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From: hinsenk@cyclone.ERE.UMontreal.CA (Hinsen Konrad)
Subject: Re: Languages in the EC
In-Reply-To: bhelm@cs.uoregon.edu's message of 8 Feb 1995 13:21:42 -0800
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In article <3hbcl6$qhl@blackrabbit.cs.uoregon.edu> bhelm@cs.uoregon.edu (B. Robert Helm) writes:

   in this respect.  Both science and law used Latin extensively until
   relatively recently.  Since then, as I understand it, various
   supporters of Latin have tried to keep its vocabulary current.  Have
   they succeeded?

Science has abandoned Latin long ago, and most of the scientific
developments in human history have taken place afterwards.
Scientific terms in Latin are much less developed than in Esperanto.
The situation in law may be different, since Latin was used there
much longer (my uncle, who retired last year as a judge, still had to
take exams in Latin at a German university).

   Latin?  My impression (possibly incorrect) is that Latin is still
   widely taught in public schools in the EU, albeit only to a small
   number of students and not for spoken and written fluency.  Could
   Latin, like Hebrew, have enough passive speakers for a modern revival?

Just as with Hebrew, reviving Latin is certainly possible if sufficiently
many people are determined to try it. But I doubt that existing
Latin teachers will be of much help. I have studied Latin for seven
years, without any exposure to modern texts. Even medieval texts
are considered too "modern" by some teachers, since "good" Latin,
by definition, is that spoken in the days of Cicero. And even the
classical texts that are being studied are analyzed more for their
use of grammar features than for their contents. Few students in
my class ever reached a level sufficient for fluent reading of
Latin texts.

   Latin is reputedly difficult.  But I wonder: If Esperanto were being
   taught en masse, instead of to small numbers of highly motivated
   polyglots, and if Latin were being taught as a tool for modern needs
   rather than as a way to read important and difficult literature, would
   the two languages be more equal in difficulty?  To reduce the

That depends a lot on how far one would be willing to deviate from
classical Latin. I suppose most Latin teachers would oppose *any*
simplification. But even in a simplified form, Latin would lack
the essential feature of Esperanto that makes it so easy to learn:
the ability to make up words at will from few roots.

   (D) Neutrality: Latin is obviously not _linguistically_ neutral in the
   EU.  Some EU members will learn it more easily than others.  On the
   other hand, Esperanto has the same deficiency, to a lesser extent.

For me Latin would be sufficiently neutral, since what counts most
(for me) is that no nation has the advantage of having native speakers.
Admittedly there are differences in ease of learning, but when it comes
to really learning a given language well, such differences become much
less significant.

Personally, I would consider reviving Latin a waste of time, but still
much preferable to the predominant use of any national language.

--
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