Is there a point to studying Latin?
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Abdul al'Hazred is a hack. And do you really think the elder ones wouldn't devour your soul even if you got every vowel and consonant right?Quaxar said:
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.
Nope... not a word in Arabic...(none in Latin either though).
hmm like many people in this thread have said Latin is the root or contributes heavily to almost every European and near eastern language. But more then that it was the academic language for well almost a thousand years and before that it was the language of the historians of one of the greatest empires in human history. If you want to gain an understanding of the philosophies of any of the great thinkers of the last millennium or understand the the christian faith it is a very important language. that's of course without going into botanical and scientific Latin.
so should it be taught to 12 year olds, probably not. But Latin certainly isn't as dead as some people would like to think it is.
so should it be taught to 12 year olds, probably not. But Latin certainly isn't as dead as some people would like to think it is.
Quite simply because Latin is the primary base for the germanic branch of languages; that, in and of itself is more than reason enough.MisterM2402 said:
Not to mention the numerous benefits that accompany learning a secondary language.
Further, it's Latin. The language of an ancient empire that lasted for centuries; and to which we have inherited much from, both culturally and historically.
Learning Latin these days has no real and practical application unless you're going into ancient history or studying old religious documents of western Europe, but it does provide an excellent basis on which to learn other European languages from. Spanish, French, and Italian are all founded upon Latin and knowing Latin before attempting to learn other said languages makes the learning of them much easier.
I was not talking about Elder Gods, Outer Gods or even Great Old Ones but at least Byakhees or Spectral Wolves.Knife said:
Of course Yog-Sothoth is a whole different bucket of blood.
And what I meant with the plus of knowing Arabic was that you don't have to read the Necronomicon's Latin or English translations, thus you know exactly what al'Hazred intended to say in case some parts could be interpreted differently.
la mayyitan ma qadirun yatabaqa sarmadi
fa otha yaji ash-shuthan al-mautu qad yantahi
The original Arabic "it is not dead which can eternal lie" verses. Just because.
It's pretty much mandatory here, wasn't exactly easy, and the payoffs were rather small, but it's encountered everywhere so I don't really mind. Plus, I'm studying a romance language, and a background in Latin really puts its entire philological history in perspective. If you're into that sort of thing.
Lawyers and doctors use it and it also improves your understanding of other languages which are based on it.
I've studied Latin for six years because it was obligatory in the kind of high school I went to, and past year two I started really sucking at it, mostly because I found it very boring and was too lazy to do any homework for it. I still think it has some merit from a linguistic perspective, and you learn a lot about classical history (although you could just as well do that by reading translated texts).
I recommend only choosing to study Latin if you are good with languages, personally interested in it, motivated to put some effort into it (unlike me) and if you have the ability to drop the course if it turns out you don't like it. If you choose to study Latin just because your parents want you to you will very likely regret it.
I recommend only choosing to study Latin if you are good with languages, personally interested in it, motivated to put some effort into it (unlike me) and if you have the ability to drop the course if it turns out you don't like it. If you choose to study Latin just because your parents want you to you will very likely regret it.
Apart from English which has some Latin but not a large amount. Old Norse, Old French (which is partly Latin) and colonial/cultural borrowings added onto Anglo-Saxon which is Germanic.SckizoBoy said:Latin (and Greek) are the source of virtually every language spoken in the western world, so it's good to know.MisterM2402 said:TL;DR Why doesn't Latin suck? Tell me.
[br]Pic Related: "Pushy Parent"
Yeah, that's true. English is the bastard of all languages. Part of the vocabulary comes from Arabic for crying out loud...(!)ThisIsSnake said:
But for the Latin taxonomical terms (I think that's the name of the whole "species-naming" field, anyway), why would you need to learn all the other words? Why would you need to learn grammar structures and the other 90% of words if all you need to know is stuff like Homo Sapiens?Dulcinea said:
As for Latin phrases used in English, the same applies: if those phrases are such a big part of the English language, they're in common use and you already know them, why would you need to learn everything else? Stuff like ergo and quid pro quo, I'm wildly estimating, make up around 0.00001% of everything it's ever possible to say in Latin - doesn't really seem enough to learn a whole language, no?
Where I live, Latin gets marked up in your End-of-High-School exams by 16 points.
The most out of any subject, so that's a benefit.
Plus it helps you learn the English language, and other languages better. Different forms of verbs, adjectives, object, subject, indirect object, deponenet, etc..
The most out of any subject, so that's a benefit.
Plus it helps you learn the English language, and other languages better. Different forms of verbs, adjectives, object, subject, indirect object, deponenet, etc..
Latin helped me a lot in learning German cause both languages have a similar grammar and latin is fairly easy to learn (at least the basics are). So it's a great way to learn a language. Most European languages have some form of latin in it, be it vocabulary or grammar.
Well exactly; if you only need basic English, only learn basic English. Most people, however, need more than just basic English. Besides, it's one of, if not the, most useful language on the planet; English mastery > Latin mastery.Dulcinea said:
Harvard can translate all they want, I'm not saying they should stop at all. Studying history is unimaginably useful for modern society, and if that takes Latin, so be it. I never argued against it.
We use Latin words... Not Latin language...Dulcinea said:
Nobody is building on the Latin language... We aren't adding new Latin words to the commonplace lexicon with any haste.
What is the point in studying the subtle nuances in Latin grammar when the only people who understand it (or indeed, give the slightest shit) are other people who studied it?
It's like cursive script. It isn't useful and only adds confusion when you encounter someone who isn't familiar with it.
But you go on with your linguistic fetishism.
I'll just be over here speaking, reading and writing a language that people understand.
