<p>My son is trying to decide which of these languages to take as a freshman. Any opinions out there?</p>
<p>Latin is a great boost for SAT verbal. D scored a 760 first time with no prep with 3 years of Latin behind her. There is an article out their somewhere on the internet about foreign language studies and SAT verbal scores. It correlates the two and Latin came out on top. Obviously correlation is not causation but I liked seeing the data. You may want to check the Junior Classical League website or google the topic to find the data.</p>
<p>Based on the lengthy thread about taking 2 languages, you are sure to get many opinions here. I'll start.</p>
<p>It is likely that he will be encouraged to study one language through the AP 4/5 level. Studying a living language is a richer experience because there are opportunities to talk, read current literature as well as classics, listen to the radio, watch television, travel abroad, make friends with Spanish-speaking people, learn about other cultures in their own language and more. </p>
<p>With Latin, much of time is spent reading and translating. This can become tiring after a few years. </p>
<p>If he enjoys Spanish, the downside is that he will compete with native speakers who take the AP exams and SAT IIs making it harder to achieve a top grade. I heard this is true for all living languages, but perhaps more Spanish native speakers take these tests. As a result, many don't do the Spanish SAT II. I imagine that with good preparation a good AP score can be achieved.</p>
<p>I vote for Latin. You can study Spanish or any other living language later, in college or as an adult, or over the summer. If you do not study now, when will you study Latin? Probably never! There is a revival of Latin studies in the U.K. and the U.S., too. Google that. There was articles on Slate.com so you could search there, too. Also: Speak with the school, get a sense of the language teachers' credentials. And yes, do consider the number of bilingual Spanish-English students. I was a French major; I have plenty of stories of bilingual students stealing the non-bilingual students' academic thunder!</p>
<p>It frustrates me that these threads on languages keep coming back to doing well on verbal SATs or on SAT IIs. How about learning for the sake of learning? If you're taking latin to improve a SAT score, you can study that over the summer, too. I don't think it takes 3 or more years of Latin study to reap the SAT benefits. I'm not saying that Latin is not important but you should have other reasons for taking it.</p>
<p>My vote is for Spanish. You can do Latin on your own over the summer. Unless your son wants to be a classics major, he probably will only want to do two years of Latin, but should choose one language to do through the highest leve.</p>
<p>One would not take a course like Latin to simply improve an SAT score and that is not why my daughter took it. I mentioned the SAT verbal as simply a benefit from taking Latin. </p>
<p>Latin serves as an excellent base for any romance language and, after studying Latin for several years, language studies in modern languages is easier than the Latin. It is a translation language which can be a bit burdensome. My daughter has found learning German to much easier than Latin was (interesting since German is not a romance language). </p>
<p>Additionally, there is the benefit of learning early history and literature. I do agree with the other posters about taking a language to the highest level possible. My daughter had 4 years of Latin and then the two AP courses.</p>
<p>Ooops. I saw a typo on my earlier post. I meant to use "there", not "their" in that strand. Sorry for the ignorance there.</p>
<p>Another point for consideration: if you desire to become fluent in a 'live' language, the earlier you start the better. If you wait until you are an adult or in college, it will be much more difficult to ever learn to speak that language without an accent. I vote for a modern language in high school and self-learn latin or use electives to add it as a second language.</p>
<p>I vote for Latin also. It takes about two/three semesters to learn everything you need to know, and from that point on all you are doing is translating. I took Latin in both high school and college because I didn't want to have to take the time to learn how to speak/interact with a language that I would never use again in my life, plus I hate foreign language (I have taken both Spanish and French and the anxiety of having to learn it and get up in front of the class and do dialogues was too much for me to deal with.) My Latin teachers/professors were always more laid back and actually excited that people wanted to learn latin, and I think that made them better educators. </p>
<p>Anyways, I ended up getting a lot more out of Latin then I ever thought I would. I know everything about early Roman history, it's easier for me to guess the meaning of words that I might not be familiar with, and overall I feel like it was the best fit for me. Although at times it was rather tedious, translating latin is like solving a puzzle/breaking a code and that was what I enjoyed about it.</p>
<p>big red fan says "It takes about two/three semesters to learn everything you need to know, and from that point on all you are doing is translating. "</p>
<p>More support for my argument that you can self-learn latin and spend the rest of your time learning another language. Perhaps becoming less ethnocentric in the process! :)</p>
<p>He should continue with the language he most enjoys. It is possible to over think the future implications of a choice of language in high school. Learning any foreign language will prepare him to learn other languages in the future.</p>
<p>Given the choice of Spanish II or Latin II I am guessing that your son either takes both languages now (unusual for middle school) or speaks enough Spanish at home to place out of the intro course. I agree that he should take the one that interests him most. It doesn't matter, either choice is fine. If there isn't a clear favorite, then you might want to post about languages at "x school," your son's new school. Sometimes the teachers in one language or another might have a better rep at a school. If your son feels awkward speaking another language Latin is the way to go. I know some students who participate well in all classes except language and Latin is their refuge.</p>
<p>Definitely take Spanish. The SAT isn't really a valid reason to take a language and all you really need to know are the basics, which you could easily learn in a few months on your own or with a tutor.</p>
<p>Take two languages if you can.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice. </p>
<p>He goes to a private school that requires all 8th graders to take Latin I plus they continue with their chosen language of either French or Spanish. The problem is that he really likes both languages. I think he should stick to the Spanish. It'll be interesting to see what he decides.</p>
<p>spanish pros- modern language, widley spoken
spanish cons- ??not unique??
latin pros- good for lawyers and doctors, good for roots/sats
laton cons- dead language, rumor that soem colleges prefer modern language (but im sure a classics diploma would be impressive0</p>
<p>Well, it appears my ethnocentric comment has insulted at least one individual. I apologize to anyone who thought it was a personal attack. It was not targeted to any specific person. It is more my opinion that the US society as a whole tends to be ethnocentric. I have read several threads over the past week or so and I am amazed that others don't see the benefit of learning a modern language and, in the process, learning more about different cultures in this day and age. I think it is a very different world than it was when I was going through hs/college in the early 80s. Everything is much more global - business, music, etc. I think US citizens would benefit from learning more languages the way much of the rest of the educated world does. I do value others opinions - just stating my own.</p>