Teaching Your Child A New Language

By Greg Zambrano

Learning a second language at times is very common, depending on the family or community.
Sometimes, the children must learn the native language of the parents or ancestors for cultural reasons or parents might encourage a child to learn a second language like Chinese, French, Spanish or Japanese to further increase their possibilities of obtaining a great career.

It is a wonderful idea to learn multiple languages to converse with people of different countries and expand your knowledge.
For children, learning a new language is generally easier than for adults, but positive encouragement from parents is needed.
One language that I recommend is Latin, a sacred language of the Roman Catholic Church that is deeply seeded in mystery. Using Latin in prayer brings a sense of beauty, fulfillment and closeness to God.

Since Latin will always be with us, so why not jump in the mystery and be enwrapped in it?
To simply connect to this history, just listen to Dominican St. Thomas Aquinas’ “Pange Lingua Gloriosi Corporis Mysterium” and “Tantum Ergo” in Latin. My personal favorites are “Ubi Caritas,” “Ave Maris Stella” and “Dies Irae.”

As a holy language, it is a vehicle to take us further into the mystery, tradition and ancient culture.
Whenever I am doing something new, I look for examples and references. The saints – many who were priests and religious – are our guides. What I often notice about them is that they chose to search for holiness and often prayed in Latin.

Attend a Latin Mass celebrated throughout the archdiocese. When I leave a Latin Mass, some of the Latin, especially the hymns, sticks with me.
On YouTube, I have found abundant resources like Gregorian Chants and prayers to keep on learning and nurturing my faith.
It is important that we pray, as a family, to ask for and receive God’s blessing, furthering the pursuit of education and, at the same time, learning our faith.
I’ve found Latin to be the perfect vehicle to do this.