<p>About not being able to speak spanish in a job, I've taken 4 years of Spanish (6-9) and my school is almost half Spanish speaking so I am not fluent by any means but I do know the basic stuff to carry on an average conversation. And Latin does help you in law and medicine considering that almost every professional name for a disease is from Latin and a ton of laws and rules are latin words.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Exactly, because someday, when you all need jobs, the ones who took Spanish will be out of luck, whereas you will be set with Latin<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>I'm not talking about getting a job in Mexico some day, I'm talking about college admissions. Which will be noticed more? Which will be considered more challenging? Spanish is common and is regarded as a relatively easy language to learn. Latin is unusual and is difficult. Taking Spanish is like taking piano lessons. Mastering Latin is like playing the English horn.</p>
<p>Spanish, or any modern lanugage, at least has a CHANCE of being used in a job. Dead languages may be interesting, but you will never be able to use them. Any Latin words in a professional field such as medicine or law can easily be picked up by students. </p>
<p>I'm not trying to denegrate Latin students, but implying that Latin is harder or more valuable than Spanish is as silly as saying the English horn is more difficult than the piano. In fact, even though my son studied German, I think that Spanish has the most chance of being used in a job...just look at printed directions, telephone menus, signs, etc!</p>
<p>"Maybe you go to a school where Spanish is a joke, or your Spanish teacher can't even speak Spanish correctly, but over here Spanish 4 AP will set you up for there "advanced level in jobs." It is college by the way. I took up to Spanish 3 here, and I can almost declare myself fluent; think about Spanish 5 AP!"</p>
<p>I don't really want to argue about this or knock Spanish. I took Spanish for three years myself outside of high school. And I take Latin and French as I mentioned before. My small and highly competitive high school of about 700 hundred students offers French, Latin, Spanish, Chinese and German. And our AP programs are very rigorous and set in two year batteries, and to back that up, out of a graduating class of 200 last year, all of whom were in AP languages, 39 students went to Ivy League schools or tier below (Chicago, Georgetown, Northwestern). If that means anything at all. Our AP programs are not sub-par. I just honestly don't believe kids can graduate high school with any degree of fluency for the most part. I speak French very, very well and I've taken two years of AP now, but am I fluent? No. Fluency takes years and years and residence in a country of that language.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>I'm not trying to denegrate Latin students, but implying that Latin is harder or more valuable than Spanish is as silly as saying the English horn is more difficult than the piano.<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>People who took a few of years of Spanish (or piano) are a dime a dozen. People who have mastered Latin (or the English horn) are rare. Which one will stand out in a crowd of college applicants? Which kid will be viewed as having done the routine things and which be thought of as having ventured off the beaten path?</p>
<p>Hi</p>
<p>My S took 2 years of high school Latin and one semester of upper division Latin at the college level. He is currently taking Spanish 1A (at the college) as a senior.</p>
<p>2 years of Latin is required at his school. Supposedly it helps with test scores and learning foreign languages. S did do very well on the critical reading session of the SAT.</p>
<p>I think he is having more fun with Spanish. Many people in our community speak Spanish so he is getting some exposure outside of school.</p>
<p>I am not saying that Latin is better than Spanish or another language but I do think that it is more unique. Most public schools just do not have the resources to offer it. Same with playing French Horn. Actually, I know very little about French Horn but my son does play the bassoon. There are not very many bassoonists out there, so it kind of stands out.</p>
<p>Will this help with college admissions? I do not know. But I do believe that my son is probably one of the few Latin knowing bassoon players in our area! :-) </p>
<p>Sorry to OP for going off on a big tangent!</p>
<p>Precisely. Is that not (sometimes sadly) what a significant part of the college admissions process is--finding applicants that "stand out" somehow, some way? Latin really is not that common in relation to French and Spanish, maybe it's a geographic thing too on the Coasts. I don't know. And I know many have mentioned how Latin is not useful for medicine and law, and perhaps you're right, but that's truly secondary. The motives for learning a dead versus modern language are inherently different. Neither is better or worse. Just different. Different enough to make them unworthy of comparison.</p>
<p>glucose101: "I think it looks good, but to me, it seems like you can't make up your mind; unless you are a language major..."</p>
<p>I am not a language major. My school requires Latin for 4 years (starting in 7th grade). It also requires 4 years of a modern foreign language starting in 8th grade. We have the option of choosing ancient Greek in 11th grade for 2 years.</p>
<p>The answer is some colleges want a certain number of years of modern language, some don't require a foreign language for admission but will require it for graduation, there may be some that don't care at all.</p>
<p>Also, some high schools (thinking of a local prep school) require three years or third level competency for high school graduation. </p>
<p>You need to check a specific colleges requirements closely.</p>
<p>I have taken five years of private tutoring in Spanish outside of school and four years of Latin in highschool at the AP level. </p>
<p>I still haven't used my Spanish except when I went on a trip with my grandfather to several places in South America. Even there, the majority of people I interacted with spoke English and only spoke Spanish a couple of times to communicate. Latin has pushed my writing to the next level. The mastery of the structure of Latin reveals a lot about the relationships in English. I wish I could have traded those five years for more Latin. </p>
<p>The Spanish taking you to "advanced" positions or whatever is ********. Any job worth its weight fiscally will be interacting with those that speak probably every language other than Spanish. That may be harsh and maybe somewhat racist, but it is the truth. Even if you are handling trade, commerce, etc. with Latin American countries, the educated people that you will be working with will speak English. Other romance languages, Japanese, and Chinese have immensely more advantages over Spanish. </p>
<p>I would contend that Spanish is less useful than Latin. Latin permits me to rapidly assimilate the majority of languages spoken in Western Europe, because I know the foundation for them. View them in a linguistical tree. Latin is the roots and truck of the tree with Spanish, Italian, French, Germanic, etc. being branches. I have a foundation in all of them and can branch off into them. Spanish doesn't have that ability because it is only an offshoot. It may share some similarities but has been altered off of the original and lacks the commonality with its siblings.</p>
<p>I take Latin. I totally agree with Smoke&Mirrors.</p>
<p>If you have not taken Latin, you just simply wouldn't see the importance of it. It's at least 20 times more complex than Spanish, and when you learn the language, you inherently learn the philosophy of ancient Rome and the educated of centuries past.</p>
<p>If you understand Latin grammar--which is highly structured--you understand the English language much more, even though they are different. You just become more aware of syntax and diction.</p>
<p>A lot of people make a ton of mistakes when they don't know Latin. For example, a lot of people who spell "bonified" and use it incorrectly; the idiom is actually "bona fide" and means "in good faith." You become less gauche with Latin knowledge.</p>
<p>That being said, I am so majoring in linguistics.</p>
<p>1) I've taken 3 years of Spanish, and Latin on the side.
