Latin learning

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Learn Sindarin language. Sindarin language software, Sindarin language course, Sindarin university scholarship and learn Sindarin online. Speak Sindarin, meet a Sindarin with Sindarin training. Latin Translation, Learn Latin Learn Latin language. Latin language software, Latin language course, Latin university scholarship and learn Latin online. Learn Latin Online - Free Less. Learn Latin Online - Free Lessons - LanguageTutorial.org. Free Latin Language Lessons. Learn Latin online for free with grammar

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Latin Fluency - Learn Latin, Learn Classical Latin, Learning

Compiled by Fr. Gary CoulterPlease feel free to submit updates and corrections. Obviously, I have focused just on resources and links about the Latin language that are in English.A brief survey of Latin learning resources by Catholic World Report highlights a number of books and courses: Great Courses series Latin 101: Learning a Classical Language hosted by Professor Hans Friedrich Mueller $$ George Sharpley’s Teach Yourself: Beginner’s Latin book with audio CDs; or FREE in the teachyourself.com app Satura Lanx Youtube channel and podcasts - Simplices” lectures on learning to speak Latin Memoria Press produces rigorous and reliable books, workbooks, and supplements - good for home-schooling $ traditional books: Wheelock’s Latin (for ambitious, self-starter), Henle’s Latin series (Father Robert Henle’s systematic grammar with pious meditations), Hans Ohrberg’s Familia Romana (immersion method, with supplemental materials e.g. Student’s Companion, Bible stories, Roman Speeches) Scorpio Martianus Youtube hilarious Latin interviews, songs and more and our own, the extraordinary Father Reginald Foster’s Ossa Latinitatis SolaNew Resources: the app Tinycards (iOS | Android) has numerous free decks of Latin flashcards and the website InternetPolyglot.com has games and lists for memorizing Latin words. - Credit: Free Language Learning Apps + WebsitesOnline Latin CoursesThe Latin Experience with Fr. FosterNotes and worksheets from two years with Fr. Reginald FosterBeginner's Latin - UK National ArchivesTwo whole series of brief lessons, but with a steep learning curve.LatinumLatinum is unique, as it is an immersion course taught as a living, spoken language. Latin recordings of simple texts, vocabulary, grammatical exercises, etc.Latinum youtube channelLatin Study listMailing lists dedicated to the study of Latin, but providing regular translation exercises.Latin the Easy WayUseful and fun, though unfinished, it's free and good to read.Schola Latina UniversalisA free, 2 year, online course for learning Latin (the Textbook is not free)R.M. KephartWeb-based weekly courses for homeschoolers ($) (also some Latin links and prayers)Carmenta - Online Latin ClassroomAn interactive, online classroom ($).Picta Dicta - online platform designed to assist teachers and home educators offer a Classical Education ($)Latin Live Class - weekly online class to build Latin reading skills using the Latin Bible and Lingua Latina ($)Latinum Audio

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Latin Fluency - Learn Latin, Learn Classical Latin

In 1940 by Howard Chandler Christy, depicting how he imagined the signing of the Constitution of the United States might have looked.Bad Reason #5: Learning Latin makes it easier to learn the other Romance languages later on.It is certainly true that learning Latin will make it much easier to learn any of the Romance languages, like Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, or any of the others. The problem is, though, if you learn Latin first and then learn, say, Italian, you are actually putting in way more effort than you would have put in if you had just started with Italian. Latin is a whole language of its own and it does not make sense to learn one language just to make it easier to learn another language.If you are only learning Latin because you want to learn one of the Romance languages, and you have no interest in learning Latin for its own sake, then, quite frankly, if would probably be better for you to just start with the Romance language you want to learn and forget about trying to learn Latin first. Maybe if you are planning on learning all the most common Romance languages, then it might be easier to learn Latin first, but, if you just want to learn one or two, there is really no point in learning Latin simply as a means of preparation for the language or languages you really want to learn.ABOVE: Map from Wikimedia Commons showing Romance languages spoken in Europe, with the most prominent ones being Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and RomanianGood reasons for learning LatinNow that I have debunked some of the most common bad reasons for learning Latin, I want talk about the good reasons for why some people should learn Latin. There are actually quite a few very good reasons why some people should learn Latin, but they are, ironically, not talked about as much as the bad reasons because they do not apply to everyone and they are, for the most part, not viewed as “practical.”The reasons I am about to list only apply to specific kinds of people. Defenders of Latin, on the other hand, often try to argue that everyone should learn Latin. They want Latin to be taught in every high school across the country, so they resort to unconvincing justifications like the ones I have just debunked.The truth is, I do not think that everyone should learn Latin. There is simply no need for everyone to know Latin and, for people who do not enjoy Latin, who have no interest in Latin literature, and who are not interested in ancient Roman or medieval history, learning Latin would simply be a waste of

Episode 40: Learning Latin and Latin Learning

Comparisons of high school Latin textbooksMost advanced students will eventually want the classic Gildersleeve & Lodge (Recommended by Fr. Foster) or Allen & Greenough (see online version!) - but these are generally too advanced for beginners.Getting Started with Latin: beginning Latin in a gradual, systematic way for Homeschoolers or self teaching. Includes free MP3 recordings.Minimus, the Primary Latin Course for elementary school studentsLatin for Children includes songs, workbooks, activities, etc.Wheelock's Latin 6th ed - classic Latin grammarLatin Grammar: for the Reading of the Missal and Breviary by Cora Carroll & Charles Scanlon plus Second Latin: for Philosophy, Theology and Canon LawHenle Latin: First Year by Robert Henle, S.J., Second Year (there are 4 years total, with grammar book), Email Support Group and Other Latin BooksA Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin by John F Collins - for learning Latin as used by the Church. (Some Answer Keys and Flash Cards)Memoria Press produces Latina Christiana a beginning course for students of all ages, with Teacher Manuals and DVDsA Latin Grammar by James Morwood - Simple enough for a beginner, but has enough material for the intermediate student also.Our Latin Heritage by Lillian HinesJenney's Latin by Charles Jenney Latin for Americans by UllmanThe Everything Learning Latin Book - Richard E. Prior* Lingua Latina per se illustrata: Famila Romana - Hans H. OrbergA multivolume series with a total immersion, Latin-only approach. The book progresses from easy to more complex Latin, and you obtain the meaning by the context and the pictures and the marginal notes. Learn to read Latin, not just translate Latin. The publisher has a number of resources and supplements.For self-teaching / home-schooling, get Lingua Latina: A College Companion by Jeanne Neumann, which parallels "Famila Romana" on a chapter-by-chapter basis with explanations of all the concepts, study tips, vocab lists, etc.* Read an article which recommends this method of learningEcce RomaniThis series also uses a similar immersion approach to the Latin language. Like Lingua Latina, the stories may be more geared to students than adults and start off rather basic, but soon you will find your grammatical skills naturally growing thanks to this. Learn Sindarin language. Sindarin language software, Sindarin language course, Sindarin university scholarship and learn Sindarin online. Speak Sindarin, meet a Sindarin with Sindarin training. Latin Translation, Learn Latin Learn Latin language. Latin language software, Latin language course, Latin university scholarship and learn Latin online. Learn Latin Online - Free Less. Learn Latin Online - Free Lessons - LanguageTutorial.org. Free Latin Language Lessons. Learn Latin online for free with grammar

Learn Latin - The Latin Dictionary - Wikidot

You often hear people talk about the “practical benefits” of learning Latin, such as being able to understand legal, medical, and scientific terminology, expanding your vocabulary, and gaining a better understanding of English grammar. These certainly are real benefits to learning Latin, but, to be honest, at least on their own, they aren’t really very good reasons to learn the whole language, for reasons I will explain in a moment.There are plenty of apologists for Latin out there who often try to justify learning Latin by listing these supposed “practical benefits” to learning Latin that apply to most people. The problem is that, if these benefits are the only reasons you are studying Latin, and you have no real interest in the Latin language or in reading Latin literature, then learning a whole new language may not really be worth it. There are, however, still very good reasons for learning Latin; they just don’t necessarily apply to everyone.A super-cheesy video from 1951 about why you should learn LatinIn case you are unfamiliar with the usual arguments for why you should learn Latin, here is a video clip from 1951 that lays most of the major reasons out quite nicely. It has the added benefit of being unbelievably cheesy, which means you can laugh (or cringe) at the cheesiness as you watch along:This video—as corny as it is—neatly covers most of the “practical reasons” that are usually given for why students should learn Latin. These are the exact same reasons that defenders of Latin are still giving today. They sound pretty credible at first. To be honest, though, almost none of these are actually very good reasons to learn Latin. They mostly just keep getting repeated because people who already like Latin feel the desperate need to convince other people of Latin’s benefits, so they keep repeating the same old reasons without really questioning them.Let’s examine some of the reasons given in the video that are still given today for why everyone should learn Latin, in the order they are given by the students in the video. I am only going to address the reasons given by the students, since teacher mostly talks about the history of Latin and, as far as I could tell, does not actually give a clear explanation of why students should study it.Before I debunk these reasons, though, let me first be very clear: there are legitimate and very good reasons for people to learn Latin. The reasons I am about to debunk are bad reasons for learning Latin. Once I have finished debunking the bad reasons, I am going to move on to describe the good reasons.Bad Reason #1: Many legal, medical, and scientific terms

learn in Latin - English-Latin Dictionary

Verb scio in all three persons, both numbers, all three tenses, both voices, and all three moods. If you go to all the trouble of learning the whole Latin language when really all you wanted was to improve you vocabulary, you may just be putting in too much effort.Once again, it is also worth noting that a substantial percentage of English words also come from Ancient Greek. Nonetheless, for some reason, there are very few Ancient Greek apologists out there advocating that everyone should learn Ancient Greek to help them understand English vocabulary.ABOVE: Chart from Wikimedia Commons showing the approximate percentages of English words derived from various languages. As you can see, a large chunk of our words come from Latin. Learning the entire Latin language, though, may not be the most efficient way of learning to understand those words. If you just want to improve your vocabulary, you may be better off just learning Greek and Latin roots.Bad Reason #3: Latin helps you understand English grammar.This reason is often closely tied to reason #2. It is certainly true that learning Latin can help students learn to speak better English, because learning Latin helps you learn to think about grammar, inflection, and syntax in ways you do not normally think about when you are speaking your own native tongue.The problem here is that Latin grammar does not correspond exactly to English grammar. In fact, many of the most absurd and annoying grammar rules in English are ones that were imposed on English by Latinists for no good reason during the Early Modern Period (lasted c. 1500 – c. 1750) just because those rules existed in Latin. For instance, the stupid rule about not splitting infinitives, the stupid rule about not ending sentences with prepositions, and the stupid rule about not using “they” as singular were all made up by Latinists to make English grammar more like Latin.Indeed, not only does Latin grammar not always line up with English grammar, but the whole style of writing that is most commonly used by Latin prose authors has fallen almost completely out of fashion in contemporary English. There was once a time when it was fashionable for English writers to write in heavily Latinate prose, but nowadays people expect the authors they read to sound more like Ernest Hemingway (lived 1899 – 1961) than Edward Gibbon (lived 1737 – 1794).In other words, Latin can help you understand English better, but English is its own language with its own rules and there is not always a direct correspondence between English and Latin. If you do not really care about the Latin language and you just want to improve your English, you are probably better

Sulis Learning - Latin A Level, Latin

Innovative style of learning. Teachers' Corner with many Ecce Romani materialsReading Latin by Peter Jones and Keith SidwellAn inductive text for adults (like the Cambridge Latin Course (CLC) which is aimed more for children)Peter Jones is also the author of the recommended book Learn Latin - one of the best quick-start introductions to Latin, including answer keys for the self-student.Teach Yourself Latin by Gavin BettsA deductive text written with the independent learner in mind. Clear and concise gives a solid foundation in classical Latin. The learning curve is a little steep for someone with little prior knowledge of grammar.Oxford Latin Course by Maurice Balme, James MorwoodA three volume course that tries to keep the grammar lessons short and more time spent reading and immersed in Latin vocabulary than memorizing, designed for the self-learner or a classroom.Kennedy's Revised Latin Primer by Benjamin KennedyA starting reference grammar, a reasonably concise work that describes the essential history, phonology, morphology, syntax and prosody of classical Latin. Not as exhaustive (or overwhelming) as works like Gildersleeve & Lodge or Allen & Greenough (online!)Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc.Has numerous Latin Books, Readers, References and Textbooks for all levels, including modern books and children's books (Dr. Seuss in Latin!), Latin Readings by Gertrude Drake, Bradley's Arnold Latin Prose Composition, and a reprint of the 1908 classic New Latin Grammar by Charles E. Bennett (see online version).Cattus Petasatus: The Cat in the Hat in Latin and Virent Ova! Viret Perna! (Green Eggs and Ham in Latin)They also publish the reference recommended by Fr. Foster to all his advanced students: Gildersleeve's Latin GrammarLearn to Read Latin by Keller & Russel Yale Language Series textbook with many readings from original Latin texts. Together with an equally mammoth Workbooks containing many grammar drills.Power-Glide Latin Ultimate Course (see their website)Uses a conversational approach to Latin, with workbooks, tests, audio CDs and much more (puzzles, games, stories, music).These didn't really fit in anywhere else:Instructional Materials: Resources for Latin (and Greek) Teachers / ProfessorsThe Art of Reading Latin: How to Teach It - William Hale, 1887 (free PDF)Winnie Ille Pu (Winnie the Pooh Latin Edition)Harrius Potter

Latin Learning - Royal Latin School

Myself, so this reason obviously does not apply to me.) Nonetheless, if you do happen to be Catholic, this is a perfectly legitimate reason for you to want to learn Latin.Roman Catholic priests are officially required to know Latin, although this requirement is not always enforced. Up until the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in 1962, Catholic mass was traditionally performed in Latin. Many Catholic prayers are traditionally recited in Latin. The version of the Bible traditionally used by the Catholic Church is the Latin Vulgate. Latin is still the official language of Vatican City.ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of a Catholic priest performing mass. Up until the Second Vatican Council, Catholic mass was traditionally performed in Latin.Good Reason #4: You have a lot of time on your hands and you want to learn Latin for fun.There is nothing wrong with wanting to learn a language for fun. Mind you, learning Latin usually takes a really long time and is not always easy, but, if you have a lot of time on your hands and you really enjoy studying Latin, that is a perfectly good reason to study it. I have always thought that it is good for people to learn things they enjoy learning, even if they are not necessarily going to use those things in their everyday lives.How Latin should really be promotedI like to think of myself as a very honest person. I honestly have to admit that, in a lot of ways, Latin really isn’t as useful today as it might have been even as recently as a mere century ago. It certainly still has uses, but I will admit it is not for everyone. The main reason why I am learning Latin is because I am interested in reading ancient Roman texts in the original language.I think people trying to promote Latin would be better served if, instead of trying to convince would-be Latin students of the supposed “practical benefits” of learning Latin, they focused on letting students know about all the fascinating and awesome things there are to read in Latin. Ironically, I think teachers often deter students from learning Latin by making them read texts that they find boring, like Cicero or Tacitus. (I do not necessarily personally find those authors boring, but I think many students do.)There are all kinds of wonderful and amusing things written in Latin: the love poems of Catullus, the mythic tales of Ovid, the adventure-filled novels of Apuleius and Petronius, the erotic poems of Sulpicia, the obscene epigrams of Martial, and, from the modern period, the bizarre speculations of Athanasius Kircher. There is so much more to Latin than just Cicero.ABOVE: Portrait of the eccentric German. Learn Sindarin language. Sindarin language software, Sindarin language course, Sindarin university scholarship and learn Sindarin online. Speak Sindarin, meet a Sindarin with Sindarin training. Latin Translation, Learn Latin Learn Latin language. Latin language software, Latin language course, Latin university scholarship and learn Latin online. Learn Latin Online - Free Less. Learn Latin Online - Free Lessons - LanguageTutorial.org. Free Latin Language Lessons. Learn Latin online for free with grammar

