<p>As a beginning freshman, I'd like to know if three languages (including school Spanish) is too many to handle. I would be taking an online Latin course and a Hebrew class at the U of Minnesota. The Hebrew class would take approx 3 hours/week, and I can take the Latin course at my own pace.</p>
<p>Sounds fine.</p>
<p>Ok, thats what I thought, just needed some reassurance.</p>
<p>Is it intro Hebrew? Hebrew's very difficult. That's the only reason why it might be too much.</p>
<p>I study Latin (as a regular school course), Ancient Greek (as an independent study course in school), and Hebrew (as a class at my local Hebrew school, though admittedly with less rigor than the other two languages). You'll be fine.</p>
<p>Aristotle1990 I must say that is very impresing. </p>
<p>Anyway, that sounds great. :) It makes it much better that you're starting during your freshman year but don't worry it's not going to be overwhelming. I take 3 other languages too (Spanish, Latin & German).</p>
<p>I don't think it'll be too much to handle, but I do think that you might not learn much from an online Latin course.</p>
<p>Umm...I don't think you'll really get much out of Latin. The CCers will come out in full force at me for this one, but if you're taking Spanish, it's close enough. The reasons people learn Latin are very superficial, and you can't actually use it to talk to anyone except nerds. That brings us to 2 languages, which are just fine. :)</p>
<p>Yeah, if you ditch any, Latin would be the one. Most people here won't agree with me, but Latin is pretty useless.</p>
<p>hebrew isn't that difficult after a while. Well, I guess after going to a jewish school and being forced to speak hebrew in class, that might of helped. Too bad I lost all of my hebrew except for reading.</p>
<p>Latin and Spanish are both Romance languages, so learning one might actually make the other easier.</p>
<p>^Like I said, superficial reasons. Why would you want to learn one language to make it easier to learn another? To me, that just sounds like a lot of senseless extra work.</p>
<p>By the way, stick with Hebrew because if you can take the SAT II in Hebrew, you'll be a great candidate for college since that's very unique and not many students do that.</p>
<p>Im studying spanish(spain) although i must say i don't do it with the fullest of heart, chinese (manderine)for school, Japanese(new) on my own time, Latin for three years ending last year, and slight german (just began)
So if I can do that it'll be a breeze to do 3, take it easy and try not to overwork yourself and get stressed out about it organize everything to avoid making things harder for yourself, you'll feel great once you've mastered it all</p>
<p>Latin is cooler than Spanish...Plus, if you are good at Latin, you might as well take Spanish.</p>
<p>^Since when is Latin cooler???? Obviously, I'm anti-Latin. You have so many more opportunities if you speak Spanish. No joke, millions of students have gone through medical and law school just fine without speaking Latin. Does knowing Latin make it any easier? Probably, but not easier than learning Latin itself. An online course is especially a waste of time, even if you have the mental capacity to learn 3 languages at once. That's certainly possible, granted that you can fit other important classes and activities into your schedule. From personal experience, I can tell you that you won't pursue Latin very much anyway. Learning at your own pace looks good on paper, but when you lose interest, you're finished. And it will be easy to lose interest in a language no one speaks. Latin is pretty much a language for the older generations, which viewed it as a marker of high education. No one thinks that anymore.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Latin is cooler than Spanish...Plus, if you are good at Latin, you might as well take Spanish.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That's a huge joke. Yeah, I feel like spending a few years learning a dead language I'll never use in my life! Spanish is useful, sexy (yes, very sexy :D), and is very very popular and almost necessary in the job market. Hispanic ftw.</p>
<p>dude I speak 5 languages and am taking 3 more so no it shouldn't really be that hard.</p>
<p><em>sighs</em> on Latin. </p>
<p>I'm already in two years of AP Spanish (AP Span. language & AP Span. Literature) so I can go no further on that front. I'm in German 1 and Latin 2.</p>
<p>Yes, Spanish is, in my opinion, the most useful foreign language to learn for a single-language speaker American. Although most high schools offer Spanish and French, there are much more countries that use Spanish and much, much, more Spanish-speaking people in the U.S. It makes sense that you pursue Spanish. </p>
<p>German just has awesome pronunciation and 25-letter words. lol.</p>
<p>About Latin, I've so far into Latin 2 and am going for Latin 3 which is the furthest I can go. Afterwards, I hope to continue it in college (as well as Spanish and German). </p>
<p>Alot of people here are saying that "Latin is a dead language" and that "it's not useful". Remember that that is entirely based on opinion. Personally, I love Latin because it's just amazing. </p>
<p>Think about it: </p>
<p>1) Not many people speak it, which makes you very rare. </p>
<p>2) When reading literary masterpieces such as "The Hunchback of Notredame"... yeah... You know those quotes and songs and stuff Victor Hugo uses in Latin because back then all scholars spoke Latin??? Yah... you won't need a translation for those. Or any other usage of Latin in classical masterpieces. </p>
<p>3) It helps your English BIG TIME. I mean, a vast majority of the words in the SAT and such are based on Latin. I improved my both my English and Spanish vocabulary SO MUCH. </p>
<p>4) It's just cool. =) One time, for ex. I read about an exposition on Chicago on the artifacts/bodies/buildings/etc. found in the ruins of Pompey when Vesivius erupted. I came upon a wall that read the latin for "I was here". Not only was that there, but a bunch of other carvings on these ancient walls on the various attributes of blondes and brunettes, who loves whom, and such. </p>
<p>The whole exposition suddenly seemed a thousand times more real. I was reading the writing that people carved on that wall CENTURIES ago. I wasn't reading their stories as told by someone else. I was reading their writing. Which is the exact same thing we have now: "I was here" only in Latin. Suddently, the victims seemed so real, so... just like us. I don't know if you guys get my meaning, but it was simply amazing. It's amazing speaking a language that brought about 5 of the most important languages of our time. It's amazing to visit all these ancient, magnificent structures and find that you can read what they have written. You understand it. Some guy carved something centuries ago and centuries later you can come and receive his message. It's incredible. </p>
<p>5) Finally, it's heritage. A large percentage of our language is based on Latin. My family comes from South America with Spanish as their first tongue. But I know that that tongue was passed to us by the Spaniards. And that it was passed to them when the Romas conquered the Hispania Provinciae. Something as essential as language, wouldn't exist if it wasn't for Latin. </p>
<p>Been very traditional and family-oriented, I find that learning Latin is learning the language of my ancestors- a while, while ago. I already know Spanish- a gift passed from my more recent ancestors on to me. But my ancestors before them spoke something else- a language so influential that the studies of science and law are still based upon it. I, personally, find it beautiful that I can learn Latin because while doing that, I'm learning a part of my past. </p>
<p>For anyone pointing out that some of my ancestors also spoke Quechua (the native tongue of where I come from) (of course you could only know this if you were from South America), yes I know, and if one day, I manage to master German and Latin, I'd love to learn Quechua as well. =)</p>
<p>Also, learning Latin/Greek allows you to read ancient literature in its original form. Deeeelicious.</p>
<p>About Hebrew...I go to a Jewish school and speak it all the time, and I'm in the honors class (the Hebrew equivalent of an AP), but I wouldn't recommend taking the SAT II if you're starting it as a freshman. Many of the people who take the test are native speakers, which makes it nearly impossible to do well.</p>