Facebook just announced that they have added Latin to the list of over 70 supported languages. For educators this could be a creative way of bridging the gap between teaching students a language that may seem distant from their everyday lives. Outside of the classroom, this is also interesting for someone interested in Latin and would like to be immersed in an environment that can facilitate the practice of this language.
Elizabeth Linder, Facebook representive, states:
To students of Latin, the availability of the language on Facebook may be just what's needed to narrow the distance between themselves and the venerable language. After all, the experience of studying Latin can frequently seem somewhat far and away. Even the readings prescribed by Latin teachers have an air of detachment about them: Cicero and Demosthenes, Caesar and Virgil. While students of "living languages" practice on subtitled films and in conversation groups, on vacations and with exchange students, Latin scholars soak in rare living breaths of their studied language, satisfying themselves with the occasional legal phrase, nursery plant, benediction or school motto. Recognizing verb stems and identifying vocabulary roots just somehow aren't quite the same as ordering off a menu or asking for directions.
Considering the amount of time people spend in facebook this could provide a rich practice environment for language learning.
