sunshinemiss
Posts: 17673
Joined: 11/26/2007
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Yes, I understand that (and btw I studied Latin in school - and then I studied Spanish). Because I've studied both languages and actually study language now, I'm sticking to what I know to be true. Just because something comes from Latin doesn't mean it doesn't offer the EXACT SAME benefits. If you know Spanish, you can easily learn the other romance languages (just like if you know Latin). If you know Spanish, you can understand a lot of medical and legal jargon as well as understanding root words (just like if you know Latin). They are often the same in Latin and Spanish.
You can not learn Latin as a child - who will you talk to? But you sure can learn Spanish. The reason people forget languages quickly is because there is no interaction with them. Who are you going to interact with in Latin when you are 8? But you sure can interact in Spanish with a bunch of kids, you can experience the language on television, the radio, the internet.
1. There are four skills needed to learn a language - the passive skills (listening and reading) and the active skills (speaking and writing). One of those skills is virtually unavailable in this day and age to the general populace (listening). The active skills can be done, but who's going to listen to you adn read what you've written? Certainly not anyone outside a teeny tiny specific niche.
2. There are three types of learning styles - auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. With Latin only one (visual) is available to the learning audience. That leaves a huge portion of students unable to easily learn the material. Couple that with the inability to maintain common usage of the Latin language, you have a recipe for easily forgetting the material. You know what I mean. You learn it long enough to take the test, and then you forget it. This is one of the biggest reasons to learn Spanish and not Latin - because it is a COMPLETE language and not a partial language (to the general populace - of course there are people who still speak Latin. Visit the Vatican.)
3. The part you are forgetting is that a lot of the words that you want people to learn in Latin are EXACTLY THE SAME in Spanish. There is no benefit from learning them in Latin. If you know Latin, then yes, the roots of other romance languages would be easy to understand. The same is true if you know Spanish. Same roots, same information.
4. Languages are living things. They change, evolve, integrate information from other cultures and languages. The Spanish of today takes into account the advances from the last couple of thousands of years which Latin does not. There are swaths of information that are irrelevant today and even MORE words that have been created that are not in Latin.
5. Finally, remember that the Latin that you are talking about was NEVER the Latin of the people - it was only a high falutin' scholarly language. It evolved into all the Romance Languages. Even during the time of the Roman Empire, the street Latin was different than what scholars used. It would be like telling people that they must learn English - but the only TRUE English is Shakespearean English.
There is no benefit from learning Latin over another romance language. The benefits of using an active, living language greatly outweigh the learning of Latin.
best,
sunshine
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Yes, I am a wonton hussy... and still sweet as 3.14
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RE: Should schools require students to learn Spanish? - 
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