yes, i studied it for five years. yes, it's a dead language. no, i don't consider it a waste of time.
with my knowledge of latin i can:
1. hold a coversation with the pope, with minor changes
2. exorcise demons
3. read the aeneid
i love latin. the language is really unlike any other, even the other "romance" languages. the key to understanding and appreciating it lies in the declension. the nouns and adjectives have a different ending, specific to its role in the sentence. if its the subject it has one ending, another if it is the object or possessive - this is like english and other language pronouns, but latin also has the dative and ablative cases, indicated movement or reference to the noun, taking the place of prepositions. the result: you can scramble words around, allowing for that glorious iambic pentameter. by placing words next to each other, too, you can imply a relationship, though the adjective would technically refer to another noun. i wish i could come up with an example. i'll try to find one.
anyway, i've noticed that my study in latin affects the way i write. there are certain grammatical patterns that i've picked up and deploy. i put down a sentence and it just feels latin, the formality, the placement of the words. again, the lack of example is making my case weak here, but i'm not so good at providing on demand.
suffice it to say, the study of any language, even a dead one, is never a waste of time.
4 comments:
you are the shit for learning latin! it was the one class i fled from as an undergrad--dropped it within 2 weeks.
Ipsa scientia potestas est.
You forgot that you can kick ASS on the GMAT...
I failed Latin at Cal. Then again, I took a year course in a semester, had a rocky relationship, worked, and took a full load in addition that semester.
See, I get defensive writing about it! Anyway, I would LOVE to read Latin now, and I feel lame for not beign able to do so.
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