Latin..is it helpful?

[phatsebz]

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hey everyone i was thinking about taking Latin courses during my undergrad in addition to spanish because i know scientific nomenclature is typically in latin or is derived from latin.....have any of you found knowledge of latin useful during med school?

 

[IndyZX]

unless you think you might find latin really intellectually rewarding, i wouldnt do it. (besides, half the stuff is from greek anyway)

find out if your school has a medical terminology course, because i took that freshman year. it was in the classics department.

 

[katrientje]

In high school I took Latin for four years, and sometimes I'm 'happy' ( 🙄 ) that I did it because indeed it helped me studying certain names; but actually I kind of hated the language itself. We had to read texts about the Romans and Julius Caesar, you have to understand cases like nominative, accusative... and that's a pretty nasty job. Besides knowing what an "army camp" or a "spear" in Latin is won't really help you out in a medical context or so 😉
I think there are many other courses that could help you more than a dead language. You'll have to put too much energy in it compared to the benefits you will enjoy.

 

[VienneseWaltz]

A friend who took a couple of courses in Latin said she found it helpful in the medical nomenclature. I don't know that I would minor in it, but an intro course might help if it interests you.

 

[vixenell]

A friend of mine in med school found that roots, suffixes and prefixes learned in our high school medical science class were ten times as useful as her 6 years of latin.

Just getting a good medical terminology book will be just as helpful, if not moreso.

I second the greek stuff; if you never want to open another dictionary, learn greek.

 

[badgergirl]

you know, i took at etymology class several years ago, and the only thing i can remember from that is that "firmament" does not mean what you think it would. 😉 take a medical terminology class and save yourself from learning verb conjugation and all that other mess...

 

[LukeWhite]

I took Latin for seven years, and though I got a lot out of it, it hasn't really helped me in the getting-ready-for-med-school department at all. Spanish is definitely a good move; you'll find that a knowledge of Spanish makes you a better doctor almost instantly.

If you do have the space to take another language, it certainly can't hurt. No matter where you work, there will be a situation in which you get patients with whom you can't interact without a translator. The more languages the better!

 

[manta]

Originally posted by lukealfredwhite
Spanish is definitely a good move; you'll find that a knowledge of Spanish makes you a better doctor almost instantly.

Ditto. Every day, I wish that I took Spanish instead of German, because every day, I have a handful of Spanish speaking patients, and have never ever had a German speaker.
How much overlap is there between Spanish and Latin? I'm wondering if by learning Spanish, you're exposed to a lot of the helpful suffixes anyway.

 

[md2banthony]

I had Latin as a freshman in high school. I would say that it helped a great deal with learning other languages, as well as increasing my vocabulary. I am able to figure out the meaning of many words that I might otherwise have had no clue about. However, at this point I don't know if I would dedicate a summer to it just to "help" with med school. Relax and enjoy the time instead before school starts!!

Anthony

Texas A&M University College of Medicine
Class of 2007

 

[blackbird03]

I learned Latin as well. And apart from having this great, unsubstantial feeling of being cultured, it has not helped me in any way.

I can't believed I have studied so much of it for nothing . But then again, I didn't know I wanted to be a doctor then.


Do yourself a favor, learn Spanish.

 

[group_theory]

Si hoc signum legere potes, operis boni in rebus Latinus alacribus et fructuosis potiri potes!


Vah! Denuone Latine loquebar? Me ineptum. Interdum modo elabitur

 

[Miss Dr.]

I took Latin for 4 years----
not only is it a pain to learn, but it really has no practical value. save your energy for learning spanish well--THAT language in this country will definitely be more useful to you as a doctor. no doubt about it! personally, i wish i had taken spanish or german or french or any language that isn't "dead".

latin helps with fine-tuning your grammar know how--but, uh, who cares about that?

 

[TroutBum]

Ah, I'm so disheartened to see Latin being trashed in this thread.

To the OP--it probably won't help you much for medicine.

But this is LATIN! The language of Caeser and Virgil. I took for Latin for years, and loved it. Translating the Aeneid may be the one activity in my life that has been, without question, absolutely practically useless, but at the same time one of the most intellectually and personally satisfying things I've ever done.

Take it for the joy and beauty of the classics!

Yes, I know I'm a huge dork.

 

[Asclepius]

I was a Greek major and, like Troutbum, enjoyed the subject for its own sake. In retrospect, I'm not sure it was worth enduring all the "it's Greek to me" jokes I hear.

I find myself recognizing Greek-sounding words, then looking up the meaning in my Greek lexican more often than I recognize the meaning of a new English/science term by knowing its Greek root. Like others have said, you're better off taking a terminology or etymology course than either Latin or Greek if your goal is nothing more than preparation for learning medicine. Greek and Latin are certainly worth learning, but it takes several years to really get something out of it.