Spanish vs. Latin - WWYD

[Mom0012]

I started Spanish with my kids last year. My son was really interested in learning this language and I thought my daughter would enjoy it as well. However, I am wondering if I made the wrong choice.

 

My son has a language disorder and I have read many posts that recommend Latin for children with language issues. There is a very good homeschool coop that specializes in Latin in my area. The kids that take these classes do very well and participate in many certamen (sp?) competitions. They ace the National Latin Exam. Miraculously, I recently found out there is still a spot or two available in their beginning level class.

 

I feel like I don't know what I am doing with Spanish. I never took Spanish in high school and I'm using La Clase Divertida. I think the program is fine, but I wonder after we spend hours upon hours on this over a 3 year period (we are already in the second year), if we will have even covered the material that would be in the first chapter of a high school text.

 

There is no way my son will be able to do two languages. He does very well picking up the vocabulary, the accent and his understanding is good, but he already struggles with spelling in English and he has a lot of difficulty reading and writing in Spanish. I am actually really concerned that it will mess up his reading and writing in English, which is one of the reasons I picked a program that is more suited for an auditory learner. Would that be as much of an issue with Latin?

 

Both of my kids could probably take the Latin class, but it would cost $200/child plus registration fees. It would be a stretch for us to afford that right now, but when it comes to homeschooling, I usually find a way if I feel the kids will benefit. It will take me about 35 - 40 minutes to get to the class and then there will be 45 minutes of homework each day.

 

I'd hate to just give up on Spanish after all the time we've invested and I already bought levels 2 and 3 of La clase when they were having their sale this last December.

 

What would you do? Continue on with Spanish and just avoid the reading writing portion for my son as long as possible? Forget about Spanish and pick up Latin if we can get into the coop class? Something else? I'm really having a hard time deciding here, so any thoughts at all would be appreciated.

 

Lisa

 

ETA: The beginning Latin class is only offered once every 3 years at this coop, which is part of the reason I think I'm struggling with this.

Edited August 2, 2011 by LisaTheresa

[gardenmom5]

I would switch to latin. I recently saw a study that indicated latin students scored over 100pts higher on the verbal sat than spanish language students. If you consider how much of english descended from original latin (even if via french or german), latin is much more useful for english spelling and grammar rules.

 

take it with a grain of salt as I'm biased as my 1dd is a classics major with four years of college latin (while she wishes she'd had it earlier, that was when she started. so there is time.), and it is her favorite language. (she's adament classical latin be studied and NOT church latin.) she also had a mandatory quarter of spanish in public school and she barely tolerated it.

Edited August 2, 2011 by gardenmom5

[Mom0012]

I would switch to latin. I recently saw a study that indicated latin students scored over 100pts higher on the verbal sat than spanish language students.

 

take it with a grain of salt as I'm biased as my 1dd is a classics major with four years of college latin (while she wishes she'd had it earlier, that was when she started. so there is time.), and it is her favorite language. (she's adament classical latin be studied and NOT church latin.) she also had a mandatory quarter of spanish in public school and she barely tolerated it.

 

Kristen -

 

Thanks for your input. Do you know if Latin is phonetically similar to English? One of my big concerns with doing Latin for high school credit, is that I'm afraid my son might then have to take a modern language in college. I really want to avoid that, if possible.

 

Lisa

[tricia]

I would definitely switch to latin. Latin is the undertone for all other languages and they will become so much easier to understand if there is a latin background. Check out what http://www.memoriapress.com says about studying latin. Really informative.

My son has a language disorder and I have read many posts that recommend Latin for children with language issues. There is a very good homeschool coop that specializes in Latin in my area. The kids that take these classes do very well and participate in many certamen (sp?) competitions. They ace the National Latin Exam. Miraculously, I recently found out there is still a spot or two available in their beginning level class.

 

 

I would drop the Spanish and take the Latin, for a number of reasons. First, foreign languages are much easier to learn with a teacher expert in that language.

 

I don't quite understand your question about phonetics. Latin is much simpler, phonetically, than English. Latin has just a handful of dipthongs, and regardless of which of the historical pronunciations you choose, each letter pretty much makes only one sound, and there are no silent letters. You can learn all the pronunciation rules in one sitting, there's just not that much there.

 

As far as colleges, I'm not an expert, but I've never heard of a college that wouldn't accept Latin to meet their foreign language requirement. If I did find one, I think I would reject it on that basis alone!

[wapiti]

Do you know if Latin is phonetically similar to English? One of my big concerns with doing Latin for high school credit, is that I'm afraid my son might then have to take a modern language in college. I really want to avoid that, if possible.

 

FWIW, Latin provides a great foundation for later study of other Romance languages. I wouldn't worry about studying a modern foreign language in college (for me, Spanish in college was a piece of cake because I had Latin in high school).

 

I wouldn't worry much about Latin pronunciation. Latin study is primarily about reading, not speaking. So, unfortunately, I don't think Latin will be any easier with regard to reading and writing. What sort of language disorder is it? My dd has a language processing "glitch" and Latin is going well so far. You might want to ask your question over on the SN board.

 

If he's already invested a lot of effort in Spanish, I probably would not make him switch. I'm so not helpful......

[Mom0012]

I would drop the Spanish and take the Latin, for a number of reasons. First, foreign languages are much easier to learn with a teacher expert in that language.

 

I don't quite understand your question about phonetics. Latin is much simpler, phonetically, than English. Latin has just a handful of dipthongs, and regardless of which of the historical pronunciations you choose, each letter pretty much makes only one sound, and there are no silent letters. You can learn all the pronunciation rules in one sitting, there's just not that much there.

