barryg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Barry Gold) (01/17/85)
I had three years of Latin (1957-9) and haven't bothered keeping it up. It proved quite handy later when I took French, still later when I started working in downtown LA and had to make myself understood by Latinos, and occasionally when I try to make out Italian quotations in books. I've also found it handy when reading (comparatively) ancient books in which all the good (i.e. dirty) parts are in Latin. And in contrast to Latin's five declensions and four conjugations, every other language I've tried learning has seemed awfully easy. (In particular, the Latin habit of sticking the verb at the end helped me get used to the similar Japanese rule.) --Lee Gold