miércoles, 10 de abril de 2013

Is Latin a dead language?



Upon reading many articles on this topic, I have come to the conclusion that the existence of the Latin language is unclear.
Is Latin a dead language?
On one hand, many people consider it is a dead language because it no longer exists as the main language for any group of people. It also is a language which has not developed and therefore it cannot convey modern concepts of this day and age.
On the other hand, some people believe that it is a very much present language for us, as many languages emerged from Latin, such as Spanish, French, Romanian, Portuguese and Italian, not to mention hundreds of scientific words with Latin roots which are used in other languages in scientific, law, medicine and religious contexts.
The recently resigned Pope Benedict XVI attempted to breathe life into this language by launching a Papal Latin academy in order to promote the language. He also announced his farewell speech in Latin.
In fact, Latin is taught as a second language in 1,081 schools in the United Kingdom, and has experienced a 7.5 percent increase in student numbers. All of this data got me thinking about how Latin is infiltrated in popular culture. In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, the Hogwarts Motto is in fact in Latin, “Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus” (Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon). Also, both spells and charms are in Latin. 
There are many common saying we use in English language which come from Latin: De Facto, Ad infinitum, et cetera, status quo, carpe diem, per se, vice versa...
After reading up on many articles which talk on this topic, I remain to have an unclear opinion on the existence of the Latin language. What do you think? 

No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario