From the article: Is Latin Easy? A Discussion of the Ease of Learning Latin
Ancient/Classical History Forum Poster KarateFrog asked the following question: "One of my friends recommended that I learn Latin (I just completed 5 years of French) because it is "straightforward". How easy is Latin compared to the other Romantic languages?"
Can you help him decide? Please use complete sentences, in standard English, with capitalization and punctuation. Why Is/Isn't Latin Easy
Learning Latin
- Latin is no more difficult to learn than any other language. It is a little more involved as there is more grammar than other languages but if you pay attention from the git go you should have no problems learning the language. Also, because Latin is a "dead" language, you don't have to consider new slang expressions having to be translated every couple or three years.
- —franary
It's all up to You
- Latin can be either hard or easy depending on how you approach its study. Start at the basics and build from there. You'll be surprised at how quickly you pick it up regardless of all its various word endings. If you approach the study of Latin step by step, there's no problem, you will be able to understand the working of the language and its nuances.
- —franary
Latin is a puzzle
- For me, Latin is a puzzle. The reason I like Latin poetry better than prose is the same reason I prefer crosswords to jigsaws. There is a frame, inside of which are lots of clues. Words balance, even if they don't follow a strict word order. If one translation doesn't work for a word, you can probably find a better alternative. What makes it warrant the label "easy" is that it can be solved -- unlike certain modern languages.
- —gillns
