05-03-2007, 03:51 AM | #1 |
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Latin dying (again)?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6308281.stm
This scholar believes that it's all been downhill since the Catholic Church moved toward the vernacular. It is my understanding that among newer private schools in the U.S., there's a swing toward the Classical model of education, including requiring Latin. But I don't know how successful that movement will be in the long run. |
05-03-2007, 04:00 AM | #2 | |
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Outside of scholarly pursuits Latin died a long time ago except to the extent its DNA lives extensively in all the European languages, especially the Romance ones. This is kind of much ado about nothing, really.
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05-03-2007, 04:12 AM | #3 |
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Exactly. The language has for centuries be fundamentally a pursuit of academia and nothing more nor less. The author seems offended that young Catholic priests are no longer required to demonstrate the mastery of Latin that they once were. But I don't see that impacting the long term viability of the language as a course of study.
But it may be true that fewer students will benefit from early exposure to the language as Catholic schools stop requiring Latin or drop it altogether. |
05-03-2007, 02:48 PM | #4 |
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Oodgay ingthay igpay atinlay is illstay liveay. I'm uentflay.
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05-03-2007, 03:11 PM | #5 |
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Latin looks like an easy language to acquire, but I'm not as interested in it. Babs, is it worth it?
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05-03-2007, 03:13 PM | #6 | |
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05-03-2007, 04:16 PM | #7 |
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I took Latin. I wish I had taken Spanish.
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05-03-2007, 05:16 PM | #8 | |
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If you want to read the Vulgate or Vergil or Cicero, you could probably get there within a reasonable timeframe. I'd stick to Greek since the NT seems most important to you. |
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05-03-2007, 08:02 PM | #9 |
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Latin is valuable if for no other reason than to improve your english. About 60 percent of the words in the english language (or so I'm told) have Latin roots. Latin phrases still pepper academic writings, as well. I also enjoy reading the vulgate about as much, if not more, than I do the Greek New Testament. I love the stuff.
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05-03-2007, 09:00 PM | #10 | |
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Some commentaries to Greek texts are starting to be written in English, and one rarely finds large chunks of Greek or Latin in scholarly articles without attendant translations, a development of the last generation or so (although exceptions persist).
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