Does foreign language choice in HS matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. But if one had to rank.. Latin would be at the top

Mandarin Chinese is not only more difficult for a native English speaker to master, but pragmatically it’s not even a fair fight. Latin will come in handy when you’re planning to storm the Vatican or if you ever gain access to a time machine … for literally everything else, bet on Mandarin Chinese.

Latin is actually impactful for medics and lawyers. But you couldn't possibly have known that.

Pretty sure the person writing this knows neither Latin or Mandarin.

According to my lawyer friend (who is also a Latin geek) of the “Latin” currently used in legal contexts is based on “Dog Latin” and is a mix of French, Latin and English legal jargon.

The Latin used in medicine boils down to a pretty limited vocabulary and isn’t that tough to learn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. But if one had to rank.. Latin would be at the top

Mandarin Chinese is not only more difficult for a native English speaker to master, but pragmatically it’s not even a fair fight. Latin will come in handy when you’re planning to storm the Vatican or if you ever gain access to a time machine … for literally everything else, bet on Mandarin Chinese.

The practical aspects are not really what studying languages are about. You can do Rosetta Stone or babel or whatever to learn to speak conversationally much faster. It’s about the academic rigor of it. I’m not in a position to assess the differences, but latin is well respected for its required logic. That’s true of much of what we study. How many people use Euclidean geometry practically? Yet everyone takes it. Lawyers, bankers, consultants, accountants, lobbyists, etc rarely use anything beyond algebra 1, yet most of us took calculus at some point. Colleges are not trade schools.

[Anonymous]

Of course foreign language choice matters: do you want to work/study abroad? Where? What language do you see yourself reading/speaking? But omg not for college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Latin and Ancient Greek got my unhooked DC into three Ivies.

[Anonymous]

Latin is amazing foundation and shows complex and logical thinking.

French and German are both more challenging than Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Specific language does not matter unless you plan to go to college where that will be the primary language.

Take 4 years of the same language. Colleges still care that you take it and for how long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Latin and Ancient Greek got my unhooked DC into three Ivies.

Applied as a classics major? If so, that's different.