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Are derived from Latin and you need to know Latin to understand them.It is certainly true that many legal, medical, and scientific terms are indeed derived from Latin. It is also certainly true that knowing Latin will help you understand those terms. The thing is, though, Latin is an extremely complicated language and it is often difficult for English-speakers to learn. There is not much point in learning the whole language from start to finish just to understand legal, medical, and scientific terms when you can just learn the actual terms themselves.For instance, to understand the term habeas corpus, you just need to know that it means “You must have the body” and that it refers to the legal principle that a person cannot be detained in prison unless the authority detaining them has a legal justification. You do not necessarily need to know that habeas is the second-person singular present active subjunctive form of the second-conjugation verb habeo, meaning “to have,” functioning as a jussive in this sentence, or that corpus is the singular accusative form of the neuter third-declension noun corpus, meaning “body.” All that information about the grammar is extraneous as far as the meaning of the phrase in a legal context is concerned.Furthermore, it is worth noting the irony that a substantial portion of medical and scientific terms actually do not come from Latin, but rather from Ancient Greek. Oddly enough, though, you rarely hear anyone say that anyone going into science or medicine needs to know Ancient Greek in order to understand scientific and medical terminology. Learning Latin or Ancient Greek will certainly make understanding medical and scientific jargon easier, but understanding technical terms is not really much of a reason on its own to learn an entire ancient language.Bad Reason #2: Latin helps you learn English vocabulary.It is true that Latin can help you understand words in English. Of course, we once again run into the problem that Latin is a very complicated language. If the only reason why you are learning Latin is to improve your vocabulary, then you are putting in way more effort than you need to, since, instead of learning the whole language along with all its convoluted grammar, you could just learn the Latin roots that are used in English and leave it at that.To understand that omniscient means “all-knowing,” you just need to know that the root “omni” means “all” and “sci” means “knowledge.” You do not necessarily need to know all the masculine/feminine and neuter declensions of the Latin adjective omnis, omne for all six cases in both the singular and the plural numbers, nor do you necessarily need to know all the conjugations of the fourth-conjugation

GitHub - fpsvogel/learn-latin-and-greek: Resources for learning Latin

I’ve been learning Latin America Spanish for the past two years – and it’s still a work in process. I did prefer the Babbel app for learning Spanish because they offered Mexican Spanish, which was my preference ahead of the slightly-different Latin American Spanish.Can you become fluent with Rosetta Stone?I’ve been learning Latin American Spanish over the past two years. Would I say I’m fluent? No, I’m not there yet. But Rosetta Stone has helped me along my language learning journey. With more practice, I believe I could become semi-fluent with the Rosetta Stone app.With sufficient time dedicated to your language course through daily practice, using their core lessons regularly, you can start to speak confidently in your target language. Whether you become fluent really depends on how much time you commit to the Rosetta Stone course you’re taking.How long does it take to become fluent using Rosetta Stone?I’ve been taking lessons for 24 months and I wouldn’t consider myself fluent yet. Rosetta Stone explain online that each level takes around 20 weeks to master. Seeing as Latin Spanish has five levels, you can expect to take around 100 weeks (around two years) to become fluent.What is better than Rosetta Stone?I’ve been taking Spanish lessons across a number of language learning platforms over the past couple of years. My preference would be Babbel over Rosetta Stone based upon my personal preference when it comes to language learning. Your criteria may be different.(Photo: Adobe Stock)Wrapping Up – Final ThoughtsWe’ve reached the end of my feature on Rosetta Stone pricing.As an existing member of the Rosetta Stone platform, I can see the merits of their teaching methods. Complete beginners or native speakers can find the app useful when it comes to improving language skills.Rosetta Stone is competitively priced when compared to other. Learn Sindarin language. Sindarin language software, Sindarin language course, Sindarin university scholarship and learn Sindarin online. Speak Sindarin, meet a Sindarin with Sindarin training. Latin Translation, Learn Latin Learn Latin language. Latin language software, Latin language course, Latin university scholarship and learn Latin online. Learn Latin Online - Free Less. Learn Latin Online - Free Lessons - LanguageTutorial.org. Free Latin Language Lessons. Learn Latin online for free with grammar

