Many Languages and words are derived from Latin

Many people think of Latin as a "dead language." It would be more accurate to think of the Romance languages (Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, and Portuguese) as an extension of the language, changed with time. Even English is heavily influenced by Latin, with 58% of English vocabulary having Latin origins. For this reason, studying Latin is highly beneficial to overall language comprehension.

It's Used in Everyday Life

• Medical: In the medical fields, the majority of the words have Latin roots in them.

• Computer Programming: Both computer programming and Latin require similar thought processes. Latin preps your brain to more naturally "problem-solve"

• Law: Many terms are borrowed directly from Latin. For example, it wouldn't hurt to know what terms such as "quid pro quo" or "habeas corpus" are before you're in Law school!

• Culture and Government: America also has an abundance of influence from the Romans, who utilized a Republican form of government, so it gives depth to understanding the politics of America.

• Academia: When it comes to student life, learning about Ancient Rome is applicable across all academic subjects. For example, Mythology and Latin Literature are the basis for many modern works of English literature.

Improves on your English

Learning the conventions and grammar of Latin naturally reinforces English conventions by introducing those ideas into Latin. Take, the tense of a verb: By practicing through translation, you understand differences between tenses in Latin. Through studying verb tenses, you would have a better chance at catching verb-tense agreement mistakes in English that are highly missed in tests and exams, and improve on your sentence structure. This is especially beneficial for standardized testing.

It's fun!

Latin is like a puzzle to solve and over time, you begin to see improvements and get a sense of achievement when translating correctly. You can also just do it for the intellectual curiosity and the fun of learning something new. There's also the Latin community and events such as the Latin Forum and Regionals that we participate in.

On Fridays during class, there are fun activities (e.g., watching a film) and sometimes food for parties brought by students to enjoy together to celebrate Roman culture.