Learning Latin in Birmingham

[Reading Mum]

I did o level Latin, got a b grade, vaguely remember pater, mater, a dog, caecilius and stuff. Don't meet too many fellow Latin speakers nowadays

I also did o level many moons ago.

Caecilius est in horto is about all I remember these days but it does vaguely help with Italian vocab - I did find my way to a train station after I saw a sign saying 'ferro via' which I translated as iron road.

My DD did Latin club at lunchtime for a term but languages really are not her thing.

[mike1880]

Of all the Grammars we visited the only one that taught Latin is KES Stratford Upon Avon.

It's an option at Five Ways (one of the reasons I hoped to like it better than CHG).

Mike

[um]

Thanks for letting me know Mike - somehow I missed that info!

[poiuyt]

How relevant is Latin today? Its a bit like welsh language, quaint, but does not travel well.

[mike1880]

That's a rather slippery slope though isn't it? When did you last derive the volume under a curve by integration? Calculate Young's modulus? Most people will not use most of their education (I'd go so far as to say that most will only use a tiny fraction of their education). We could save an awful lot of money by rolling back 100 years of education reform and having most people enter the jobs market at the age of 11.

Mike

[poiuyt]

Contribute tax at an early age, sounds good to me

[Reading Mum]

latin forms the basis for a number of modern languages plus its very useful for medicine. I found it helped when I was studying horticulture as a hobby.

[poiuyt]

and the side of the one pound coin

[UmSusu]

Poiuyt, I would agree that it is not for everyone, but even in contemporary society, our culture and language is rich with references to Latin (and not just on the pound coin!) - especially medicine, the sciences, the legal profession.

If you also imagine that most books in England were written in Latin and only really started being written in the vernacular English some time after the printing revolution of the fifteenth century, then that means that all the subsequent advances in knowledge, philosophy, technology, medicine etc of the Renaissance and early modern period have their foundations in Latin literature....which of course was influenced by the literary contributions of other cultures........

So you see my predicament now? When I get these strange thoughts at night and decide to go on a literary adventure tracing something as ridiculous as the history of language and 'ideas', I need to know that there enough people out there who know Latin to be able to help me in this quest : is that a convincing argument? Please say yes

[poiuyt]

consentio