<p>I am currently a high school freshman (yes, I know that this is a bit early to be worrying about college and whatnot) and I am currently taking Latin I. I've heard that few colleges offer courses in Latin. In my school district, to get an advanced diploma, you are required to take two years of the same language, and subsequently, I have registered to take Latin II. I very much enjoy the study of foreign language, and I was wondering if I should take only two years of Latin, and then take two years of Spanish, because I plan on minoring in Spanish, or just take four years of Latin, and then start Spanish from scratch my freshman year of College. Input greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Take four years of Latin, it will look better. Plus, Latin is awesome.</p>
<p>Take four years of Latin. It will help you on the SAT.</p>
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<p>From whom? Because that is patently untrue.</p>
<p>Latin is really awesome. It helps with vocab and grammar, it looks impressive, and instead of learning about what different fruits are called or how to say “movie theater,” you read poetry and history and philosophy and about military conquests–things written by some of the greatest minds, ever. You also learn a good deal about Ancient Roman culture and history, which is very cool.</p>
<p>rofl If you’re gonna pick Latin just for colleges you’re doing it wrong. I am doing/did both. Latin is good if you’re gonna into medical/history field or if you’re planning on learning more languages. Spanish is obviously for speaking. I find French to be a much nicer language but also a little harder.</p>
<p>Sola lingua bona est lingua mortua!</p>
<p>Lingva Latina!</p>
<p>I love latin.</p>
<p>I’m not picking Latin solely for colleges. I was originally supposed to be enrolled in Spanish, but selected Latin as my alternate, as I felt I would enjoy both. My school put me in Latin, which I like, but I still have an interest in Spanish, being a spoken language as well as written.</p>
<p>Why can’t you take them both? If you can’t take Latin these four years, and take Spanish in college. You will learn it much more faster because of your Latin background.</p>
<p>@toxic93 – I’m thinking that’s what I may do. I could take both, but I’m not sure if I’d have room factoring in still needing to take Business Tech Applications (required drudgery), Latin II-IV, and 3 years of debate, It leaves me with one open spot. This is completely subject to change, of course. I’d much rather fill that spot with something like AP Statistics than Spanish I.</p>
<p>Hands down latin</p>
<p>Debate and Latin, awesome combination.</p>
<p>Be as the great orators of Rome!</p>
<p>Latin is pretty awesome.</p>
<p>My school only offers Spanish, French, and Latin.
I wish I could have picked all 3, but I am only learning Spanish (Japanese on my own and Korean at Community College). However, I want to live both French and Latin sometime during my life. :)</p>
<p>If you wanted to start off Spanish in college, that’s fine. Most colleges will offer a lot of opportunities to really immerse yourself in the language and you could do study-abroad programs to become fluent. </p>
<p>You can’t exactly do the same for Latin haha, but I do recommend Latin in high school because, as everyone’s already said, it’s a tremendous help for vocabulary and grammar. More points on the SAT and stronger essays! It’s a good deal. Later on, when you take Spanish, you’ll be able to match up the grammar constructions you learned in Latin and really commit those details to memory better. (Really, subjunctives in Spanish make so much more sense after you’ve learned them in Latin.)</p>
<p>That said, if you could take both I would recommend it. I’ve taken both and I wouldn’t change a thing. I’ve been accepted into my school’s Spanish seminar, which is oriented for students who are native speakers or are very fluent in the language, and I definitely think that continuing my Latin classes past the minimum requirement helped me to reach near-fluent level.</p>
<p>Since you’ve started with Latin, I’d continue it. But, definitely do Spanish in college. Lol honestly, you could probably teach yourself a good amount of Spanish before a placement exam, so you won’t be bored in a beginning Spanish class.</p>
<p>Edit: French is the best choice possible, though ;)</p>