Why study Latin in high school?
In Spain, the study of Greek and Latin is determined by the decrees of each Autonomous Community. In some, it is established that up to four hours of these subjects are taken depending on the stage (Compulsory Secondary Education or Baccalaureate).
If you need support with your Latin baccalaureate classes , count on us!
We can talk about four great reasons to learn Latin :
- Know better the civilization, cultures and official languages of European countries,
- Progress in Spanish language,
- Improve school results,
- Stimulate a future professional career.
As the universal language of countries once under Roman rule, the Latin language was for a long time the vehicular language of knowledge, science, art and the nobles who had been instructed.
Studying Latin at school means learning by heart the six endings that make up the Latin phrase: nominative, accusative, genitive, vocative and ablative .
It is essential for reading texts , as well as for translating from Latin to Spanish. It is precisely this grammatical competence that opens the doors to understanding ancient world cultures.
We also know that every day we use the Spanish alphabet , made up of the Latin alphabet to which diacritical marks were added.
As a result, the linguistic heritage attests to a close proximity between Spanish and Latin: many words in the Latin vocabulary are part of the Spanish we speak today.
We therefore deduce that knowing the syntax, Latin grammar and the etymological roots of words helps to improve school results in the language itself (romance) -especially in spelling, Spanish grammar- and in other subjects.
We do not say that you learn Latin first and then Italian or French, but with Latin classes for beginners, learning European languages will be easier than learning Japanese, Arabic or Mandarin.
Around the year 43 , the Romans founded the city of Londinium. Easy to guess: London. By historical heritage, 70% of the English vocabulary is of Latin origin.
If we add to that that in science, mathematics or in physics and chemistry, many vernacular terms have Latin origin, we see that learning Latin is really interesting: students who study Latin will have a greater facility to obtain good grades in their studies.
Many times, you have to learn to appreciate interdisciplinary learning, especially because in 4th year of ESO, no one yet knows what their professional career will be like.
What if the Latin classes served, in fine, to pass the public examinations after obtaining a university master’s degree in literary studies?
Discover all this in our online Latin course . Why study Latin in high school?
