It's a common question: Why take time to study "dead" languages like Ancient Greek and Latin? 

Here are a some very good reasons: 

• Studying ancient languages that nobody uses anymore inculcates a systematic understanding of the way that almost all languages work. Since nobody speaks Ancient Greek or Latin, we have to learn them from the "bones" up, as it were. Hence, we come to know our own language(s), be it English, Spanish, or others, better and more thoroughly. 

• Additionally, nearly half of all words in the English language are derived (cognates or derivatives) from Latin, and some 35 percent from Greek, and familiarity of Classical languages enhances one's general vocabulary immensely. 

• Classical languages also form the vast majority of the words used in STEM fields, such as medicine, anatomy, biology, etc., as well in law. Students who study Classical languages perform at the highest percentiles on standardized tests like the MCAT, LSAT, and GRE. This is true for students of all ethnicities and economic backgrounds. 

• Through learning Classical languages, we learn not only vocabulary and structure, but grammar, syntax, and aesthetics, which make communication more precise and pleasing, and since mastery of language and clarity of communication are among the most common denominators for success, they are a fast track to prosperity for everyone, irrespective of one's background. 

• In sum, one ought never to underestimate the profound place that language holds in the human experience. Language is culture (Latin: cultus, i.e., that which is cultivated), and so it is the bedrock of culture and the foundation of all diversity. 

• Classical languages — far from being mere antiquarian curiosities — are practical, and they convey ethical truths that lie beneath the confusions of our modern world. As citizens living in consensually governed societies, we trace our political values to the Greeks and Romans (tolerance, ethno-pluralistic curiosity/diversity), and we find that their experiences and insights remain, centuries later,  as signposts for us.

• And last, but certainly not least: once one acquires the tools for reading Classical languages, one can embark on a journey through some of the best and most original literature and philosophy humans have produced (inspiration for artists of all media), all of which provide examples, both good and bad, to emulate and to avoid.