9 Benefits of Studying Latin: WHY and How to Learn Latin

A short time ago, a friend mentioned she had recently read a book saying there are very few benefits of studying a dead language like Latin. The author pointed out that knowing the Latin language was once useful as you could have read the classics (as they weren’t yet translated into English). But, since that time, these classical books have been translated into English, so learning a dead language is now of little value. The author said it might even be harmful as spending time learning Latin takes away from the time a student could spend on other subjects. 

Rebbecca Devitt

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Some other arguments against learning a dead language like Latin are that

  1. it makes students unnecessarily pompous (as they’ll be using Latin words when no one understands what they’re talking about) and
  2. unless you learn these languages very extensively, you won’t really be able to read the classics anyway.

Are these points valid?

Or are there other benefits of studying Latin that outweigh the disadvantages?

Do we erroneously force classically educated students to study Latin to their detriment, or are there more solid reasons behind this insistence on studying a dead language?

Quote about learning dead languages from Winston Churchill. Latin, English and Greek languages. #learnlatin #learngreek
This quote from Winston Churchill shows he valued learning the Latin and Greek languages.

I believe there are good reasons to study dead languages. Therefore, in this article, I’ll be showing you these advantages, namely that Latin helps you:

  1. Learn legal, medical, and engineering jargon
  2. Learn the romance languages
  3. Understand big words
  4. Enjoy English more
  5. Understand English more
  6. Study the Bible in the vulgate language
  7. Learn how to think with more clarity (order, discipline, structure, and precision)
  8. Enjoy great classics like Shakespeare
  9. Follow in the footsteps of giants

Far from what some people might think, studying something that’s ‘dead’ isn’t always useless.

The video here makes the point that saying you don’t want to study a dead language is like:

  1. medical students saying, ‘I don’t want to study this cadaver because it’s dead,’ or
  2. mechanics saying, ‘I don’t want to study this engine as it is turned off.’

Let’s have a look at these reasons in more detail below.

Please Note: In this article, we will mostly refer to the dead language of Latin.

Why Learn Latin Benefits of Studying Latin (Instagram Post (Square))

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Understand big words

People who have learned Latin can more easily determine the meaning of big words they’ve never seen before, as the large words in our vocabulary are usually made up of smaller Latin or Greek words.

Check out this list of Latin words with English derivatives. From the Latin word:

  • duco which means to lead, we get the English derivatives:
    • abduce, abducent, abduction, abductor, adduce, adducent, adduct, adduction, adductor, circumduction, conduce, conducent, conduction, conductive, conductivity, conductor, deduce, deduct, deductible, deduction, deductive, duct, ductile, ductility, ductor, educe, educt, induce, inducement, induct, induction, inductive, inductor, introduce, introduction, introductory, irreducible, nonconductive, produce, product, production, productive, productivity, reduce, reducible, reduction, redux, reintroduction, reproduce, reproduction, reproductive, seduce, seduction, seductive, semiconductor, subduction, superconductivity, superconductor, traduce, traducent, traducian, traduct, traduction
  • calculus which means limestone or pebble, we get:
    • calcareous, calciferous, calcific, calcification, calciform, calcite, calcium, calculability, calculable, calculate, calculation, calculator, calculus, caliche, chalk, decalcification, incalculable, precalculate, recalcification, recalculate

Amazing, huh!

As you can see, knowing Latin helps with understanding big words.

Understanding root Latin and Greek words means you’ll be able to understand English and other romance languages more easily.

Understand English more

What is the best tool that will help you learn the English language?

The ‘dead language’ Latin is.

This is what one educational guru said on the matter:

I will say at once, quite firmly, that the best grounding for education is the Latin grammar. I say this, not because Latin is traditional and mediæval, but simply because even a rudimentary knowledge of Latin cuts down the labor and pains of learning almost any other subject by at least 50 percent. It is the key to the vocabulary and structure of all the Romance languages and to the structure of all the Teutonic languages, as well as to the technical vocabulary of all the sciences and to the literature of the entire Mediterranean civilisation, together with all its historical documents. Those whose pedantic preference for a living language persuades them to deprive their pupils of all these advantages might substitute Russian, whose grammar is still more primitive. (The verb is complicated by a number of “aspects”—and I rather fancy that it enjoys three complete voices and a couple of extra aorists—but I may be thinking of Basque or Sanskrit.) Russian is, of course, helpful with the other Slav dialects. There is something also to be said for classical Greek. But my own choice is Latin. – Dorothy Sayers, Lost Tools of Learning, p. 10.