2) Latin isn't more or less important than Spanish.
3) Complex Latin maybe, but maybe that is why not a lot of people speak it.
4) I'm not sure what you mean by understand the English language more. At this point you should know English through and through, I would hope.
5) Good thing I don't use idioms, in Spanish as well.</p>
<p>Perhaps you need to immerse yourself in intensive Latin for several years to recognize its benefits in terms of understanding English (and no, not just raising your SAT scores like everyone says). Most of us here know English very, very well, that's not the point. Taking Latin is not a matter of "learning better English" as in learning French or Spanish or whatever, it's about the intracies of language and syntax as Effulgent said. And then sure, you are broadening your vocabulary significantly, breaking the highest level of English gracefulness into a whole new threshold of comprehension. There is always MORE to learn, and Latin enables you to learn that with such tools of syntax and diction and root systems. More so than Spanish, which again, as was said above, is a terminal off-shoot. I take Arabic too, and my Latin (even though in totally different linguistic systems) has helped far more than my French and Spanish in structure, etc.</p>
<p>I've taken both Spanish and Latin.</p>
<p>I agree that Latin is extraordinarily useful to know and learn. It helps with English grammar and language and is extraordinarily logical. I loved learning Latin, and I wish I had the opportunity to study it more extensively than I did.</p>
<p>However, many colleges that I have looked at specify that they are looking for three to four years of a modern language (i.e. not Latin--and yes, I know that i.e. is 'id est'). Furthermore, a language such as Spanish is more useful than many people here are saying. Yes, most people in the top of their fields speak English, but that does not mean that you shouldn't learn another lanuage. Speaking to someone in their home tounge is complimentary and, I have found, always appreciated. It pays off. I have traveled throughout Central America quite extensively, and most people do not speak English. If you spend your time in Mexico in Cancun or Playa del Carmen most people will know English because they are the most touristy locations in the country. However, if you really want to experience the culture of the country it is necessary to travel to small towns, poor villages, and other unappreciated locations. Those people, I assure you, speak hardly more than three words in English.</p>
<p>Look, you need to decide this for yourself. If you like Latin enough to risk not meeting the requirements of certain colleges, then that is great. However, if you would like to play it safe and take Spanish, then do that. There are positives and negatives of each, and one is not inherently better than the other.</p>
<p>As far as "standing out" in the crowd, I agree that certain instruments or languages are less common than others. However, what really stands out is excellence in whatever you do. Be a superior musician or be fluent in your language...win competitions, show leadership and innovation...be the best and you will stand out.</p>
<p>Colleges may love a Latin student, but a business probably won't find Latin fluency as functionally valuable as fluency in a modern language.</p>
<p>No, it is not a language, it's a gym class...</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Colleges may love a Latin student, but a business probably won't find Latin fluency as functionally valuable as fluency in a modern language<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>Right. But the OP's question was about what COLLEGES thought of Latin, not businesses. That's the question under discusion.</p>
<p>"No, it is not a language, it's a gym class..."</p>
<p>Quote for the win.</p>
<p>You are correct coureur, I was veering off topic! Sorry! </p>
<p>But, since I did, I'll add one more thought. Quite a few kids in our school district choose Latin because (1) they or their parents think it will assure them of better SAT scores, or (2) our Latin department is known to have nicer/easier teachers than some other languages. Neither is a good reason to choose Latin. Neither is a guarantee of success. </p>
<p>Students would do well to study what language interests them...a sound they like, a cultural curiosity, a historical interest, etc.</p>
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Other romance languages, Japanese, and Chinese have immensely more advantages over Spanish.
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<p>Wrong. Spanish the arguably the 4th most spoken language in the world, after Mandarin and English. This means mastering the Spanish language can be an incredible asset in the working world. Depending on the nature of your job, the amount that Spanish helps you can be huge! On the other hand, unless you plan to be some kind of Latin linguist, chances are you're not going to be using Latin in the workplace.</p>
<p>Knowledge of Latin simply serves other uses such as reading ancient Roman texts, origins of words, etc.</p>
<p>To answer the OP's question, I highly doubt colleges will perceive one languuage to be better than another. What's more important is your demonstration of the mastery of the language that you're studying.</p>