which language to take?

<p>My son has had 3 years of Latin and just returned from a spanish speaking country where he said he could understand quite a bit of what they were saying.
He also said it helped him significantly on the SSAT. His verbal was 94. And, no I don't think tons of people get those scores in verbal because his math was a 70 yet his overall was a 92 making me conclude a lot of students with high math scores do not score high on the verbal (by the way for a 9th grade boy, you obviously need to get pretty much nothing wrong in math to score high, but that's another topic).</p>

<p>I think at BS, he's going to take Spanish. He really wanted Japanese, but so few schools offer it and the one he's attending does not. It will be interesting to see how Spanish is for him. </p>

<p>I would highly recommend to anyone who has taken a language that you can become fluent in to stick with it. It will truly give you an advantage in the future, no matter what the language.</p>

<p>I'm considering taking Spanish and Chinese. I'm an asian so these 2 languages are strange to me. I find them equally interesting. So, it's a tough decision for me.</p>

<p>i really want to take french and/or latin.
they would just be cool to know,
even though the majority of the united states generally speaks spanish as a second language...
i think</p>

<p>most people say to speak spanish or chinese because those are most commonly spoken/fastest growing. latin is great for roots on the sat's, but i heard some colleges don't like it as well because it's a dead language.</p>

<p>Spanish is the most popular foreign language to learn where we live. However, my daughter, who wants to become a businesswoman, has been studying German for the last three years. Why? For a number of reasons.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>We are of German descent.</p></li>
<li><p>The economy of Germany is larger than all Spanish speaking countries combined.</p></li>
<li><p>Even though a number of studies claim that Latin students have the highest verbal SAT scores, we've read studies that claim that German students (students learning German) score the highest on the verbal SAT.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>For those interested, here is a link to the benefits of learning German.</p>

<p>Oklahoma</a> State University German Online - Why German?</p>

<p>I might be a little biased, especially cuz I'm planning to take Latin at Exeter next fall, but bear with me. For some reason, Exeter required all of its students (yes, including all the newly-admitted ones) to sign up for courses by April 25th. So i HAD to choose a language, but really, i had no idea which language I was going to/ wanted to take. </p>

<p>When it came to choosing a language, Chinese and Latin were the only languages that stood out to me. Of course, China is obviously going to become a world power, although its getting there may be delayed by the revival of Russia. But still, look at the world around you! There are over 1 billion Mandarin speakers in the world (mostly from China, Malaysia, and Taiwan). Chinese just had to be one of my first two choices for a new language. I almost decided to tatke Chinese at Exeter; in fact, i even filled out a questionnaire and indicated my strong desire to learn Chinese. Then I remembered that Latin is the basis for many of the European languages. Remember that only 510 million people (compared to the number of Mandarin speakers, of course) in the world speak English . But add the number of people who speak languages that have roots in Latin (Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Turkish, Italian, Polish, etc.); now you have with you a number far greater than 1 billion <- the number of Mandarin speakers. </p>

<p>I'm not trying to say that people should chooose Latin oover Chinese just because there are more people in our world who speak languages that have roots in Latin. By learning Latin, you can be exposed to great ancient literature. Fine, you can ask, "Then what are all of those translated texts for?" But you see, translated texts many times fail to capture the true essence of the original text. ok, i dont know what i'm saying lol.
but i do have to add one last thing.</p>

<p>I can't believe some people are willing to take Latin just cuz it helps them do better on the SAT verbal. that's ridiculous. yes, Latin MAY help you do better on the SAT verbal, but that's not the point of learning a language is it?</p>

<p>P.S.: Latin isn't really a completely "DEAD" language. From what i know, Latin is used in the Vatican city.</p>

<p>hey wiseman, i think vatican city is one of the smallest countries in the world. and no other country uses it btw</p>

<p>My son will be taking Arabic next year</p>

<p>No country uses Latin, but it is still an important language. I sort of consider it more of a humanities choice almost. (Now there's a commital statement). I am actually attending a Latin Mass tomorrow and am looking very forward to it. Let's hope I remember enough Latin to enjoy it! (If you were contemplating becoming a Catholic priest, you need Latin!)</p>

<p>Hey, Kelyme, are you catholic?
Me too!!
Padre Noel (my priest) has cleared up the latin thing for me. Latin is not spoken as a daily toung in ant country except the vadican, However, all priest are required to know how to speak it, because a lot of old bibicl texts are written in Latin.
:)</p>

<p>Also, you're going to a latin Mass, that's SO COOL!
Take me with you!
(Did you go to the papal mass in NY?)</p>

<p>Jaded has it right on. Sorry Wiseman, you are close. What are your goals? I would think it was to get into a good (perhaps IVY) college. Your SAT scores are probably still one of the most important factors for that; and as others have stated, Latin will help improve that. There are multiple studies (which you can google) which have shown that.</p>

<p>Next. Latin is the basis for the Romance languages. Learning Latin will help in all of them plus it will help in medicine and mathmatics. It is not a "dead" language but very much alive in the above.</p>

<p>Having done business in China and Japan, it turns out that knowing how to play golf may be more important than speaking the language. What you say. Golf is so expensive, that it is only played for business. You can hire an interpreter, but not a ringer. Both Stanford Business and Law school now require golf; I have heard that Harvard's do too.</p>

<p>Finally, again, you are going to High School. The basis of which is to learn a good foundation for future education. Latin is that foundation. (and no, I did not take it but wish that I had of. Friends that did had it much easier in med school and languages (french and german)).</p>

<p>And as regards to Chinese. Not being arrogant but all Chinese who do business with US do speak English. English plus one other foreign language is required for all European Countries. Knowing Chinese will not "impress" an admissions officer. Knowing Latin might (it is no longer required for most medical schools, but definately looked favorably upon)</p>

<p>Spanish is probably the most needed language for business or medicine in the US due to all of the Spanish speaking population. But, learn it after Latin.</p>

<p>I have taken Spanish since 4th grade and I will take Spanish at BS as well since I like to master Spanish in stead of taking another language. If I
change, I am afraid that I may not be good at either one. I'd better be better
in one. However, it may not be a bad idea if you do not like the language class you have taken. I like Spanish and I will continue!</p>

<p>i love spanish and will continue taking it no matter what i decide.</p>

<p>To be a master of a language that you have already taken is probably the best if the school can support you.</p>

<p>I haven't seen you guys talk much about French. Anyone taking French this fall? I wonder if Spanish is most frequently chosen as a second language, or is it French?</p>

<p>There's no universally correct answer to this question, but I think paleozoic got it right in this thread:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/305492-latin.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/305492-latin.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>wiseman, Polish, German and Turkish don't have roots in Latin.</p>

<p>French is indeed a great choice. There are many, many opportunities to use it in education, business, engineering, international relations, and just plain travel. French is the 2nd most frequently taught (after English) foreign language in the world, and the only language other than English taught in every country. So even if you can't learn one of the less commonly taught or more difficult languages, you can still communicate almost anywhere using French. As a Vietnamese taxi driver once said, "I learn English because I need to. I learn French because I want to."</p>

<p>plant
German's grammar basis is Latin.</p>