Has any one studied Latin?

Question

If so, in what ways do you believe that it has benefited you?
I am considering enrolling my 4th and 6th graders in Latin.
Ibelieve that it will benefit them in language skill and how to learn skills etc......what else?

Answer 1

Latin is an excellent language to study. Granted, there are some who would refute this, state that it is a 'dead' language and may only be good in medical and legal professions. it is most beneficial. e.g. (exempli gratia- for expample), the etc. (et cetera- and the others) from your question. its something most of us use daily and don't even realize.

Look at the back of your quarter. 'e plurbis unum.' everyone knows that. Now look at the back of your one dollar bill, on the great seal. 'annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum'. Bonus points for that.

Granted, Latin may be a dead language, but it had children. I like to consider it the mother of western language. Italian, Romanian, Spanish, Portugese, and French all have their roots in Latin. If one knows latin well enough, these are not a problem to pick up, especially Italian. At least half the english language has latin derivitives. If one can take apart words, find the latin behind them, they have an instant etimology at their finger tips, at many languages. Not that this would be of any help on standarized tests...

Doctors and lawyers use Latin in their jargon. academics, historians, artists, philosophers and theologins also use it directly on a regular basis. Its not necessarily a bad company to keep. I took Latin in high school and ended up in health insurance. There was lots of medical terminology, and most of it wasn't in yiddish.

A lot of classics are done in Latin: Virgil's Annead, Mozart's requim, Orff's Carmena Burana, parts of Monty Python's LIfe of Brian. Anyways, knowing the language, let alone the mother of languages, adds for a deeper appreciation of the material.

Latin teaches organization. Its based on declensions (noun forms) and conjugations (verb forms). When one learns how it works, they develop an appreciation for their own language.

Anyways, I took a bit of it in high school. My first teacher was Sr. Marie. She was the only nun i had in many years of Catholic Education, but she was the best, and tough! I learned from a book that was 60 year old, Lingua Latina. The others was the Oxford Latin Course, which documented the life of Horace in crudely drawn pictures. That wasn't too bad. Anyways, I think taking it is an excellent idea.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

I took Latin in high school for three years. It was wonderful!

My magistra (teacher) was so enthusiastic, it soon became my favorite class.

It helped me in so many ways - since English uses many words with Latin origins, I was able to dissect many unfamiliar words and get their general meaning. I'd say I used that skill alone about 8 times on my SAT - which I did quite well on.

Also, when I started studying Italian, my background in Latin was a wonderful asset. All the Romance languages (including French) are based on Latin.

I am studying pre-med, but I know in med school I will have to take a medical vocabulary course, and I have been told that Latin will, once again, come in handy.

Learning about the culture was quite interesting too.

Latin is not a dead language, no matter what anyone says.

I'm not sure if the children would have the same interest in it that I did, being they are so young. But if they want to learn a language, encourage Latin!

Answer 3

It definitely helped me when I studied it in elementary school. My reading and language skills were always strong, but Latin helps develop it further and gives more understanding of the English language.
Also, Latin is the root of many languages and can help in the future when learning other languages like Spanish or French.

Answer 4

Unless they plan to be doctors, lawyers, archeologists, or linguists, there isn't much use for Latin. They would get more out of a language they could start using right away and keep using for the rest of their lives instead of simply making it an exercise in learning something new with no other benefits. If you have some German relatives, then German might be better, if you live in an area with a lot of spanish speaking people, the Spanish would be better, if they want to travel to Japan, then Japanese would be better, if they want to study art, then maybe French or Italian might be better, etc.

Answer 5

Yes, it will benefit them if they are ever in a position to need to know vocabulary, such as for college entrance exams or (and I know this is far away) for graduate entrance exams.

Any romance language speaker can benefit from learning Latin because Latin words are often the roots for our words.

So I would definitely recommend it!

FYI: I've been studying Latin via the Rosetta Stone software, and I HIGHLY recommend it!! It's worth the money!

Answer 6

I took Latin in High school. I wish I had kept it up. Latin introduces you to what our language is based on. With a background in Latin, you can analyze words and see what they based on and most often figure out what they mean. The problem is that Latin is not a spoken language and people want to be able to speak the language they learn.

You also learn how to conjugate verbs. To me it does wonderful things in helping people attain good English writing skills.

See -- I told you should have followed up . . my writing skills are lousy.

Answer 7

I have studied Latin, and found that it was very beneficial in terms of my English vocabulary, and it gave me an insight into grammar. Further, my study of Latin made it a great deal easier when I went on to study other languages, such as French and German. It is also rather exciting to be able to read Ovid and Ceasar and those fellows in the original. IN addition, since Latin was for many years the language of academia, a great many of the more interesting thinkers become available.

Answer 8

Studying Latin will help to develop a very strong linguistic base - immeasurable advantage in learning other languages (especially Romance languages - French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan), as well as helping with their English vocabulary and grammar.

Being linguistically more advanced, it should also make them more confident in languages, especially in English. This will lead to better communication skills and knowledge, followed by more self-confidence. And it'll probably stimulate them to read more.

It will also certainly help in a variety of professions - all legal and medical professions foremost.

Answer 9

I had to take Latin in 7th and 8th grade. In my school it is mandatory. Latin is a good language to learn because it definitely improves your english skills. A lot of our words developed from Latin so I would totally recommend it to anyone.

Answer 10

I took Latin (2 years) in high school in the 60's. I know they say it helps you with various things including help with medical terms. Well, I'm a nurse, and can tell you, what little it may have helped with medical terms - it wouldn't have been THAT hard to learn without the Latin background.
In short, I really don't think it helped at all.