Do you think Latin & Greek are worth knowing in this day and age?

Brennus   Saturday, March 26, 2005, 09:12 GMT
Hello. I was wondering what feelings Antimoon readers have about classical languages like Latin and Greek? Is studying them worthwhile in your opinion? Few people seem to study them today even though I read an article in "U.S. News & World Report" recently about a very respectable brain scientist who has degrees in both of these languages as well as in medicine.

I like to look at epigraphy or inscriptions in Greek and Latin myself and feel that this is a good way to get a basic knowledge of these languages for anyone who doesn't want to read the classical authors right away. A few examples are:

Cave Canem " Beware of the dog" (Latin)
Perari, fures "Perarius, you are a thief" (Latin)
Theois euchariston "A thank-offering to the gods" (Greek)
Si falso insimulas Philocamasium, hoc perieris "If you accuse Philocamasium falsely, you'll die for it." (Latin)
phonio gar aori plêgeis "slain by a murderous sword" (Greek)

The inscriptions were usually written by ordinary, everyday people in the Hellenistic and Roman empires so they often reflect the spoken language better.
Vytenis   Saturday, March 26, 2005, 09:39 GMT
Add Sanskrit
mjd   Saturday, March 26, 2005, 09:43 GMT
Sure, particularly if you're interested in the history of ancient Greece and Rome.

By studying Latin, not only would one be able to read the works of rhetoricians like Cicero as they were meant to be read--in Latin--but, he/she would have a greater understanding and appreciation of where the Romance languages came from. The same holds true for Ancient Greek. I also just think Latin is a beautiful language.

Latin was offered at the high school I attended (I graduated in 1999) and at the university I attented, so the Classics are by no means totally forgotten.
Travis   Saturday, March 26, 2005, 09:48 GMT
However, from a practical standpoint, I'd say it'd be more useful to learn things like Spanish, German, French, Mandarin, Japanese, Arabic, Hindi, and so on before one bothers with things like Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, and like, even though if one is going to be studying the ancient Mediterranean region, Romance linguistics, and India, of course those, or at least some of those, are going to be very useful to know.
greg   Saturday, March 26, 2005, 10:02 GMT
Brennus, another one : "Si vis pacem para bellum" (if you seek peace, prepare for war).

I would never be too grateful to my parents who had me learn Latin when I was 13.

I'm just sorry not to have learned Greek yet.

Latin and Greek are the roots of Western civilisation.
Travis   Saturday, March 26, 2005, 10:12 GMT
I meant to say "and ancient India", but somehow the "ancient" part got lost along the way.

Anyways, greg, as for what I said before, I didn't mean that one shouldn't learn them, just that they shouldn't necessarily be the /first/ things one learns, as second languages go.
greg   Saturday, March 26, 2005, 11:25 GMT
I agree. Living languages are fine if you want to travel spatially. Ancient languages are great to travel in time.
Sander   Saturday, March 26, 2005, 13:53 GMT
Greg,

Im not very much into Latin but someone said me that it lacks alot of words ment to descrive modern words like;television.
Chamonix   Saturday, March 26, 2005, 21:13 GMT
Latin language is used in and as formal English language, expecially as law terms.
English language also "borrowed" a lot of words or just part of, from both Latin and Greek.
I studied latin and I loved it, but never studied Greek. I would like to study Greek because I like Greece culture, but I think it shouldn't be introduced in schools.
greg   Saturday, March 26, 2005, 22:19 GMT
Sander : no, I don't think Latin lacks 'television" or 'fridge' : see Vatican literature.

Chamonix : I thought French was the language that gave birth to law English. Maybe you were referring to maxims as 'res ipsa loquitur' ?
Chamonix   Saturday, March 26, 2005, 23:12 GMT
greg,

Here are some exemples:

http://www.uklegal.com/articles/latin.htm
Tiffany   Sunday, March 27, 2005, 03:01 GMT
I know Latin is very difficult and a required subject for all young Italians (if this has changed, it was changed very very recently). My husband doesn't think it helped him much (since he already recognized many words from their relation to Italian) and it just made thing more difficult. I have no desire to learn it, as it is a dead language.

Greek, on the other hand, is not a dead language. My friend Georgia (half Italian/half Greek) started teaching me a bit and I found it quite interesting.
Travis   Sunday, March 27, 2005, 03:05 GMT
In my above post, I was assuming ancient Greek, most likely specifically koine Greek, not modern Greek, which I should have made somewhat clearer, as I had just assumed from the discussion in general (and it seemed like the others here overall assumed it as well, to me at least).
Lazar   Sunday, March 27, 2005, 06:37 GMT
>Greek, on the other hand, is not a dead language. My friend Georgia (half Italian/half Greek) started teaching me a bit and I found it quite interesting.

Ancient Greek is just as "dead" as Latin, because both languages evolved into new forms. The only difference between the two is that Latin fragmented into several languages (at least 9), so there is no one modern tongue that can claim the name "Latin" as modern Greek can with the name "Greek".

In truth, I think the term "dead" should be reserved for languages like Cornish and Manx that fail to propogate themselves. Latin did not fail to propogate itself - in its evolved forms, it remains the language of hundreds of millions of people across three continents. Latin, rather than "dying", became as successful as any language could ever dream of being.
Sander   Sunday, March 27, 2005, 08:39 GMT
Greg,

=>Sander : no, I don't think Latin lacks 'television" or 'fridge' : see Vatican literature.<=

But then somebody has "make" new latin words...and if thats the case its not really dead is it?

Lazar,

=> it remains the language of hundreds of millions of people across three continents.,=

Hundreds of millions speak Latin across the world ?If thats true why isn't it on the list of most spoken languages?!
If should guess I think 6 million people speak Latin.