My native tongue is German, I had English as my first and French as my second foreign language and also had quite a few years of Latin in school and I am dabbling in Asian languages just for myself.
I can see how Latin will probably not help with English much (and with French I couldn't see it either) but in comparison German has a LOT more grammatical possibilities and rules and they are very much like Latin except for maybe 2 cases and a few other Latin oddities. This probably makes German comparatively harder for a native English speaker..
The way we had to study Latin was very analytical, never like a spoken language but like dissecting word by word until you could finally understand the sentence. So through studying Latin vocabulary and grammar like that, you got a different and actually excellent insight into your own German mother tongue. And a lot of words, vocabulary and expressions (also in English) at least have Latin (if not Greek) roots.
Some university degrees used to require you to have had Latin in school, medicine was one of those.
The more interesting part of Latin, however, is reading all the great writers and learning about the times they lived in. In a modern Latin class, this should get much more emphasis, even if it happens at the expense of pure language analytical skills.
I can see how Latin will probably not help with English much (and with French I couldn't see it either) but in comparison German has a LOT more grammatical possibilities and rules and they are very much like Latin except for maybe 2 cases and a few other Latin oddities. This probably makes German comparatively harder for a native English speaker..
The way we had to study Latin was very analytical, never like a spoken language but like dissecting word by word until you could finally understand the sentence. So through studying Latin vocabulary and grammar like that, you got a different and actually excellent insight into your own German mother tongue. And a lot of words, vocabulary and expressions (also in English) at least have Latin (if not Greek) roots.
Some university degrees used to require you to have had Latin in school, medicine was one of those.
The more interesting part of Latin, however, is reading all the great writers and learning about the times they lived in. In a modern Latin class, this should get much more emphasis, even if it happens at the expense of pure language analytical skills.