If the condescending views of John Cregan about the increasing interest in teaching Latin (Letters, 29 May) are correct, one wonders why the Iris project has had such success in expanding its work across the country and why Barbara Bell’s splendid Latin course for younger children, Minimus, has just exceeded worldwide sales of 150,000. Both of these projects aim to use Latin to support literacy in primary schools and to create young “language learners”, who acquire an awareness of how languages (both English and many others) are structured, as well as an understanding of their grammar and the derivation of so much of their vocabulary. This can only be seen as a hugely valuable contribution to their command of English and a firm foundation for their future modern language learning. Natalie Haynes (Notebook, 27 May) is correct to welcome its growing popularity.
John Cregan’s description of Latin as “a waste of time” is contradicted by the recent growth of its use in state primary schools; furthermore his “dead” language remains in evidence all around us (Wikipedia has 115 pages of Latin words and phrases in everyday use in English).
I am sure that the teaching of Latin in inner-city areas such as Glasgow will be of great benefit to their children, as it has been here in rural Norfolk, where it has been introduced into more than 20 state primary schools, all of whom report back positively on its merits.
Jane Maguire
Aldborough, Norfolk
