Latin dying (again)?

[BarbaraGordon]

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.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by BarbaraGordon

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.

Vatican II generated much resentment, including among intellectual traditionalists who nevertheless are not really religions most of all lamenting loss of the Latin mass. For example, William F. Buckley has all these years continued to attend Latin mass, which may not be even legal. This is an old issue. But the current Pope seems a natural to reinstate the Latin mass. So maybe that gives rise to articles like this, to egg him on.

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.

[BarbaraGordon]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Outside of scholarly pursuits Latin died a long time ago ...

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.

[YOhio]

Oodgay ingthay igpay atinlay is illstay liveay. I'm uentflay.

[Archaea]

Latin looks like an easy language to acquire, but I'm not as interested in it. Babs, is it worth it?

[hyrum]

Originally Posted by BarbaraGordon

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.

Noli nothis permittere te terere.

[MikeWaters]

I took Latin. I wish I had taken Spanish.

[BarbaraGordon]

Originally Posted by Archaea

Latin looks like an easy language to acquire, but I'm not as interested in it. Babs, is it worth it?

Latin is fun but the only practical worth I've found so far is throwing around words like uxorial.

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.

[All-American]

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.

[Solon]

Originally Posted by All-American

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.

It's also very valuable for learning logic. Classical Latin is very logically organized. I was surprised to find mathematicians and philosophers interested in it just for the thinking skills.

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).