Latin Forum

[savagedm]

Is anyone else attempting to give themselves a crash course in Latin in the months before 1L in order to lay the foundation for a more intuitive understanding of legal terms, jargon and principles, and of course to better appreciate great legal oratory such as the speeches of Cicero?

You, in all honesty, could make better use of your time by smashing your head into your desk repeatedly. There are, like, 50 latin words, give or take that you will use. If you fail to heed my advice, I suggest you also take note that there is both legal latin and legal french, and so you should also find time to learn the French language to prepare yourself.

+181 (that's right, this wisdom merits extra credit)

[JFo]

I know right? French is way better for understanding the English language. Get this damn foolishness out of here.

Modern French is distinctly different than the Norman which influenced English development.

It is probably still closer than the Latin that influenced the Norman French that influenced English development though.

Probably, though study in Germanic language will teach you far more about our grammar than French, which has more of an influence on our vocabulary than our grammar.

Pish, y'all are weak. If you REALLY want to understand the English language, you'll learn Old French, Latin, German, and Old Norse.

[deathviaboredom]

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[savagedm]

Ah excellent point, I'll have to find time to bone up on my french as well. I've always wanted to read Proust in the original...

Of course I know that learning a little Latin or a little more French is not in any way necessary or even especially helpful for academic success during 1L, I am just interested in having some sense of historical and literary background for some of the concepts we will be studying.

Me too! He is STUNNING in an English translation; I can't imagine how gorgeous he'd be in the original French.

woo-hoo Norman Invasion!

Word to the wise: if you decide to take this approach, which would be marginally helpful to you at best, DO NOT raise your hand when your professor if anyone speaks Latin or French. What will happen after that is you will be on call for translations nearly every time they come up. On top of that, professors tend to stick with you after they ask you to translate. This has happened in every single class I've had so far and everyone I know in different sections/schools says the same.