Is learning to speak Latin a waste of time?
i'm going onto my 2nd year as a college student and i'm interested in learning a new language. i currently speak English and Spanish. But I am not fluent in Spanish. I am Hispanic so i understand the basics but i still would like to improve.
I want to take a foreign language but im not sure what to take.
I am a International Relations major, so learning as many foreign languages will benefit me.
My options are: Continue on improving my Spanish or learn Latin first and then go back to Spanish.
Is Latin even a demanding language to learn, for me to obtain a job in my field easily?
oh where do they speak Latin nowadays? and well learning Latin help me in learning other languages?
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Filed under: Spanish Lessons
thats kinda like saying is it a waste of time to learn, latin is used in root words all over the english language especially if you’re interesterd in the fileds of science, english, and health. Still if i were you i would still continue learining spainsh especially since if you stop for a while you might lose alot of what you learned, plus you will most likely speak more spanish in your life then latin. Keep learning spanish and then go to latin.
I took latin all through high school. I am glad I did because I understand most romance languages since they are derived from latin. I think that learning latin would be good but I guess you should jump to the languages already. Spanish is sort of a waste of time though. Learn Chinese!
learn pig latin
Latin is a dead language, so basically nowhere outside of the Catholic Church.
Stick with Spanish. Some people will tell you that knowing Latin will help learn the Romance languages, but then, so will actually studying the romance languages.
I think latin is the basis for many european languages. I don’t think any country speaks it, it’s pretty much dead.
i was studying latin in university for 3 or 4 years (was long ago, can’t remember precisely) – total waste of time and brain cells. can not remember even one word and it didn’t help me with any other foreign language and i must say i liked it when i was studying it. but total waste of time
LATIN DOES NOT HELP U TO LEARN ROMAN LANGUAGES OR EVEN UNDERSTAND THEM. i know i studied 2 roman languages – french and italian.
I studied two years of latin, and although I don’t speak it and doubt I could still read it, I know I learned a good deal about words. Many Spanish (most) words are derived from latin, and as I live in Spain it’s useful for me to know some basics in order to understand languages such as Catalan, Italian or Portuguese.
Well, studying latin might not prove to be TOO useful in a day to day basis, but it would help you if you want to study linguistics or want to be a classics translator.
Latin uses lots of noun forms, lots of verb forms. Hence, much more to learn by rote than in Spanish.It also has many irregular verbs, compared to French.
The very best reason to take Latin is that it will increase your vocabulary, hence your score, on college entrance exams (SAT, ACT)
I would say that Latin is somewhat demanding, not as hard as German or Chinese.
Where do they speak Latin – in Vatican City, the home of the Roman Catholic Church. and in Latin classes, and Latin clubs. that is pretty much it.
Personally, i would say – either take Spanish and become very proficient, or take a year of French or Italian.
If we were talking about choosing a first language in high school, i would recommended Latin.
Hello,
Latin is much tougher than Spanish as far as grammar and syntax goes. The big difference is that Latin is a heavily inflected langusge meaning that it has noun declension that take a lot of work, practice and study to memorize. Spanish dropped these about 500 years ago.
That said, Latin is a good dry run for other non Latin languages. German, Russian, all the Eastern European languages as well as Arabic have noun declensions making these harder to learn and master. You’d be a lot more familiar and less surprised with a background in Latin however.
Example of noun declension:
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/declining-a-latin-noun.html
Cheers,
Michael Kelly
there are groups of people who love and admire latin and keep this language alive.
latin was the first language i studied in third grade. i went to a catholic school
there are many places in the world where latin is still a language taught
i suspect at the boston latin school (i believe, oldest school in the us) they still teach latin.
The only reason to learn a language is the enjoyment it brings you.
Is learning how to draw or paint a waste of time? Well, we have cameras, so in one sense it is a waste of time, but from the perspective of the pleasure you get, painting and drawing are invaluable.
Is learning a little piano or some guitar a waste of time? Should we only learn or do things that give me some advantage in society? Why learn some piano–there are professional piano players and also we can listen to the piano anytime on line. So is it a waste to learn the piano? Again, if the piano brings you pleasure, then that is the only reason to learn it, and it is the best reason, too. Only you can decide if Latin is valuable.