Is the Latin language under the verge of extinctition?

Answer 1

No one speaks Latin now as their first language, but a lot of people study it. It is still used to some extent in the Roman Catholic church, and there are some Latin words in science and law (but you definitely do not need to study Latin to be a scientist, lawyer or doctor!)

Two of my kids studied Latin in school. I wasnt in favor of it, but they thought it would be cool. IT turned out to be great. They really liked learning it, especially when they got good enough so they could read Cicero, Ovid, Catullus, Julius Caesar and some of the other original Latin writers. They said many times that it was really interesting to see how you could say things in Latin in a completely different way from English, and some things that are really hard to say in English were easy in Latin. They learned discipline in studying it, and they have HUGE vocabularies because so many words in English come from Latin. And they both can read Spanish or Italian, even though they never studied those languages, because they are so much like Latin.
So, it turned out to be a good deal.

I understand the the number of students studying Latin in the USA has been declining for a long time until about 5-10 years ago and in recent years it has started to increase.

Answer 2

No. Definitely not. Latin has been around for so long that being extinguished now would be a threat to modern culture and religion. Latin is taught throughout many prepatory schools, seminary schools, and in some famous universities. Many scientists use Latin through in depth studies abroad. If Latin was near exstinction, then the world would not only suffer now, but down the road, we would have a cancellation of certain very important, but not always viewed aspects of society.

Answer 3

I am no expert on language but latin is used in Law a lot. Since it is a mother toungue I do not see how it could possibly go extinct. Sometimes, to understand modern language, we have to study the Latin roots.

Answer 4

As stated before, it is considered a dead language. However, Ecclesiastical Latin is slightly different than ancient Latin, so the "dead" pronouncement isn't quite true (but it is true that no one speaks it as their first language). Theologians in the Middle Ages (Thomas Aquinas, et al) wrote in Latin, and it is still used in the Catholic Church. Also, many people still study Latin in order to read primary texts. As long as we have historians, philosophers, and theologians, people will read and speak Latin. I haved several friends who can speak Latin.

I always thought it would be great fun to raise my children to speak Latin at home. English would be a second language to them (though they would of course be fluent). Make Latin un-dead...

Answer 5

It will never really go extinct because Preists still use it. We will always have preists. American language is based on Latin, and of course several other languages is based on latin such as spanish, italian, portugese, etc. You know them all, so I don't need to name them. So no, Latin will never really go extinct, but I think more people should study it a bit. I think more high schools and colleges should offer it to the students. WooHoo, Go Latin!!

Answer 6

It's already considered a dead language--no one speaks it, even though it's used for scientific classifications, and many other languages have their roots in Latin. The closest language to it is probably Romanish, which is still spoken in parts of Switzerland. They were isolated for a long time, so their language didn't change much since Roman times.

Answer 7

Latin is one of the official languages still in use in the Vatican. As long as the Catholic Church needs to use it as a common language so all the different nationalities represented in the the Vatican, can communicate... Latin will continue to be used.

Answer 8

As a fully functional conversational language - yes.
-however-
Latin is used in language analysis, medicine, law, religion and other fields as well.
It is also worth noting that many of the word used in your question and my answer are derived from Latin.

Answer 9

There is no way the Latin language can ever die out. English and Spanish are both derived from it and also it is used in Anatomy and the art of Law practices a lot.

Answer 10

It already is extinct. Hardly anyone can speak it except some Western religious clergy & some academics. It has been reduced to a language that is found in ancient rituals & writings, just like ancient Egyptian hierogyph, (somewhat found in ancient Coptic religious writings) and Sanskrit, also found in ancient Hindu religious writings & barely uttered at all outside of small groups within sects.