What makes Latin a valuable language to study today?
Here are some answers from Latin III students, following their 3rd Quarter "Latin for the Real World" project.
"Medicine found it’s roots during the time that Latin thrived. So knowing Latin terms can really benefit you in the long run. The practices of Law also derive from Latin. So if becoming a lawyer is your dream, Latin would really help you."
"Many of our modern words are derived from Latin, and although many think that learning Latin has no real world use, in reality Latin is a tool for understanding the world. Nobody is going to come up to you on the street and demand you decline a verb, but you might see an English word and understand it's meaning just because of a similar Latin word. If you are fluent in Latin, you may be able to understand another language fairly well, as long as it's romantic in origin. For many people this may be where the uses of Latin end. However, if you go into a field like Law or Medicine, Latin may become invaluable in your understand of jargon."
"The value of studying Latin is to help you get a better understanding of root words."
"Scientists use if when finding a new species: 'binomial nomenclature.' <-- Latin right there! "
"The value of studying Latin is to understand my language (English) better."
"Latin is also used abundantly in 20th century entertainment and can help with figuring out references and allusions."
"From my research, I discovered that Latin and Greek both have strong influences on the naming convention of viruses. Learning Latin also helps to learn Neo-Latin terms."
"The value of studying Latin for me is to expand my knowledge of other languages by learning one."
"The value of Latin lies in content. There's a lot to be learned from the Latin in our lives, whether it be the nature of a viurs or the behavior of animals. It makes Harry Potter exciting and cars more beautiful. So why not study Latin? If it makes the world more beautiful, then by all means...learn all the things!"
"I get asked many times, 'why do you take Latin?' Usually I just tell them it's interesting and I like it. After seeing everyone else's projects and doing my own, I've really seen how important Latin is! I think people use Latin for things such as automobile names and the scientific names for flowers because of how universal it is."
"Pure Latin is still used in our language for many scientific terms and commonplace phrases like 'nota bene,' which is Latin for 'note well.' Nota bene--Latin is not just good for Latin, it's good for your English."
