I absolutely see your line of logic here - but I really don't think it would make it easier in general - but only for adept language learners. IMO, those who are not adept at foreign languages will find it hard either way, since they won't draw the connections between the languages, and latin would be too hard in the first place, rendering related languages equally difficult.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

;-D ... I must say even though I DID do Latin I can recognize certain phrases (in a way) still don't know what a declention is ... therefore I "declined" Latin quite soon ... isn't it amazing how small children can pick up languages so easily, though? I am still at a loss how there is a "feminine" of something like a brick!

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Wow, big jumble of thoughts there. Children of course pick languages up fast because they absorb them rather than "learn" them actively like we do as we get older. Children continue to absorb information from around them at a pace much faster than adults who learn to block things out as they get distracted by other things and become more focused. These children do not figure among adept or inept language learners, they are to language learning what stem cells are to medicine!

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I don't know if it should be compulsory, but it should definitely be offered. I only had two choices when I started out: Spanish or Italian. Both languages are very similar though. My Spanish teacher this year told me she went to Italy knowing very little Italian but she could use her Spanish to communicate

by Anonymous 12 years ago

A lot of people think that to be true, and logically you're right, but learning Latin doesn't actually *help* you learn those languages. Spanish is extremely close to English, and is by far, objectively, the easiest to learn if you know English. Eastcoast just said, from Spanish it's easy to go to Italian. French is harder but fuck French, what with its numerous vowels and silent x's. Really, a compulsory Latin class would just make everyone learn a dead language when they could spent that time learning an easier language like Spanish.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yes, forcing everyone to learn Latin would make it easier to learn other romance languages afterwards, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. If you want to learn Spanish, or Portuguese, or whatever, just learn that language. Learning Latin in order to learn another language is a really roundabout way of doing things, and if you don't care to learn Latin it's a waste of time.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

A year or two or Latin would definitely help people learn another Romance language, sure. However, there's a senior at my school who's REALLY into Latin and even tries to converse in it with other people. Even the Latin teacher told him to chill out because it's a dead language.

by Anonymous 12 years ago