subject: Academic Disciplines: The Importance of Studying Latin [print this page] Academic Disciplines: The Importance of Studying Latin
The Latin language is considered to be a death language as there is no nation that speaks it. However, it is used in medical sciences, law, teaching, and technology. The majority of scientific terminology is in Latin. This language is also used for church services. Almost all students study this academic discipline in institutions of higher education. Moreover, it is a compulsory discipline for all students who study languages.
Why is it so important to study Latin for all linguistic students?
Latin is the mother of all languages. Learning this discipline is extremely important for those students who learn French, Italian and Spanish, as their grammar has the same principles as the Latin grammar.
However, students who learn other languages can find it very useful to study Latin before they start learning their main foreign language. The reason is that first year students do not know all the main principles of language learning. Latin makes students more organized and help to manage the basic principles of the linguistic education. They include basic grammar rules, rules or reading and listening.
Moreover, Latin makes students be more attentive in learning languages. One should be attentive with the rules such as cases, number and tenses.
As Latin is the basis for the vocabulary of many languages, it is easier for students to learn new words, because they will know the majority of roots and prefixes. Many words are very similar to Latin ones.
Latin helps students to be more attentive while reading and doing writing exercises. Students learn to focus their attention on the words' meaning, combinability and usage.
Another advantage is that students broaden their minds and intellectual horizons as they learn about the ancient culture, famous historical personages and history of one of the greatest cities of the ancient world.
