Duolingo has just started a Latin course. I learned Latin at school. I was always sorry I had to learn Latin instead of Spanish or German. However, Latin sometimes has its uses.
Latin Words in English
For example, for a start, English words. When I was a teenager I could not distinguish the words agriculture and horticulture. Then my Latin class teacher told us that ager was field and hortus was garden. I could instantly remember that agriculture was done by farmers as mentioned in the newspaper. The word horticulture was the interest of my local gardening club mentioned in their newsletter.
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You can also recognise similar words in French.
You find Latin roots in Spanish.
More Latin pops up in Italian.
Latin and Italian
In school I learned amo, amas, amat, meaning I love, you love, he, she or it loves. The I comes from the ending in amo. So when I started learning Italian where the personal pronoun is often unnecessary because the ending tells you who is speaking, the idea was already familiar to me from learning Latin.
Latin and Portuguese
Latin also helps with understanding signs in Portuguese in Portugal. We read signs very easily in Madeira.
In South America the Brazilians speak Portuguese. Spanish is spoken all over South America, in the Latin American countries.
Latin is the basis of languages in Western Europe.
Pick up a newspaper or leaflet in a European country and see the word based on ager or hortus and you know what the subject is. You can read the signs to an event or a college. You can identify a place on a map.
Dictionaries
For fun, you can write a list of Latin words in the notes page or the back or front inside cover of your dictionary. Each time you look up a word, if you see the origin is Latin, write it in the Latin list.
Duolingo is the free language learning website which you can access on a computer, laptop or mobile phone.
You can also read Wikipedia in Latin. You can look up Latin words in the Latin Wiktionary.
Plants
Latin is used in plant names. Prunus for plum, from which we get prunes, our English word for dried plums.
Latin words are sometimes variants derived from Greek.
Latin terms are used in law.
Some dictionaries have a list of Latin words at the back. In a large library go to the reference section and look for the large dictionaries.
When buying a dictionary you might check that it has origins of words (etymology), and a list of Latin words at the back.
Books in Latin
Wiki has a long list of Latin children's and adults books, including Winnie the Pooh, the Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, books by Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.
| Latin title | Original title | Original author | Translator | Publisher | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vestes Novae Imperatoris | The Emperor's New Clothes, (Danish original: Kejserens Nye Klæder) | Andersen, Hans Christian | Landis, Ferderick | American Classical League | 1969 |
| Amor est sensus quidam peculiaris | Love is a Special Way of Feeling[2] | Anglund, Joan Walsh | Lyne, G. M. | London: Collins | 1969 |
| Superbia et Odium | Pride and Prejudice | Austen, Jane | Cotton, Thomas | Ephemeris.Alcuinus | |
| Magus Mirabilis in Oz | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | Baum, L. Frank | Hinke, C. J. and Van Buren, George | Berkeley, CA: Scholar Press | 1987 |
| Nuticulus Satyrique | Noddy and the Goblins | Blyton, Enid | Brice, Elizabeth | Penguin Books | 1993 |
| Ursus Nomine Paddington | A Bear Called Paddington |
Latin In Church
On Amazon you can find Latin prayers, which used to be the norm in Roman Catholic churches worldwide.
Last but not least, you can read years and names on Roman monuments on ruins and in museums. I have visited Roman ruins in:
Italy - The Colosseum
The UK - England
Hadrian's Wall, border or England and Scotland.
Take an organized holiday or DIY walk of 3 days or more, bus in summer connecting the chief museums of Vindolanda and Chesters or drive there. Stay in the nearby city of Carlisle.
Wales - museum in Caerleon, just across the border, a short drive
Israel
Jordan
Useful Websites
duolingo.com
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Latin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Church
https://www.etymonline.com/word/-logy
UK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian%27s_Wall_Path
About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English, French and other languages, translator of packaging in English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese.
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