 

As far as colleges, I'm not an expert, but I've never heard of a college that wouldn't accept Latin to meet their foreign language requirement. If I did find one, I think I would reject it on that basis alone!

 

I guess what I mean by my question about the phonics is are the sounds in the Latin alphabet similar to English. But, now I see that isn't as important since speaking it isn't necessary. (Or, then again, maybe it is because of the focus on reading and writing.) My son has really struggled with spelling and even though he reads above grade level now, he has always had difficulty sounding words out.

 

Lisa

Edited August 2, 2011 by LisaTheresa

[Mom0012]

FWIW, Latin provides a great foundation for later study of other Romance languages. I wouldn't worry about studying a modern foreign language in college (for me, Spanish in college was a piece of cake because I had Latin in high school).

 

I wouldn't worry much about Latin pronunciation. Latin study is primarily about reading, not speaking. So, unfortunately, I don't think Latin will be any easier with regard to reading and writing. What sort of language disorder is it? My dd has a language processing "glitch" and Latin is going well so far. You might want to ask your question over on the SN board.

 

If he's already invested a lot of effort in Spanish, I probably would not make him switch. I'm so not helpful......

 

You make a good point about the focus on reading and writing. He is having a terrible time reading Spanish words because all the vowel sounds are different. He always really struggled with the vowel sounds for some reason and while he reads very well now, I don't want to confuse him. I'm wondering if this would be the same with Latin or if the sounds are more similar to English? We have spent a year on Spanish, but I'm starting to realize we have not learned much yet.

 

Lisa

[Teachin'Mine]

Have you considered not doing a foreign language right now? He's only 11 and will still have all lots of time to do Latin or Spanish later in his schooling. I would take that extra time and focus on his English reading and writing skills. Just a thought. :)

[Girlmom123]

I agree with everyone who says switch to Latin. It will help his English.:001_smile:

[gardenmom5]

Kristen -

 

Thanks for your input. Do you know if Latin is phonetically similar to English? One of my big concerns with doing Latin for high school credit, is that I'm afraid my son might then have to take a modern language in college. I really want to avoid that, if possible.

 

Lisa

back east, latin is a common language offered in the better 'prep' schools. (those were her dept. mates. attended prep schools with early intro to latin.) It is such a good background for understanding english/spelling/grammar that most college's should accept it. dd had six years of french, so it was never a question. check with your college to be sure. It really depends upon the college and the planned major. I do know linguistics wants two living languages, but most other dept's shouldn't care what the language is.

 

the other tidbit I picked up was during a chat with her history of english prof. (mostly english majors and classics majors. the english majors struggeled, the classics majors had an easy time). he had a computer science major take the class as an elective. Student came back after working as a programmer a few years and stated it was the MOST useful class in regards to his profession of writing code of all the classes he had taken. Most so than all of his computer science/programming classes. Because of the focus on language evolution/vowel shifts/consonant shifts/etc., it was useful for understanding programming langauges (which are easier than human language) as well.

[gardenmom5]

I would definitely switch to latin. Latin is the undertone for all other languages and they will become so much easier to understand if there is a latin background. .

 

very true. dd had never studied, or even looked at an italian dictionary before she spent three weeks in italy. she was able to at least follow newspapers/signs/etc. and know what was what.

[Mom0012]

Have you considered not doing a foreign language right now? He's only 11 and will still have all lots of time to do Latin or Spanish later in his schooling. I would take that extra time and focus on his English reading and writing skills. Just a thought. :)

 

You know, that was my original plan even though it seems like everyone I know has been doing Latin since their kids were in kindergarten. I have resisted that because I knew we needed to focus on the basics, but then I finally added Spanish in last year to challenge my daughter and my son decided he wanted to learn as well. He has actually been doing very well with it so my intention has been to continue with more auditory programs (like Pimsleur) until 9th, just to give him a basis to do well in Spanish when he needs it for high school credit.

 

He actually reads well above grade level at this point with very good comprehension. It is mostly spelling and writing that he struggles with now, though we are working hard on those areas. I am concerned that doing a lot of reading and writing in another language would start to confuse him, though, so that is definitely on my mind.

 

Lisa

[Mom0012]

I agree with everyone who says switch to Latin. It will help his English.:001_smile:

 

See, this is what I have read a number of times and that's what really tempts me. I am really going to have to give this some more thought. I'm not usually one to jump around though, and it makes me just sick to think of all the time and money I wasted on Spanish if we switch to Latin.

 

Lisa

[wapiti]

If he has a language issue, I'd probably aim for a more traditional (written/visual) approach than an auditory approach. Often language issues are tied up with auditory issues.

 

If he hasn't already confused his English due to the Spanish, I can't imagine it will happen. Indeed, quite the opposite - learning another language can really cement English grammar in one's mind.

Edited August 2, 2011 by wapiti

[Mom0012]

If he has a language issue, I'd probably aim for a more traditional (written/visual) approach than an auditory approach. Often language issues are tied up with auditory issues.

 

I agree that they often are, but I don't think that is the case with him. He actually is doing better with the Spanish than my daughter, who picks things up very easily. It think it's because his strength is auditory learning and that's how La Clase is set up. My daughter doesn't have any lds, but I have been realizing a different Spanish program would definitely be better for her. For her, and for myself, seeing the words and writing them and taking a systematic approach makes a world of difference. For my son, it just confuses things. He can listen to me read or to any audiobook and have fabulous retention and comprehension.

 

Lisa