Which is harder to learn...Spanish or Latin?

[supermom]

Thanks.

Monica

[Linda in NE]

I took 13 hours of Spanish in college. I was in the honors classes, and I really enjoyed the language. I was much better at reading than speaking it, however, and any native speakers I encountered spoke so fast I caught every 5th word, but that's another story. I got all A's in my classes and never had much, if any, trouble "getting it."

 

Fast forward. I've been studying Latin with my kids for a couple of years now. Sure, I'm using elementary material. I haven't really tackled a high school level Latin text. I will be working through Henle for myself this next year. However, I can say that wrapping my mind around Latin is exponentially more difficult than Spanish ever was.

 

So, either Latin is more difficult, or too many of my brain cells have died in the intervening years between college and now. Of course, college was QUITE a long time ago. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

[supermom]

We are tackling Volume 2 of the Latin Road to English Grammar right now. I am just ready to give up! Then someone told me Spanish was just as hard if not harder. I have had some Spanish and lived in San Antonio my whole life, so that was shocking to hear.

 

I'd be interested to hear more opinions.

Thanks.

Monica

[Harriet Vane]

Spanish is similar to English in many ways, and it is phonetically very simple also. Plus, there are waaaaay more resources available for Spanish reading and Spanish conversation. I think being able to actually use the language a fair amount contributes mightily to one's motivation.

[Michelle in MO]

my opinion: I studied German, which I was told was more difficult than Spanish. Latin is much more difficult than German. Most of the modern Romance languages (Spanish, French, and Italian) have substituted word order and prepositional phrases for the declensions and inflections found in Latin. Believe it or not, German is actually closer to Latin in its grammar than any of the Romance languages, because it has retained four of the five original cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative. It is more similar to English in that English is a Germanic language, so we have some similar word roots.

 

I would definitely vote for Latin being more difficult than Spanish, French, Italian, and German, and many other modern foreign languages. Its grammar is extremely precise. Spanish may perhaps be more difficult to speak, in that it flows rapidly. Latin is generally read, not spoken, although there is a Spoken Latin Conference that I've read about that I believe takes place every year.

[Niebski]

My two cents: Latin grammar is MUCH harder than Spanish - way more complicated! Spanish grammar is a relief in comparison (well, there are lots of pesky verb tenses). HOWEVER! You don't actually have to SPEAK Latin to anyone, to understand when they speak fast, to come up with the right thing to say on the spot, to get the subtleties of idioms, etc. So I think it's much harder to be FLUENT in a spoken language, no matter how simple the grammar is. I find Latin more of a logic puzzle than anything else....

[nmoira]

Latin, by far. Spanish grammar "feels" familiar for the most part, and its nouns don't decline.

[supermom]

I knew Spanish would be much easier, but was told otherwise from someone who really should know. Glad I am right because I can't imagine going through this again when we do Spanish!

Monica

[Michelle in MO]

you'll find Spanish and almost any other second language a breeze by comparison! I think the only language that might be more challenging than Latin would be Greek, which I think has another noun case or two, a different alphabet, and more verb tenses.

 

It was difficult to convince my children of the necessity of studying Latin first! We finished the Henle I book and then had to call it quits. In retrospect, I wish I had incorporated more of a combination reading/grammar approach a la Plaid Dad: a combination of Henle and Lingua Latina.

 

Research your options! This may help to keep your children engaged and excited in the process!

[coopers5]

I am in agreement with most that I see here. Latin is more difficult than Spanish, and we did both this year. (my soon to be 11th grader)

She's relieved that I'm just having her move on w/the Spanish after the two years of high school Latin.

 

HTH.

Jo

[Kimber]

I know that Latin is supposed to be more complicated. (My kids are fairly young and we haven't gotten that far in Latin.) But the speaking aspect of Spanish, being able to hear and understand makes it, IMO, slightly harder albeit less complicated than learning a language that you won't converse in.

 

This is the case for us because our goal in Spanish is conversing and reading whereas in Latin it's only reading.

 

Kimberly