Studying Latin is altogether a very interesting experience. You loved it, you hated it, at times you felt smart, and at other times you felt like an idiot. Let's reminisce, shall we?
PHASE 1: The "Smart" Choice
It's the beginning of sixth grade and it's time to choose a language. For most people, this language will stick with you throughout high school, but they won't tell you that. This is a pivotal moment. If you're anything like me, you chose Latin for two reasons:
1. It sounded cool. Plus Spanish is something we did in elementary school. Pshh, we're in middle school now.
2. The adults told us it would be helpful in the long run. "It'll help you with your SAT score", they said, "And it will improve your vocabulary."What they forgot to tell us was that it is an unspoken language, meaning that it will not enable us to make use of the language in non-academic settings. Or so we thought.
PHASE 2: The Bore
You're in seventh grade. You've been taking Latin for over a year. What have you learned? The words for 'hello,' 'goodbye,' 'boy,' 'girl,' 'teacher,' 'sit,' tree,' 'Rome,' and a few names. You have been told a couple of myths of gods and goddesses, but you don't remember much of it. I'm pretty sure the highlight of middle school Latin was learning that "defenestration" is a derivative of the Latin word for "window."
Exhilarating, really.
It's cool though, you got to watch "Hercules" at least four times a year. So there's that.
PHASE 3: Regret
Latin in freshman year of high school hits you like a ton of bricks. You realize how little you actually know. You envy your middle school Latin friends who switched to Spanish for high school. There are seven cases associated with nouns? There are over 10 types of the ablative case?! Why are there no spaces in the original text? I can't read it without spaces! Latin poetry has it's own kind of meter? What the heck does dactylic hexameter even mean?! You start to feel like Meg did all those times you watched "Hercules," and you regret your decision to stay. You start to think you should've switched to Spanish after all.
PHASE 4: The norm.
You get used to it. Latin class becomes manageable. It's not bad, but not great. The only time it's remotely cool is when you get excused from class to take the National Latin Exam each year, which you didn't prepare for at all outside of class. In class you watch movies about past emperors and doze off. Your teacher lets you watch "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," every year, but even though you've seen it multiple times the content makes little sense.
PHASE 5: It starts to be...fun?
As an upperclassman in high school things start to look up. You start learning more interesting aspects of the language and culture. Apparently in Rome using thumbs such as in a "thumbs up" signified condemning someone to death. You read the works of Catullus and Virgil's "Aeneid," which is just a more entertaining spin-off of the "Iliad."
You start to enjoy the routine of learning new words and grammar, and you enjoy reading and writing with it. Being able to write in different verb tenses makes the stories more stimulating. Translations made a great study break. The National Latin Exam also starts to be more interesting. This time you actually understand the questions you are being asked, and you feel like you have a chance at succeeding.
PHASE 6: Reminiscence
You miss it. You miss conjugating verbs. You miss being able to speak Latin off of the top of your head when the words came so easily. You realize that the Latin you learned is actually really useful for phrases used in law, science, culture, other languages, and other areas of academia. You understand specific cultural references that you wouldn't have otherwise. You re-watch "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," and you realize it's actually pretty funny.
After all the emotions felt in the years of taking Latin, I'm so glad I stuck with it. Latin taught me that learning a language is not only super useful, but can also be really enjoyable.
