Why study the Latin Language?

"Ask not...what prompts us to study a 'dead language,' for the language is not dead. It lives in all the Romance tongues, as one of the great roots of English, in the life of the Church and of science. We study Latin because without it we cannot know our history and our heritage. And without that knowledge, we cannot know ourselves. We also study Latin to enrich our understanding of our language. Knowing Latin teaches English. We learn what English words meant and mean still when we love their Latin roots. We also learn grammar, an ancient art and science that tells us how to put together our thoughts, and hence our lives, with clarity, dignity and gravity. Claritas, dignitas, gravitas. To those virtues, then add, as did your grandfather and father, "Lux et Veritas", and you have begun to offer your own measure to that common life we call civilization." --the late A Bartlett Giamatti, president of Yale University*

Museum in the Classroom

Museum of classics comes to Eagle School - March 3, 2009

Latin is a foundation for literacy in English.

"Every word in Latin is gold because in Latin there is no verbal garbage." Latin vocabulary and also a very systematic grammar make study of Latin language an excellent school for development of grammatical and logical thinking.

Language Lab Sanaco 1200.

"Ecce Romani" audio resources.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is one of the most incredible gifts given to us by Romans. The mother tongue of English contributes about 65% of all English words. It is the bases of 75-80% of all Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese words.

Grammar

• Latin helps students to understand in depth bases of English morphology and syntax.
• .Latin enhances the English skills of students by offering a grammar that highly contrasts with English.
• Latin gives to students a sense of how languages work and a readiness to acquire additional ones.

Morphology

It is necessary to have knowledge of such parts of speech as

• nouns,
• pronouns,
• adjectives,
• verbs,
• adverbs,
• propositions,
• and conjunctions.

Then comes comparison of properties of English and Latin nouns, adjectives and verbs.

Declension of nouns and conjugation of the verbs in Latin are the most difficult and the most valuable grammatical bases of the Latin language.

Semantics

The semantics of the Latin language is easy: it is mainly the one to one relationship between graphical representation of the word and its meaning.

Syntax

The semantical ease , the finite sets of morphological rules and their link to syntax (ex. Nominative case - subject, accusative case - direct object, ending -o of the verb - 1st. person singular) as well as very formal direct word order of English sentences makes translation of the sentences from Latin to English (or English to Latin) very formal and very doable and rewarding for students. The structure of the simple sentence English declarative sentence: Subject + verb + direct object: Marcus writes the latter. Words order defines the functions of the words in the sentence. Latin declarative sentence: Free words order: Marcus epistulam scribit. Endings define the functions of the words in the Latin sentence.

Mathematical way of thinking and Latin.

Mathematics is a potential bridge between different disciplines. The logarithmic, the exponential and the polynomial functions cover large variety of processes in physics, chemistry,psychology, linguistics and social sciences, etc. Declensions of the nouns and conjugations of the verbs as well as the process of translation of Latin texts into English engages a combinatorial investigation. It encourages students to search for patterns and to create structurally correct English sentences.

Latin language and career .

A background in Latin is an asset to any student who choses career which demands literacy and/or a technical vocabulary.

It is especially useful for such professions as

• law,
• insurance,
• medicine,
• fictional or technical writing,
• library science,
• or management.

Latin is a challenging elective

Students of Latin develop skills and strategies for acquiring new vocabulary and sentence structures.

Latin helps cultivate such mental processes as alertness, attention to detail, memory, logic, and critical reasoning.

All colleges and universities viewe a student with two years of Latin as either "somewhat stronger" or "much stronger" a candidate for acceptance than other qualified applicants. Why?

• Because Latin is widely recognized as a challenging elective that develops verbal skills, mental precision, and study skills.
• Because Latin improves SAT score.

Latin as a first language experience.

As a first language experience, Latin makes sense, because it is the key to 75-80% of the vocabulary of the five "Romance" languages, spoken by some 750 million people in the world today. Fifty-seven nations on four continents share the common linguistic heritage of the Greeks and Romans.

A shared cultural heritage is a major factor in the growth of political and economic alliances in the world.

Classical languages make you a cultural person

The study of classical languages is a curriculum that appeals to the thoughtful student who is looking for cultural, historical, artistic, or intellectual roots and a sense of identity in a complex world.

My favorite Latin proverbs

Docendo discimus. - We learn by teaching.

Festina lente! -Rush slowly!

Gutta cavat lapidem (non vi, sed saepe cadendo). (Ovid) - The water drop drills stone (not by the force, but by falling often).

Historia est vitae magistra. - The history is the tutor of life.

Omnia mea mecum porto. (Bias) - My wisdom is my greatest wealth.

Repetitio est mater studiorum. - Repetion is mother of learning.