I’m a regular reader of DCU (an establishment that localization folks should know well) President Ferdinand Von Prondzynski’s blog “A University Blog: The diary of a university president.” It’s the best “catch-all” blog coming out of Ireland, in my opinion. Perhaps I am biased, as the author is a former lecturer of mine from my Trinity College Dublin days and I always enjoyed not only his teaching, but his opinions on all manner of subjects. It’s so refreshing to come across a blog writer who can actually write.
Today, the blog posting laments the loss of the Latin language as a taught subject in schools and other educational establishments. I totally agree. I would love to see it restored. A knowledge of Latin (I studied it in high school) helped me to understand the origin of many words in many languages, encouraged me to read more widely, and to develop my writing ability.
For a while, it looked like the success of the book “Amo, Amas, Amat…”, reinforced by the utterances of “brainy” celebs such as Stephen Fry, might spearhead a revival of interest and use of the language amongst the populace, but that promise now seems to have disappeared.
In Ireland ‘though, usage of Latin on a small scale remains popular with Roman Catholic mass-goers, and I regularly see large numbers of devotees attending Latin mass around the corner from me in Dublin. There is even an Irish Latin Mass web site. However, on the whole, the language is dead in Ireland and other countries as far as the majority are concerned.
Perhaps other readers of Blogos have an opinion?
