<p>I searched to see if there was a thread on this and didn't see one, so I apologize if this is a repeat. I just transferred schools (undergrad) and my new school is giving me hell about my foreign language level and I REALLY don't want to take seven semesters of Spanish to meet a four semester requirement, and this situation could be salvaged in terms of wasted time by starting over with a new language. My adviser recommended I take latin because my problem with Spanish was that I have an auditory processing disorder that made me pretty much bomb the placement test even though I do really well in a classroom setting, and apparently latin doesn't have as much of that component so he thought I might enjoy it more than Spanish anyway. If it would be completely useless it might be less intimidating and/or challenging to just swallow the waste of time and continue Spanish, but if it might help me at all for law school then it might be something I could get into. Any thoughts? I know there are a lot of latin words employed in law, my mom is a court transcriptionist and she had to learn TONS for her certification test, but I don't know if it's enough that this would be of any benefit at all.</p>
<p>Nobody will care much about a foreign language when you apply to law school. The few Latin terms that are used in law will all get picked up naturally in law school. I’m in my second year and have learned perhaps ten terms, all of which are pretty easy to learn.</p>
<p>Undergraduate majors, much less languages taken in undergraduate school, have very little predictive value when it comes to law school admissions decisons. LSAT times undergraduate GPA is the single strongest indicator of law school admissions success.</p>
<p>I’d study in undergraduate school that which I find most interesting; keep up the best GPA possible; do the best possible job on the LSAT; and apply at the schools that regularly accept students with my GPA and LSAT score.</p>
<p>I’m not necessarily interested in an admissions edge, more of just the educational value. Spanish has become a giant lifesucking hole and I’d like to replace it with something I dread a little bit less, but I don’t know if I could justify the potential challenge I’d be facing if it were completely useless to my education as a whole. </p>
<p>Though to be honest, I may be intrigued enough to do it anyway. I am just trying to weigh the pros and cons, I suppose.</p>
<p>I took Spanish in high school and one year of college, then took Latin my senior year. </p>
<p>For my current job (working in a nonprofit legal clinic), it would have been much more helpful to continue with Spanish–especially if I could’ve spent some time in a Spanish-speaking country. I’d probably still have to use an interpreter for some more detailed things, but it would be great.</p>
<p>At the same time, the careful reading and attention to detail required for learning Latin was great preparation for law school. I felt like taking Latin taught me to study in a way none of my other undergrad classes did–but that might be a function of the other classes I took and of my Latin professor than intrinsic to the language itself.</p>
<p>It sounds like you have a genuine interest in learning Latin, and if that’s the case, go for it. I think your advisor is right that it’s a good choice for a person with auditory processing issues, because it’s mostly a written language. It’s an intellectual challenge that a lawyer-minded person might enjoy, since working out the meaning of sentences is rather like solving puzzles. The amount of Latin in law vocabulary is probably not that large, but you will be happy when you do come across terms like actus reus and mens rea.</p>
<p>I don’t think there is value for taking Latin with regard to Latin phrases in law. I do think Latin is very helpful with vocabulary generally. The positive there is seen more in high school, however. I took 3 years of Latin in high school and loved it. I thought I was good at languages generally because I excelled in Latin. I was wrong. I took Italian in college and struggled as soon as we moved into conversational Italian. I could read it and write it easily, but I was lost when the teacher started using Italian only in the classroom - I just couldn’t process it well. From the moment I walked into class, I only understand buon giorno and Ciao. Fortunately, I had a wonderful room mate who went over everything that was said in class with me right after class and I was able to get through it.</p>
<p>My experience is somewhat similar to catera’s. I took a modern foreign language in grades 7-9. Then I transferred to a high school which didn’t offer that language. I then took two years of Latin, which I genuinely enjoyed. </p>
<p>Latin is great for students who struggle with the listening and speaking aspects of a foreign language. In Latin, it’s all about reading and writing. For me personally, that made it “easy peasy.” </p>
<p>I don’t think that the Latin helps much in law school. There are a few Latin phrases you need, but you can learn them during the first two weeks of law school with Black’s legal dictionary. </p>
<p>Actually being able to speak Spanish is of great benefit as an attorney. That said…it’s also all about the gpa. (Sad, but true.) If you have an auditory process, Latin may be a godsend.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, everyone! This has been really helpful. I am going to double check with my adviser and the department and see if I can get more info about the program, but it sounds like this could be a really good thing for me. I never considered studying something like Latin but it sounds like I could really enjoy it!</p>
<p>Now I just have to hope that it won’t be too hard given the rest of my schedule. I have nothing left really for my degree but 300 and 400 level political science and history courses. Maybe I’ll want to be more vigilant about mixing electives with my degree requirements when I start Latin.</p>
<p>A few thoughts:</p>
<p>(1) Latin will be harder than Spanish. At least it won’t be easier.</p>
<p>(2) It won’t necessarily help you with law school directly; that said, it will help you parse language, with grammar, and clear writing.</p>
<p>(3) That said, the benefits of learning Spanish may or may not be greater than those of leaning Latin. After all, the first person to speak Latin into a cell phone was that guy in the Da Vinci Code movie, and it was a movie… You might, of course, understand the Pope’s speeches like no one else’s business…</p>
<p>Why would latin be harder? I have always been excellent at memorizing vocabulary and spelling, and was very good at reading Spanish and hearing it in a conversational setting. I just had a VERY difficult time being able to speak it off the top of my head, and writing it was a little challenging. The adviser who suggested I do this was apparently a professor of classics for four years so his opinion on the matter, as he admitted himself, is a bit biased. I don’t know enough about the language myself or how it’s taught to know how hard it would be.</p>
<p>As a general rule, the older the language the harder it is. Latin is very old and hasn’t changed with the times so it is very difficult. It has very difficult grammar rules and it is really pretty close a Mandarin in overall difficulty.</p>
<p>I’d vote for a language you’d actually be able to use in the real world.</p>
<p>Hmm. Well, if I weren’t going to take Spanish (because I will not forfeit 8-16 credits to go backwards), what do you suppose would be the next most useful for a future civil rights attorney? My parents do not support me studying Latin and I am still undecided. From what I can tell from my research, there would be educational benefits to studying Latin but the actual knowledge gained wouldn’t be useful for much once I stop studying Latin, whereas a different language would be a tangible skill. I don’t know if I care that I get a tangible skill out of it as long as it is interesting and it contributes to my education, but perhaps that is unwise. </p>
<p>I do intend to continue my Spanish study for sure, I cannot and will not deny its usefulness, just not for university credit. I literally cannot afford to let go of credits, and I cannot justify taking 7 semesters for four semesters of credit.</p>
<p>There are five languages that everybody should know. English, Spanish, Mandarin (Chinese), Russian, and Arabic. Pick your favorite.</p>
<p>bluedevilmike,</p>
<p>Why didn’t you include French or Japanese in that list?</p>
<p>My DS does ap Latin. It seems to take double his time them than other ap courses. I agree it seems to be more reading and writing. Could you talk to other students who took it. Did you check RATE MY PROFESSOR as there may be only one professor and their motivation level may be a factor. Also ease of an A could be pre investigated.</p>