On 09/21/2019 03:30 AM, NY wrote:
Latin would be very useful if it was taught as a derivation of English
words - "Latin for genealogists", "Latin for historians reading old
documents" etc. But Latin as a grammatical language is dire.


Latin is a decent background for Spanish. Spanish, at least the Mexican
version, plays fast and loose with those 'little words' to. Personal
pronouns are a lot of work.

The problem for those taking Spanish was they were taught Castilian
Spanish which isn't what is spoken on the street. Some of the French
kids had a similar problem. Northern NY and the other New England states
have a significant number of people of French Canadien ancestry. Because
of the British invasion of New France, Quebec French sort of went its
own way in the 18th century. The teachers learned Parisian French in
college and that is what they taught.