Firing Someone's Easier in Latin

One of the quainter sides to life in Germany is the fact that large numbers of schoolchildren (about 10%, according to recent figures) learn Latin in school. But what's even quainter is the reaction foreigners get when they praise this adorable throwback of German educational culture: "No, no, it's not impractical at all! It teaches you logical thinking and helps you learn Romance languages. It helps you in the real world!"

The FAZ decided to test this argument by surveying German companies (g). No, really -- they did! The results (my translation):

A survey by this newspaper to which 22 of 30 DAX-listed businesses responded showed: 95 percent of the firms no longer see Latin as a formal selection criterion for applicants. In only one firm -- Bayer -- were we told that knowledge of Latin might be advantageous for certain selected positions. None of the HR departments said that knowledge of Latin would be the decisive factor in not picking an applicant. In some firms, the question of how useful Latin would be for employees gave rise to a certain amount of amusement.

Well, I suppose that's hardly unexpected. But I hope this doesn't mean kids will stop learning Latin. It's one of the adorable sleepy-village/1950s aspects of Germany that makes life here so charming!

Finnish national radio's Nuntii Latini (news in Latin) page is here, a recent 5-minute audio podcast in Latin is here.

Comments

[G]

I took 4 years of Latin (and 5 of French) in the US and found (and find) the Latin study invaluable. Not only did it get me a 790 on the SAT, but also it helped me to understand grammar in a way that French and English studies never did. 25 years later, it's the reason that I am hacking at least a small path through German where many Americans have more trouble: at least I can slightly understand dativ, genitive and actual grammmatic constructions. I also loved the class and took it for fun- it wasn't required.

[orangeshow]

I care not one iota if a Bayer engineer knows Latin or not, it is much more important for the safety of everyone if that engineer has a high degree of Kinetic Theory knowledge. The chemicals that Bayer uses are very dangerous.

[Bas]

European highest level of secondary education (Gymnasium) includes Latin and classical Greek in many countries, including the German speaking countries, the Baltic, Scandinavian and Balkan countries, the Netherlands and Belgium and Italy.

Right now, my 14 year old daughter is going to do her 3rd year of Gymnasium in the Netherlands, which is one of the two hardest years where you have to study six languages (Latin, classical Greek, Dutch, German, English and French).

Note that in the Netherlands, Latin and classical Greek are not required for any university study, not even for classical languages.

My daughter enjoys her Greek and Latin.

[Thomas]

I learnt both classical Greek and Latin in high school, and I was pretty happy about it (its pretty common in Belgium, too). Of course there are no direct practical gains to it, but this can be said about the majority of arts & humanities courses, no?

I think the classics have such a fundamental role in shaping the western world, that the merit of learning something about them should be clear. So many important ideas can be traced back to those civilizations...

Apart from that, due to the theoretical, rather than practical approach, the Latin course did provide me with a much more solid understanding of grammar, which does help when learning other modern languages. The language Latin is not a prerequisite for this, but, somehow, I've never seen such a thorough theoretical treatment of the language in any other language course.

[cohu]

[Honestly though, if you plan to study Geisteswissenschaften later on, as many Akademikerkinder in the typical Humanistisches Gymnasium do, it really makes sense to learn an ancient language.]

[cohu]

Those companies have no idea. Learning Latin is the perfect preparation for almost any office job: it's moderately difficult, useless, and you have to stick with it although it's extremely boring. Also, you learn the vital skill of cheating. Everyone I know spent his Latin translation lessons with a Reclamheft under their desk.

(As a copy editor, I wish authors would either learn Latin or refrain from using it altogether - there's nothing more embarrassing than big ancient words gone wrong...)

[mawa]

What's even stranger is the staggering number of French high school kids learning classical Greek.

[Ligia]

Oh latin.. that always remind me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbI-fDzUJXI