Genii Weblog

When English isn't available

Mon 13 Apr 2009, 03:32 PM



by Ben Langhinrichs
My younger son is 13, and he is a big fan of Age of Mythology (and all the other related games).  Last night, he was telling us about an experience he had while playing with the on-line portion of the game.  It was at an odd time of day, too early for many American teenagers, and he started interacting with a whole group of people playing, all of them speaking French to each other.  He doesn't know any French, so a couple of them tried to interact with him in English, but their English was not really good enough either.  Since he really wanted to keep interacting, he tried writing in Latin instead (as regular readers may know, he loves Latin just as he loves mythology), and a few of the French players also knew Latin, so he was able to keep interacting and collaborating with them, all in Latin.  It's good to know that English doesn't have to be a prerequisite for international cooperation.

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What has been said:


811.1. Jerry Carter (04/13/2009 09:36 PM)

As a fan of Latin influence on English and the romantic languages, that is pretty darn cool. Extra cool that he knows enough to converse in it.


811.2. Lake (04/21/2009 11:05 PM)

How did your son get interested in Latin? My daughter is going into 7th grade next year and so far i have failed to convince her of the value of studying latin as a basis to future language study.


811.3. Ben Langhinrichs (04/22/2009 01:20 AM)

I'm afraid it had little to do with me. I never had the opportunity to take Latin in high school, so I have no idea whether I would have chosen it, but in Shaker Heights, most of the "smart kids" take Latin, and we have two absolutely wonderful Latin teachers in the middle school, so lots and lots of kids do take it, at least for those two years. Also, everybody has to take some language.

Of course, I'd give up trying to get your daughter to study Latin as a basis for anything, and just tell her either a) all the smart cute boys take it, or b) it is just plain fun being able to read Latin inscriptions in old churches, depending on where her interests lie.


811.4. Stephan H. Wissel (04/27/2009 01:30 AM)

Ah... Latin.

Nunc est bibendum nunc pede libero pulsanda telus*.

I had a pen pal with whom I was corresponding in Latin. Good fun (and YES she was cute).

* = Let's party.

:-) stw