Are there people that speak latin?
If you study it enough, really master it, is it possible to SPEAK latin? I mean, I don't see why it wouldn't be. It is just like any other language. The only difference is you can't really hear it spoken, and so certain things might be a bit off from 'authentic' latin that was spoken back in the good ol' Roman days...but other than that, seems like it could be done. What is your say on this?
Wikipedia says a million people fluently speak it! Cool.
Tags: latin, roman days, wikipedia
October 24th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Hey, I once attended a Latin lecture in college. That is, a lecture IN Latin, not ON Latin. The lecturer was fluent throughout the 90 minutes. Was quite an experience! Then, I could follow maybe 50-70% of it…
October 24th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I don’t see why you couldn’t speak it. The only problem I can see is with whom you would speak it:).
October 24th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
why not?
October 24th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Yeah, I’m sure there are lots of people who could speak Latin, like Wikipedia said. It’s not really spoken anymore though.
October 24th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
It definately can be spoken. In fact, many Catholics still conduct much of their services in Latin. Latin is a fully functional language and can be used just like any other. It is only considered "dead" because it is no longer the mother tongue of any region.
October 24th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Yes, I took Latin and it is possible to speak it. It is considered a "dead" language so no one really speaks it anymore except in Vatican City.
October 24th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Is good to know latin as well as greek because here is my views on this…when I was taking medical terminology back in 1994 it was pretty simple learning it because I have some background in latin but when you learn medical terminology the root of these words are either latin or Greek, so it was pretty easy to get the latin words first. I used to get good grades when it came to testing and i didn’t even studied but knowing the roots in latin was a lot simpler. It will also help you to have a better understanding other languages like Spanish, French & Italian.
Learn Latin if you’re going for any Medical business that’s for sure. I know doctors have to have an intensive background in Latin.
October 24th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
*lol* I guess you answered your question. But yes, you can actually learn to speak it. I took a latin elective course in high school, where we learned to speak and write it. It’s tough to learn, but worthwhile-once you know latin, it helps A LOT if you want to learn any of the other latin-based languages, like Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, etc.
These will also seem easy by comparison!
October 24th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
There are still Modern languages that have inflected forms etc. in the way that Latin did, so it would be possible.
The main problem is using a vocabulary of ancient Romans in a modern world. There have been so many developments, inventions, even ideas that Romans wouldn’t have had words for.