Today we were having quite a funny conversation in the office about our experiences with the Latin language. When I got back to my desk, I thought that it was actually quite an interesting topic, so here we go with a blog post!

In Italy, Latin is quite a common subject for the students of the liceo, the type of high school whose focus is preparing people for university. Most students study it for 5 years, as I had to do. However, to put it in Facebook terms, I would be defined as ‘in a complicated relationship’ with Latin, so let’s not enquire any further about my (lack of) Latin successes… In Britain, however, Latin is considered quite a high-brow subject. It is hardly ever available in state schools, so it is usually linked with going to a private school or college.

Latin has always been praised as a good exercise before learning a live foreign language. It has several cases, declinations and tenses, which prepare your brain for languages such as Finnish and German. Also, the activity of learning a language keeps your brain fit, like jogging every day with your neurones! In addition, Latin proves to be very useful when it comes to law and medicine, although for the latter ancient Greek is actually paramount. Also, after learning Latin, you will definitely find it easier to learn another Romance language, such as Spanish, Italian, French and Rumanian, as they have a lot in common.

Once spoken by the Romans and considered as a lingua franca throughout the Middle Age, today Latin is still the official language of the State of Vatican City, where you can find the only cash machine in the world whose language is –  guess what! – Latin!