Five Myths About Learning Latin

Let's Clear Some Things Up

by Amy E. Barr, The Lukeion Project

What’s so great about a dead language that one might want to dedicate so much precious time and resources to master it? What awesome things can Latin do that causes some parents to start Latin at home as soon as their toddlers can hold a flashcard? Let’s look at a few popular myths about learning Latin to help you can decide if Latin really pays off in the long run or if, for goodness sake, you’ve already missed your opportunity if you didn’t start learning Latin while I elementary school.

Myth #1: A person must start Latin young to be a success.  

If you want to keep college plans on your child’s horizon, her transcript must include a minimum of two reasonably hearty years of the same foreign language at the high school level. 3 years looks even better to the admissions dean. A challenging 4^th year might win her college language credits by succeeding on the AP exam. Modern students can choose from Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Latin. Aside from the pleasures of academic success, most of us want our children to adeptly use and enjoy a foreign language but we fear the time has flown by too quickly. There is so much pressure to start new languages extremely early. Can a person start Latin late, in high school, and still be a success? Absolutely yes.

Parental guilt about early language instruction (or lack thereof) is common and often crippling. Such guilt is generally unwarranted. If your child wasn’t accurately conjugating his Latin verbs at age 6, please don’t despair. While there’s normally no harm in starting Latin early, the ideal time to start is closer to grades 8-12. Give him some strong background in English language mechanics and then let your 13-18-year-old invest his energies in Latin when his formal reasoning skills promote the best success. The ideal starting point is late middle school/early high school.   

Myth #2: Learning Latin is no different than studying any modern language.

Latin is mostly unspoken with some fun exceptions in class. While students must learn to properly pronounce and read Latin, most won’t invest much time making casual conversation. When a person learns a modern language, she’ll spend hours on proper pronunciation and comprehension clues in short, basic sentences. Accent mimicry and active listening nurture mental muscles from even a young age, but the ability to analyze Latin’s visual cues develops later. Older students have formal reasoning skills that younger children lack. Latin will unlock the secrets of language mechanics, but your child needs some mental maturity to make that happen. This rule applies to all languages. Even if your child began Spanish at age 6, in most cases she won’t be ready for any substantial grammar and sophisticated literature until her teen years. Unlike French, Spanish, or German, there is no real advantage to starting Latin early just to master proper accent.

Myth #3: Any type of Latin will do.

It is easy to feel intimidated by Latin if you have never studied it for yourself. It makes sense that some programs are specially designed for the unskilled home educator to teach without any background in Latin. As there are for modern languages, one can find textbooks, full curricula with piles of worksheets, computer-based programs, vlog-style video, or little interactive language apps. Light, fruity, and fun approaches can launch the Latin ship for some but how far will it sail?

Visualize language objectives as early as possible. If your goal is limited to writing 2 years of Latin on a high school transcript, your child must still invest appropriate time and effort for those credits. Many approaches offer little more than extended busy work. If you or your learner has a real interest in learning the language, words, or writing, select a more approach rather than anything that plods slowly through worksheets or constant review of basics. Pursue mastery instead of simple familiarity. It will take the same amount of time to LEARN Latin rather than just play with it, but the investment in effort will pay huge dividends as far as skills gained.

Another consideration is the type of Latin being taught to your student. Latin was a living language for over 2000 years. It went through many changes over time. Consider English. Even modest calculations suggest we use only 1/6^th of Shakespeare’s vocabulary. All languages simplify. Vocabulary shrinks and grammar gets easier. Many elementary instructor-friendly approaches rely on Late Latin for this reason: it is very, very easy. Don’t be surprised if several years of rudimentary elementary Latin count for very little while your student must start over from the beginning for high school credit. Latin programs are seldom one size fits all. Elementary Latin offers the bare basics and a little vocabulary to make a student familiar with the basics rather than well skilled.

Myth #4: Latin is best reserved for above-average students.

Is Latin is more academically challenging than other languages? Latin, like biology, algebra, and history, always has its challenges. All these subjects require determination and effort. Students who take high school Latin tend to pursue more academically challenging fields in college. Students who take Latin in college tend to move to the top of their chosen field after graduation. Students who excel at Latin in college often go to graduate school. Some get the connection backward. Latin doesn’t naturally attract academically ambitious people, it creates them. Latin, like math and music, trains the brain to be more analytical, observant, focused, and logical. Latin is not best reserved for above-average students. On the contrary! Latin makes a student above average.

Myth #5: Latin is not practical.

The same scene repeats itself often. I ask the boy if he is interested in learning Latin. The 14-year-old shrugs and says Spanish is more practical. He doesn’t seem convinced, so I ask, “Oh? What do you plan to study?” I notice he is fairly interested in the Latin text as he recognizes many of the words. He admits he doesn’t know what he plans to do or study. All he knows is that he’ll encounter Spanish speakers more often than people who speak Latin. Is Latin really impractical?

Colleges require students to study a second language for a variety of, particularly good reasons. Americans have a horrible track record of failing to master other languages. This failure to be more global is far from the primary consideration. Learning another language does several important things to us and for us. The side effects of learning a language are just as important as the language itself.

Language study requires discipline.  Even a brilliant student will struggle a bit to rewire the language centers in his brain. Regular practice is the only way to succeed and so language learning requires determination. Most of us already succeeded at mastering a first language in our infancy, but we had to struggle with it daily (even though we don’t remember). Picking up a second language is comparatively easy though we’ve gotten out of practice. Mastering a language also requires analytical alertness. One must observe, understand, and employ the rules again and again until they become an effortless habit. Discipline, determination, and analysis are all ideal characteristics for a successful person in any field, career, ambition, or endeavor.

There’s intrinsic value in learning any language but is Latin as practical if not more so than most? Think of Latin as the source code, the foundation, or the blueprint for all languages. If it doesn’t directly contribute to the grammar and vocabulary of the language (such as Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and a sizable proportion of English) then it is one of the best language models available. It offers everything we need to decode languages of every kind from Indo-European, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, or Swahili. If one is only going to learn one other language in a lifetime, Latin is an excellent choice. If one plans to master many more, Latin will make that process 50% easier.

Latin is foundational to mastering any other language including English. It also goes without saying that Latin is essential in the sciences, medicine, and legal profession. Finally, a serious study of Latin helps builds the skills necessary to tackle anything with determination, discipline, and logic. Latin is the most practical subject one could hope to master.