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Learning Latin - Has It Helped You?
4/3PI*R^3 asks: "CNN is reporting that Latin is experiencing a revival in schools. The reason - Latin is used in the sciences and technology is based on science. Latin is also useful for registering .US domain names :).
How many Slashdot readers have learned Latin and how has it helped you in your life/career? 'non impediti ratione cogitatonis'"
Basi meum posterior!!
Not having learned Latin, but being a scientist I can answer a different question -- Have I ever, in my scientific career, wished I had learned Latin? Never.
These urban Latin programs may well work, or may just be a gimmick, but if they are effective I'd suspect it's the everyday uselessness that's effective. The idea of learning something for the pleasure and prestige of learning it is probably unfamiliar to many of the kids in the program, as is the pleasure of hearing something in an unrelated class and realizing they have information to bring to bear on it.
But for following science? Even if that logic held up, you'd be better off learning Greek.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
The plural of virus is viruses. Virii just makes you look as smart as a bowl of chickenpoxen
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
I took latin in High School, and it easily boosted my SAT's by a good hundred points.
While I have a strong vocabulary, it never hurts to improve it, and learning latin made learning new words much easier!
It has helped in more ways than I can possibly express.
Definitely worthwhile.
GPL'd web-based tradewars themed space game
Where Latin has helped me is Languages. I think it helped me immensely with Languages. Particularly with romance languages but even others. I really had to learn grammar and structure with Latin and I gained a facility with pronunciation of new languages.
I would suggest, however, that an introduction to Latin - maybe one year - is enough. After that it is diminishing returns for a (mostly) dead language. Move on to a modern spoken language after an intro to Latin (unless you really love it).
Move on. There's nothing to see here.
Now I can't speak for Latin, as I don't know it, but I learned more about my own language (English) learning a foreign language than studying it through high school and college. Professionally or scientifically learning a new language does nothing more than help you learn how to learn, at least in my own field of software.
I believe having learned another language, I have a better grasp on getting ideas across and even communicate technical issues. Also, I know how it feels to not be understood and probably even more so the frustration of not understanding. What someone else is saying.
It's a pretty humbling experience being 22 years old and talking at a 3-year-old level with adults.
I studied Latin for four years of high school, and am disappointed that my college doesn't offer anything in the area. Nonetheless, my understanding of English grammar grew phenomenally. I'm not convinced that this might not have been due to the fact that modern English classes don't teach grammar anymore.
Latin not only gave me a clearer sense of how language and grammar in general, but a method of thinking not present in modern English. The whole concept of cases and conjugation can be relatively new to today's students.
The reading [and writing] of Latin requires a systematic mental process much akin to writing code, I've found. Much like Latin, code can often have blocks in which the order of bits don't matter much, but there are good and reasonable conventions which prevail. Latin is like this, and so is good code. I'm still a student, so I can't be sure of work experience, but Latin has increased my general academic ability greatly, and code and logic tremendously.
Of course, there are other benfits. Like that scene in Life of Brian (which we actually convinced our teacher to show in class) makes much more sense to a Latin student. Though, domum doesn't take a locative, it has a locative. *sigh* They did do pretty well though.
-Tevye
We're on a mission from God.
Actually, the literal transliteration is "Always where under where" iirc.
/usr/games/fortune
Edited from: The Life of Brian script
Centurion: What's this then? Romanes eunt domus. People called Romanes they go
the house?
Brian: It, it says 'Romans go home'.
Centurion: No it doesn't. What's latin for 'Roman'? Come on...
Brian: aaah.
Centurion: Come on.
Brian: Ah! Romanus?
Centurion: Goes like?
Brian: Annus?
Centurion: Vocative plural of 'annus' is?
Brian: Anni?
Centurion: Romani. [He crosses out the 'es' and writes in 'i'.]
Eunt? What is eunt?
Brian: Go.
Centurion: Conjugate the verb 'to go'.
Brian: Uh. Ire - Uh... eo, is, it, imus, itis, eunt.
Centurion: So eunt is?
Brian: Ah, Uh, Third person plural of present indicative. They go.
Centurion: But Romans go home is an order, so you must use the?
--------[The centurian lifts Brian: by the sideburns... nasty, eh?]
Brian: The imperative.
Centurion: Which is?
Brian: Ahm. Oh, oh, um... I, I.
Centurion: How many Romans?
Brian: Ah. Plural, plural... ite, ite.
Centurion: Ite. [He again corrects the writing on the wall.]
Domus? Nomonative? 'Go home'? This is motion towards, isn't it, boy?
Brian: Dative, sir.
--------[The Centurian takes out his weapon, and holds it to Brian's throat.]
Ahh. No, not dative, not the dative, sir. Oh, Ah. Uh.
The accusative accusative. Ah, Domum, sir. Ab domum! Ah! Oooh! Ah!
Centurion: Except that 'domus' takes the?
Brian: The locative, sir.
Centurion: Which is?
Brian: Domum. Aaah! ah.
--------[Again, the writing is ammended.]
Centurion: Domum... um... Understand?
Brian: Yes, sir.
Centurion: Now write it out a hundred times.
Brian: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caeser, sir.
Centurion: Hail Caeser. And if it's not done by sunrise, I'll cut your balls
off.
Brian: Ooh, thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caeser and everything, sir.
Oh. Mmm!
For me, Latin has been a Godsend. My friends familiar with Spanish or French try to pass coded messages to each other or speak over my head in their languages of choice, thinking I won't understand it- I took the "dead language." However, I have discovered I can understand about 40% of the average Spanish or French periodical without knowing anything about the language, and about 80% of the conversational forms of those languages. While it is true Latin will not help the average geek in most fields, it can be a lifesaver in the biological sciences, and helps with chemistry as well. For that matter, in the more advanced math courses knowing Latin can help with memorization of key terms. Yes, you have to work at vocabulary to benefit from Latin studies. But do not forget that approximately 60% of English comes from Latin, with even higher rates in specialized fields. Do you really want to deny yourself a resource that, with use, will form the core of a broad knowledge base applicable in any number of places in life? I chose to pursue Latin, and I believe I have profited. Your mileage may vary.