Why learn Latin? Because the language that appears “dead” on the surface turns out to be alive in the very words you and your children speak every day, and far more than that, it is a discipline that forms clear thinkers, faithful readers of Scripture, history, and literature, and leaders who know how to wrestle with an idea before they speak.
If you have been wrestling with whether the investment of time is worth it, especially in the middle of your family’s classical education journey, the answer deserves more than a quick defense. In the article below, Jennifer Courtney, a veteran Challenge Tutor with two decades of experience, makes the case, and the answer may surprise you.
This Summer at Parent Practicum: Latin, Language, and the Living Word
In the summer of 2026, families around the world will gather at in-person Parent Practicums to study Latin. Yes, Latin. Families will learn the six basic tasks that help to learn any language well. These tasks include reading, memorizing fundamental rules, practicing vocabulary, studying syntax, parsing, and translating. These tasks, repeated again and again, make it possible to acquire any new language.
Our theme for the practicum is “In the beginning was the Word.” God reveals Himself through His written word, a staggering and unique fact that should make Christians curious about the meanings of words and the expression of ideas in all kinds of languages.
Find a Parent Practicum near you
Is Latin a Dead Language? What Classical Students Discover
I’ve tutored upper Challenge students for a couple of decades now. The most common objection I hear from my students about Latin is—drum roll, please—why do I have to work so hard to study a dead language?
I have two answers to this issue. The first answer is that most students quickly discover that Latin is really alive and well. Latin tutors like to joke that it is eternal. I will not go into a huge amount of detail here, but it has been estimated that 80% of multisyllabic words come from Latin roots. Every week in every seminar, my students find words that were derived from Latin. It seems Latin is alive and well in the words we use today. Studying Latin helps them to become masters of their own native language.
All right, you may object, a big vocabulary is nice, but that alone does not seem to justify our investment in Latin. What else can we learn?
Why Study Latin? Timeless Wisdom for Today’s Students
This brings us to an important principle about classical education. We study timeless materials like Latin, literature, and history in order to discover timely answers to the questions we have today.
So, the second answer to our question about studying dead languages is that this is one component of a classical education that helps us pursue wisdom and virtue. We pursue wisdom that can be found in all sorts of places—in novels, poetry, speeches, formal logic, math, science, and even Latin. We help students see how all of this wisdom is interrelated so they can form a unified, cohesive view of the truth and share the truth with others.
Why Learn Latin? The Top 3 Reasons It’s Worth It
Caesar, Leadership, and the Classical Case for Learning Latin
For example, in my Challenge II class this year, we began our Latin studies by reading an excerpt from Napoleon’s writings when he was in exile after being deposed from the French throne. As he looked back on his life, he reflected on the qualities of earthly leaders like himself and Julius Caesar. He compared and contrasted his attributes and accomplishments as a leader with those of Christ.
Guess what? These are the burning issues that fire the interest of students today. They want to think about greatness, to prepare for the contributions that they will make to this world. Preparing for leadership is important to them. They want to talk about which of their contributions will be temporal (like those of Napoleon) and which will be eternal (like those of Christ).
I can now hear you saying, “Okay, that’s just one lesson. Sure, it’s a great way to kick off the year, but I still don’t see how the whole of Latin is alive and well.” In Challenge II, we spend a lot of time discussing Caesar and translating his original writings on his conquest of the Gauls. Why invest so much time in this?
Reading about Caesar allows us to talk about leadership every week. Like most leaders, Caesar made some really good decisions and some really bad ones. Reading about both his triumphs and his failures allows our students to exercise judgment about how to lead virtuously.
If we want our students to exercise discernment, they must have many opportunities to practice by evaluating the actions of others.
Caesar’s Past and Christ’s Future
Beyond these lessons in leadership, students also learn about the world into which Jesus was born. The conquests of Caesar paved the way for the spread of Christianity throughout the Western world. This is a crucial moment in our history. Knowing a bit about Roman history makes Luke 2 come to life. Jesus was born in the time of Caesar Augustus, Julius Caesar’s heir. The very fact that God chose this time for the Incarnation makes it interesting to us.
I have also worked with students for several years on translating St. Jerome’s Vulgate, the first Latin translation of the Bible. Every week, they have gained new insights into God’s Word by slowing down, rereading familiar passages, defining words, and analyzing grammar. As a peek into those insights, consider two conversations we had.
First, the students wanted to diagram John 1:1 in Latin and in English. After staring at the diagrams on the whiteboard, one student said, “Wait! How can God be the Word and be with the Word?” My answer, “Welcome to the mystery of the Trinity.” Examining Latin syntax provided new insight into God’s identity and Christian doctrine.
