A Dead Language?
“Amo, Amas, Amat …”
San Francisco State (Spring, 1989). It was the first day of Latin class. As we conjugated the verb “to love” who would have thought love really was in the air. While struggling with declensions in the back of the room, I spied a wild-haired Caribbean queen in the front speaking Latin like she hailed from ancient Rome. She was clearly our linguistic superstar.
A few weeks passed before I finally found the courage to ask her to join me for coffee at the lunch truck on 19th Avenue. One cup led to another and soon we were studying our Latin flash cards all over town. From Ocean Beach to North Beach, the City by the Bay became our city of Latin romance. Cicero was never sweeter.
It’s been 19 years since we met in Latin class, and we’ve been together ever since. And to think some call Latin a dead language.
“… Amamus, Amatis, Amant.”
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Huntington Sharp says:
Awwww...
How do you translate "awwwww..." into Latin?
Thanks for the sweet story from someone who feels all dead languages are just merely sleeping.
Huntington Sharp, Red Room
Dennis Shay says:
your anecdote raised a question
Greg,
Hey, I grew up in SF so your anecdote caught my attention, then my curiosity. How could you tell at first glance that your "Caribbean" lady was in fact from the Caribbean? Skin color doesn't denote the region. Did she speak Latin with a Jamaican accent?
Greg Roensch says:
the answer is ...
On the first day of class, the professor asked where we were from ... that's how I knew she was from the Caribbean. Thanks for stopping by my Red Room.
Renjie Wang says:
A language cannot truly die
From a physical point of view at least. When I really think about it, a language is merely means for a group of people to communicate to each other. I'm sure with the kind of love it carries and passes on, it would never truly be dead. There are quite a few who work in pharmaceutical industries in my close circle of friends, latin is almost like the second language(first one being Binary-Geekinese) at Saturday dinner table. With the amount of passion these women have, Latin is surely everything but dead.
Renjie Wang redroom.com
Sue Glasco says:
A recruitment tool a Latin teacher would love...
This is the most loverly story about Latin that I have ever read. I took two years in high school because college prep students were so advised. I liked the class and teacher and always felt it helped my vocabulary. Otherwise I never used it. In grad school studying ancient orators, I could have used it, but unfortunately by then 22 years later, I could not remember the Latin.