Latin vs. Spanish

[RDickerson]

Here's an interesting question. When faced with the language requirement, which of these two languages in your opinion is more useful?

Latin is the "scientific language", and has a lot of use in medical terms, however with Spanish, it opens you up to another culture, another form of communication.

Any take on these two?

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[jbrice1639]

latin certainly has a lot of academic advantages, but with the quantity of spanish-speaking patients you're likely to encounter, spanish is probably the most useful.

that said, i took german. 😀

 

[Schaden Freud]

Here's an interesting question. When faced with the language requirement, which of these two languages in your opinion is more useful?

Latin is the "scientific language", and has a lot of use in medical terms, however with Spanish, it opens you up to another culture, another form of communication.

Any take on these two?

Latin is a LOT tougher than Spanish. More useful? Probably not.

 

[brains]

I think Latin will be more useful to you when learning about medical terminology, chemistry, the origin of words, etc.

When dealing with patients, however, you're going to need the spanish in order to communicate. I think the spanish is more important than the Latin, but I would take Latin anyway. I forget which class it is, but you''ll get a dose of it somewhere down the line.

 

[potato51]

I took Latin in college. I enjoyed it because I was an ancient history junkie, but looking back I wish I had taken Spanish instead. Much more relevant and probably a greater challenge since I'm guessing you'll be tested on how you speak it too.

If you read a lot or read a list of medical terminologies, you should pick up all the useful Latin you want when it comes to medicine.

 

[vtucci]

Spanish. No if ands or buts. Keep in mind though that spanish is based on latin.

 

[Vox Animo]

Took latin for four years in high school. Best Choice Ever. It a lot harder than spanish though. It will help you out a ton in English grammar. And if you learn latin, it will be easier to learn spanish.

of course at my high school most of the spanish teachers sucked and people didn't learn anyway, and the latin teacher was awesome. Honestly, after taking it i could understand alot of written and spoken spanish. Of course have a tendency to use latin words when i speak it though accidently.

 

[Dr Trek 1]

I took both.

After you master Latin, any foregin language then becomes very easy to learn.

I would say, in terms of vocab. etc., Latin has been incredibly useful to me. But it never hurts to know Spanish.

 

[n3ur05ur930n]

Here's an interesting question. When faced with the language requirement, which of these two languages in your opinion is more useful?

Latin is the "scientific language", and has a lot of use in medical terms, however with Spanish, it opens you up to another culture, another form of communication.

Any take on these two?

Depends on where you are located and where you are planning to live/practice. I took Spanish, French, and German and I speak Polish but I never took Latin. If you have to choose between one or other I say Spanish. It is invaluable in a medical setting and even will help in your daily life (depending on where you live). Plus it makes further languages easier to learn. Spanish is a pretty easy foreign language to learn as far as foreign languages go.

buena suerte.

 

[dbhvt]

ok. you are asking which is more usefull. a language that is spoken by ~400million worldwide, or a language that is spoken by 0 people worldwide.

 

[leumas614]

Take Spanish. Don't take Latin because you think it will help you learn the medical terms more easily. You can learn the terms like everyone else but not everyone else speaks Spanish.

 

[Elastase]

Take Spanish! You will get to use it with patients, especially since the Latino community is the fastest growing population is the US.

 

[RAD11]

Take both 😉 I'm sure both will be helpful.

 

[PurpleHaze]

I took Latin for 4 years in high school. It might have helped on the SAT... and it helps with root words and things of that nature. BUT that's about it. Take Spanish. It'll make your life easier later.

 

[shantster]

I've wanted to take Latin for the longest time. Unfortunately, they only offer one class of Latin I by us and it's always conflicted with another class.

That said, it would have to depend on your goals. If you want to take a language that you want to use to talk to other people, then take Spanish. If you want to take one that exposes you to the older cultures and is used in a lot of root words, then Latin.

I agree with other people that it will be easier for you to later learn Spanish (or most other language) after learning Latin so if you have the chance to learn other languages later, then Latin may be the better one to start with.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

I had planned on taking the last summer before med school off, but I'm actually taking a couple of Spanish courses to try to get back the years of Spanish I had in high school years ago. I'm doing it for a very practical reason - I know that I will encounter Spanish-speaking patients wherever I go - and I would prefer to be able to chat pleasantly with them rather than just ask clinical questions for a basic physical exam. Importantly to me, however, is that if I chose to go further West for residency, not speaking any Spanish does not help your application. I'd like to keep all options open.

Having said that - on the practical side, Spanish is a beautiful but comparatively simple language with mercifully few irregular verbs. It's much easier to acquire a decent working vocabulary in Spanish than it is in English, which has often has 20 different words, all with subtle shades of meaning and all taken from different languages, for the same concept or object.

 

[Doglover4fever]

I took latin in high school, got a 4 on the AP exam, and passed out of my college language requirement. That being said, latin is a million times harder than spanish. Even in high school, I was one of only 9 people who took latin, and one of only 3 to pass the AP exam. In the AP SPanish class, everyone got a 5. Spanish is more practical because it is a spoken language. Latin is a good training exercise for your brain. It will teach you how to think in a new way.

 

[e_phn]

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[bbam44]

I took 4 yrs latin and 6 of spanish. Latin helps you learn a lot of words in general, especially if you remember things well and can make such connections. Spanish will be much more useful if having to deal with hispanic patients, which in the long run is certainly the more important choice. Latin is a very interesting lang, but if youre looking for practicality, spanish is certainly the way to go. PS in anatomical naming, Latin comes in useful only to a moderate degree contrary to what most people will tell you. It is fun, however, to know what some words mean because they are straight from Latin (Foramen Magnum= great hole) when others just memorize them for the purpose of memorization.

 

[SeventhSon]

if you plan on being a GP or something similar, take spanish. Your stock will go up tremendously in terms of communication with patients.

if you plan on trying to get into a competitive residency (surgery) where you dont talk with patients, take latin. Lots of medical terms are derived from latin and it will be a slam dunk and could help you remember terms, and that could help for boards.

if you're not sure, take spanish.

 

[MeowMix]

if you plan on trying to get into a competitive residency (surgery) where you dont talk with patients, take latin. Lots of medical terms are derived from latin and it will be a slam dunk and could help you remember terms, and that could help for boards.

If you want to be a surgeon, the highest and best use for your Latin will be pimping students in the future.

 

[Doctor~Detroit]

whoa, let's take a step back here, folks.

i would argue that medical terms are equally if not more strongly rooted in ancient greek compared to latin. latin is hard, but ancient greek is even harder (more irregular verbs, fewer english cognates). latin is useful for english terms in general and ancient greek is useful for medical terms in particular, but because of how they vary in difficulty i would recommend someone take one year of ancient greek and a couple years of latin. that would serve as a good foundation for medical and non-medical english. then i recommend moving on to serious study in spanish for multiple years.