Latin vocabulary is extremely important in our intellectual life. There are three important benefits to be gained by the study of Latin vocabulary.
Benefit #1. Latin Vocabulary will improve your English vocabulary
The English language is a difficult language to learn. The words we use in English are derived from a number of different languages–Greek, Latin, French, German, Arabic, Old English and Middle English. If a student doesn’t know these languages, he has to simply memorize the meanings of English words. This is not an efficient way to learn the language.
Because English words are derived from Latin words, the knowledge of one Latin word may unlock the meaning of many English words. For example, the Latin verb ducere means “to lead”. The knowledge of this one Latin word helps us to understand dozens of English words: abduct, adduce, conduct, educe, induce, introduce, produce, reduce, and so on.
The knowledge of Latin vocabulary will improve your English vocabulary.
Benefit #2. Latin Vocabulary will help you to read Latin
In many schools and colleges, students spend years taking “Latin” classes, but never learn to read Latin. They study Latin Grammar, learn the forms of nouns, verbs, pronouns and participles–but struggle to read the language. The reason for this is that they do not spend enough time mastering Latin vocabulary.
You learned to speak and read your native language because, from your earliest days, you began learning the names of things. Your parents taught you, “This is a book. Say ‘book’.” This went on for hours and hours every day and, by the age of 3 or 4, you began speaking English using the vocabulary you had learned–with no Grammar lessons at all. You learned to use verbs and pronouns and the other parts of speech in the same way. You learned to speak English by learning English vocabulary. When the time came to read, you learned to recognize the spoken words you knew in writing.
The same is true for Latin. To learn to read the language, we have to know the vocabulary. Studying Latin vocabulary–more than Grammar–will help you to read Latin. I explain this in detail in my video, “How to Read Latin–and Why Modern Students Can’t Do It.”
Benefit #3. Latin Vocabulary will help you study other subjects
When my older children were young, I made them study Latin. They complained that Latin was a “dead language” and that “no one studies Latin today”–and they were right. Latin is certainly a dead language, but Moses and Aristotle are also dead–and they, like Latin, are very influential in the world today. It is also true that almost no one studies Latin today, but that’s because they’re not wise.
When these children of mine became adults, they began studying and training for their careers–one a military police officer studying Criminal Justice, another a military combat medic studying health and natural sciences–they began to realize that their knowledge of Latin made their studies easy. All arts and sciences have their own vocabulary, and learning this vocabulary is one of the main challenges of our studies. The vocabulary of these different arts and sciences, however, was derived from Latin and Greek words.
Therefore, studying Latin Vocabulary will help you study other subjects.
In the Classical Liberal Arts Academy, not only do we offer a course in Latin vocabulary, but we offer the best course you’ll find anywhere. Best of all, you can study the course for free in the Academy Study Center. You can also enjoy the free video tutorials on Latin vocabulary by subscribing to the Academy YouTube channel.
God bless your studies,
Mr. William C. Michael
Headmaster
