Help with Foreign Language...Latin or modern language?

[Daisy]

Okay, my DD is going into 4th grade next year and we've really wanted to start a foreign language. I had every intention of working on Spanish this year and it just didn't happen. I survived 2 years of Spanish & 2 years of Latin in High School and took 3 years of French in college. I did fine in the classes but don't remember much. Actually I remember enough to get them mixed up. I hear Spanish all the time here in SoCal and I can pretty much read it. So I had every intention of doing Spanish. Uugh, didn't happen.

DD wants to do Greek. I think she just thinks it looks cool. I thought about Latin. I just don't know what to do and can't make up my mind. Because I'm being a flake (kinda unusual for me actually), we haven't done anything.

Can someone please give me some advice. I know Spanish seems logial given our location but it just doesn't "thrill" us, KWIM? I loved French but it has been forever and DD would have no one fluent to interact with.

Dh's advice is to just forget about it until High School but I don't really want to have her put in a few years (like I did) and retain none of it.

[Karen in CO]

If your dd wants to do Greek, then try it for a year. Having a kid excited about a language is a good way to start.

For the general question of ancient or modern, my opinion is that unless you have a parent that speaks the language or a tutor to give feedback on the way the child speaks, that you are better served by studying a "dead" language. There is a lot of value in the process of learning the characters and words and learning to translate. It trains their brains to think in a logical and ordered way. That process is the same whether it is an ancient or modern language.

Some questions to consider:
What are your goals for language study? What benefit do you see from the study of language? What priority are you planning to give language study? How much time and effort are you willing to put in to it based on that priority?

[Daisy]

Honestly, I don't have any goals for language study which is probably why it isn't getting done. I just notice that my DD's strengths are in grammar, english, etc. and I think she would enjoy the challenge of a foreign language. I think that's part of my problem...

If my goal is for her to be able to better interact with those around her, Spanish is the way to go. I almost feel like she would need a tutor for this and I'm already paying for piano (ouch).

Latin is nice prep for the SAT, but I did very well on the SAT and took it my Sophomore year BEFORE even touching Latin. LOL, so I think it's already in our genes a bit.

Right now all she wants to do is be a Mommy and a children's book author some day. She'll be 9yo and the last thing I want to do is burn her out. So maybe you're right and I should just let it be delight-directed. Isn't Greek really, really hard though??

[Laura Corin]

I think you should do whatever language will actually get done. That's your main goal, it seems to me. If your child really wants to learn Greek, will that impel you to get around to it?

Hobbes is learning Mandarin (my choice) and Greek (his choice). We are learning it together, slowly. It hasn't been too hard so far...

Laura

[Raders Fan]

You have gotten good advice here. In response to "Isn't Greek really, really hard though?" I would have to say, it depends on your daughter.

I took Spanish in high school. It and French were the only choices, and no self-respecting person would take French (sorry, Francophiles, that's just the way it was back then). I was bored to tears. Got A's, but I hated it.

In college, I had to either take a foreign language or math through Calculus. The math track would have required just one more class, but I hated math, too. I decided to try Spanish again. I think I lasted two days. I then thought I'd try a language I'd always been interested in: Russian. I loved it so much that I not only decided to major in it, but I completed four years of study in three years, while finishing my degree in pre-med. I so wish I'd been exposed to it earlier. I wish I'd learned that I had a gift for languages.

Yes, taking Spanish does make sense, because she would be able to use it. But if she has no interest, you'll only be wasting time and money, hers and yours, and perhaps keep her from studying a language she's much more interested in.

HTH

[pixelroper]

dd has been taking Latin & some Spanish starting Greek as well (she really likes foreign languages, not work for her at all) The Latin work has helped with Spanish- they are related, Greek is probably considered hard because it looks foreign- extra careful time in the alphabet, pronunciation and reading small words has set us up well- I'd say if that is what she is interested in go for it, she will have motivation. I never had much going for me with a FL so my dd's skill is taxing my deficiencies- never underestimate a young mind. I switched to the Latina Christiana I DVD's half way through the book because I was holding her back, now she flies. I was intimidated by the Greek (we are using Elementary Greek I, Opentexture Press); she is having a ball. BTW I've had to study grammar intensely to stay steps ahead.

[Friederike in Persia]

We've got some hs visitors here right now and the mother keeps commenting on how "little" we do every day. :o
What she's referring to is the 10-20 min. a day of Russian my dds do, on days when we're not focusing on Russian. She's had German "laying around her home" for nearly a year, but she kept thinking they needed to invest seriously in it.
There's obviously a point when you need to focus on it, but for learning vocab and stuff I would keep it short and sweet, that way nobody gets worn out.

[Daisy]

Thanks everyone. You've each given me food for thought. I'm going to ruminate and make a decision soon.