On other language sites, like German, French, and Spanish, questions are sometimes written completely in the site's language. Should we allow all-Latin questions here?
I see two points:
Thoughts?
All-Latin questions should be allowed, if not encouraged. This site is meant for experts in the subject to answer, and experts should be able to read it -- at least sufficiently to understand the question.
However, I would require an English translation of, at the very least, the main point of the question, so the question might look like this:
Hic est fluff. Fluff est bonum. Necesse est, sed non centricus. Volo loqui et scribere omnes res; licetne?
Quomodo possum rogare quaesitum? Possum rogare mero Latina?
(How can I ask a question? Can I ask in only Latin?)
I'm better at reading than writing, but I think this gets the point across.
That way, in addition to helping experts, we can help people with poor Latin skills who speak the lingua franca of this site, English, because they'll be able to read the question and answer, and so the question will show up when Googled in English. This "gist" could easily be put in the title, or appended to the bottom of the question, as I did in my example.
In addition, answers to all-Latin questions could be all-Latin, but they must have the answer translated into English as well, for the same reasons.
Quaestiones sola Latina scriptas ponere licet, sed summa Anglica addenda est, quod hic situs talis factus est quo periti respondeant noviciique discant. Si quaestionem Anglice transferre nequeas, eam ponas in CONLOQVIO ut iuveris.
Qui valet aliquid latina lingua rogare, quidni responsum eadem lingua scriptum recipiat? Nil obstat quominus anglice conversetur alibi, at mea sententia peritissimi eo attrahuntur ubi se "effrenata" Latinitas exhibere possit.
Mihi autem illicitum videtur hoc quod facio: responsum anglice interroganti latine offerri.
Let there be no doubt:
Questions and answers in Latin are permitted, welcome, and encouraged!
You need no special reason to express your question in Latin: you could ask in Latin because it's fun, because you've never tried it before, for the novelty, for practice, because of the sheer pleasure of expressing yourself in Latin, because everything sounds better in Latin, to make a witty reference to Erasmus, or for no reason at all.
Another answer mentions studying Latin for four years and still being unable to write it or speak it. I've talked with a number of people with similar experiences. I suggest that if you spent four years studying the language and still can't communicate in it, the problem is that you didn't practice communicating in it.
There is a movement in Latin pedagogy now that proposes to teach Latin the same way you'd teach any other foreign language: by using it. We already have a tag, llpsi, for this movement's flagship textbook, Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata. Latin is special because of its very long written tradition, in which a small set of classical writings were used to teach the language (including speaking it), so you spend a lot of time with those. But you only come to really know a language by using it. That's how you get a feeling for its turns of phrase and habits of thought, the way its prose differs from its poetry, its connotations and cultural reference points. You've got to use it to communicate with another person, where it matters to you that you and the other party get the information right.
Not everyone agrees with this approach, of course, and we don't all need to agree. We should just make clear that if you want to post in Latin, you should do so without hesitation! Some of us want to see and answer those questions. If you don't feel like you have enough mastery of Latin to ask without making mistakes, ask anyway! You may receive helpful corrections from others more knowledgeable. Discite faciendo, scribendo, legendo, te exprimendo!
Of course, you will know that by writing in Latin, the more non-expert users might not be able to understand your question.* I trust that you can use common sense in deciding whether to supply an English translation, or maybe a little English crib, as I did in this question.
*Or you might unwittingly help the non-expert users by asking something they wanted to ask, struggling with the same difficulties they're struggling with, and giving them just the bit of help they needed. If anyone fears that questions in Latin might put off beginners, consider that despite being a tiro, I had no difficulty composing this question.
Absolutely, you can. But let's think about questions entirely in Latin for a second first.
I want to say right off the bat that we should expect very few entirely Latin-language questions to exist on this site. Latin is not a spoken or written language anymore, unless you are a part of the Roman Catholic Church in The Vatican. No one actively types real sentences with it, and I would strongly discourage anyone from using up their time to ask a question completely in Latin just for the sake of it being in Latin. That's not to say they should be disallowed, but that it's a pretty big waste of time.
Latin Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, teachers, and students wanting to discuss the finer points of the Latin language.
This site is not only for experts. There are plenty of students out there who study Latin, and studying Latin is vastly different than studying any other language.
I personally took four years of Latin classes in high school, and I can't say in that time I ever made it to a point where I could read sentences fluently without having to look things up. I can't even remember one time where we were asked to write anything in Latin. Why? Because we weren't expected to do that. Latin isn't that kind of language anymore. Most of the time you spend looking at Latin text is spent analyzing the text both before and after translation to determine the true meaning of what was written - it's not as simple as just "Can I read what this says?"
Let's not spend time comparing Latin to other languages and saying "well those ones allow it." That's not really relevant because Latin is not like any other language currently out there in regards to how it is used in modern times. If you know English, just type your question in English - it's a lot easier for everyone. There's no need to show off your skills of how well you can write in Latin.
YES.
I'll point out, by the by, that it's actually incorrect that there are no speakers of Latin as a first language. I know of at least two kids whose parents talked to them in Latin from birth (the kids' birth, not the parents) and who speak Latin fluently as one of their first languages.
Yes! As far as I am aware, all language sites across the Stack Exchange network (I've looked at Japanese, German, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Italian) allow questions in either English or the target language. I don't see a reason why this should be any different here on Latin.SE.
No all-Latin question should be allowed, because English speakers may not fluently understand them. See the post State of the Stack for more information.
