we co-authored a very spooky and witchy (verging on black metal!) graded reader of poetry titled Erictho: Tartarorum Terror, which aims to bridge the gap between textbook and authentic literary Latin and was released in December of last year. 

Besides my passion for languages, I enjoy things that have to do with science, literature, culture, philosophy, and psychology. I seem to be good at interpreting meaning, always striving to understand the world on a deep and intuitive level — both things and, more importantly, people. Other things I love include music, silence, trust, the hour before sunrise, and interacting with animals who live freely. When I’m not doing Latin, I’m trying to direct the largest Russian-language Discord book club as well as to branch out into teaching Russian and English in a similar way to how I teach Latin. 

You can see some Latin videos I've helped produce over at Jessica’s YouTube channel, Lupus Alatus.