5 Ways Latin has Helped Me

Latin has helped me throughout many different classes and outside of school. In English I, Latin has constantly helped me understand the book, The Odyssey. The book is based on Greek and Roman mythology, and also uses Roman numerals, so I was able to grasp a better understanding of the book with my connections to Latin. Latin has helped me understand many gods/goddesses and their capabilities, myths, etc. Outside of class, Latin has also helped me expand my vocabulary, and be introduced to better, more descriptive words. For example, while having conversation with teachers, I started to use the term loquacious, which is derived from the Latin word loquo, which we learned in class. Latin has also helped me understand 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person language. Before I joined Latin, I was always confused on the differences between speaking in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person, but because of the charts we used in Latin, I easily learned that 1st is I and we, 2nd is you or y'all, and 3rd is he/she/it or they. For special words that use a different plural form that we are not really used to, Latin has also helped me with that. Now, I don't know if this is completely right, but in Latin, the plural ending for a -us ending is -i. In English, some words that end with -us end with -i as their plural form, like cactus to cacti, instead of "cactuses." Finally, Latin has also simply just helped me understand Roman life, including history, weapons, etc. In English, when we were reading The Odyssey, it starrs Odysseus, who leaves to fight in the Trojan War with famous characters like Agamemnon, and throughout the book, Odysseus usually uses many old-fashioned weapons like a hasta, or spear. In these cases, Latin has just helped me gain a deeper understanding of all of this, like knowing what the Trojan War is, knowing what a hasta is, etc. Latin has helped me in many different situations, and I hope to continue to learn through the class.