Latin...Friend wants to know why we do Latin..Help

[Holly IN]

A friend of mine just asked me why we do Latin. What is the importance of it? I was lost for words. She emailed me and asked me this. I can't sum it up into words very well. I know the benefits but is there an article that I can just send to her that sums it up very well?

 

Thanks

Holly

[Jumping In Puddles]

Here is an article: 10 answers to Why Latin?

[5wolfcubs]

Here is a recent thread to help you solidify your reasons. :)

[summer]

Teaches vocab, grammar, sentence structure, etc.

[kpupg]

Here is an article: 10 answers to Why Latin?

 

:iagree:

 

For our family, I would add emphasis to my agreement with items #1, 2, 3, 5, & 7.

Karen

[FO4UR]

My top 3 reasons are English vocab, grammer, and the value of studying the words of influential ancient world leaders in their own words. My dc aren't old enough to begin Latin study yet, but I took it in high school. I am glad I did! Etymology was an insanely easy course after taking Latin. My ONLY real instruction in English grammer was in LATIN class:001_huh: (wtg public school system:tongue_smilie:), but that was enough to get me through college without embarrasing myself.

[bethben]

All the above reasons PLUS -I can't do foreign language accents so great. I can learn Latin along with my kids and not have to worry about the accent. I'm a little with Susan Wise Bauer in that you really can't learn a foreign language without talking to someone who can speak it regularly. Latin avoids this issue in that no one really speaks it (other than some church litergy).

Beth

[74Heaven]

Latin is a logical language that has rules that students must decipher in order to understand it. I have read (and agree) that Latin study includes a lot of thinking / deciphering skills that help students grow in this skill.

lisaj, mom to 5

[JaneGrey]

I like this article on the LFC website: http://www.classicalacademicpress.com/images/samples/How_to_teach_Latin.pdf It discusses the ultimate goal of teaching Latin.

 

This may not help you respond to your friend, but it might help clarify things for you.

 

HTH

[Plaid Dad]

I just wanted to offer an alternative view to the one presented in the LfC article. It identifies as the ultimate goal of Latin as "construing" - analyzing and translating - original Latin texts. This is not what all classicists would identify as the goal by any means. Most, I believe, would say that the goal of studying Latin is the ability to read Latin fluently - and fluency means not having to translate every sentence into English along the way.

 

It is true that many people in the modern classical education movement place more emphasis on the "mental training" aspect of Latin than on reading Latin literature, and I don't deny that students can learn a great deal about how language works from studying Latin grammar. We don't have to choose between learning about a language (which is what linguists do) and acquiring that language (which is what foreign language students do). Both pursuits have value. But grammar study is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Just as we learn English grammar not for its own sake, but to become better writers, we learn Latin grammar to become fluent readers. The real joy of Latin is the ability to read 1500 years' worth (and more) of literature in the original tongue - to meet the authors on their own turf, so to speak, without the inevitable omissions and distortions that even the very best translations bring to a text.

[Melanie]

I know this isn't the sort of answer you're looking for, but we are learning Latin because we like it, and because we can. That's reason enough for me! :)