CONFESSIONS OF A LATIN TEACHER Part 1

Source: Speak Up

Standard: British accent

Language level:  Upper intermediate

CONFESSIONS OF A LATIN TEACHER Part 1

I have a confession to make. As well as being a writer, I am a teacher of Latin (and Ancient Greek).

Do the British study Latin? 50 years ago, a large percentage of school children did. Now it is mainly taught in private schools. Many teachers retire schools. Many teachers retire every years; only two universities train new teachers. Many students classical works only in translation. Surely this means the end of Latin – and, some will say, good riddance.

PROPHETS OF DOOM

Journalists and other prophets of doom constantly predict the end of Latin. To me it seems comical to predict the death of an extinct language.

When I admit I am a Latin teacher, people look at me as if I were a dodo. They often send me news paper articles about:

      How useless Latin is.

      How important Latin is.

      How Latin is making a comeback.

      Why do people get so worked up about it? Somehow  Latin provides a focus for all our fears about education: vocational against no-vocational, privileged against under- privileged.

      WHO AND WHY?

Why do we study Latin? It’s not the basis of our language, as it is for Italian, Spanish and Portuguese speakers. Yet, despite the Germanic structure of English perhaps 45 per cent of our vocabulary is Romance-derived. Significantly, intellectual vocabulary is often Latinate the language of science, art and technology.

Who learns Latin today? One definition of the typical English gentleman is: “Someone who once knew the classics but has forgotten them: “We think of aristocratic Oxbridge comics showing off on clever TV shows: actor/writer Stephen Fry: John Cleese and his Monty Python gang: Boris Johson, mayor of London.

This elitism elicits anger as well as admiration. The Campaign for Plain English has fought a war against unnecessary Latin layers no longer use Latin phrases where there are English alternative. Yet we love the scene in Monty Python’s Life of Brian where the centurion correct Brian’s graffiti. To get the joke properly, you need to know Latin. “Romanes eunt domus” is nonsense; he means “Romani, ite domum” (Romans, go home).

EVERYDAY LANGUAGE

Everyday English is full of Latin words. Many are borrowed directly; many more are derivations.

Science (from Latin) and technology (Greek) have filled English with classical vocabulary: galaxy, protons, electric, democracy and telephone (Greek): universe, circuit, election and Prime Minister (Latin): Bones are Latin, from patella to clavicle. Organs and diseases are often Greek: stomach, leukemia. Botanists and zoologists give plants and animals classical names. Other school subjects have Greek names: geography, history, maths, psychology, philosophy.

WHERE NEXT?

It’s all Greek to me is a phrase from Shakespeare used to dismiss anything we can’t understand. Yet we still admire those who have Latin on their curriculum vitae: George Bush Senior’s notoriously ignorant vice president, Dan Quayle, regretted not studying Latin harder in school when he visited Latin America!

People pay me to translate club mottos, degree certificates and tattoos. They buy furniture, stationery and T-shirts with Latin on them. David Beckham has Latin tattoos (and the Roman numeral VII). Why? Because it seems important. Latin has dignity, grandeour, gravitas, so, even if you think it is useless, remember: quod latine, dictum est altum vdetur, or What ever you say in Latin seems deep.

PRONUNCIATION AND SPELLING

English speakers pronouncing Latin are confused. When a word is normal English, it is unashamedly anglicised: alias, alibi, audio, doctor, exit, flux, memorandum, status. Quasi in English has long and I sound. The second c in cancer is soft, the g in agenda is also soft, and there is a j in de jure.

When the English adopt a whole phrase, their pronunciation is a little more Latinate: sine qua non, me culpa, modus vivendi, quid pro quo. When the English sing Latin in church, they use Latinale style. But in school they follow stand and European Erasmus pronunciation –and is amusing when the English  read phrases like arma virumque cano…”

When British English adopts Greek words like encyclopaedia, it keeps the ae after the “p”. Whereas the American use a simple “e,” as in encyclopedia. This causes confusion with names. Aeschylus usually can either be written with an oe, or a simple e at the beginning, while Oedipus can either be written with an oe, or a simple e at the beginning: Edipus. And Daedalus can either be written with an ae – Daedalus – or with an e –Dedalus. And we love Latin abbreviations, even if we rarely know what they stand for, but here are some example.

AD Anno Domini

Am ant meridiem

Exempli gratia – by way of example

Ie id est: that is, to explain

Viz videlicet: namely

QED quod erat demonstrandium.

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