latin

So right now I’m re-learning Latin and French. French is less of a challenge because as of a couple weeks ago I was living with a French person. But Latin….

Perhaps this is a bit of a stretch here, but re-learning Latin after over two years away from it is like getting hit in the head, going into a coma for two years, and then coming to with mild amnesia. And the love of your life visits you in your hospital, and you don’t really recognize him or remember his story, but you know—you can totally just feel it--that you loved this person and that you’re desperate to remember all about him. That’s kind of what relearning Latin feels like.

Seeing simple words like ardeo (I used to shout that one all the time in middle school), or puella, or bellum or whatever feels exactly like how I felt when I bumped into my old nanny/housekeeper right before I made aliyah. I hadn’t seen her in a couple years even though she had basically been a replacement mother from the time I was born until I was well into high school. I was overwhelmingly happy to see her and couldn’t believe I could go so long without talking to someone so important to me. That’s kind of what studying Latin again is like.

I feel like screaming, “Obstipescere, how have you been?!” And the infinitive will tell me, “I’m doing great, still hanging around in the Aeneid whenever Aeneas is surprised. What’s new with you? Last time I saw you was on the AP Latin exam back in 2006.”

Then I want to ask Obstipescere about all my old friends. “How the hell are Amicus and Oculus and….and….oh…I’ve forgotten some of their names…” I’ll then blush bright red as I stumble to remember the names of friends—friends since 7th grade until my freshman year of college.



I’m not sure why French doesn’t feel the same for me. Maybe it’s because the French program at my high school was more than twice as large as the Latin program. Meaning, the same people were in my Latin class from 8th grade all the way until 12th, whereas in French it was a slightly different mix every year. Maybe it’s because Latin’s harder, or I feel like I have a special mission in life to preserve Latin since so few people are learning it these days, whereas it seems like everyone and their mother speaks French. Maybe it’s because Latin’s kind of a party trick for me…or at least used to be. You know how everyone has kind of a weird thing they can show off? Like, some people are double jointed, or some people can burp the alphabet, you know? Well I could recite the first chapter of Caesar’s Gallic Wars in Latin. And the first 50 or so lines of the Aeneid…in Latin. But I can’t anymore. So now I have nothing.