science

Latin Union

Latin Union is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Latin Union rather than just read about it. In short: The Latin Union was an international organization of nations that use Romance languages, whose activities have been suspended since 2012. Headquartered in Paris, France, it aimed to protect, project, and promote the common cultural heritage of Latin peoples and unifying identities of the Romance, and Romance-influenced, world.

Key takeaways

Latin Union belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Latin Union to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Latin Union from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Latin Union was an international organization of nations that use Romance languages, whose activities have been suspended since 2012. Headquartered in Paris, France, it aimed to protect, project, and promote the common cultural heritage of Latin peoples and unifying identities of the Romance, and Romance-influenced, world. It was created in 1954 in Madrid, Spain. It started to operate in 1983 and its membership rose from 12 to 36 states, including countries in North America, South America, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region. Due to financial difficulties, the Latin Union announced on 26 January 2012 the suspension of its activities, the dissolution of its Secretariat General (effective 31 July 2012), and the termination of employment for all the organization's personnel.

Membership According to the Latin Union's website, membership was open to any nation that met the following criteria:

Linguistic criteria: Latin-derived language as official language, used in education, and commonly used in the mass media or in daily life Linguistic/cultural criteria: Existence of significant literature in a Latin-derived language Press and publication in Latin-derived language Television with a strong proportion of the programming in a Latin-derived language Radio widely broadcast in a Latin-derived language Cultural criteria : Direct or indirect inheritance of the legacy of Ancient Rome, to which the state remains faithful and which it perpetuates mainly through the education of Latin Cultural education of Latin-derived foreign languages Exchange programmes with other Latin countries Societal organization, particularly in the legal plane, based on respect for fundamental liberties, the general principles of human rights and democracy, tolerance, and freedom of religion

Official languages The official languages of the Latin Union were Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Catalan. Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese were used as working languages. All the texts of general diffusion were translated into these four languages, with some also going into Romanian and Catalan.

Member states

Catalan Andorra

French

Italian

Portuguese

Romanian

Spanish

Observers

Organization The Union was composed of three main bodies, namely, the Congress, the Executive Council, and the General Secretariat.

Congress The Congress, which consisted of the representatives of all the Member States, met in ordinary assembly every two years. Its main functions were

to adopt the budget, to define the general direction of the Union, to receive the new Member States formally, and to elect and appoint different Member States to be the Presidents, Vice-Presidents, and members of the sub-organisations of the Union. A President and two Vice-Presidents were also elected by the Congress. Oleg Serebrian from the Republic of Moldova was the last President. There were also two auxiliary bodies of the Congress, namely, the Commission of Adhesions and the Commission of Candidacies.

The Commission of Adhesions was composed of 10 Member States and was responsible for promoting the adherence of all the Member States of the Union. The Commission of Candidacies was composed of 9 Member States and was responsible for examining the validity of the candidacies, taking account of the geographical and linguistic-cultural division.

Executive Council The Executive Council was the executive branch of the Union. It consisted of 12 Member States, which were elected by the Congress every four years, and led by a President and two Vice-Presidents, which were also elected by the Congress. There were also two auxiliary commissions subordinated to the Executive Council:

The Commission of Finance and Programmes The Commission of Statues

General Secretariat The Latin Union was directed by a Secretary-General appointed every four years by the Congress. The Secretary was in charge of the execution of the programmes and implemented the decisions made by the Congress and the Executive Council in the matter of budget and general direction. Jose Luis Dicenta Ballester was at one time Secretary-General of the Union. Subordinated to the Secretary-General, there were 4 directors:

Director of Administration and Finance Director of Culture and Communication Director of Promotion and Education of the Languages Director of Terminology and Industry of the Language

Finance The finance of the Union was mainly supported by obligatory contributions from the Member States. For some activities, the Union may have collaborated with other public or private institutions.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Latin Union

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Latin Union claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Latin Union before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Latin Union ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Latin Union

In research: Latin Union appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Latin Union in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Latin Union is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1954 establishments in Spain, Catalan language, Country classifications, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Latin Union outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Latin Union in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Latin Union means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Latin Union out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Latin Union in simple terms?

Why does Latin Union matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Latin Union?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Latin Union.