Is Latin class worth taking?

[Kelfa28]

I’m pretty sure you’re right. I’ve taken four years of high school Latin, and the class itself wasn’t that hard to get an A in. I suspect that’s both because less is expected of us compared to the other language students- I think most of them are objectively more fluent than all of us- and because almost everyone who decided to take Latin was already an honors student doing it for fun. For the most part, getting an A only requires translating things from Latin to English (easier than English to Latin, by a long shot) and memorizing all of the vocabulary, which isn’t bad at all.

This was exactly my experience with Latin in high school except I only took 2 years worth of it.
But the class was very enjoyable because it was made up entirely of honor students who were filling in a free class period and the work load was relatively easy. Basically we had to memorize vocabulary lists of new words and be able to translate sentences between both Latin and English. We all learned a lot though because everyone always did the homework so there was a lot to compare to when it came to interpreting sentences or short paragraphs.

It was easier for me to learn because my biggest stumbling block with foreign language was actually speaking the language. I’d get flustered and couldn’t formulate a correct translation off the top of my head while in conversation. I had a much better time reading and writing in spanish as opposed to actually having a conversation in spanish…which defeats the purpose.
Latin was nice because there was no pressure to speak the language. I treated the translations as a puzzle and I really enjoy problem solving and puzzles.

 

[tee_eff_em]

Have you actually studied Latin grammar yourself?

Yes. Yes, I have.

Because I have.

First, you figure out which of the five declensions the noun should be, which is exceedingly difficult to master. Then apply gender, if necessary. Then you figure out which part of speech: nominative, ablative, dative, genitive or accusative.

Here is a chart of them all:

docstoc.com/docs/56978266/I-Nouns-The-Five-Declensions-II

And again, that’s just for the regular nouns. That chart actually lists 90.

See, that’s where you are making it more complicated than necessary. Without even looking at your chart, I come up with with about 22 different endings (and that is being generous with the 4th and 5th declensions).

Now I have looked at your chart. Counting the bolded endings I come up with even fewer than 22.

Leave your chart aside. Enumerate for me even half of the *80 different possible endings *which may be taken by the perfectly regular Latin noun puella, puellae, “girl”.

Funny, I’m getting lectured to about it and eyes rolled at by people whom I probably have more experience at this than.

Really, again I gotta ask, **how many of the respondents to this thread actually seriously studied Latin? **I don’t just mean memorizing prayers, I mean understanding its basic grammar,

Repeat:

and seeing if it had any practical applications outside of the classroom?

That is a different question than the OP asks.

Insofar as I can tell, only a few such as Kamaduck actually did, and even he or she admits it wasn’t practical. Most others seem to be giving advice on something they really don’t know about, only repeating what they had been told about the supposed usefulness of Latin but not having any actual experience at it themselves.

To the OP, choose whose advice you follow carefully: the ones who talk theoretically or the ones who really did it and tell you it’s not likely to be practical.

Like I said, it won’t do much for you for real unless of you go for a Canon Law or Sacred Theology degree after you finish your Bachelor’s. And priests I know who attained high rank, even my Bishop, didn’t study Latin except for some rituals.

I reiterate my advice, it’s good to learn it on your own, but I really wouldn’t recommend it as part of your college curriculum. I still study it on my own for fun, but in school it’s far more practical to take something that will help you converse with people like Spanish. Or even Italian if you plan to have some kind of work in the Church that has to deal with Rome a lot.

If that doesn’t convince you, talk to the priests you know, even the ones in higher positions, and ask if they studied Latin in the classroom. Some will say yes. Most will say no and probably will add that it didn’t make much of a difference in their work.

Fun? Yes. But practical and readily learnable? No.

And yet, Roman babies were able to learn it.

tee

 

[Kamaduck]

I hear a lot of people, some educators, saying that spending all the time on translations is a very poor way to teach and it makes it harder to retain the information. Basically we learn Latin through English; if we learned Latin as a native language, we’d be able to use Latin as a standard in nuances and thinking process. My native language is Polish and the language itself is inflective. I’m able to put the direct object or the verb first as the thought requires. English speakers have a problem with that as subject-verb-object is generally taught first. They need to unravel a simple sentence like “Dominus vobiscum” to “Lord you with” to then “The Lord with you” to “The Lord be with you” to make any sense in their minds. And then that becames complicated when they’re told it should be “The Lord is with you.” (That’s what the Polish says.) Someone who would learn Latin as a native language would know what “Dominus vobiscum” means without translating into English first. American scientists seem to have a big problem with the metric system in a similar way. They have to use arithmetic (or now calculators) to convert in their minds to English units so they can understand it better. The rest of the world actually thinks in metrics. There are similar things in theology, law, etc.

I guess what I’m saying is that the earlier in life Latin is taught, the better. And it would have more use for us later.

I have no doubt that working more with Latin as Latin would have been more effective. But we don’t do it much, which is part of the reason I have such a hard time forming sentences. Reading is much easier, which means that the class is objectively easier, which is important to know if the OP doesn’t want to commit to a class that might cause them stress. If difficulty or amount of work is a consideration, it’s good to know what one is signing up for. They should probably speak to the teacher in advance to get a better idea about what the class itself will be like.

But yeah, if I were really serious about Latin, I would need to practice using Latin by itself a lot more often.

 

[Kamaduck]

And yet, Roman babies were able to learn it.

tee

Well, modern Latin students don’t have access to the total immersion that Roman babies experienced, so we may have a bit of a disadvantage there.

I think it’s more difficult to become fluent in Latin simply because nobody does it, so it’s harder to practice effectively. The language itself isn’t any harder than English. Latin makes up for its myriad forms by actually following its own rules.

 

[tee_eff_em]

Well, modern Latin students don’t have access to the total immersion that Roman babies experienced, so we may have a bit of a disadvantage there.

While it is not as common as a grammar based course, you might be surprised what you run across if you rub elbows with the right Latin teachers.

And FTR: I claim nothing like fluency myself

I think it’s more difficult to become fluent in Latin simply because nobody does it, so it’s harder to practice effectively. The language itself isn’t any harder than English. Latin makes up for its myriad forms by actually following its own rules.

From my rubbing elbows with Latin teachers, my understanding is that Latin is difficult (and more difficult even than it was 100 years ago) *because *the primary curricula are grammar based courses, and students in the US today are no longer taught *English *grammar.

This is also often pointed to as the reason Latin studies correlate with higher standardized test scores – The Latin students have learned a whole another field!

tee

 

[ProVobis]

But yeah, if I were really serious about Latin, I would need to practice using Latin by itself a lot more often.

It also helps to find a friend with which to make Latin exchanges. Or find a Latin Mass to attend regularly.

One can learn how to play bridge magnificently too. But unless he finds 3 others who know, it doesn’t do him any good. But now with the internet, one can find others interested in Latin, such as twitter, as well as bridge-playing.

 

[ProVobis]

And FTR: I claim nothing like fluency myself

Tee, don’t be so modest. I’ve learned a lot from you in the last few years.