Watch Your Language Blog

Similar words

One of the most frustrating things about learning a new language can be memorizing all that new vocabulary. After creating your 500th or so flashcard (and after your fifth run to the drugstore for index cards), it can be difficult to stay motivated. However, if you're ever feeling frustrated, it might be helpful to take a break and think of this: similar words.

Whether they've been borrowed ("loanwords"), actually have the same language roots ("cognates") or are alike because of other reasons, words that are similar or even identical across two different languages can be helpful (and encouraging) when trying to get a foothold in a new language. In fact, you might be surprised how many similar words there are between English and other languages.

Here are some examples to get you started:

GERMAN

Bier (beer)
hier (here)
lang (long)
Papier (paper)
Person (person)
Telefon (telephone)

FRENCH

banque (bank)
curieux (curious)
important (important)
lettre (letter)
maman (mom)
papier (paper)
visite (visit)

SPANISH

acción (action)
centro (center)
cuestión (question)
necesario (necessary)
posible (possible)
tren (train)

ITALIAN

differente (different)
difficile (difficult)
ristorante (restaurant)
simile (similar)
té (tea)
umore (humor)

PORTUGUESE

certo (certain)
interessante (interesting)
raça (race)
silêncio (silence)
surpresa (surprise)
qualidade (quality)

JAPANESE

dansu (dance)
dezaato (dessert)
dezain (design)
koppu (cup, glass)
menyuu (menu)
modan (modern)
pasupooto (passport)
suutsu keesu (suitcase)

MANDARIN CHINESE

kāfēi (coffee)
kěkě (cocoa)
māma (mom)
Rìběn (Japan)
sī (silk)
táifēng (typhoon)
qiǎokèlì (chocolate) - the q is pronounced similarly to the ch in chocolate

ARABIC

al-kaHuul (alcohol)
bunuuk (bank)
al-jabr (algebra)
sukkar (sugar)
zaraafa (giraffe)

Tags: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, language learning, newsletter, Portuguese, Spanish, tips
June 5, 2008