Hi CC,
I have to pick my HS freshman schedule, and I need at least 2 language credits before I graduate (selective colleges look for 3 right?). I’m thinking of doing Latin because I heard its useful, and I’m not very good at the spoken language. Despite this, I’m also considering Spanish because its widely spoken where I live, and in a lot of places. I also rlly don’t know what learning Latin would be like, and whether I could stick w/ it for 3+ years. Would Spanish look better when I apply to college, since its a spoken language?
Hey, as you can see from my username, I really like Latin. I recommend you take a look at this sheet: http://www.rustymason.com/edu/lang/latin/latin_chants.pdf.
If you can memorize the declensions, verb endings, and vocabulary, Latin will be simple. It only takes practice. Latin is basically only useful for learning derivative vocabulary in the Romance languages. It would be especially if you are planning to go into the medical field.
The commitment you show to the language will probably stand out more than the language you choose itself. Do you plan to use the language competitively? Of course, it would be easier to win and participate in Latin competitions because no one is a native speaker, although there are few competitions. (NJCL is well known for it’s Latin competitions).
It’s optimal to choose a language you’re interested it but pragmatically, Spanish isn’t all that great for college apps due to the sheer amount of people who take it. Latin, at least, has several competition opportunities such as the national latin exam and Certamen.
I did not take latin, but from what I know you learn a lot of roman mythology + history alongside the language, and you’ll learned how to say “Brutus stabbed Ceasar seven times” before learning to ask for directions. You also learn some standardized method of pronouncing the language, but you won’t have oral exams like Spanish or other languages.
I still feel like I want to take a language I can actually communicate with; how much would Latin help w/ Spanish?
Hey! I’m a Latin II and I plan on taking Latin III and AP in later years. You know how some people say knowing Latin can help you learn Spanish, Italian, etc.? Well, I also study Italian. The vocabulary is different in some ways, and the grammar is different slightly, but having an understanding of Latin has helped me learn Italian so much. However, I recommend taking Latin. You only have to put in about 10-15 minutes of effort each night, and once you get to college, you can study Spanish and then you’ll pick up on it even better after having 2-4 years of Latin. Also, my English vocabulary (which was already quite strong), has strengthened a ton after just 1.5 years of Latin. Another benefit is taking the National Latin Exam; it looks really good on college apps. I can answer any questions you have!
Wow! Thanks @praeda @fritzitty @moonandback928! I’m going to take Latin next year!
In Latin, do you learn different forms of the same word, and how does that help with other languages?
No problem. Yeah, you learn different forms. For example the word rex, which means king, can be declined to regis, which means “of the king”, or to regem, which would be the direct object in a sentence. Verbs can be conjugated to go from “I verbed” to “you verbed” or “we verbed”, etc. I find that even though the conjugations in Italian don’t match those in Latin, I’m still able to pick up on the Italian conjugations easily because I understand what to look for after looking for it in Latin. I advise you to take a year of Latin before starting Spanish if you plan to study Spanish on your own.
Latin is difficult, not so much the vocabulary (memorizing vocab is roughly the same level of difficulty in every language, you have to put in the time every day) but because of the declensions, which you add to the conjugations.
I agree that Spanish is sort of the “default” choice. Choosing another one means you thought a little about what language to pick. But a student may pick Spanish for a reason, too, not just because it’s the most commonly picked… and a language isn’t in and of itself going to make you stand out.
In terms of ease, for an English speaker, the easiest languages would be, in that order, Italian, French, Spanish, Latin, Scandinavian languages, German, then non Indo-European languages (Slavic, Semitic, non-alphabet, etc).
Finally, very selective colleges will expect 3 years in the same language (or level 3, if it’s achieved faster ie., through concordia language village summer camp skipping level 2 and going straight into level 3, you can still “count” Level 3 as 3 years even though strictly speaking you only took 2) but highly selective colleges, that is, basically anything that’s top 50 (universities and LACs) will expect 4 or AP.
College language classes are brutal. You cover two years of HS language in your first semester, then over one year per semester for semester 2, 3, and 4. By the end of Level 4 in college you’ve reached the level that would match AP Foreign language (or 5-6 years of High school language compressed into 2 years of study). Most students who start a new language in college have had a language in HS, so they don’t start “new” or “fresh”, they already know how to wrap their brains around functioning in another language. Most students who take Level 2 in college will have had 2 or 3 years in high school but sometimes even with 2 years some students will take Level 1 anyway.