<p>Need to take a language and wondering if there are any recommendations on taking Latin over Spanish here or should I just stick w/ taking Spanish (took it in high school and didn't love it). Languages are not my thing but it's a requirement for me. Thanks.</p>
<p>are you talking at Cornell or as a SAT II?</p>
<p>I need to take a language at Cornell.</p>
<p>As this is a significant time commitment on your part, you might want to consider what you want to do later on. Do you want to travel to Spain, Latin America? Do you want to understand a little more about ancient Rome. I studied Classics in college and found it fascinating, with small classes and very accessible teachers. Changed my major from History because classics was more fun. Spanish will, of course, be more immediately useful. May not make sense to choose based solely on what is easier.</p>
<p>I’d consider another language. Latin is good to know, but isn’t really spoken by folks nowadays. Spanish is just the opposite in usage, but like you, I didn’t enjoy my experiences with it. I had an interest in learning about Chinese and China, so I’m currently taking Mandarin. You don’t have to follow in my footsteps, but don’t be afraid to look outside the box and attempt to learn the language of a country that interests you.</p>
<p>Spanish ^^</p>
<p>what’s bad about learning Spanish? I would imagine lots of it would be the difference between taking a high school course (with a teacher and fellow high school students) and taking a course with a professor (?) or at least a TA, and surrounded by college students. I don’t see how switching to another language make much of a difference. </p>
<p>plus Spanish is just Latin with all the modern improvements! (kinda.)</p>
<p>Latin is a dead language…</p>
<p>i would only consider it if you were doing a classics focus. or if you were hoping it could help with vocabulary/mcat. </p>
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<p>some grad programs (not sure if you’re applying) require you to know a modern language (esp in the area you’re focusing on). </p>
<p>language at cornell is hard…spanish is the most populated language at cornell.</p>
<p>I have to disagree with most people here. Even most Cornell Arts students do tend to go for something like Spanish over Latin (the class sizes are vastly different). But just the fact that you showed some interest in Latin means that it might be a good option for you. Sure, if you plan on studying abroad in a Spanish-speaking country, then take Spanish. But otherwise, I must say Spanish is greatly overrated. And besides, knowledge of Latin can help you understand Spanish (and the other Romance languages, and English) in the future. Chances are that there would be few times you would use either Spanish or Latin, so take the one that sounds more interesting.</p>
<p>Also, since you didn’t seem to keen on Spanish in HS, you probably wouldn’t be keen on it at Cornell. Also consider other Romance languages, Germanic, Greek… Cornell has a lot of options and it seems kind of like picking vanilla to go with Spanish.</p>