How Latin has Helped Me Outside of Class

Cogito Ergo Sum

Discovery: I first encountered this term at the beginning of Dr. Blue’s second trimester class of Modern Philosophy.

Influence: This term simply means “I think therefore I am.” In the most literal sense.

Background: In this case, Descartes uses this term as a realization in his philosophy, his end goal is to prove the existence of God and to do this he first starts by proving that he himself exists. By using this term (Cogito ergo sum) he is saying that he knows he exists because he experiences his thoughts.

Cognate

Discovery: I have heard this word over and over in my Spanish class.

Influence: The word cognate refers to words from one language that appear similar to words from another language and also carry the same meaning.

Background: In-class Mrs.Cano tells us that a word is a cognate, meaning she expects that we should be able to decipher its translation without it being one of our vocabulary words.

Res Cogitans

Discovery: This is another term that was used in Dr.Blue’s second trimester Modern Philosophy class.

Influence: This term means “a thinking thing”

Background: In Descartes Meditations this is what he believes he is at his core at least generally, this self-description also proves his own existence which is crucial to his argument.

Interphase

Discovery: In Bioethics we often study cells and one of the stages they go through is called the Interphase

Influence: Interphase cans simply translate to “between phase” or “between stage”

Background: In class, the interphase is an important stage because it is the critical pivotal point when a cell goes through its most major change. Being able to recognize the interphase as the between stage helped me associate it with its characteristic.

-Mos

Discovery: I noticed the use of this ending in Spanish as we began to conjugate verbs

Influence: when -mos comes at the end of a verb, the verb translates as "we verb"

Background: Though this is not a Latin ending, it reminded me of the Latin ending, mus, which conjugates the exact same way. I used this knowledge as a beginning for me to start seeing Spanish as simple for me because of the experience I have in Latin.

For me, Latin has been challenging and at times difficult to pick up on, however, I cannot help but acknowledge how vital it has been to my learning process ever since taking it. The challenge of Latin has made me work harder in other classes because in this subject you cannot just go through the motions or rely on your memory in, it truly takes commitment and practice. Latin has improved my vocabulary and understanding of words so much over the past few years and that is something that has made me feel confident in classes such as English and the Sciences, I am never phased by big words or even words I haven't seen before because I can at least have an idea of what they mean. It has also made me a more engaged reader and I have now begun to enjoy reading much more than I used to. Other students should take Latin because it will improve their reading and thinking skills.

 VINNIE