Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Stercus Accidit

(That means Shit Happens in Latin – hahaha)


Twice this week I have seen things written in Latin. And made me think…I want to learn Latin.

I have always been interested in Latin (maybe from my Catholic upbringing) and I think it would be fun to take a class or just to read up on the language. I am always in aw of people who speak another language. I know a bit of Spanish, but not enough to hold a conversation that is more than “Hi, my name is Jenn. How are you and where is the bathroom!”


Do you speak another language? Any language you would like to learn?


A bit about Latin: Latin is an ancient Indo-European language that was spoken in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. It was also the de facto international language of science and scholarship in mid and western Europe until the 17th century. Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe. It later evolved into the languages spoken in France, Italy, Romania and the Iberian peninsula, and through them to Central and South America. It existed in two forms: Classical Latin, used in poetry and formal prose, and Vulgar Latin, a more common version spoken by the people. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the rise of the Catholic Church Latin became the ecclesiastical language of the Catholic Church.

5 comments:

  1. My mom knew Latin. I guess they taught it in her high school back in the day. She used to have a box of Latin vocab cards and I tried to learn some words. It didn't work.

    I took 5 years of Spanish in high school and college and can barely say 'hi' now.

    I don't necessarily want to learn another language anymore. I would like to speak with an accent, though. Maybe Irish. Or Australian. British?

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  2. I feel like Latin would be useful for medical reasons and in general trivia situations.

    I speak German and love it. Actually, I majored in it in college and studied abroad as well. Some have told me I am overly enthusiastic about it :)

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  3. i took Russian in college. it was only for a year, but i had to learn the alphabet and how to write in russian, in addition to speaking and reading it. at one point i was pretty good.

    now, all i can say in russian is "no" and "thank you". that's it. LOL.

    i wish i could speak another language. french, maybe.

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  4. I know how to speak Pirate like, really well.

    Does that count? Arrgh!

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  5. That is SO cool you studied German!!! It always sounds like such a badass language!

    And yes, Pirate does count!

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