Why do people learn Latin? You can't even talk to anybody.

its used by people to make themselves appear smarter.... and it also has a few uses in medecine and science names of stuff etc etc.....

but latin is pointless really 

its used by people to make themselves appear smarter.... and it also has a few uses in medecine and science names of stuff etc etc.....

 

 

but latin is pointless really

muppet1010

A college major in Latin is accepted to be the most vsefvl degree yov can receive. With one, yov have the widest array of possible careers.

• Ambassador to Ancient Rome
• Pope
• Person who translates Latin phrases for coins and stamps
• Latin Professor
• Modestly hot Latin teacher at an all-boys schools
• An old Latin teacher with no homeroom, so yov have to pvsh arovnd a cart with all of yovr "svpplies," which inclvde:
  • Old, wrinkly, vsed tissves that mvst be revsed
  • Dictionaries and Thesavrvses for derivative stvdy that nobody does
  • Stvpid Latin worksheets

Because Latin is the language of science.

Lots of English words have Latin routes, so knowing Latin will help you know the meaning of a word you've never heard before. It's very useful.

Roman Catholic church uses it... Roman history primary sources are written in it... linguistics studies language and the history of languages... I think those are pretty good reasons.

Veni, vidi, vici.foxhound_fox

But let's not forget that much of the Church's Latin material was actually translated from other languages anyway.. the maintenance of Latin in the Church is mostly for traditional purposes

A college major in Latin is accepted to be the most vsefvl degree yov can receive. With one, yov have the widest array of possible careers.

• Ambassador to Ancient Rome
• Pope
• Person who translates Latin phrases for coins and stamps
• Latin Professor
• Modestly hot Latin teacher at an all-boys schools
• An old Latin teacher with no homeroom, so yov have to pvsh arovnd a cart with all of yovr "svpplies," which inclvde:
  • Old, wrinkly, vsed tissves that mvst be revsed
  • Dictionaries and Thesavrvses for derivative stvdy that nobody does
  • Stvpid Latin worksheets

Squidward117

Your pressing the v not the u.

As for the question, to better understand literature and roots of words. 

A college major in Latin is accepted to be the most vsefvl degree yov can receive. With one, yov have the widest array of possible careers.

• Ambassador to Ancient Rome
• Pope
• Person who translates Latin phrases for coins and stamps
• Latin Professor
• Modestly hot Latin teacher at an all-boys schools
• An old Latin teacher with no homeroom, so yov have to pvsh arovnd a cart with all of yovr "svpplies," which inclvde:
  • Old, wrinkly, vsed tissves that mvst be revsed
  • Dictionaries and Thesavrvses for derivative stvdy that nobody does
  • Stvpid Latin worksheets

Squidward117

Trying too hard. 

most of the romantic languages have roots in latin. they are also used for scientific names of animals and plants, used a lot in medicine. there's some use for itblooddemon666

It would have some use if it wasn't for the fact that those latin words look and sound a lot like English equivilents.

Latin is most certainly interesting from a linguistics point of view, but in and of it's own existence I don't see much use of it. 

Law and medicne students must have it for terminology. Also , catholic ministerial students.stitch321

Exactly 

It is not pointless at all!

1) It is the root of most of the English language. It helps to expand your vocabulary, improve your spelling, and make you better at speaking it.

2) The skills you must apply to do well at Latin are valued highly in many jobs and by many universities - analytical thinking, memory, etc.

3) It is a fascinating subject. The language itself is like a puzzle to translate, and the literature is great too.

But of course, we Latinists can't speak to anyone! Surely this removes all merit from the subject, because, you know, that makes it entirely useless right?

Grow up kids, and realise there is more to a lot of subjects than meets the eye. 

  Same reason why my french and deutsch is so bad. Same reason why I dropped french. Never used either language enough to recall it. My grandpa knows deutsch well because he has relatives in PA that speak it.

  I think people learn latin because they want to be able to communicate with the illegal aliens. But screw that. We are required to know english, have a high school diploma and soon a college degree. So they should learn english at least.

  Seriously though, most people know it. Spanish and other Latin languages are more useful because so many countries around the world speak a latin language. And because so many speak Latin it is much easier to learn.

  Most Americans studied spanish as a second language, but don't remember because they all live uptown where you won't find a person that speaks spanish natively. And if they do, they don't because they know english as well.

Well, there are some fundamental concepts that make sense why one should bother with Latin, since a lot of languages are derived from it you should be able to more easily learn a language's vocabulary among other thing perhaps...

But I think, if you weigh it out, the effort required to learn Latin and the small advantage it yields doesn't make it worth it in the end. 

Well, there are some fundamental concepts that make sense why one should bother with Latin, since a lot of languages are derived from it you should be able to more easily learn a language's vocabulary among other thing perhaps...

But I think, if you weigh it out, the effort required to learn Latin and the small advantage it yields doesn't make it worth it in the end.

Kev_Boy

Those are my thoughts. If you are going to do a subject to improve lingustic understanding, like Latin or Linguistics then I really can't see much reason for studying it on it's own. Paired with other languages it could be very helpful. 

Medication and science, it's the language each doktor or scientists uses so every doctor can understand eachother (Not that a german dokter would work with and chinees anyday... as example.).

You can be a historican and read certain texts. (I think)

You can show off old Latin saying like Vini, Vici, Vidi, I came,  I observed, I conquerd... (Something about that) 

Erm... that's all I can think of. 

Is it a usefull language to know for learning other romance languages? Is that one of the main point for learning Latin? It seems like more of a religious language, like something you would learn if you're a catholic priest, but not an ordinary person. But yeah, I would like to know. camreeno360

For culture son.  For culture.  One day you'll understand 

to show off to your friendsMeriMorganov

Is it a usefull language to know for learning other romance languages? Is that one of the main point for learning Latin? It seems like more of a religious language, like something you would learn if you're a catholic priest, but not an ordinary person. But yeah, I would like to know. camreeno360

It's good to know if you are in biology. A lot of scientific names of organisms are based on latin words. 

You can show off old Latin saying like Vini, Vici, Vidi, I came, I observed, I conquerd... (Something about that)Doomlike_Mitc

:lol: