Studying a foreign language is a requirement for many high schools and colleges. Luckily for many, the JCL experience helps make the study of the classical languages quite fulfilling and even painless at times. But besides the fun connected with JCL conventions, what are the other benefits of studying the classics? Why do guidance counselors and parents urge students to take Latin, considering it a more scholarly endeavor than the study of other languages?

It is a fact that studying any foreign language is academically beneficial to the student, with the learning of another language prompting higher creativity and better problem solving skills. Latin's key position as the foundation of the Romance languages makes it the ideal language to study. A quarter of a billion people in fifty-seven countries speak a Romance language as an official language, and approximately 80% of the words in the Romance languages are derived from Latin. In the English language, the percent is merely 60, but of the words three syllables or more, 90% are derived from Latin. Indeed, it has been suggested that Latin is the single best language to study to prepare for any modern language, from Japanese to German to a Romance language (Portuguese, Romanian, Italian, Spanish, French). Latin is also the universal language for taxonomy, i.e. the science of classifying and naming organisms, and the medical profession develops many of its terms from Latin.

The single most substantial piece of evidence that the study of Latin enhances academic performance is the assessment of standardized test scores. Based on 2001 statistics, the average SAT verbal score for a student who studies Latin is 159 points higher than the overall mean verbal score. Further demonstrating that the study of Latin can be academically beneficial is the performance of Latin students compared to students of other languages. Although all students who take a foreign language class score above the national average, Latin students score well above Spanish students by 82 points, and overcome German and French students by 40 and 32 points, respectively. Additionally, scores increase for each semester a foreign language class is taken.

Why do Latin scholars perform so much better on SAT verbal tests than their peers? Latin facilitates a more thorough understanding of the English language, especially grammatically. (How many students would know that English has a subjunctive were it not for their Latin classes?) The tangible results of the relationship of English words with Latin words are also proven: a group of elementary school children in grades four though six who learned Latin daily for a mere fifteen to twenty minutes for a year tested a grade level higher in vocabulary knowledge. Latin prompts more than word recognition; it develops analytical skills by challenging students with its different word and sentence structures. These analytical skills might be the reason another group of sixth graders who studied Latin a half-hour daily for only five months tested to be nine months more advanced in problem solving skills on a math test. The study of Latin has also been found to help schoolchildren pronounce words better.

The other benefits of taking a Latin course are less tangible, but still as important as outstanding test scores. The Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations have influenced many societies, and learning about these cultures can only enhance students' understanding of the world around them. In the United States, the Greco-Roman influence is especially noted in politics, architecture, and societal values, but Latin does not only help children explore their roots, it begins the discovery of the western world, since the Roman civilization helped shape Europe. America and Europe share a common classical basis for literature, art, and economic systems, to name a few.

Taking a foreign language is beneficial to the development of the student, and Latin is the most advantageous language to learn. Latin helps students develop skills that are needed in both English and math, as well as improve their vocabulary and grammatical knowledge. Taking any foreign language promotes tolerance and appreciation for other cultures, but Latin, as the language of the Romans, connects students with many cultures and other languages. Latin is the gateway to learning other languages and, as a bonus, has a national organization that sponsors conventions for students as one of its ways of promoting Latin as a valuable course of study.

N.B. Although the classics include the study of the Greek language, Latin classes are much more common, especially at the high school level, so most all statistics are based on the study of Latin.

-- Tara Daniel, 2002-2003 TN Torch Co-Editor

One area of Latin that always gives Latin students the most trouble is the pronunciation of words. Admit it, every class has a student who is just helpless when the teacher asks him or her to "responde Latine". The question is raised, however, as to what the correct pronunciation really is. There is no definite way to know, as the Romans never left any explicit pronunciation guides, and the language has been contaminated for the past couple thousand years by scholars and clergy. With Spoken Latin being a contest at JCL Nationals, it is apparent that having a working understanding of how to speak this language is important, but is it really necessary?

Every Latin student has been asked the question before as to why they learn Latin when it is a dead language and no one speaks it. Many teachers seem to follow this approach to their teaching styles, throwing pronunciation to the wind and laying extra stress on translation, grammar, life, mythology, and the other myriads of topics to study about Ancient Rome. Other teachers want Latin to be a more immersive experience, which the student feels his or her way through rather than simply learning through rote memorization. There is no way to determine which method is right or wrong, as each way teaches students to appreciate Latin and recognize its usefulness, even in a world where it is no longer spoken.

The point has been brought up about how much Latin has been changed since the era in which it was spoken as a native language. Supporters of this argument claim there is no need to stir up a fuss about such a comparatively minor point as pronunciation when there are such major areas as letters, specifically j and y, being added, which the Romans never used in their alphabet. In Britain it has recently become the vogue to replace the y and v's in Latin documents with u's. A measure such as this does not bring Latin even close to its roots, as there is still every lowercase letter to convert to uppercase, punctuation to remove, and spaces to be deleted before it even looks like the Latin Ancient Romans used.

The most modern pronunciation rules for Ecclesiastical Latin, the last form of Latin used regularly, were set by Pope St. Pius X. It was his goal to make Ecclesiastical Latin more "Romano"--in the Roman style. If the Roman style is anything like the standard Classical Latin pronunciations taught in school, Pius seems to have achieved his goal, as the rules are all standardized and match the way students are typically taught pronunciations. There is still no way to tell if this pronunciation is near that of true Classical Latin, but it serves its purposes well.

Many teachers seem to take spoken Latin very seriously, as evidenced by many conventions and websites devoted to teaching "proper" pronunciation. Dr. Terrence Tunberg, professor at University of Kentucky, who graced the NJCL convention this past year with a ten-minute speech completely in Latin, runs his own convention for this purpose. It is a ten-day session with workshops and intensive training in understanding spoken Latin and Latin comprehension. The ACL even has its own oral Latin task force to help teachers incorporate spoken Latin into their classroom.

Spoken Latin is one issue where there seems to be no closure. Teachers all have their own determined stance on the issue and rarely change their opinions. Modern day Latin will never be capable of truly reaching the status of emulating Classical Latin, since there is no true blueprint from which to work. The one factor about the issue that will never change is the inevitably clueless student, hopeless in getting his or her point across when it comes to actually speaking Latin.

-- Daniel Taylor, 2002-2003 TN Torch Co-Editor