Is Latin still useful?

[Lazarus52980]

My wife is intending to add Latin to my children’s school curriculum. Did anyone here study Latin? Have you used any of the skills/knowledge from it?

 

[highland145]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=34473307&postcount=18

 

[vi edit]

If they are going into health care it's helpful with some of the roots & modifiers of many medical terms.

 

[SlitheryDee]

If two people speak latin then they can both understand each other.

 

[diesbudt]

I studied latin in high school

Is it useful... eh. not really. Other than seeing plenty of english or spanish (etc.) words and able to get a feel for what that word means based off knowing what the latin word ment, as Latin is a language in many other languages. I cannot tell you any use I have for them.

NOW if this is for people wanting to go into a medical field. Study latin, I heard it can really help.

 

[IronWing]

You can understand the priest before you agree to it.

 

[Drako]

Probably not as useful as Spanish or Mandarin may be in the future.

Useful if kids might go to med school.

 

[Doppel]

I took it for a year, unwillingly. I thought then and think now it is an incredible waste of time and a damnable anachronism like cursive that we must as a society rally to expunge as quickly as possible. It is something offered and taken with an air of pretentiousness. About as useful as studying typewriter repair.

Unless the child has mastered actual fields of relevance I would say no to Latin.

 

[darkewaffle]

I took four years of latin in high school. It's not as practical as Spanish but every now and then I'll make a connection to it still, through some new word or bit of history.

 

[diesbudt]

I took it for a year, unwillingly. I thought then and think now it is an incredible waste of time and a damnable anachronism like cursive that we must as a society rally to expunge as quickly as possible. It is something offered and taken with an air of pretentiousness. About as useful as studying typewriter repair.

Unless the child has mastered actual fields of relevance I would say no to Latin.

You bring up a good point...

Since high schol I have never used cursive. What was the point in teaching me that?

I liked my latin class because it was fun and the teacher taught us difference of 2 words that looked almost alike.


"Dominus means master....Domus means house.... Thankyou."

 

[ichy]

NOW if this is for people wanting to go into a medical field. Study latin, I heard it can really help.

Lol, yeah right. If you want to be a doctor study organic chemistry. Don't waste your time with Latin.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

You bring up a good point...

Since high schol I have never used cursive. What was the point in teaching me that?

Some states are no longer requiring it. I believe our own state of Indiana decided last year (or maybe it was 2011) that schools weren't required to teach it any longer.

For my part, it is almost painful to write cursive now. 4 years of college (engineering), 2 additional years of grad school (engineering), and all that printing and typing have made it almost impossible for me to write cursive well. I hate the odd times I have to write a check or sign a bunch of documents!

 

[clamum]

I'd say it would be a waste.

 

[zephyrprime]

It wasn't even useful a hundred years ago. I remember reading einstein complain about how useless it was. Seriously, since we're not in the classical world anymore, there are about 1000 more useful ways to spend your educational time.

 

[ichy]

Learning Latin is a hobby, not a useful skill.

 

[IronWing]

<Insert Quayle joke here>

 

[rcpratt]

I don't know about Latin, but I took an etymology course in high school that was and continues to be invaluable. Of course, a significant number of the words/word parts that we learned had their roots in Latin.

From stupid crap like taking the ACT/SAT (why I took the class in the first place) to being able to recognize roots of words or parts of words in pretty much any field, I would do it a thousand times over.

 

[TecHNooB]

I took 2 years of latin. Completely useless, I say!

 

[kyrax12]

From what I have heard, the two most popular language currently besides English are Spanish and Chinese.

 

[JTsyo]

I don't know about Latin, but I took an etymology course in high school that was and continues to be invaluable. Of course, a significant number of the words/word parts that we learned had their roots in Latin.

From stupid crap like taking the ACT/SAT (why I took the class in the first place) to being able to recognize roots of words or parts of words in pretty much any field, I would do it a thousand times over.

That's why I hear HS students take it. To give them an edge in the English portion of the SATs.

 

[Printer Bandit]

English would be more useful. Surprised at how many people haven't mastered it even if it's their first language.

 

[Fritzo]

It-sum is Not-icus.

 

[Doppel]

That's why I hear HS students take it. To give them an edge in the English portion of the SATs.

If LATIN actually helps give an edge in that more than spending the time on, oh, English, the test needs to be altered.

 

[Lazarus52980]

English would be more useful. Surprised at how many people haven't mastered it even if it's their first language.

My wife is an English major, and each of the children are quite a ways ahead of the curve in writing and grammar. That part I am not concerned with.

Latin (if we do it) will be a bonus/fun class for them

 

[nickbits]

Never took latin at any age and I am doing fine. I would consider it a waste, much like the gr 1-11 French I took.