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While technically Latin may not be the native language of any people living today, it's still ever present in the world. Latin especially comes alive in English. Our alphabet is the Latin alphabet. Many of our prefixes, suffixes, and quite a few of our common phrases are, or come from, Latin. It's an official language of Vatican City, and it is used as the language of reference for translating important religious documents into modern languages.
Many scholars believe learning Latin is good brain exercise and can help you increase your vocabulary as half the English language is based on Latin words and roots. Ergo, studying Latin can help you learn more English vocabulary and master other languages.
Sunday, December 10th
If you've ever wanted to learn an ancient language like Latin, whether for fun conversation or for historical or technical study, Rosetta Stone fills the bill. It teaches us Latin just like we learned our first language, and has speech-recognition technology to let you know how well you're speaking it. Choose between a yearly subscription billed month-to-month, or a lifetime plan with unlimited access to all Rosetta Stone languages. This is a tried-and-true method for learning another language, and Rosetta Stone earns our highest rating among the options for Latin lessons.
If you're not into learning Latin with flashcards, filling in the blanks, repeating yourself after a recorded voice, not getting feedback on your written or spoken Latin, maybe you'd like to learn from a real person. Italki offers Latin teachers who are ready to offer you classes or just one-time tutoring.
Latin is one of Mondly's newer languages offered in their long list of offerings. They use the latest technology where you can create an avatar as your online "teacher." The program offers game-like scoring so you can compete against yourself or you can compete against others across the globe. These Latin lessons are fun and affordable: definitely worth considering.
Preply offers professional tutors who can help you learn Latin, whether you want to speak it or read classical literature. You'll select from a list of Latin tutors/teachers and create a one-on-one learning plan that works for you. No matter where you or they are in the world, there's a tutor available when you are.
Udemy was the first platform of its kind, offering reasonably-priced online classes in a wide variety of subjects. The courses are as low as $14.99, which is quite affordable. Since the instructors are free to upload their classes, there are more than 1,000 to choose from. Enjoy taking Latin and then earn their certificate upon completion. This platform is a little more choose-your-own-adventure than some, but it's still a solid option for Latin lessons.
If you want to choose your Latin topics of study and the order in which you learn them, such as the Latin alphabet, ordering in a restaurant, the Roman Empire, a book of the Bible, and so on, LingQ allows you to do just that. Tell LingQ the level you want to start out at, and go. However, the relatively unstructured nature of these Latin lessons may be hard for some students to follow. LingQ gets a good-not-great rating from us.
Originally, Latin was spoken in Rome, and morphed over the years, from Old Latin to New Latin and even Contemporary Latin, which is used in the Catholic church. Pope Francis often tweets in Latin to his over 900,000 followers. With the spread of the Roman empire, Latin was transformed into the many Romance languages we know today: Spanish, Catalan, French, Romanian, Portuguese, and Italian. So, some people would say that Latin lives on.
Latin certainly isn't dead in science. Latin terminologies are widespread in medicine, names of body parts, and names of diseases. The system used for naming plants and animals is founded in both Latin and Greek, and Latin terms form the roots of philosophical study.
Latin is quite alive in legal terms. Habeas corpus, ex post facto, and pro bono are familiar terms in real court cases as well as popular TV and online legal dramas.
Do you still need more reasons to learn Latin? It will surely help you in the fields of science, philosophy, law, and some theology. It can also help you with the study of other languages, especially the Romance languages mentioned above. Latin's not conversational? Julius Caesar would disagree.
Which Latin lessons are right for you? You've got a lot of options! Here are a few things to keep in mind that can help you narrow them down:
TopConsumerReviews.com has tested and reviewed the top options for Latin lessons available today. We're confident that with this information, you'll find no reason not to carpe diem -seize the day-and take your first Latin lesson!
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