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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?

OverDrama wrote: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?

I feel like Nero right now. Damn, it's hot out here.

OverDrama wrote: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?

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I am going to try and avoid using snark.

No. Don't waste your time.

lol @ this thread

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.

LATIN FTW

But no, I doubt knowing Latin will improve your legal skills, aside from the fact that it is a demanding language that will challenge your critical thinking skills.

Most importantly, though, Latinists no longer have to count themselves among the Great Unwashed, and if you want any resources for learning Latin, feel free to PM me and I can direct you to some places.

OverDrama wrote: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.

The concepts you will be studying will be English Common Law as adopted by American Courts.

Many, if not most, of the legal and medical terms you will come across make absolutely no sense with a literal Latin translation. I'm not a pro, but I took Latin in high school and college and have a decent background in the language. So far it hasn't helped much for legal terms.

Stanford4Me wrote:

OverDrama wrote: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.

The concepts you will be studying will be English Common Law as adopted by American Courts.

English? You mean the Saxons?

Sam Seaborn wrote:Many, if not most, of the legal and medical terms you will come across make absolutely no sense with a literal Latin translation. I'm not a pro, but I took Latin in high school and college and have a decent background in the language. So far it hasn't helped much for legal terms.

Well said. OP should focus on taking English classes.

NZA wrote:LATIN FTW

But no, I doubt knowing Latin will improve your legal skills, aside from the fact that it is a demanding language that will challenge your critical thinking skills.

Most importantly, though, Latinists no longer have to count themselves among the Great Unwashed, and if you want any resources for learning Latin, feel free to PM me and I can direct you to some places.

I agree with NZA. I think you should learn it for fun, not for LS

creativity: 3
execution: 5
absurdity/believability balance: 3
hilarity: 2

overall, 143 trolling attempt

Mickey Quicknumbers wrote:creativity: 3
execution: 5
absurdity/believability balance: 3
hilarity: 2

overall, 143 trolling attempt

you forgot dong size

lol not bad

DeeCee wrote:lol @ this thread

lol, TLS never ceases to amaze me

OKay we will start the first lesson.

Nomitive- a
Genitive- ae
Dative- ae
Accusative - am
Ablative- a

now memorize, come back tomorrow

OP FTW... obviously Latin is useless but I applaud the ultra-gunnerish effort in OL March.

In all honesty, if you want to do something 'outside the box' to improve your reading skills, English is more important than Latin. If OP is as crazy as s/he seems, a better pursuit would be to tackle some classics of English literature in short stories. Most cases, even the long ones, are shorter than your average short stories, but obviously more like short stories than novels. Especially in the beginning of 1L, most profs will want a close reading of the case and you to be explicit about the jumps from logical point to logical point.

To that end I would recommend reading some great, challenging short stories such as Bartleby the Scrivener by Melville, The Destructors by Graham Greene (featured in donnie darko), and anything by Tolstoy (although translated). My favorites include The Death of Ivan Iylich and Hadji Murad. You're not going to learn any law (besides in Bartleby lol) but the point is the get used to careful, attentive reading.

Then again, if you haven't developed close reading skills by now, that probably won't change between now and August.

Would my effort really be considered "gunnerish" since it is so irrelevant to academic success?

If being crazy is defined by interest in fiction than I am indeed a total lune and have many classic novels I would like to read this summer, not so much to improve my close reading as to read texts I am interested in while I have a chance before my time is consumed with other things. (By the way Tolstoy is not English literature, although those are all good recommendations).

Perhaps the secret to success in my future legal practice will be the the ability to seem really crazy hence disarming the other side and than, when no one is expecting it, in open court: I'll bust out my Latin whilst crushing all opposing arguments.

OverDrama wrote:Would my effort really be considered "gunnerish" since it is so irrelevant to academic success?

If being crazy is defined by interest in fiction than I am indeed a total lune and have many classic novels I would like to read this summer, not so much to improve my close reading as to read texts I am interested in while I have a chance before my time is consumed with other things. (By the way Tolstoy is not English literature, although those are all good recommendations).

Perhaps the secret to success in my future legal practice will be the the ability to seem really crazy hence disarming the other side and than, when no one is expecting it, in open court: I'll bust out my Latin whilst crushing all opposing arguments.

wut

TyrodTaylor wrote:OKay we will start the first lesson.

Nomitive- a
Genitive- ae
Dative- ae
Accusative - am
Ablative- a

now memorize, come back tomorrow

Plural:

-ae
-arum
-is
-as
-is

Now decline "agricola, agricolae" 10,000 times and come back tomorrow.

Grumio delictibat ancilla

the only line I remember from four years of latin class....

NZA wrote:

TyrodTaylor wrote:OKay we will start the first lesson.

Nomitive- a
Genitive- ae
Dative- ae
Accusative - am
Ablative- a

now memorize, come back tomorrow

Plural:

-ae
-arum
-is
-as
-is

Now decline "agricola, agricolae" 10,000 times and come back tomorrow.

It might be prudent to note that the lesson is, of course, for the first declension.

Yesterday was Thursday.
Today it is Friday.
We are so excited. we so excited.

bananasinpajamas wrote:Yesterday was Thursday.
Today it is Friday.
We are so excited. we so excited.

It's not fucking Friday. Don't get my hopes up.