language crisis!

<p>well, I like a challenge. haha</p>

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<p>My daughter did well on the SSAT for the same reason. And the beauty of Latin is when she was doing revisits, the Latin classes were tiny (one was four students) - so lots of time for more individual attention.</p>

<p>I also contend that Latin and Greek stand out on a college application a bit more than standard languages because it’s not encouraged so it takes a certain type of student to elect to study it for a number of years.</p>

<p>okay, thanks. i think i might take spanish for two years and then do latin for 2 years</p>

<p>I took Latin when I was in high school (many, many years ago). What a waste of time. Stick with the Spanish. I truly don’t think any college is “impressed” with it, unless you plan to major in classical languages.</p>

<p>or theology or history</p>

<p>Latin is not so much an means to an end as it is an end in itself. Obviously, you won’t be speaking it. Obviously, you could read the great works in translation. But Latin is the cornerstone on which not just many European languages are built, but Western Civilization. </p>

<p>My son is agonizing over the choice of French or Latin and has decided to go with French for formal instruction at school. He figures he needs the instruction more in a language he has to speak whereas he can continue his piecemeal self-study of Latin at his convenience and go to the Latin teachers when he needs an answer.</p>

<p>So the pragmatic part of him won out in the end. He would like to travel at some point and it would be useful to have another language under his belt.</p>

<p>Momb2k</p>

<p>As a college interviewer I’m truly scratching my head over why you’d say that about Latin. In a pile of applications where almost every kid is studying Spanish and French (unless they then used that in some practical way - for instance took a service project abroad) and wehre the pile of 16,000 has to be wittled to less than 9% admit letters, Latin and Greek do stand out as unusual and often unpopular choices among the masses. As would crew if everyone else did basketball and baseball, theater and music, when the majority do science fairs, etc.</p>

<p>My advice - take a language because it interests you - not because it’s a perceived edge. My daughter loves Latin and all the classical activities that go with it. - If not for that she would have opted for Mandarin Chinese (according to her). That, Arabic, German and other lesser studied languages will, in fact, create a slight edge with all other things being equal in a crowded admissions pool.</p>

<p>She is teaching herself a “spoken” language because those materials are easier to acquire and comprehend as self study.</p>

<p>But Latin is extremely hard - so it’s not for the faint of heart - only for the passionate. ‘Cuz’ Adcoms can spot a resume pad from miles away. The language should “fit” the student.</p>

<p>(p.s. - you are a wise parent, Neato!)</p>

<p>My son has been studying both Latin and Spanish this year, and is choosing Latin–partly because he’s interested in law and the sciences and English and likes learning the roots of words and partly (mostly?) because it comes more easily to him than Spanish. He’s a logical thinker and good at memorization and I think he likes the rules of Latin–and, as he points out–you don’t have to speak it. Or, at least, you don’t have to worry about your accent… </p>

<p>I took Latin and French throughout high school and French and German in college. Out of all of those languages, I’d rate German the hardest. In terms of usefulness, all have helped me in one way or another–I think proclaiming the “pointlessness” of a language is not helpful.</p>

<p>Ultimately, I really think it varies from person to person–which is why we took note of Groton’s classical/modern language approach and tried both this year. I have suggested to my son though, that a year of Latin will not waste his time, even if he decides he doesn’t like it and wants to switch to a modern language later.</p>

<p>Latin isn’t any harder than any other language, imho. I took Latin through most of high school and German in my senior year and then some more in college. I’ve been studying Spanish off and on over the past 10 years. I picked up a smattering of French when I had to work in France for about a month. </p>

<p>After 4 years of taking Latin, I couldn’t go to another country with the acquired knowledge and learn a new culture. (Vatican City, anyone?) I could read some speech by Cicero, but I’d rather be able to read “Love in the Time of Cholera” in Spanish. I’d rather be able to go to Quebec City and understand the train schedule. I’d find it more interesting to go to Berlin and talk to the locals about the wall coming down and what it was like. But because I will never have the kind of time that I did in high school, I will never become proficient in any modern language (until maybe I retire!)</p>

