What would be better to learn first: Spanish or Latin?

Question

I heard learnin' Latin is the best first choice if one wants to learn a language other than their native English. Is this true? I heard 4 out of 5 English words of Latin Roots in them. Does Spanish have a lot of Latin Roots in it?

i'm also hoping ot go into law, so keep that in mind.

Answer 1

I would say Spanish because Latin is not used that much in today's society

Answer 2

Spanish is a must.

1. You want to go into Law. Let me know if you ever have to use Latin interpretation skills in a court room.
2. Spanish and Latin share about as much lexical similarity as Spanish and French do. If you're looking for something useful, start with Spanish.
3. Even if you want to go back and learn latin later, it will be easier. It gets easier to pick up a new language as you master the old one. SPanish is easier, several times over, than Latin. So you'll spend little time learning Spanish and then have an easy time learning Latin afterwards, instead of doing it the other way around, where Latin will take you a long time to learn, and Spanish will just kind of float in over top of it.
4. I doubt 4 out of 5 English words have Latin Roots. Probably 85% of Spanish words have Latin root. About 60% of English words have latin roots. These are estimates, but you have to remember Spanish is just a varied Vulgar Latin mixed with a little Arabic influence. English is jacked up on German and French (Making it roughly a Grandchild of latin)
5. Less frustration. There are less irregularities in the Spanish language. So, again, it will be exponentially easier to learn as a first acquired language.

Hope that helps you decide.

Answer 3

I recommend Latin. The very fact that you have always been interested in it gives you a head start. Although it's no longer spoken (except in the Vatican and at some classics conferences), it's the basis of all the Romance languages, Spanish among them. If you later decide that you want to learn Spanish or French, for example, knowing Latin will make the process easier. In addition, a great deal of scientific and medical terminology comes from Latin. If as a doctor you find yourself working with Spanish-speaking patients, of course a knowledge of their language will be very useful. But, as I said, if you've had Latin first, Spanish should not be hard to learn. in fact, once you start Latin, the Spanish you've already had may fall into place more clearly.

Answer 4

spanish does have a lot of latin roots in it, but that isn't necessarily a reason to learn latin first. Latin is no longer in use today, and frankly, a language is a language, no matter what its roots are. I'm learning spanish in school, and having never taken latin, im doing just fine. Spanish can be better put to use in today's societys (what with all the mexicans in our country...), and because many other countries speak it (pretty much all of South America). So to answer the original question, I would say, skip the Latin and go wtih Spanish.

Answer 5

I reccomend doind Latin first, as a base to learn other languages from. Though many places do speak Spanish and in the shorter-term views it would be practical to learn it first, in the long term Latin makes other languages easier, since you can recognize root words and language structure. Some Catholic masses still recite a lot of Latin, too, and in case you should go to one, I'm sure you'll want to know what everyone is saying.
Latin is a beautiful language and an easy one to learn. It has no unfamiliar sounds and many words will sound familiar. It will make learning Spanish easy, since it is a Latin-based language.

On a related note, I know a Spanish woman who is fluent in no less than 7 Latin-based languages, including Latin as her second language. She is living proof that knowing Latin makes learning other Romance languages familiar.

Answer 6

Spanish is a latin language. I am a spanish teacher and I tell you, unless you have to do with Biology, Medicine or languages dont go into latin. You cant talk latin, and if you are just wanting to learn spanish dont be afraid, english has a lot of latin itself and there are a lot of works that have the same root in both languages, just go for it

Answer 7

Latin would be a better choice because English, French, Spanish, and 2 other languages that i can't remember all come from the Latin language. Latin does have some hard grammer rules and a lot of them too, and Spanish is the easier one but if you have to learn both, do Latin first. A good starter for Latin is the book "Ecce Romani".

Answer 8

First, English is not a Romance/Latin language - it's Germanic. The Romance languages are French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan and Provencal.

I agree with others that Latin provides a great basis for any of the above, but in terms of usefulness, Spanish has now overtaken English as the language spoken by the highest number of people as a fist language - about 330 million. I had to do Latin at school and its grammar in terms of complex declensions and conjugations was good grounding for German and Russian.

Answer 9

Latin is what they call a "base" language. If you know Latin, you can pretty well much figure out most of the Italian, Spanish, and other "Latin" American languages. (That's why they call it Latin America!) German, French, (to a point) and other European languages also have Latin root words. The only place Latin won't help you with is the Occidental languages. (Japanese, Chinese, Viet, etc.)

Up until just a few years ago the Catholic mass was said in Latin. (Well, maybe a few years more than a few. About 40 years is more like it.) Latin is the base language and spelling of most of the civilized world today since Rome kicked major butt way back when. Knowing Latin can't hurt you, and it could be a great help. (Next time your boss trots out the saying In hoc signo Vinces, or In vino veritas, you can repeat it in English!)

Have a happy New Year, and enjoy the Latin. It's fun!

By the way, people still do speak Latin. It's the language of science, and most people in that field can speak and understand it. Look at the way animals and plants are catagorized, In Latin!

Answer 10

Latin is the basis for the romance languages. The romance languages include Spanish, Italian, French, and English among others. So if you went for latin it would be an opportunity to quickly learn other romance languages since they are based on latin.
For example give in
latin---dono
italian ---dare
french---donner
spansih--dar
Best of luck

Answer 11

Latin gives you a good foundation for other languages (including Spanish), but it's completely impractical on its own. Nobody actually speaks Latin anymore. So if you want a good foundation for learning other languages, then choose Latin; if you want something you can actually use (in dozens of countries around the world), choose Spanish.