In another seminar, a student asked why there is so much focus on the future tense in Scripture versus the past tense in Latin texts. After pondering for a few minutes, the community concluded that Caesar could only speak in the past tense because he did not know the future. Only Jesus could speak the truth about the future in the future verb tenses. The careful attention to grammar led to a deeper understanding of theology.
Learn more about the Challenge programs
Why Classical Education Insists on Latin, Not Just Translations
I can hear you saying, “Well, that’s all fine, but we could learn about all these things by reading them in English.” While it is true that we can read histories of Rome in English, this would be an impoverished experience because the students would lose the joys and benefits of wrestling with language, a critical component of a truly classical education.
For over a thousand years, the ability to read and write in Latin (and sometimes in Greek) was considered necessary preparation for future studies. This was not to attain linguistic bragging rights for the well-educated upper classes. Instead, it was part of leadership training. The ability to handle language well was considered to be the preeminent ability for future leaders. Learning Latin teaches students to use words precisely and to think carefully.
Too often, we postmodernists rush to share our opinions. The result is often lazy, slipshod reasoning on the part of the speaker and naïve gullibility on the part of the listener.
As part of a classical, Christian education, we want our students to receive ample training in thinking and speaking well. The constant comparison of Latin grammar to English grammar forms individuals who understand their own language and use it well. The discipline of Latin translation forms individuals who are clear thinkers and hard workers. They learn self-discipline.
Discover the difference between Classical vs Modern Education
Frequently Asked Questions About Latin and Classical Education
Is Latin a dead language?
Latin is no longer spoken as a native language, but calling it “dead” understates its living presence. Approximately 80% of English multisyllabic words trace their roots to Latin, meaning a student who studies it encounters its influence in nearly every seminar, every reading, and every page of Western history and theology. Latin is also the language of the Vulgate, St. Jerome’s translation of the Scriptures, and of a vast body of Western literature, law, and philosophy. For classical Christian students, Latin is less a dead language than a living foundation.
Why should I learn Latin?
Learning Latin builds the habit of attending carefully to words, a practice that shapes every area of a student’s intellectual life. Because Latin grammar requires students to analyze each word’s function before they can construct meaning, it trains precision in both thought and expression. For classical Christian families, there is an added dimension: studying Latin opens a window into the original language of the Vulgate and into the Roman world that was being shaped when Christ was born.
What is Latin used for today?
Latin shapes English vocabulary at its roots, informs legal, medical, and scientific terminology, and opens the door to reading primary sources in Western history, theology, and literature. For students in a classical, Christian education, its most significant modern use may be as a key to Scripture, Western classics, and the cultural and historical context that makes those texts come alive. Students who understand Latin structure also find it considerably easier to acquire French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and other Romance languages.
What is Parent Practicum?
Parent Practicum is an annual in-person event hosted by Classical Conversations where homeschooling parents study the same subjects their students are learning, going deeper into classical education alongside a wider community of families and Tutors. At Parent Practicum, parents become students themselves, working through material with the guidance of other classical educators. The 2026 Parent Practicum focuses on Latin, guiding participants through six language-learning tasks using portions of the Latin Vulgate. It is an opportunity not only to strengthen your family’s academic year, but to encounter the Scriptures in a new way.
Latin, Scripture, and the Faculty of Attention
At parent practicums this summer, parents will practice the six language tasks on portions of the Latin Vulgate, St. Jerome’s translation of Scripture. Families will gain new insights into familiar Scriptures by comparing the Latin Scriptures to those in their own language and by exploring how Jerome expressed those ideas with different words. This practice will help families cultivate the faculty of attention, a skill sorely lacking in our world today.
In her essay On the Right Use of School Studies, Simone Weil writes this: “All wrong translations, all absurdities in geometry problems, all clumsiness of style, and all faulty connection of ideas in compositions and essays, all such things are due to the fact that thought has seized upon some idea too hastily, and being thus prematurely blocked, is not open to the truth.” As families, we can slow down and attend to our Latin studies, developing attention, discipline, and patience in waiting on the truth and expressing it well.
Vincit qui se vincit (He conquers who conquers himself).
Looking for more Latin resources? Check out these blogs and podcasts:
- What If Learning Latin Could Actually Be Fun? (Spoiler: It Is!) (podcast)
- Why Latin Matters: Connecting Essentials to Challenge in Classical Homeschooling
- 10 Latin Flashcard Games That Make Homeschool Memory Work Fun
Classical Education Myths Series:
Classical Education Myth #1: It’s Just Rote Memorization (Here’s The Truth)
Henle Second Year Latin. Loyola Press, 1958.
Weil, Simone. “On the Right Use of School Studies.” Waiting for God. Harper Collins, 1951.
Written by:
