<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>