<p>People say though that learning Latin helps you learn other languages… I counter that learning how a language works (case, declension, gender etc) can be done by means of learning ANY language that is not your native one. Korean, Portuguese, whatever.</p>

<p>If someone really grooves on learning classical languages, then I say great, go for it! I would never discourage that. And if it’s required by the school that you attend, then dig in and start studying. But if given the choice, study it because you have a genuine interest, not because it would look great on your college application. Latin was foisted upon me because my parents saw it as part of a classical education. I regret that the time was not used learning a modern language instead.</p>

<p>The following is probably very politically incorrect, so I apologize in advance. Think students need to be realistic in their expectations when taking language courses. My wife studied French for 4 years in HS, and received her BA in French Lit from an Ivy, including study in France for a year. She speaks beautifully. While there is value in learning a foreign language, even with this level of study, her ability to translate her educational experience into practical use is very limited. Very helpful for pleasure travel to France, perhaps tutoring high school students, foreign films, etc, but in practice you really need to be a native speaker to for example work as a business translator. This may all sound a little Englishcentric, but in my experience this tends to be pretty close to reality at least in the business world. The company I work for acquired a German company a number of years ago. All the senior management were encouraged to take German lessons so that we could have better lines of communication with our new colleagues. That quickly died. At best, execs were able to learn restaurant German. English very quickly became the base level for all communication. Whispering in private conversations in German is a big no no. All management reports are in English. The head of our Contracts department studied French for years, and lived there for several years. Even so, his ability to precisely translate Canadian French contracts for business purposes is strained at best. I ran our Latin American operations for a number of years. While I learned a few Spanish and Portuguese words specific to our industry, it was understood that all conversations and business correspondence would be in English. As students look to studying a language, they should give serious thought to the end game. For example, if studying the natural or social sciences, they need to ask how much of the cutting edge literature is written in a language other than English? Will studying a few years of a language in high school or college enable you to read a scientific publication in the foreign language? If going into the health fields, how well will learning book Spanish help you communicate with patients in an urban health clinic?. Unless you are a native speaker, how effective are you going to be in a business environment negotiating a business contract in a foreign language? Obviously studying languages can open students to views of a broader world. The ability to communicate is always positive. However, think they need to be very realistic about the ultimate practical value of language study. Spending a few years studying high school French, Spanish, German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, or Arabic isn’t going to open a world of opportunities for them any more or less than studying Latin or ancient Greek. Just my experience.</p>

<p>Exeter, Politically incorrect in what way?</p>

<p>I LOVED taking Latin and Greek. As a freshman, I fought and fought for months with my dad about taking latin at my new school since I wanted to take Spanish, but finally we compromised of one year of both Latin and Spanish and after my freshman year I could take whatever course I wanted. Now I had an amazing Latin teacher and a not so great Spanish teacher. I did better in Spanish than I did in Latin, yet by the end of the year I fell in love with Latin. I ended up taking Latin and striving for a Classical Diploma. It’s one of my more proud accomplishments. It was definitely a difficult route to take but I found it had so many more benefits than momb2k is letting on. The steps needed to translate a sentence let alone word have helped me become a better problem solver. I think in a different way than I used to since a word in latin/greek may have more than one possible meaning because of the different ways to decline a verb/noun. The amount of time I needed to use for translating passages helped me improve my time management skills. I have also learned quite a bit more, but I’m too lazy to type it all down at the moment. </p>

<p>However, don’t discredit Latin and Greek because they’re just “dead” languages. I swear that the fact that I did so well with my college process had to do with the fact that I took Latin and Greek and it was something that probably stood out on an application. I was also really passionate about it and made it known to those college admissions officers.</p>

<p>@tuesdays: you use sparknotes, don’t you. :)</p>

<p>I love French! Do you not like the language or do you not like how it’s being taught? Those are two very different things and you might find that you’ll actually like it if it’s being taught by a teacher at Exeter.</p>

<p>However, I would probably do German or Japanese. I’m not sure which one I’d choose; probably… actually, I really don’t know.</p>

<p>German maybe : ) that’s what i’d pick</p>