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Instead of taking French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Russian, or Japanese, why not take a dead language? English majors now have one more option to fulfill their core language requirement: Latin. While it has been an option for several years now, it hasn’t been well known.

Latin became a language option for English students though the initiation of students. Dr. Christopher Morrissey, Assistant Professor of Medieval Latin Philosophy, teaches the Latin courses at Redeemer Pacific College. English majors who took the courses wondered why Latin couldn’t fulfill their language requirement.

“It came up in conversation,” Morrissey said. “After years of hearing the same complaint I emailed the [English] department head. Lynn Szabo okayed it. It was a no brainer.”

Currently there are two Latin courses offered fall-spring, but Morrissey has had students who just couldn’t get enough. Some students take a directed studies course after their initial six semester hours. Morrissey asks the student what they want to read in Latin and they structure the course around that desire.

The goal in the first two classes is to be able to read the Gospels and the Church Fathers in Latin. RPC wants to get people “plugged in to the Catholic tradition,” Morrissey said.

Morrissey knows that “knowledge of Latin makes you very conscious of English grammar – which makes your student essay writing dramatically better.”

Additionally, in reading classic myths and legends – a huge part of the first two courses – you pick up on details you miss in reading the English translation. Morrissey, who reads his Bible and Augustine in Latin every day, calls this “the gourmet experience.”

Reading the Bible in Latin (and Greek), Morrissey says allows you to “get outside yourself. You look at things differently. You think you know the Bible. What I find is that reading them in Greek or Latin, you see it with fresh eyes.”

While taking a Latin class may seem intimidating, Morrissey said all of his students have done well.
“I like to keep the emphasis on the story [not grammar and vocabulary]. Here’s what you need to know to get through the next story, here’s what you need to watch out for,” he says to his students. “This allows for a childlike wonder; an analytical nature can kill the fun.”

Students do learn grammar and vocabulary as well, but Morrissey feels his method allows for learning to happen naturally.

Morrissey himself got interested in Latin through his interest in Greek. “I went to Rome [and] I really
fell in love with Latin. Once you learn the language you have access to so much from the past.”

Morrissey was a Professor of Latin at Simon Fraser University for 10 years in addition to his work at RPC. His Latin duties do not lie only within the classroom, however. He is also the Latin language consultant for the TV show Supernatural.

For anyone who is apprehensive about taking a Latin course, Morrissey has this to say: “[In class] you have lots of practice, you can feel your way through it and pick things up. It is like swimming: you dive right in and thrash around. Sometimes your head goes under. I’m the lifeguard, I’ll throw you a life preserver.”