A Question on Learning Latin

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Hello! I posted a thread about this subject quite a long time ago and had great responses, but I now have a new question so I thought I’d post a new thread for it. I would greatly appreciate any info or advice you wise people can offer.

I’ve been trying for a long time to decide which language I want to study. I often have a difficult time making definitive choices like this, and there are three languages I’m most interested in (Latin, French and German), so it’s been an arduous task for me. I think I’ve finally settled on Latin, and I’m hoping to begin college this winter so I might also take it there.

My question is: for those who have studied Latin in a classroom environment, what is it like, compared to studying other languages? I have only taken Spanish for a couple years in grade school, so I know little about it. Also, since Latin is almost exclusively a language for reading, rather than speaking to others as with most languages, I’m curious if Latin courses function differently from other languages. Is it still focused on conversation, like most languages? Or is it entirely about reading it? Is pronunciation emphasized, or is it more loose? Any info would be a great help.

God bless 🙂
 
I only took it for a year, but we did use it in conversation, presumably because your understanding of a language is different when you run it through the speech and hearing centers of your brain. So yes, you’re going to be expected to be able to understand the language through your ears and communicate with it using your tongue. I understand that Latin teachers are also fond of reading Latin poetry. One of the powers of the language is the great versatility of word order it allows. Latin’s plenitude of word endings shows where each word belongs in the meaning of the sentence, which in turn gives an author a far greater choice of word orders.

Pope Benedict gave his speech announcing his intention to step down from the papacy to a convocation of bishops in Latin. It is the official language of the Holy See, after all. So yes, the language is still spoken where it is still used. Latin teachers are going to teach you to speak it as well as to read and write it.
 
I only took a year in High School myself, but that one year helped me immensely on the SAT. If you plan on entering any of the sciences, Latin will pay high dividends. Latin is the base for several languages so really, it is a win, win situation.

Needless to say, if you want to enter the priesthood, Latin will most certainly be your friend!😃
 
I took Latin for four years in high school, and then two in college. It was - and still is - enormously helpful with regard to other Romance languages, vocabulary, etc. I also found it an excellent form of mental discipline, memorizing conjugations, declensions, etc. AS a result of studying Latin, I had a virtually perfect score on the verbal portions of the SAT and the (now obsolete, I believe) English Achievement test related to the SAT.

All that said, I think that I would also take another language, as well, with Spanish being the most practical for us in the US, although a case could be made for Mandarin, as well. As you already have a little bit of Spanish, you may choose to stay with that.

I applaud your interest in languages; in our ever more inter-connected world, I think you are a very forward-looking and sensible young person.
 
Thank you all very much for your help (especially Dixieeagle for your very kind words!), it is immensely helpful to me. I have always loved language itself, especially enjoying hearing proper English when I read Dickens in Middle School, and that has carried over to interest in other languages. Sadly, one of the few languages I just do not like is Spanish, which is unfortunate since it’s so practical and popular in the US.

My greatest confusion over which language to choose is that I really love certain aspects of each of the three languages I’m most interested in (Latin, French, German), but I also dislike others aspects of them, and concerns about their literature and culture and my enjoyment of them also add to the difficulty.

I enjoy how phonetic and straightforward the pronunciation of Latin is, as well as the conciseness of its inflected grammar and free word order. I also like that it is the language of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and of course the language of the Church. But, I dislike how hard and almost technical it sounds, the seemingly needless complication of its grammar, and the fact that it isn’t spoken or really used a great deal anymore.

With German, I enjoy its similarities to English, especially non-Latin-influenced English, that its so phonetic, its past use of Gothic script, its music and fairy tale stories, and I feel a deep familiarity with its Germanic culture and lands. But, I dislike some of its sounds, and the fact that Luther is so often mentioned as the supposed ‘father’ of modern German, and I’ve seen relatively little of its literature that I enjoy, especially after the Middle Ages.

Finally, with French, I enjoy how it sounds, its elegance and flow, its literature (except for the anti-Catholic Enlightenment literature), its Catholic heritage and its frequency in medieval literature. However, I dislike how non-phonetic it is, and how difficult it is to understand its spoken form.

I hope this wasn’t too much information; I just wanted to give an overview of my difficulties in selecting a language to learn. I really want to learn a foreign language, but this confusion has kept me from doing so for years now. But, if I start college this winter as I hope to do, I’ll be forced to choose one of them, so I’m trying to decide now.

Thank you all again and God bless. 🙂
 
What career field are you hoping for? That may help you decide.

Teaching? You may want to take Spainish to help with students who have a spainish speaking home.

History? You may want French if you want to read documents that relate to revolutionary war.

Science? Latin would be very beneficial

Engineering? See where companies have operations and pick one of those languages. GE has quite a bit of business located in France.

Doctor? Spainish again to help serve your clientele. (All depends on where you plan to work, but my friends who are physicians rely heavily on their Spainish background,)

Law? I think Latin would help you with that field

So you see, it may depend on what else you want to do with your skills in languages. Others may have differing opinions on which language would be best in the above job fields, but you can see where I’m going with this idea. Any of those languages will be helpful in a future career, but one may be more suited than the others for your chosen field.
 
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