Benefits of Studying Latin

Akela

sum

  • Princeps Senatus

Location:
BC
We have had this question here a couple of times, yet we still do not have a comprehensive answer.

Let's compile our own list of the benefits of studying/knowing Latin language.

This way we will have something to point Latin beginners to and to inspire ourselves with :D
 

Iohannes Aurum

Technicus Auxiliarius

  • Technicus Auxiliarius

Location:
Torontum, Ontario, Canada
Studying Latin improves your vocabulary: 60% of all English words derive from Latin either directly or indirectly. Studying Latin also makes learning most other Indo-European languages easier, especially the Romance languages.
 

Iohannes Aurum

Technicus Auxiliarius

  • Technicus Auxiliarius

Location:
Torontum, Ontario, Canada
It also allows for the discussion of controversial topics without upsetting anyone.
 

Domicella

New Member

Location:
Trondheim,Norway
On my travels in Europe last summer I stopped in Rome,and climbed the steps up to the dome of St. Peter's and was able to read the golden writing in Latin and feel awe at the grandness of it all. I translated it aloud to my friend and she said the tourists had looked at me all shocked that a blonde 20 year old might know Latin,hah! That was my big Latin moment anyway. :)

Vatican City has Latin as its official language,their mini-banks are in Latin too,you could use your skills for that :p

Medical terms (especially in anatomy) may be confusing in our language,but they are often taken from Latin (and Greek),so knowing some Latin is helpful :D
 

Akela

sum

  • Princeps Senatus

Location:
BC
Quasus dixit:
Learning Latin helps one to meet a lot of intelligent people all over the world!:
You know, this was part of my original motivation when setting this place up :p
 

Portia

New Member

Location:
United States
Because Latin rocks! 8D

On a more serious note, if one is going into medicine, botany, or practically any science career, Latin is extremely beneficial because medicines, plants, animals, etc. have Latin names.

Personally, I hope to be a writer someday, so I decided to take Latin because it is the base of so many languages and so many words in the English language. Also, if I'm ever not sure how to pronounce something, I'll often try to pronounce it in Latin as opposed to English. Hey, sometimes it works!! xD
 

Quasus

Civis Illustris

  • Civis Illustris

Location:
Águas Santas
Portia dixit:
if one is going into medicine, botany, or practically any science career, Latin is extremely beneficial because medicines, plants, animals, etc. have Latin names.
I doubt if it’s extremely beneficial. Scientific Latin is not a tongue but rather a nomenclature system based on Latin and Greek roots (sometimes ‘perverse’ at that: cf. rectum in Latin and in anatomy). In particular, physicians and Co. don’t need any grammar above the genetive case.
 

Portia

New Member

Location:
United States
Quasus dixit:
I doubt if it’s extremely beneficial. Scientific Latin is not a tongue but rather a nomenclature system based on Latin and Greek roots (sometimes ‘perverse’ at that: cf. rectum in Latin and in anatomy). In particular, physicians and Co. don’t need any grammar above the genetive case.
I understand that scientific Latin is a nomenclature system rather than a language. In spite of my misuse of the Latin language, I'm not a complete idiot. I said Latin is extremely beneficial, not taking ten years of Latin is extremely beneficial. I would think that taking just a year or two of Latin would be quite beneficial for a student planning on going into the science field as you get practice in pronounciation, spelling, singular vs. plural forms, numbers, etc.

And, for the record, I do tend to exagerate a little. Perhaps to say "extremely" is a bit...extreme, but I don't see that it particularly makes much difference.
 
 

cinefactus

Censor

  • Censor

  • Patronus

Location:
litore aureo
Quasus dixit:
(sometimes ‘perverse’ at that: cf. rectum in Latin and in anatomy). In particular, physicians and Co. don’t need any grammar above the genetive case.
A knowledge of Latin wasn't enough to save me in Anatomy ;)

rectum is hardly perverse. It describes the straight section of the bowel...
 

Quasus

Civis Illustris

  • Civis Illustris

Location:
Águas Santas
Cinefactus dixit:
rectum is hardly perverse. It describes the straight section of the bowel...
Well, I must have said not what I’d intended to. :D I meant that the knowledge of Latin rectum in no way helps to guess its primary signification in anatomy.
 

hazelnut

New Member

Location:
New England Academia
1) Studying ancient languages gives one a basis for learning lots of other (Indo-European, especially) languages, because their grammatical structure is a clear pattern many other languages follow.

E.g., first-semester German. Many of my monolingual (English-only) classmates were baffled by the idea of cases (because English doesn't really use them, relying heavily on word order instead). My Classics-trained compatriots and I were able to absorb the grammar a lot faster because we already understood the concept of the grammatical framework within which we were working, so it was easier to move on to the work of actually learning the language.

2) The process of learning Latin grammar (back in middle and high school) taught me how to memorize things more efficiently.

...probably also boosted my SAT verbal score.

3) It gave me a great information bank when I took Linguistics -- I had a lot of examples at my disposal, which I could refer to when illustrating concepts. It also made things like historical reconstruction a whole lot easier.
 

Iohannes Aurum

Technicus Auxiliarius

  • Technicus Auxiliarius

Location:
Torontum, Ontario, Canada
Learning Latin is known to boost SAT scores, even in places that do not use SAT. Read this.
 
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