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Resources to Learn Latin American SpanishNow that you have all the tips for tackling all the different variants, I want to share some of my favorite tools and references that will round out your Latin American Spanish.Some of these might even help you narrow down the regional dialect to focus on.Radio AmbulanteBest for: Intermediate and advanced learnersRadio Ambulante has always been a great resource for learning about Latin American cultures. And each episode is narrated like a story, which keeps listeners really engaged.All the podcasts are accessible through the NPR website, NPR One app, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify, although I do prefer listening to them on the main Radio Ambulante portal since I can read the transcripts as I’m listening to each episode. That way, I can also get a little reading practice in and note down any new words if I come across any.The website is fantastic, and it clearly labels the country of origin for each story.I do have to point out that these podcasts are around half an hour long and presented by Peruvian author Daniel Alarcón.Generally, Radio Ambulante is suited for anyone ready to learn intermediate-level Latin American Spanish, but it’s especially useful for those that want to listen for the Peruvian accent and slang.If you’re interested in learning more through these Latin American stories, you can download their app, JiveWorld.FluentUBest for: Beginners to advanced learnersFluentU lets you turn authentic media into personalized language lessons, so you can learn Spanish exactly the way native speakers use it.With FluentU’s Chrome extension, you can use our interactive learning tools with any subtitled content on YouTube or Netflix. You can even import your favorite YouTube videos directly into your FluentU account for customized learning!FluentU also gives you access to a huge library of real-world Spanish videos—movie trailers,

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Compiled by Fr. Gary CoulterPlease feel free to submit updates and corrections. Obviously, I have focused just on resources and links about the Latin language that are in English.A brief survey of Latin learning resources by Catholic World Report highlights a number of books and courses: Great Courses series Latin 101: Learning a Classical Language hosted by Professor Hans Friedrich Mueller $$ George Sharpley’s Teach Yourself: Beginner’s Latin book with audio CDs; or FREE in the teachyourself.com app Satura Lanx Youtube channel and podcasts - Simplices” lectures on learning to speak Latin Memoria Press produces rigorous and reliable books, workbooks, and supplements - good for home-schooling $ traditional books: Wheelock’s Latin (for ambitious, self-starter), Henle’s Latin series (Father Robert Henle’s systematic grammar with pious meditations), Hans Ohrberg’s Familia Romana (immersion method, with supplemental materials e.g. Student’s Companion, Bible stories, Roman Speeches) Scorpio Martianus Youtube hilarious Latin interviews, songs and more and our own, the extraordinary Father Reginald Foster’s Ossa Latinitatis SolaNew Resources: the app Tinycards (iOS | Android) has numerous free decks of Latin flashcards and the website InternetPolyglot.com has games and lists for memorizing Latin words. - Credit: Free Language Learning Apps + WebsitesOnline Latin CoursesThe Latin Experience with Fr. FosterNotes and worksheets from two years with Fr. Reginald FosterBeginner's Latin - UK National ArchivesTwo whole series of brief lessons, but with a steep learning curve.LatinumLatinum is unique, as it is an immersion course taught as a living, spoken language. Latin recordings of simple texts, vocabulary, grammatical exercises, etc.Latinum youtube channelLatin Study listMailing lists dedicated to the study of Latin, but providing regular translation exercises.Latin the Easy WayUseful and fun, though unfinished, it's free and good to read.Schola Latina UniversalisA free, 2 year, online course for learning Latin (the Textbook is not free)R.M. KephartWeb-based weekly courses for homeschoolers ($) (also some Latin links and prayers)Carmenta - Online Latin ClassroomAn interactive, online classroom ($).Picta Dicta - online platform designed to assist teachers and home educators offer a Classical Education ($)Latin Live Class - weekly online class to build Latin reading skills using the Latin Bible and Lingua Latina ($)Latinum Audio

