Knowledge of Latin Expands A Student's Vocabulary
Fluency in the Latin language can improve and increase not only a student's vocabulary, but also their ability to discern the meaning of unknown words.
Some people consider this language to be a "dead" language, meaning that it is not actively spoken in countries anymore. But knowledge of the this language is as useful as it ever was. This is true because an understanding of Latin enables a student to have a better understanding of the English language.
By using knowledge of root words and meanings, a student can figure out what certain prefixes and suffixes mean in the English language. Not only can it help with vocabulary and understanding words, it also arms the student with better grammatical skills. This language requires an ability to conjugate verbs and work with participles and past tenses. This knowledge will help enable a student to be fluent and skillful with English grammar.
It is not only useful in improving skills in the English language, but other languages as well. Romance languages such as French, Italian and Spanish all have roots in the Latin language. An understanding of this root language will make it much easier for a student to learn the romance languages since they are direct descendants of it. The benefits of learning this language certainly don't stop there. High School is a very important time for students, developmentally and socially. But it is also a time that holds a very intimidating test: the SAT.
Knowledge and fluency in Latin will help prepare a student for the verbal aspect of this test and could even help improve the student's score. When a student is confronted with an unknown word, they can dissect the word, look at it's prefix or suffix and, with their knowledge of the root language, make a conclusion of the general meaning of the word. This will allow the student to make an educated choice for the answer and increase their percentage of correct answers, thus increasing the student's score.