Why to Study Classical Languages

In honor of it being UGA Classics Week, Charles Platter examines the importance of learning Latin. Platter shares details for an exciting summer online course for the Post-Baccalaureate in classical languages. The program is offered through the Franklin Colleges of Arts and Sciences and is designed to help you reach and exceed advanced levels in Greek and Latin. 

According to Platter, students want to learn Latin for many reasons. Literature and History students often need Latin as a gateway to advanced study within their fields. For many UGA students, however, it is difficult to find the time within the regular academic year to acquire this knowledge. For students outside UGA, the situation is more difficult, as their institutions often do not teach Latin at all. The solution for both groups is to take elementary Latin online in the summer through UGA’s state-of the-art Summer Online Latin program that will take beginners through all of elementary Latin in six weeks and leave them ready to read simple Latin texts by the end of the summer.

Latin is not only for students; it is also popular with adults returning to college or who are curious about exploring a world that seems both very familiar and distant at the same time. Writer Frankie Thomas has been recounting for whoever will listen the virtues of learning Latin as an adult. It’s less practical than French or Spanish but it’s also less banal. While it is useful in the right context to be able to ask where the bathroom is, or to be able successfully to order a salad, elementary students of modern languages are not full of great thoughts. They don’t get to learn cool things like “Pale death tramples equally on the taverns of the poor and the towers of kings,” nor can they teach you to talk like a supervillain. Latin does both.

The class is designed by Christine Albright, winner of the Richard B. Russell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Dr. Albright is a specialist in teaching Latin and is eager to provide students with an extraordinary online learning experience.