Younger languages like English, French, and Spanish have morphed out of Latin and Greek.

Latin is largely derived from Greek origins and might be called the daughter of the Greek language.

In the same vein, English is a derivative of Latin and Greek and so understanding these dead languages helps you understand English more.

Memoria Press also makes the point that learning Latin is the next step after phonics.

They argue phonics only covers the English part (which is really the Germanic part) of the English language, which is a Latin-English mix.

Latin teaches you the Latin part of it.

And according to Classical Conversations, the Germanic part of modern-day English teaches more concrete terms, while Latin teaches more abstract terms.

So learning phonics and Latin gives you an incredible grounding in English and will help you understand it more.

Enjoy English more

It’s easy to see that if you understand more of the English language, you will enjoy reading it more.

Instead of fighting to finish a complicated book or article, you’ll sail your way through it, engaging with what the author is trying to say easily.

You won’t trip over complicated phrases but think on a higher level, making connections with other things you’ve read.

If you don’t know the language well, you’ll either fight your way through the book or put it down in despair, vowing never to pick up a complicated tome again.

Many in our generation are so illiterate these days that we generally prefer a video on a topic instead of a book.

But there are only so many videos on so many topics.

So, if you’re interested in a niche topic, you may not find a satisfying or detailed enough video on the subject.

Instead, you should read a book to grasp the niche topic you want to know more about.

If you know Latin, you can pick up almost any English book and be confident you can understand it.

And this will help you enjoy it more.

Learn legal, medical, and engineering jargon

Most people who have studied for a legal or medical degree will tell you that knowledge of a dead language like Latin is helpful.

For example, I studied a year of medical school and found that the year of Latin I studied in 5th grade helped me break down large words making up many medical terminologies.

Similarly, I studied a term of Law and found that knowledge of Latin was also beneficial.

This is because knowing Latin means knowing some huge words’ root words.

Here are some examples:

  • ad hoc (a common legal term meaning a solution designed to fit a specific problem or task which is non-generalizable and shouldn’t be adapted to other situations)
    • ad is from the Latin meaning for
    • hoc is from the Latin word meaning this
  • bona fide (a legal term meaning sincere good intention irrespective of the outcome
    • bona is Latin for good (male fide is the opposite of this word and means in bad faith)
    • fide is Latin for faith

So, even if you’ve never seen a large word, you can often figure out the general meaning of the larger word by knowledge of the smaller root words.

Learn the Romance Languages

A dead language like Latin helps you understand other languages called the Romance languages.

Why are they called Romance languages?

Because they are inherently alluring?

No *dryly*.

They are called this because they came from the Roman (romance) or Latin language.

Romance languages like Spanish, French, and Italian are easier to learn because they are Latin and Greek daughter languages.

Cheryl Lowe from Memoria Press claims that knowing Latin cuts the task of learning a new language in half.

Big advantage!

Cheryl said:

If you can say Latin is the mother of the English language, you can say ancient Greek is the mother of the Latin language (and hence the grandmother of the English language!). As such, a working knowledge of Ancient Greek helps you have a better grasp of English.

Having learned a little French in my homeschooling education, I can attest that learning Latin made learning French in high school easier.

Likewise, Dorothy Sayers, the mother of modern-day classical education, said learning Latin is the ‘key’ to these romance languages:

[A knowledge of Latin] is the key to the vocabulary and structure of all the Romance languages and to the structure of all the Teutonic languages, as well as to the technical vocabulary of all the sciences and to the literature of the entire Mediterranean civilisation, together with all its historical documents.

So, if you want to learn a romance language, Latin will likely help you in this quest.

Study the Bible in the Original Language

Divinity students routinely take classes in ancient Greek and Hebrew, which helps them understand the original texts and mine them for their original meaning and context.

As a result, they gain greater knowledge of culture and history and consequently gain a better perspective on life.

Learning Greek and Hebrew helps these students understand the context of a passage better than they might if they were only reading the Bible in English.

Having sat under many pastors who know Greek, I’ve been greatly helped by the pastors explaining the root words of the Greek language, which has added context, meaning, and weight to many passages I’ve heard expounded.

Learn How to Reason and Think Better

The English language is complicated!

Some things in it don’t make sense, and once you’ve figured out a rule, you have to memorize a few dozen exceptions to that rule.

