Latin: far from being a ‘dead language’

October 19, 2018

• Topical

In January, it was announced that Richmond school in Yorkshire would be ceasing the teaching of Latin come the new school year, for the first time since its foundation 600 years ago. This was met with discussions about the importance of maintaining (or introducing) Latin as a subject on the school curriculum throughout the UK – but why choose to study a subject that many have dubbed a ‘dead language’?

Many pit Latin against modern languages, arguing that it is far more useful to study Spanish, French, or even Mandarin. It seems a valid argument: if one is given the choice to learn a language that they could one day utilize with great proficiency, why would they give preference to learning one that they will never employ in an oral capacity?

Perhaps this is exactly where Latin has met its greatest hindrance. In our categorisation of it as another ‘language’, our own semantics have ironically caged this subject in a bracket with a group of modern languages that are taught, and employed, in an entirely different way, for an entirely different purpose.

Indeed, learning Spanish would allow one to study or work in Spain, it would open up their career prospects to a world of international business, and allow them to converse with people from different parts of the world. Moreover, bilingualism is known to have clear cognitive advantages, especially in children. However, learning Latin comes with its own set of rewards.

The study of Latin challenges intellect with its tough translations and grammar structures, it pushes creativity with the rich history that surrounds it, and it hones transferrable skills with the academic rigour that it encourages. Beyond other languages, it can be compared with the study of mathematics, history and English. In fact, at the their foundation, the curricula at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge focussed on the study of Classics.

However, this has become another obstacle for those promoting the study of Latin, and Classics. It has long had a reputation as an elitist subject, and it remains profoundly more popular in London and the south-east than in the rest of the UK. Though it is currently taught in more state schools than private, and organisations such as Classics for All are working hard to expand its accessibility, it remains proportionately more popular in the private sector.

Indeed, former Latin students include Oxbridge alumni Boris Johnson and Tom Hiddleston; however, they also include to the likes of J. K. Rowling, an alumna of Exeter University, whose knowledge of Latin and ancient mythology inspired her to bring to life a world of centaurs, phoenixes, and ‘Severus’ Snape.

Beyond this, it is widely accepted that studying Latin makes the acquisition of other languages (particularly the Romance languages which stem from Latin) easier. In addition, though English is a Germanic language, knowledge of Latin syntax aids children (and adults) in the understanding of English grammar.

Thus, the study of Latin is not just the study of qui, quae, quod. It affords its students a much broader wealth of opportunities, even beyond their schooling in the subject. As classical scholar and patron of Classics for All, Professor Mary Beard puts it, ‘the cultural language of the classics continues to be an essential and ineradicable dialect of “Western culture”’.