Hi I’m rising junior. To be honest, I came to the U.S. when I was fifteen, so I really am a foreigner. English is my second language, so my English writing skills are not really good.
Despite of the fact that I am fluent in Korea, the state law requires high school students to take at least two consecutive year of world languages. For I wanted to try something new, I started taking Latin in my 10th grade… and I am pondering whether it will help me at all…
I want to be major in neuroscience in college.
Yes. I am so much better in math and science than in English or other social studies.
While considering these conditions, I realized that neuroscience major (or cognitive science) actually needs skills from computer science. I do not know anything in computer science if you are wondering.
Therefore, here is my question.
Should I quit studying Latin and start learning Computer science, so I will make ap score for computer science by the time I apply for colleges. - Goal: Ap computer science for college application
Or if you recommend me to keep taking Latin, why?
-Goal : Ap latin for college application
Are there any benefits to take latin for neuroscience major?
I really want to take both, but while preparing for SAT, AP, AMC, and other competitions along with extracurricular activities, doing both seem quiet demanding.
Well. I can try. But sometimes I have to choose one and focus for greater result as colleges prefer not well rounded students but outstanding ability in one or two fields.
Hey, here’s something I can actually add to! I’m a Classics major who also studies CS at an Ivy. Latin may not be directly tied to most other subjects, as AP Bio would be for a pre-med majors, but the style of thought which Latin forced me to adopt definitely helped me wrap my head around the syntactical structure of Python and Java and C, for example. Any highly complex language will do that, but because Latin is so incredibly structured in terms of grammar, and that structure is almost absolute in prose, you’re forced to see things in a different light than you would if you just knew English. This definitely passed onto CS, for me.
I can’t give a definitive answer on which would be better to start in high school, though. I started both Classics and CS in college, so I had to learn everything from scratch.
Just one of those questions, you know, relating to how studying one thing can make sense in light of another later. That’s basically the whole point of having a broad education; you never know. I did a lot of random things that I didn’t see the point in, like political science, sociology and economics, but now that I’m half-considering public policy as a future field, everything makes more sense.
Even if you don’t take Latin up to AP level, it can still be helpful. And you can take some CS classes too.
You can do both.
You also have lots of time to decide on a major.
I don’t see how a second year of Latin is particularly helpful. But if you like it, stick with it. I wouldn’t switch just to get another AP.
Thanks for your unique views!
I would say that Latin would be useful for you to use when learning the scientific names of diseases, biological structures, etc. in the study of neuroscience. This would be especially useful for you as an ESL student, since many scientific names (and many English words in general) are derived from Latin grammatical concepts and words; many modern languages, English included, have their roots in Latin. This would indirectly help you in mastering English as well.
Latin is useful everywhere. We encounter quotes in in Latin in books, movies, and conversation. Latin is the basis of romance language which helps translation both directions, forms the basis of English words such as antebellum, modifies root words reliably such as trans or hyper, and contributes vocabulary, medicine and science, and the names of places such as Venice. Knowledge of Latin facilitates the use of language and learning. I can’t think of another set of classes that has been useful personally and professionally. Vein, Verdi, Vici!
Also, Shakespeare uses lots of Latin. Et tu, Brute!
Ever consider studying something for the pleasure of it? For the intellectual challenge that isn’t necessarily “useful”? You should. (And, frankly, that’s the kind of students elite schools are looking for, btw.)
Over 50 years ago I took 4 years Latin in hs, had career in health field. Latin may be of use solving crossword puzzles between neuroscience classes in college. As to help in deciphering meaning of words, if I came across a word today that that I didn’t know meaning and I could see the word had some Latin stem, I’d just Google search the word rather than spinning my brain trying to remember what some priest taught me in hs.
Vein, Verdi, Vici!??? Maybe I’m missing an inside joke but Caesar wrote veni (I came), vidi (I saw) vici (I conquered). The word Venice has nothing to do with “veni" (I came), but refers to name of people who lived in area.
If you want to remember a very useful latin phrase, try “carpe diem” (seize the day).
Latin is only useful in medicine when it comes to anatomy. All the terminology is Latin in one form or another. Really, everything else is from Greek. And I seriously don’t recommend taking Ancient Greek in order to shore up your medical knowledge. It’s not worth it ha. It has to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever studied, even after learning Latin.
You really do not need background in latin (or greek) for anatomy/med school as either your prof/text book will tell you the word’s origin (whether it’s cardio (heart), the word ends in “itis” (inflammation), nephro (kidney), etc, etc, etc; or you’ll quickly catch on that whenever you see a word with cardio (heart), ending in “itis” (inflammation), nephro (kidney), etc, etc, etc you’ll hopefully figure out what’s you’re talking about, or you’ll fail.
substantia nigra
tabes dorsalis
corpus callosum
cauda equina
cochlea
dyskinesia
incus, malleus, stapes
hypoglossal
trigeminal
superior rectus
shall I go on?
Sounds like this conversation is moot - don’t you have to take at least one more year of latin anyway? Decide then whether you like latin - in which case continue - or if you don’t drop it.
My personal view is that you can take first semester comp sci in college. Either class would be fine in how it looks to colleges (since they both can relate to neuro/cog sci either way). But taking Latin in high school is something that I’ve found valuable to my education. I love the classics because of how they basically have been my gateway into linguistics and my interests in that field. Latin is probably the best language that can introduce you to it at a high school level, mainly because for the first time, you’re not studying a language to speak it. You’re studying the structure of the language and its mechanics, something that I believe is extremely applicable to neuroscience and various sects of cognitive science as well. Sure, comp sci will make you “better equipped” for the major in college, but at the same time you’re restricting yourself rather than broadening your path. I love Latin and would never trade my years of it for comp sci. I can learn a language on my own or cram comp sci in a semester in college. But I may never get the chance to take it slow and heavily scrutinize a language that I’ve found more applicable to more fields than I thought.
As for Greek, I think it’s cool (I’ve taken a year of it too). Hard af, and not as interdisciplinary in application tbh. I loved it though and recommend it