There are around 1000 speakers of Latin in the world, this is the people that can hold a fluent conversation in Latin. Around 10 000 are reasonably conversant with Latin.
Here we have a list of the countries that have it as the official language.
1. Vatican City.
However, the number of people that learn Latin as a second or third language is higher than it has been for decades.
Why do all the languages from Western Europe sound so similar?
The answer lies in their common Latin roots. The Roman Empire established itself over all of Europe, except for in the cold lands of the North. As centuries went by Latin evolved, creating what today we know today as the Romance languages, such as French, Italian, Portuguese, Galician, Catalan, Sardinian and Spanish.
In English we find that almost all the difficult or elegant words come from Latin. Around 70% of English vocabulary comes from Latin one way or another.
Why knowing all this will help me decide to learn Latin? Why on earth would I want to learn Latin?
You will be able to read a newspaper and get the gist of any article, in any Romance language, after you have learned Latin. You will also be able to super charge your English with your Latin, enriching your vocabulary and turning your English from a Ford Fiesta version into a Ferrari. Your experience of the world will be the richer for it. Advanced language skills are directly linked to income level, so maybe you'll end up richer in other ways as well. Who knows?
Finally if you actually manage to become fluent, the wonderful and virile language and literature of the Romans will be accessible to you. As if that wasn't reason enough all by itself.
http://latinum.mypodcast.com
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