We have all heard of the Harry Potter books but did you know that the books have been translated into around 62 languages including Greek and Latin ?
According to a report in the United States "The use of Latin in J K Rowling's books has prompted a surge of interest in the classics among high school students. After decades of decline, the numbers taking Latin for college credits has soared by 80 per cent since the first book was published in the United States six years ago" (Daily Telegraph 2 February 2003 ).
Oliver Poole in Los Angeles in 02/02/2003 wrote "Teachers report that children aged 11 to 14, who previously had little interest in Latin, now choose it over French or Spanish as their foreign language."
"I was speaking to a class of 11-year-olds and I'd not even mentioned Harry Potter," said Adam Blistein, the executive director of the American Philological Association, which represents classics professors. "Suddenly, the kids kept focusing on words they recognized from the books. The big issue now is not lack of interest but lack of qualified teachers, as interest had fallen so far in the 1970s and '80s."
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