Yle Radio 1 has aired a weekly five-minute newscast in Latin, called Nuntii Latini, for 30 years. The program attracted around 40,000 listeners who enjoyed hearing the classical language used to discuss current affairs. Latinists developed modern vocabulary for the show, and Finland has an affinity for the language. Latin is also present in other areas, such as a Latin version of Wikipedia and the Vatican’s own Latin news bulletin.
Latin is widely known as a “dead language,” and it’s certainly true that no one learns it as a native language. However, in some ways, Latin is still very much alive. Every Friday night for thirty years, Finland’s national broadcaster Yle has aired a five-minute newscast in Latin, translated and edited by several leading academics. Since its inception in 1989, Yle Radio 1’s segment was known as Nuntii Latini (“Latin News“) and focused on Finnish and world news. The program attracted a devoted following of around 40,000 listeners, many of whom enjoyed hearing the classical language they had learned in school spoken aloud and used to discuss current affairs, people and modern issues. The exclusive radio show finally ended on June 14, 2019, updating listeners on news stories like the U.S.-Mexico immigration deal.
Long live Latin:
Latinists who contributed to the show sought to adapt classical vocabulary to the modern world, developing words such as aeroplanum for airplane and cursus electronicus for email.
Finland seems to have an affinity for the language of the Ancient Romans. In the 1990s, literature professor Jukka Ammondt famously recorded an album of Elvis Presley hits in Latin.
Elsewhere, Latin is still alive and well: There is a Latin version of Wikipedia with 131,000 articles, and the Vatican recently started its own Latin news bulletin.
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