by Sarah Arnette

Created on: November 04, 2009

Latin, the dead language that is very much alive. All over the world, people study Latin daily. This is because Latin is used so often, without anyone realizing that they are using it. They use Latin when trying to figure out the meaning of a word. They use Latin when studying a Romance (Rome based) language. They use Latin to help study for their SATs. Latin, the dead language of the living world.

United States and other English or Romance speaking countries around the world use Latin on a constant basis. This is because most of our sentence structures and word structures come from Latin roots. Want proof of this? Go to any English or Romance based language dictionary and look up the root of the word. Most of the time it will say Latin. Want more proof, look in your old language text book and it will undoubtedly have some reference as to how Latin influenced English or whatever Romance language you are studying.

Ever look at a word and not know what it means? Then you look at the prefix or ending of the word and get some idea as to the meaning. Then you look at the root of the word and the whole thing come crystal clear? Much like the word composting. Com mean to bring together, post is the root, which is to stay, ing is the action tense. All Latin.

Ever learn a new language? Ever try? Ever notice how all of the Romance languages have similarities? This is because they are all based in Latin. They all use Latin, and therefore the study of Latin can make it easier to learn languages such as Spanish, French, English, and Italian. Often times there will be words in all Romance languages that are only slightly different in all of the languages, making it easier to understand another if fluent in one.

Did you know that Latin is used to help improve SAT and ACT scores? This is because there is a reading comprehension and a vocabulary section on both tests. The study of Latin can help students better understand the pieces that they just read in their native language. The study of Latin can also help to enable to student to figure out more words in the vocabulary section by means of dissecting the word and inferring a meaning. Want your child to have a better chance at a scholarship to a good college, enroll them in Latin while in high school.

For Latin being classified as a dead language, it is pretty much alive and well. While the language itself is not spoken in every day communication anymore, it is frequently studied and used by the general population.

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