how helpful is Latin?

[siliso]

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If you know English + a Romance language, I think you'll be plenty familiar with the common Latin roots.

 

[LizzyM]

If you know English + a Romance language, I think you'll be plenty familiar with the common Latin roots.

I agree. If it is a choice between Latin and a non-Romance language (Arabic, Chinese, Korean, etc) then I think that Latin would be preferrable. I'm saying this not only in terms of medical terminiology but as has been mentioned before, overall English grammar and vocabulary.

 

[bamtuba]

Se habla espanol.
Yak tuk varrrggg, Klingon.

ghoj tlhIngan DaH.



Before it is too late...

 

[SlaskWroclaw18]

I've took five years of Spanish in high school including Spanish Ap. Now I am going to be attending a Jesuit college where I will be participating in a Honors Program which has a focus on Theology and Philosophy. Thus in my freshman year I required to take a year of languages. Well since I already took five years of spanish in high school, I figured I would try Latin since I my hs never offered it and I always had an interest in it. Is it ok if I took my spanish classes in hs and take latin in college?

 

[kashmirvie]

If you know English + a Romance language, I think you'll be plenty familiar with the common Latin roots.

My first language is Spanish and trust me... It helps me recognize and guess the roots of words I don't know the meaning of (not only in Spanish). Now I'm taking French and being a native Spanish speaker has helped me learn A LOT.

So basically I know Spanish, English and a little bit of French. Any romance language is good IMO 'cause they all resemble each other.

 

[skierbum]

I think a year of Latin is helpful for vocab -- more than that and you have diminishing returns and the feeling that it isn't helpful.

👍 I am deciding between taking Latin and German next year. I have about beginning of 3rd sem. proficiency in German and need 4 sem. of proficency in a language. I had the same question as the OP, so this helps me immensely. So I think the plan now is to take german for 1 or 2 sem (depending on how I place), then take a sem of latin, then 2 of Spanish. Languages come easily to me, so I think it will help my gpa. I have had the chance to translate already for a german guy in the E.R. while volunteering, in case anyone is wondering how it is actually useful compared to spanish.

Will taking both german and spanish later set me apart in applying in the future to professional school?

 

[Food]

All I can really say is Kerplah my friends, Kerplah.

 

[DrDrummer]

I saved Latin. What did you ever do?

 

[WNT Signaling]

Just because you recognize a root does not mean that the medical word has the same or even similar meaning to the root; you're better off just learning the terminology

I will never forget what my intro Greek teacher in college told my class 'learning Greek is a lot like getting married, and unfortunately, many of you will learn that you should never marry'

 

[SlaskWroclaw18]

Allright I am up to pre-registration for this upcoming semester, and I thought I wanted to do latin but I'll be honest now. My science teachers all throughout hs mentioned at one point or another that learning latin is VERY helpful for students going in health careers to learn medical terms, anatomy, etc. So when I found out I needed to take a language for my honors curriculum, I figured....alright no brainer, Latin. But now after reading this thread and some consideration, I am deciding between Latin or German.
Like I mentioned several posts ago, I took 5 years of Spanish in high school and I grew up in a Polish household so I am decent in Polish.
So Latin or German?

 

[Forven]

my sister graduated with a major in latin and classics. a chunk of her PS was about how majoring in latin would help her in medical school.

she got in. don't know if that was the reason though 😎