Why Latin?

Isn’t it a dead language?

If dead means never used, then no!

  • Latin appears in media all over the world every day.
  • It s the official language of the Catholic church and the Vatican.
  • There are 3 Latin phrases on the dollar bill, one of the most recognizable symbols on the planet.
  • 60%-70% of every word you speak  has its root in Latin.
  • French, Romanian, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish all  are Latin  – 200o years later!
  • Then there’s law and medicine . . .

Sounds pretty active for a “dead” language.  And yes, it IS a spoken language! The Internet Movie Database lists 185 films in which Latin is spoken. 

Connections to other classes

Study of Latin supports these subjects:

History Government

English Science

Literature Art

Music All other foreign languages

Math (Yes, math. The analytical nature of translation trains the mind for math!)

SATs

Recent SAT scores confirm that Latin students excel!


 1999 200 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Latin 662 665 665 666 672 674 681 672
All Students 505 505 506 504 507 508 508 503
French 632 636 633 637 638 642 643 637
German 623 621 625 622 626 627 637 632
Spanish 590 589 583 581 575 575 573 577
Hebrew 636 623 628 629 628 630 620 623

American Heritage

The forefathers of the United States were Latin literate. Consider the concepts which have a classical origin:

American Law

American Government

The Dollar Bill

Architecture (e.g. Washington D.C.)

Numerous Latin state mottoes

 

College Grade Point Averages

A study of freshman college student performance conducted by the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1985 yielded the following results:
Language GPA
Latin Students 2.89
No Foreign Language 2.58
Spanish Students 2.76
German Students 2.77
French Students 2.78

 

Reading Achievement

In the District of Columbia, elementary school students who studied Latin developed reading skills that were five months ahead of those who studied no foreign language and four months ahead of those who studied French or Spanish. Two years earlier, the same students had been excluded from foreign language classes because of substandard reading performance.

Vocabulary Skills

In Philadelphia, students in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades received 15 to 20 minutes of daily instruction in Latin for one year. The performance of the Latin students was one full year higher on the Vocabulary Subtest of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) than the performance of matched control students who had not studied Latin.

Math Problem Solving

Sixth-grade students in Indianapolis who studied Latin for 30 minutes each day for five months advanced nine months in their math problem solving abilities. In addition, the students exhibited the following advances in other areas:

  • Eight months in world knowledge
  • One year in reading
  • Thirteen months in language
  • Four months in spelling
  • Five months in science
  • Seven months in social studies

The Study of Classical Language and Culture Bolsters Learning

  • Ability to read classical authors in the original language
  • Ability to access key documents of the Western world
  • Ability to avoid the biases and misconceptions of translators of classical authors
  • Direct contact with the wisdom and thought of the classical and medieval authors