Latin's a dead language, they say. You can't even speak it, they say. It helps with nothing, they say. I've heard every insult people could possibly ever think of when it comes to the topic of this language, and for awhile I most definitely agreed with everyone. Latin is tedious, it depends on every little detail, every single letter of every single word, and even the placement of those words in the sentence to translate it all correctly. There are seemingly innumerable cases, tenses, moods, voices, all with different endings that make them unique. There are words that require different rules from the others, words that could start either a prepositional phrase or four types of dependent clauses, and the words don't even have to be in the right order of how they're translated! Latin is a mess of rules, a huge puzzle of frustration and time spent uncovering different meanings. So why do I even spend my time doing it? Why is it worth it, especially since it isn't even used in real life anymore? Why is it one of my minors?
It's taken me five years of headaches, hours spent memorizing and frequent visits to online dictionaries to discover how much Latin has worked its way into me to truly help me in all aspects of my life. Yes, all aspects of my life. Call me a nerd if you want to, but Latin is really a beautiful thing.
Pretty much any career I could ever see myself going into requires the knowledge of at least some Latin. If I ever wanted to be a doctor or lawyer, the roots are very prevalent in terms I'd have to learn for grad school and beyond. See, Latin is so old that it was pretty much the basis for all languages, at least the romantic ones. I never have had to study for a vocabulary test before because almost every single word has stemmed from a Latin word (or words).
I will be able to do grammar perfectly for the rest of my life. This language is so complex and has so many rules for each and every grammatical concept that, fortunately, applies to English grammar as well. I know every verb tense by name that you could possibly think of. I know all the different participles and infinitives and types of phrases and clauses without even thinking. I can't tell you the number of times I’ve helped friends with journalism homework or proofread English papers — classes I’m not even taking — without even having to think about it. It’s helped me so much with my writing, too. Instead of focusing on which pronoun agreement is correct or which verb tense goes in which clause, I can just let the grammar come naturally and instead focus on the content of what I’m writing.
Latin is so full of culture. The ancient Greeks and Romans relied on mythological stories for their religion; they truly believed every word of these stories. They were the basis for daily life immortalized by people of today’s world who want to look into the past and see how people lived. Lots of these mythological stories are so deeply filled with meaning that famous playwrights and artists, like Shakespeare, used these stories as inspiration for their works. “Romeo and Juliet” is basically a remake of the mythological story of Pyramus and Thisbe, so basically now we know Shakespeare was a copycat. It’s also really cool to be able to translate pivotal speeches from the most famous of leaders like Julius Caesar from back in the day, or reading the first works ever written like Homer’s "Iliad" or even the Bible.
People use Latin in the media all the time. Think about Harry Potter, for example. “Avada kedavra,” “Stupefy” and “Lumos?” All of that is Latin. Everything the snakes say to Harry? Latin. Rowling used all these ancient words for a more mysterious, scary, beautiful story line that could impact her audience deeply. Latin is used in songs too. Pretty much every Sunday I’m sitting in church they will sing a beautiful song in Latin with a really deep meaning; the words they use are in a different context than words in typical old Latin stories. It’s really cool to be able to see the diversity of these words and how much meaning you can truly get from them.
This is literally the nerdiest thing I’ve ever written, but hey, it was on my mind! Other languages are great, too, I just happen to think Latin is one of the best! All my old Latin teachers would tell me daily how much Latin has an impact on all areas of life and I would just roll my eyes at them. Being in college, though, I’ve experienced so many different things that I’ve started to see how my past teachers were right. Stories are the basis for communication and understanding, and being able to interpret the first stories ever written and apply the meanings I get from them to my own life has made me into a better communicator and a more well-rounded person who sees the world around me more clearly.
