<p>I wonder if anyone here have kids taking latin in middle school and in high school. Does Latin really help with English grammer and vocabulary? My younger son is entering middle school next year. The choices for languages are Spanish, French, Latin and Chinese. He is an American Born Chinese and is already taking Chinese outside of school. Since we do not want to start him on another foreign language, Latin seems to be a natural choice for us. However, I do not know if he really need to learn five to six years of Latin in both Middle school and High school. What’s benefit of learning so much Latin besides grammer and vocabulary.</p>
<p>Learning Latin is fantastic. It helps with history and language. I’ve been studying Latin for about 5 years and it does help a lot with vocabulary and grammar that is not normally taught in an English class. You don’t just learn about the language, but also about the culture and history which is pretty fascinating.</p>
<p>If you’re really proficient in Latin, it is also possible to read other Romance languages like Italian, French or Spanish. That takes a bit of training, but you can piece together a lot of sentences in other languages with a good foundation.</p>
<p>My sixth grader is taking Latin this year. It’s not easy, but he really likes the Mythology part of the class. In his school, 6th and 7th are considered one year of Latin, 8th is a full second year, and 9th a third year. Some kids chose to take a three years of another language for 10-12th, the others have an option of AP Latin classes. I would look at the quality of the teachers in chosing a language, the teacher can make it or brake it for a child.</p>
<p>And most Latin classes not only stick with the language itself, but also incorporate derivatives. I took Latin for a single year in high school, and I still remember the derivatives we learned; the other day in class, I was the only one who knew what “puerile” was.</p>
<p>I took Latin for three years in HS. It is helpful for derivatives and for English grammar. I have read somewhere that English grammarians in olden times would, in answering a grammar question, translate the sentence into Latin in order to analyze it. Latin helps with organizing thought and reading old European grave stones.</p>
<p>He should definitely take Latin-- its the best!</p>
<p>Latin est gaudium et utile! 
Gotta love Wheelock’s. </p>
<p>Anyway yes, Latin is a great language - I highly recommend it. I can still recite the first 10 or so lines of the Aeneid (as well as several of Catullus’ poems) from memory, and I’m sure I could sight translate a good deal of it, even having been out of Latin classes for 5 years.</p>
<p>My school required Latin throughout middle school. It’s extremely helpful with grammar. I learned more grammar in Latin class than anywhere else, including English (all through school), Spanish (high school), and Italian (college) classes. It’s a very interesting language to study since it is, obviously, a “dead” language; the focus while you’re learning it is much different than the focus when you’re learning, say, Spanish, when most of your time is spent learning simple conversational language (greetings, ordering food, weather, favorite activities, school classes, I even remember a chapter on the paranormal… :rolleyes:). The stories in some Latin textbooks are awesome, too. We had a wedding, a funeral, drinking games, an apartment fire, the Roman baths (with pictures!), and everything else you can think of. And that was just in our textbook! The language is also presented differently. Since the first language I studied in school was Latin, I expected other languages to be presented in similar ways. I’ve been disappointed ever since, including in college language study, that spoken languages are taught through dumb conversational pieces. In every language I’ve studied since Latin, I have just wanted a teacher to lay out the grammar for me in nice, organized charts. I can learn that any day of the week. I can’t stand trying to pick up language structure “as we go” by working through chapters based on some random conversational topic. That may just be personal preference, but I think it’s a common preference for people who tend to think in logical, organized ways. If he’s already learning a spoken language and isn’t interested in learning another one, Latin seems to be a good choice. If he’s interested in history, then that’s plus.</p>
<p>Another vote for Latin. Both of my sons take it, and I often hear them say while studying for vocab quizzes, “Well, the Latin word for xxxx is xxxxx, so I think xxx means xxxx.” Make sense? Maybe I should have taken Latin!</p>
<p>My three ds have studied Latin (two through AP Vergil, one through Latin IV), and one is currently a classical languages major. I’ll admit that I never quite saw the appeal of the language itself, having sat through Parents Day in Latin I three times. However, the culture and history are undeniably fascinating, and my ds loved the excellent Latin teachers in their high school. They were so creative - there were Saturnalia celebrations, chariot races (the kids built their own), banquets, great stuff.</p>
<p>My middle d, who is the classics major, has a weird writing style that I ascribe in part to her intensive study of Latin. I know nothing about the language, but she admits that her placement of phrases and her occasional use of the wrong preposition are due to writing in English the way she would in Latin. Or, as her sister says, “She writes like Yoda talks.” She can usually catch her errors on a second draft, though.</p>
<p>All three girls sored very well on the Verbal section of the SATs. Latin couldn’t have hurt 
!</p>
<p>
While I was taking Latin, I found it very natural to write in a particular style, especially using the passive voice. There is an emphasis on translation while studying Latin, so students get used to writing in the style they translate in (from Latin to English).</p>
<p>Jeepers, why all this interest in Latin out of nowhere? Two threads at once! </p>
<p>Corranged, I wish you had included your post in the other thread, since it said much more vividly (and based on much more recent experience) something I tried to say there. I agree with you 100%.</p>
<p>Another vote for Latin! It helps tremendously with grammer, and an additional benefit is there are far,far fewer HS students who end up taking the AP Latin exams than for other languages. It will help your son’s application stand out from the pack come college acceptance time.</p>
<p>JHS, I was thinking while I was typing that my post was basically just a differently-worded version of your post in that other thread (which I obviously agreed with).</p>
<p>My D has taken Latin since 7th grade (she is a one-woman AP Vergil class this year), and it is starting to pay off - not only during SAT/ACT testing time, but translating her favorite LAC’s Latin motto during a tour last week before the student tour guide got a chance to just had to make me smile!!!</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all the replies. They are really very eye-opening for me. I think we will definitely pick Latin for my son in middle school. That sounds like the right class for him.</p>
<p>JHS:
Latin is making a comeback. I am told there is a real shortage of Latin teachers. and increased enrollments in college Latin classes. Our HS felt very very lucky to be able to hire two Latin teachers (one to replace a retiring one and one new one).</p>
<p>Slight thread hijack - DD is a sophomore, taking Spanish 3, but she does not want to continue to Spanish 4 next year. Spanish doesn’t come easily to her, and she’s had awful luck with teachers (the first 1/4 of this year featured an incompetent long-term sub who was finally fired) and DD admittedly shot herself in the foot with some issues last year. She’d like to take Latin 1 Honors next year instead. I’m not sure this is a great idea. First of all, will it look like she’s taking an “easy/freshman” course as a Jr? Second, many of the kids in Latin 1 will have had latin in middle school, but since the language program in our middle schools has been decimated by budget cuts and the kids only take language every-other day, many students don’t feel ready to progress to Latin 2. DD says Latin will help her with the SATs, but DH and I feel that’s a non-issues, DD does well on standardized tests anyway.</p>
<p>lafalum, taking Latin would be great if she commits to taking a second year as a senior. As she will have three years of Spanish under her belt, switching is O.K. But not for just one year. (I’m assuming she took Spanish 1 in middle school?)</p>
<p>Lafalum:</p>
<p>S began Spanish in 7th grade and Latin in 9th grade. By the time he graduated, he had reached Spanish 4 and Latin 3, both in Honors classes. But he did better in Latin on the language placement test than in Spanish, even though he’d been a pretty good student in Spanish, too.
If your D has not had great luck with Spanish, she could switch to Latin and enjoy it more.</p>