2025-03-29
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In 1940 by Howard Chandler Christy, depicting how he imagined the signing of the Constitution of the United States might have looked.Bad Reason #5: Learning Latin makes it easier to learn the other Romance languages later on.It is certainly true that learning Latin will make it much easier to learn any of the Romance languages, like Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, or any of the others. The problem is, though, if you learn Latin first and then learn, say, Italian, you are actually putting in way more effort than you would have put in if you had just started with Italian. Latin is a whole language of its own and it does not make sense to learn one language just to make it easier to learn another language.If you are only learning Latin because you want to learn one of the Romance languages, and you have no interest in learning Latin for its own sake, then, quite frankly, if would probably be better for you to just start with the Romance language you want to learn and forget about trying to learn Latin first. Maybe if you are planning on learning all the most common Romance languages, then it might be easier to learn Latin first, but, if you just want to learn one or two, there is really no point in learning Latin simply as a means of preparation for the language or languages you really want to learn.ABOVE: Map from Wikimedia Commons showing Romance languages spoken in Europe, with the most prominent ones being Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and RomanianGood reasons for learning LatinNow that I have debunked some of the most common bad reasons for learning Latin, I want talk about the good reasons for why some people should learn Latin. There are actually quite a few very good reasons why some people should learn Latin, but they are, ironically, not talked about as much as the bad reasons because they do not apply to everyone and they are, for the most part, not viewed as “practical.”The reasons I am about to list only apply to specific kinds of people. Defenders of Latin, on the other hand, often try to argue that everyone should learn Latin. They want Latin to be taught in every high school across the country, so they resort to unconvincing justifications like the ones I have just debunked.The truth is, I do not think that everyone should learn Latin. There is simply no need for everyone to know Latin and, for people who do not enjoy Latin, who have no interest in Latin literature, and who are not interested in ancient Roman or medieval history, learning Latin would simply be a waste of

2025-04-08
User5379

You often hear people talk about the “practical benefits” of learning Latin, such as being able to understand legal, medical, and scientific terminology, expanding your vocabulary, and gaining a better understanding of English grammar. These certainly are real benefits to learning Latin, but, to be honest, at least on their own, they aren’t really very good reasons to learn the whole language, for reasons I will explain in a moment.There are plenty of apologists for Latin out there who often try to justify learning Latin by listing these supposed “practical benefits” to learning Latin that apply to most people. The problem is that, if these benefits are the only reasons you are studying Latin, and you have no real interest in the Latin language or in reading Latin literature, then learning a whole new language may not really be worth it. There are, however, still very good reasons for learning Latin; they just don’t necessarily apply to everyone.A super-cheesy video from 1951 about why you should learn LatinIn case you are unfamiliar with the usual arguments for why you should learn Latin, here is a video clip from 1951 that lays most of the major reasons out quite nicely. It has the added benefit of being unbelievably cheesy, which means you can laugh (or cringe) at the cheesiness as you watch along:This video—as corny as it is—neatly covers most of the “practical reasons” that are usually given for why students should learn Latin. These are the exact same reasons that defenders of Latin are still giving today. They sound pretty credible at first. To be honest, though, almost none of these are actually very good reasons to learn Latin. They mostly just keep getting repeated because people who already like Latin feel the desperate need to convince other people of Latin’s benefits, so they keep repeating the same old reasons without really questioning them.Let’s examine some of the reasons given in the video that are still given today for why everyone should learn Latin, in the order they are given by the students in the video. I am only going to address the reasons given by the students, since teacher mostly talks about the history of Latin and, as far as I could tell, does not actually give a clear explanation of why students should study it.Before I debunk these reasons, though, let me first be very clear: there are legitimate and very good reasons for people to learn Latin. The reasons I am about to debunk are bad reasons for learning Latin. Once I have finished debunking the bad reasons, I am going to move on to describe the good reasons.Bad Reason #1: Many legal, medical, and scientific terms

2025-04-05

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