Is latin considered a foreign language?

Question

According to collegeboard.com, "Colleges prefer four years of English, history, math, science, and a foreign language. " This worries me because, as you probably know, Latin is a dead language, as in nobody speaks it any more. To make matters worse, American Heritage Dictionary defines "foreign" as, " located away from one's native country," which I do not think accurately describes latin.

Answer 1

Yes, Latin would count as a foreign language in most schools. If you want to get into the surreal, in many colleges, Native American language skills were not accepted as "foreign" languages until recently. Now colleges are realizing that "foreign" is not the important part of the equation, but "second" is the important part of the equation. So instead of "foreign language", the quote above should say "second language".

Answer 2

As Latin is an reliable language of the Holy See, the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, sure. Technically, the language utilized by the Catholic Church is Ecclesiastical Latin (AKA "Church Latin"), a variation of Late Latin. Classical Latin was the reliable political language of the overdue Roman Empire, so you'll be able to see it both as a international language, or as a global background. Vulgar Latin is international, because it advanced into the Romance languages, however OTOH, approximately 25% of English phrases have a Latin root, instantly from Vulgar Latin, or through Norman French.

Answer 3

I'm almost positive that any college admissions office would count Latin as a foreign language. It's the discipline and language/cultural/historical awareness they want, not the ability to get around in some foreign country. There are are several standardized tests (AP, SAT II Achievement test, etc.) in Latin, some of which you can get college credit for.

If you're really concerned about a specific university, contact them directly to ask if Latin's accepted as a foreign language. But I'd be very, very surprised if it's not.

Answer 4

Well, unless you live in or come from a country where Latin is the native language, then, yes, latin would be considered a "foreign" language.

Now, to the reason for learning Latin, unless you are in the law or medical field, would be nearly useless. While much of the terminology for those two fields comes from the Latin language, you would be better served to learn Spanish or Japanese as these are two of the more prevalent languages in America: Spanish is becoming the unofficial 2nd language of the US and most high level companies will snatch up an English/Japanese bilingual person.

Answer 5

Latin would be looked upon favorably by prestigious schools I believe... it is one of the major building blocks for modern languages. I wouldn't worry too much about what the definition of "foreign" is... just get good grades.

Answer 6

Latin is used in medical terminolgy. Doctors use it everyday. the language is not spoken, but it is used. A foreign language is pretty much any language you don't speak or one that is not native to you or your country.

Answer 7

Latin is still the official language in... Vatican. Won´t be usefull to make business though.

Answer 8

i think there are mothertongues, foreign and dead languages: 3 major types. and latin is dead. it' can't be described as foregn or not because there isn't anyone who could consider latin as his mothertongue. it's just dead.

Answer 9

Latin 's a dead language
as dead as it can be
Latin killed the Romans
and now it's killing me