Studies & Degrees in Latin
Latin Study Programs
Latin was the language of ancient Rome and, for many centuries afterwards, of the Church, the law and the universities of Europe. Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian developed from it, and much of the vocabulary of English, of medicine and of law comes from it. Studying Latin today means learning to read: grammar and vocabulary first, then prose and poetry in the original.
Progress to real texts is quick. The intensive summer course at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) brings in readings from Virgil, Ovid, Caesar, Cicero and Livy, and Duke University notes that a third-semester Latin student is already reading one of the classics of Western literature. Later Latin is also studied: the Catholic Church kept using the language after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and medieval and ecclesiastical Latin are fields of their own.
Qualifications and levels
- Secondary school. In Spain, Latin is part of the Humanities and Social Sciences branch of the Bachillerato: students choose between Latín I and applied mathematics in the first year, and between Latín II and applied mathematics in the second. In the United States, Advanced Placement tests in Latin can earn university credit; Duke University, for example, gives course credit for them.
- Bachelor's degrees. Latin is usually studied within a classics department, alone or together with ancient Greek. UCLA offers majors in Classical Civilization, Greek, Latin, and Greek and Latin. The University of Texas at Austin offers a Latin track within its Classical Languages major, which requires 24 hours of coursework, among them advanced grammar and composition and a seminar in Latin. At Duke, the Classical Languages major requires 10 courses and knowledge of both Greek and Latin through the second year. In Spain, university degrees that include Latin follow the general structure of 240 ECTS credits for a bachelor's degree (grado).
- Master's degrees and doctorates. These are research degrees in classics. Reading knowledge of both Latin and Greek is normally expected; the University of Texas at Austin recommends its combined Classics track to students who are considering graduate school.
- Short and intensive courses. UCLA's Latin 16 covers the first-year university sequence in eight weeks. It is open to all students and assumes no earlier experience of learning a foreign language. Centro Machiavelli, a language school in Florence, teaches Latin the way modern languages are taught: the course is conducted in Latin from the first lesson, and new courses start every Monday.
Where to study
SpainExchange lists 26 active schools for Latin. Nineteen are in the United States; Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Spain have one each. The list includes the University of Texas at Austin, UCLA, Duke University, the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where the classics department teaches ancient Greek, Latin and Biblical Hebrew. Outside the United States it includes the University of Oxford, the University of British Columbia, the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Aarhus University, Lund University and Centro Machiavelli in Florence. The Spanish entry is a secondary school, IES Puerto de la Cruz - Telesforo Bravo, in Tenerife.
The texts are in Latin everywhere, but the classes are not. Grammar is explained, and translations are written, in the language of the country: English in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and usually the national language elsewhere. Check this before applying to a degree abroad.
Careers
A Latin degree does not lead to one profession. The most direct route is teaching. The University of Texas at Austin points students who want to teach Latin to its teacher-preparation programme, and public school teachers in the United States need a state-issued certification or licence. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects little or no change in the employment of high school teachers from 2025 to 2035; it gives no separate figure for Latin teachers.
Other graduates go on to research and university teaching, which requires a doctorate, or to work with archives, libraries, museums and publishing. The University of Texas at Austin notes that the linguistic and analytical skills gained are useful in law, media, business and public service. Latin also keeps a place in the Catholic Church: the Pontifical Academy for Latin was established on 10 November 2012 to promote the language and its culture.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to know Latin before starting a university course?
No. Universities teach Latin from beginner level. UCLA's intensive course, for example, assumes no previous experience of learning a foreign language.
How long does it take to read Latin authors?
About one year of university study gives the basics. UCLA's eight-week intensive course covers the same material as its year-long introductory sequence and already includes passages from authors such as Caesar and Cicero.
Is Latin studied alone or with Greek?
Both options exist. UCLA offers separate majors in Latin and in Greek and Latin; Duke's Classical Languages major requires both languages.
Can Latin be learned as a spoken language?
Some schools teach it that way. At Centro Machiavelli in Florence the course is conducted in Latin from the first lesson, and students use the language in dialogue with each other and with the teacher.