Latin is a language

[Mid A 15]

as dead as dead can be

Latin killed the Romans

And now it's killing me!

I'm sure we all remember this little ditty from our schooldays but do you agree with the sentiments expressed or has Latin been of use to you?

[mvgrogan]

check this out....

http://yle.fi/radio1/tiede/nuntii_latini/

the news in Latin on the YLE website - YLE is the Finnish equivalent of the BBC!

[englishangel]

We were just talking about this yesterday. I said "I use it all the time" and someone asked me if I was fluent!!

I find it very useful in certain circumstances.

[mvgrogan]

maybe I should point out this is the webpage for the radio programme... 5 mins of news in Latin every Friday... click on KUUNTELE to hear the most recent show! you can also upload it to your mp3 or subscribe to the podcast!

Apparently the Pope listens!

[LongGone]

Latin, Greek, Welsh and Slovak all provide me with excellent computer passwords that I can remember but are unlikely to be cracked

[jhopgood]

I found Latin very useful when I was learning Spanish. Whenever I got stuck for a word, I would think of an English word with a Spanish root, say it and invariably they would say, "Oh you mean ......"

[wickedwitch]

i've never learned latin but my daughter (first term at CH) absolutely loves it. It was her highest mark in her grades. No doubt she'll be cursing me in it before too long just so i dont understand her!

[mvgrogan]

I tried my hardest (with Miss Tucker) to pass my Latin exam... a pass mark (50%) would allow me to take fast track German O Level (in 2 years instead of 4). I got 48% and that was the end of Latin and German for me.....

Maybe it's the same mental block I have with Finnish - all those case endings!

[dinahcat]

'Latin is a language'. That's the key. It's how we connect with poeple whether the langauge is dead or alive.
My eldest daughter is in the Grecians and applying to universities to study Classics after having been convinced for years that she would study law. When I asked her why she had changed her mind she said two things.One was the story of Skilla who fell in love with Minos who was at war with her father's kindom . Her father's strength was contained in a lock of purple hair which she cut off and gave to Minos to win his favour.The class struggled to translate the sentence where she escaped with the hair to deliver it to Minos.Eventually it emerged as 'Skilla escaped clutching her abominable booty'. I don't think they have ever recovered .
Secondly, she had to translate a passage from Pliny's letters(hope I'm right about this) where he writes to friend about what he had seen on the market place that day. He saw another friend whose 14 year old daughter had died. He saw him watching the other fathers with their daughters buying their wedding finery for their impending betrothals and and he saw his friend knowing that all this was lost to him and not a part of his future.My daughter really did cry at this ,the soppy thing and then she changed her mind. She made a connection with people from the past and saw that there is nothing new under the sun. Better than being a stupid old lawyer.
Good teaching, CH.

[J.R.]

I'm sure we've discussed Latin elsewhere on this forum

My lasting recollection was in Prep B, January 1958 and starting Latin under the tutelage of B.S. Gregory.

I didn't see the point of it then, and I don't see the point of it now, unless medicine or botany happen to be your subjects.

[Vièr Bliu]

Hard at work* today proofreading my latest book (with special last-minute attention to apostrophes - down with the blighters I say!), and it so happens that I had to do some (rough) translation of Latin sources to get this one together. (Book launch has slipped slightly - but should be out by Christmas).

I quite enjoyed two years of Latin at CH and might have carried on with it if that had been possible with my preferred O-level options (but it wasn't).

*(Obviously by "hard at work", I mean timewasting by responding to forum posts!)

[michael scuffil]

I remember "rerere", which means "You might think!" and was MacNutt's favourite phrase...

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

No I didn't "DO" Latin --- being a Geography Dep !

However I have found it very useful, visiting places like Ephesus and Rome.

How come ?

I speak Italian

How come ?




There was this girl called Graziella ------ don't ask !!!!

[Jo]

I loved Latin and often wish I'd done it at A Level instead of German, which I never really felt comfortable with. But then I often wish I'd done my degree in History instead of French. Projects for my retirement, perhaps

[Angela Woodford]

Latin at CH with Queenie!

Taught by such a genius - that merciless, totally unique veloceraptor of a Latin Mistress - I was too preoccupied with survival to enjoy and succeed at the subject. As it was, I nerved myself for every lesson to adopt the persona of an aimiable would-be-cooperative; who ruefully shrugged off Queenie's accurately cruel barbs when it came to my perceived stupidity. It was the only way I could get through every lesson. Queenie loathed and despised me. Or so she told DR, who didn't hold back in making me feel more wretched.

In fact, I longed to be "good" at Latin. I found it fascinating for the required ordered disciplinary mindset necessary for mastering the language. Dimly, I tried to grasp at the enormous potential usefulness that a knowledge of Latin would provide.

Indeed, I'm only too grateful for the Latin that I've managed to retain. It's been valuable in anatomy and physiology, in choral work, gardening, in visiting interesting churches and other buildings, for legal terms, deciphering gravestones... I could go on and on!

Beside me now is my battered and frequently consulted Collins Etymological Dictionary; chockful and bursting with the Latin derivations that we use all the time.

Dinahcat is spot-on right! "People from the past... nothing new..."... Just think of Ovid's The Erotic Poems. Incredibly sexy. There's ancient and seductive advice there for every amatory situation - hair and beauty tips - how to arrange oneself for maximum impact - amazing!