Which is easier, French or Latin?

[summer]

DD is interested in both but has a learning issue (partial hearing loss) so I always figured Latin would be easier. But now I am wondering if French (her other choice) would be a better choice. The only other languages she is interested in are far harder and I want to stay with a language she is interested in so no need to suggest other languages. Thanks!

[Laura Corin]

DD is interested in both but has a learning issue (partial hearing loss) so I always figured Latin would be easier. But now I am wondering if French (her other choice) would be a better choice. The only other languages she is interested in are far harder and I want to stay with a language she is interested in so no need to suggest other languages. Thanks!

 

I studied both at school: French from age 11 to 18 (then university); Latin from 12 to 16.

 

I think that Latin may be a good choice for you, as speaking/pronunciation is not crucial. It's also easier for a non-specialist to teach, as there need be no conversational element.

 

If you have a fluent teacher and no hearing issues, then French is easier, because the grammar is simpler. Spoken languages are hard for people with a hearing loss: DH is hard of hearing and has always had trouble picking up the gist of conversations in another language, although he has studied much more diligently than have I.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

[dalynnrmc]

I agree. That, and once she has learned Latin, French will come fairly easily if she still wants to peruse that in the future. (As will several other languages!)

[Peela]

Yup, Latin is easier because it has rules that don't change, 'cus it's dead, and it doesn't matter what your pronunciation is like. It is a logical, matter of fact type language.

We do French too, but well after starting Latin. The Latin helps considerable.

[Laura R (FL)]

We are wrestling with the same choice. My dd is dyslexic and trying to remember all the declension and conjugations of Latin can be very difficult for her. I chose Latin for her hs language because it wasn't conversational, so she didn't have the extra burden of having to recall pronunciations or trying to read it in addition to everything else. Plus, she already had Latin in previous years. Well, she really doesn't like it and wanted to switch to French instead of taking Latin II. The problem is that I don't have a French tutor around here to teach her the conversational aspect. Instead we agreed to have her finish Latin II for hs foriegn language (I feel it helps with English grammar and derivatives more than modern languages), and then she is going to get French software or audios and learn it on her own in a conversational style.

 

Soo, after studying Latin a bit with the girls, taking two years of Spanish in hs and a semester of French in college, I personally think that French is easier to learn than Latin for the average student. Only having to worry about conjugations and leaving out declensions cuts the translation work down a bit. In your dd's case, I wonder if the hearing loss would work against her in the conversational aspect and make learning French more difficult. As a homeschooling parent, my first choice for language study always leans toward Latin for vocabulary enrichment, logic, and grammar study.

[Wendy in ME]

I am finding Latin easier because of the whole accent thing. I never felt comfortable speaking French. On the other hand, with French, you don't have to worry about all those declensions. If her learning difficulty is with hearing, Latin would probably be easier for her.

[Rosie_0801]

Firstly, I would have to ask, what does a partial hearing loss mean? If she has enough hearing to have become fluent in spoken English, she should be able to learn any other language too; unless accents are a real problem for her. The easy way to overcome that is to learn to fingerspell, if you can't already. I have often fingerspelled how a word sounds, rather than how it is spelled, to help out my deaf friends. (Dh has a mild to moderate hearing loss in the upper frequencies; dd's godmum has a moderate to severe hearing loss.)

Your dd can certainly learn to read and write any language she likes. I'm not sure why you are dubbing some languages as too hard. (If you don't want to teach them, or pay for her to learn, that's another issue altogether and fair enough!) What makes a language too hard for a hard of hearing child to learn? Profoundly deaf students in Sweden come out of their education with fluent signed Swedish, fluent literacy skills in Swedish and English, at a minimum. They also have the option to take speech therapy classes, so may come out with fluent spoken Swedish as well. Language may not be as impossible as you might think.

My vote? I don't think you should restrict her language options any more than you would a hearing child. She may have to learn differently, or focus on the literacy rather than the speech (depending on her level of hearing loss and ability to implement other strategies,) but all kids have their own peculiarities of learning... Learning bits of another language for enjoyment is perfectly ok, in my opinion, even if one never becomes fluent.

Rosie

[summer]

She has had speech therapy and APD issues still. She just turned 12. She goes back to the audiologist in 2 weeks for retesting to see if things are the same, worse, or better. She misses tones or mis-hears things, that sort of thing. You have to repeat things several times. I just don't want things to be hard on her, but if she wanted to do the harder language, I would be fine with it. I would even let her pick between Latin and French, but she is frustrated and wants me to just pick.

[Audrey]

I studied both at school: French from age 11 to 18 (then university); Latin from 12 to 16.

 

I think that Latin may be a good choice for you, as speaking/pronunciation is not crucial. It's also easier for a non-specialist to teach, as there need be no conversational element.

 

If you have a fluent teacher and no hearing issues, then French is easier, because the grammar is simpler. Spoken languages are hard for people with a hearing loss: DH is hard of hearing and has always had trouble picking up the gist of conversations in another language, although he has studied much more diligently than have I.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

:iagree: Laura says it better. I was just going to post the same thing, i.e. Latin= easier to speak, but much harder grammatically. French= quite simple grammatically, infinitely more difficult to speak well.

 

I had Latin from grade 9 through university. I also took French in university, but when I moved here (to a francophone community in Canada) I realised that my ability to pronounce and to even HEAR French properly was greatly hindered by a life long use of English. That is to say, my mouth simply won't pronounce certain French vowels properly, and my ears simply won't hear the difference. I manage well enough, but no one would ever be fooled enough to think I was a native francophone.

[Rosie_0801]

She has had speech therapy and APD issues still. She just turned 12. She goes back to the audiologist in 2 weeks for retesting to see if things are the same, worse, or better. She misses tones or mis-hears things, that sort of thing. You have to repeat things several times. I just don't want things to be hard on her, but if she wanted to do the harder language, I would be fine with it. I would even let her pick between Latin and French, but she is frustrated and wants me to just pick.

 

Ok, so skip out on the tonal languages then! Latin sounds like your best bet for now, if only to boost her confidence. Whichever languages she decides to play with, really focus on the reading and writing aspect instead of the speaking. Leaving notes around the house, and that sort of stuff.

I'd recommend learning to sign. That completely avoids all hearing and speech issues, putting her on the same footing as everyone else; but I'm biased and it sounds as though you've discounted that as an option for your family.

Good luck with it :)

Rosie