It’s infuriating for a new English speaker.

Not so with Latin.

Latin is an incredibly orderly language.

It’s a delight to learn and quite easy compared to English or Japanese.

As such, Latin students learn how to reason and think better. Cheryl Lowe insightfully explains:

…the mind of the student that has been educated in Latin takes on the qualities of Latin: logic, order, discipline, structure. Latin requires and teaches attention to detail, accuracy, patience, precision, and thorough, honest work. Latin will form the minds of your students. Think of the mind like the body. Latin is a mental workout, and Latin is your mental trainer.

Because students can see a word and make connections to it based on their knowledge of the Latin terms contained therein, they become deeper and more critical thinkers.

As they think more deeply about different subjects such as politics, religion, economics (and so on), they can learn the subject more deeply and quickly.

Because of this, a Latin curriculum also trains pupils in ‘big picture’ and ‘little picture’ thinking as they consider the larger word in the context of the smaller word(s) and vice versa.

Enjoy great classics like Shakespeare

Many people get frustrated with the difficult language in Shakespeare as it is old English.

Knowing Latin will help you understand these (and other old) classics as they come from root Latin words that don’t change.

When you can understand more complicated words in these old classics, you’ll enjoy the classics more and get more meaning out of the text, making reading old favorites easier and more pleasurable.

Follow in the footsteps of giants

While not a reason in and of itself, it is comforting to know that many educational giants and famous people of their day have learned Latin.

The quote at the top of this page by Winston Churchill shows what he thought of Latin and Greek.

He thought both languages were useful and led to a better (and more enjoyable) understanding of the English language and languages in general.

You will likewise find that many modern politicians, orators, and other famous influencers have a background in Latin as they find it assists them with the English language.

Learning a dead language like Latin gives these people an edge and makes them think differently.

Learning Latin helped many of these giants look at other people’s written or spoken works intelligently and create their own informed, precise and, intelligent works.

Begin learning a dead language early

When should Latin begin?

Dorothy Sayers says we should start teaching quite early. She had this to say about when to start:

Latin should be begun as early as possible—at a time when inflected speech seems no more astonishing than any other phenomenon in an astonishing world; and when the chanting of “amo, amas, amat” is as ritually agreeable to the feelings as the chanting of “eeny, meeny, miney, mo.” – Lost Tools of Learning, p. 10.

and

During this age we must, of course, exercise the mind on other things besides Latin grammar. Observation and memory are the faculties most lively at this period; and if we are to learn a contemporary foreign language we should begin now, before the facial and mental muscles become rebellious to strange intonations. Spoken French or German can be practised alongside the grammatical discipline of the Latin. –  Lost Tools of Learning, p. 10.

How to Learn the Latin Language

There are many ways you can learn Latin, but the most common way is through a curriculum.

Here are some popular companies that offer Latin courses:

  1. Compass Classroom – Visual Latin
  2. Memoria Press (Prima Latina and First Form Latin)
  3. BJU Press Latin
  4. Veritas Press – FREE consultation
  5. Classical Academic Press
  6. Canon Press
  7. Logos Latin
  8. Oxford Latin
  9. Schoolhouse Teachers
  10. Latin for Littlies

Check them out in more detail by looking at 10 Best Latin Homeschool Curriculum Options here.

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Conclusion: So Why Learn Latin

It’s unfortunate we call Latin a ‘dead language.’ Latin isn’t dead. It has just evolved into other languages. Latin may not be spoken often, but it is not completely dead. There are many useful benefits of studying Latin. And it is for these reasons that you should be encouraged to learn these great languages.

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Rebecca Devitt

Most adults don't particularly want to relive their schooling experience on a daily basis. They would gladly move on to a new life devoid of homework and teachers. Very, very few adults will passionately blog about their schooling some 15 years after graduating. This makes Rebecca Devitt somewhat unique. As it happens, she was homeschooled. And she loved it. Still does. And she wishes every kid could get a taste of homeschooling at its very best. Her website How Do I Homeschool, is a springboard for parents to see what a life of homeschooling could be for both them & their children. When she's not blogging Rebecca is still homeschooling her-adult-self by learning Latin, growing weird vegetables and most importantly looking after her two children Luke & Penny. She has a husband Tristan and is a participant at Wollongong Baptist Church. She's also written a book about why parents should homeschool called 'Why on Earth Homeschool'.

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