<p>I see. well, its clear that one surely has a future full of latin ahead of them if they confuse play-doh with plato at three years old. :)</p>
<p>paleozic -- it's true; the more, the merrier, but sometimes one has to choose in say, a BS because they can only have a language requirement that might set limits. in the wider world, however, you are right.</p>
<p>P.S. you'd be really good at making lectures. :)</p>
<p>jlg, i am applying to andover for 10th grade . ( got waitlisted last year ).
i agree with paleozoic, the more languages , the better .
but schools make you choose , so pick what you think will help you .
if you want to be an ambassador or in diplomacy, go for a present day language.
if you want to learn about roman culture , go for latin :]</p>
<p>what were your ssat scores last year, reyidizzle, if you don't mind my asking? i wonder why you got waitlisted</p>
<p>If you want to go for diplomacy learn to understand that the forms of thought in another culture differ from your own. You can best learn that through Latin. The foreign office can put you through a Berlitz language course easy, but it cannot inculcate the habits of thought so you can understand what say an arab is really saying when he is translating himself into English. Question? Can any of you even read a moderately difficult classic like Augustine's Confessions in English? To what extent do the forms of expression get in the way of your comprehension. What you don't understand is that language shapes not only how you think but how you CAN think. Learn latin.</p>
<p>Will do. :) I just hope I'm able to take Latin and French at the same time.</p>
<p>If I go to the prep school I applied to, I will be able to take two foreign languages at the same time. I'm definitely taking French II next year, but I'm contemplating whether I should take Spanish or Latin. Latin would really help me learn other languages, and perhaps I could self study Spanish and other romance languages.</p>
<p>paleo's right. The last post of his just spared everyone here a much longer treatise that the one that follows covering what he just covered so concisely. Alas, the epic I would have written wouldn't be in Latin because I didn't study it long enough. To my detriment.</p>
<p>The comment about the CIA is actually wrong. The popularity and demand for specific languages waxes and wanes. The demand for versatility never does. I am a dinosaur of the Cold War, having trained myself well for a world that no longer exists. I once laughed in a Washington, DC office that my career was "secure as long as the Berlin Wall remained standing...and that's not coming down in our lifetimes! Muahahahahaha!" Well, care to guess who's applying for financial aid for his S?</p>
<p>Those of you who select Chinese/Mandarin now are probably just as visionary as those who studied Japanese in the '80s because they were going to take over the world. You're shooting at a moving target from a freight train.</p>
<p>The points paleo makes hold especially true for high school. You're that much further from your target...if your intention is to learn the language du jour for career purposes. And it's great preparation for college admissions, in terms of test-taking and shaping your mind. It's bad enough that so many students look at college as a glorified trade school instead of their one last chance in life for a strong liberal arts background. To see kids being conditioned and brain-washed to look at high school as a place to learn their future trade is all the more disheartening.</p>
<p>I'm actually fortunate to have chosen a strong liberal arts college. I rely on that education far more than any other trade-specific learning I've picked up. And I know enough of Latin from the three semesters I took it that I'd do much better if I studied it earlier and longer.</p>
<p>Just saying...</p>
<p>jlg, my ssat scores were probably the deciding factor . i had a 89 ishh overall , i think. this year , i have a 95 . & last year , andover's avg. was a 90 . so i just missed the mark . but i think it was a good thing i didn't get admitted last year because i worked so much harder this year than last & i would've been incredibly shocked if they admitted me last year.</p>