Reasons to learn Latin/Greek

[Neige]

Planning for the future, but I sat down with DH the other night to talk things over and set a direction. I'd always assumed we'd teach Latin at least, and maybe also Greek. I see it as an asset when understanding language roots (English, as well as others), spelling, and vocabulary/etymology. DH (who was a Classics major at university...go figure) does not. He thinks it's a waste of time.

 

Help me change his mind? :)

[SarahW]

I've been making my way through some of these: http://www.societyforclassicallearning.org/index.php/resources/media/20-2012-conference-recordings and the session "Steven Breedlove - Exhaustion Through Rigor" talks about this issue.

 

fwiw, I took many Classics department classes, and no, I don't really use my Greek all that often. But I use my College Algebra even less. If you reduce everything to pure "usefulness to everyone" you can get a pretty short list.

 

I think learning an ancient language has its own merit. There's nothing that puts human history into quite the same perspective as reading a 4,000 year old account of a guy complaining about the weather, taxes, and people who don't always agree with him. :)

[Neige]

Thank you, Sarah - those ALL look really interesting!

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

As far as writing and reading pure Latin, studying the whole grammar of it, I do not think there is a need. Studying the vocabulary of Latin and Greek, this is something you can use and important to add to your studies.

[Hunter]

Climbing Parnassus was my scope and sequence for my youngest son back in the early 2000s. I don't teach any Greek and Latin now. I also don't stress math like I did. Maybe I'm just getting old and tired; maybe I'm getting wiser. I truly don't know.

 

I've watched my boys, friends and students grow up, go through college, and start their adult lives. I don't know. :tongue_smilie: I just have different priorities now. Time is short. LIFE is short.

[Paige]

My DS is learning Greek because he wants to. It wasn't my idea. I see a lot of value in it, however. It's not just the vocabulary, although that is a very big benefit, but it is also really helping him to understand grammar. I know you can deepen your understanding of English grammar with a modern foreign language too, but it was harder for me learning Spanish and German to really get the grammar. I think spoken languages allow you to hear it in your mind more easily- why study the grammar when you can just talk? It's hard to explain because my Spanish classes had a ton of written grammar work, but in my mind, I was hearing everything, it became intuitive like English. I could say to myself- "Does this sound right?" and get the right answer without always knowing why. With Greek, there is no spoken language reinforcement, so the grammar is more intellectual than intuitive.

 

It is also helping him learn to study and learn to apply himself in a way that he doesn't do with other subjects. It's the one subject he actually puts effort into because he can't do it without paying close attention.

 

My girls are not interested and I'm not forcing them to learn Greek. I see the value in it, but I agree that it may not be worth it if the student is not interested or if it means that it takes up time so you can't do another subject that the student is interested in. I'm sure there's other ways to learn vocabulary, grammar, and how to think.

[8filltheheart]

Training the mind to think analytically is one of our main educational objectives. Since language is the main form of communication, training the mind to focus on the construction of language and implicit meaning is key to analyzing for logic/fallacy/propaganda/fact, etc. Studying Latin forces students to pay attention to language construction and that study translates in focusing on language construction in general, not just Latin. I know for my kids that I can see a huge difference in "language analytical skills" between the ones that have studied Latin vs. the ones that didn't.

 

Tracey Simmon's gives a good synopsis of his argument for Latin and Greek in this lecture:

http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video/Languages/-/Climbing-Parnassus/15310

 

ETA: There have also been frequent discussions on the value of authentic classical education. Esther Marie is one poster that has argued eloquently in the past on the value of classical ed. There have also been a couple of threads recently discussing what is really involved in classical ed. You might try searching for some of those threads for in-depth arguments.

[happypamama]

One of the unintended benefits of my child studying Latin has been the increase in mental organization it's brought her. Since Latin is so logical, she's learning to follow the steps, every time -- look for the verb, look for the subject, look for the object, etc. This is carrying over into math and other subjects in a positive way.

[SarahW]

I agree with 8Fillsthe Heart and happypamama.

 

English can be a very unwieldy language. Practicing the clarity and preciseness of Latin helps reign in all the danglies that English tends to permutate.

 

I've had the misfortune of grading college freshman papers, and a great many would have been helped if the sentences simply had a clear subject-verb-DO link. Yes, you can teach this without Latin, but Latin (or another highly ordered declined language) will force the student to be constantly sensitive to this point. Also, when people attempt clarity in English without this background they tend towards a very stilted style of writing. Whether one likes it or not, modern English syntax is highly dependent upon 16th-17th c. writers who never studied "English grammar" but only learned grammar from Latin. The effect this had on English vocabulary is obvious, but I believe it had an equally profound effect on syntax and style.

 

Are there numerous examples of good English writers who never learned Latin? Sure. But I believe that they are working from a "cultural memory" which included a great deal of background reading of authors who did. So you can do one or the other, or both, but the Latin is always there.

 

And there's beauty in knowledge of beautiful things, and lots of people think Virgil is beautiful. And beauty will save the world. So there's always that.