List of words that are the same in english and spanish

[lingos]

hello

is there a list of words that are the same (more or less) in english and spanish?

for example: perfume

I don't know how big that list would be, but I reckon it will good a substantial advantage to increase one's spanish vocabulary

thanks

[Rusty]

The words that look alike in Spanish and English list into the thousands. Very few, in comparison, are spelled exactly the same. Some end up having different meanings, even though they look the same. For example, real and actual look exactly like English words, but these Spanish words don't mean the same thing as their English 'cousins'.

There is no one list that is exhaustive.

In my experience, learning a language from lists doesn't seem like a good approach. :)

[lingos]

thanks for your reply

what other approaches would you propose for quick learning and expanding vocabulary?

listing of items may be advantageous because it offers a mnemotechnic way to learn, furthemore it offers convenient way to make repetition [repetitio est mater studiorum] (for example trying to make repetition from a text, paragraphs etc, although may help some, for others would be more time-consuming), and although I could not learn the whole list, I would have a good idea, a first look of the words I can cross - use if I even need, without meaning that I will memorize lists

ofcourse any kind of lists would not be the main course, but just a tool, which for the above reasons I find it useful, and moreover lists seem to be unavoidable for any language learning (irregular verbs, etc)

and from your crucial information, I believe a list of words that are the same but have different meaning, is very helpful, it will save much trouble especialy for those that are considering giving some kind of exams

anyone would like to share learning methods that helped you, please feel free to post

thanks

[Rusty]

Expanding vocabulary is often done by reading books. When you're just starting out, vocabulary building will be a daunting task, since you'll spend most of the time researching, and less time enjoying the story. But the really great thing about reading is that you'll apply semantics to the new words even before you look them up (this is actually how you learned your mother tongue). All of us assign meaning to a new word, even without thinking about it, by what we observe about it - how it is used - how it interacts with the words that surround it. We can't do that with a list of unrelated words!
If you can find books with pictures, this will help you learn more rapidly because more senses will be applied. For example, it's difficult to learn the meaning of ball if you see it in a list of unrelated nouns. It's hard to learn what roll means when it appears in a list of unrelated verbs. What's worse is that there is more than one word listed as a translation for each of those words! But if someone shows you a ball, says its name, rolls it to you and says "Roll the ball," you've learned a lot more than two vocabulary words. You'll associate those two words (they'll relate to each other). You'll have a phrase to use, based on what you saw, heard, touched and felt (emotion). If the story shifts gears and starts talking about the ball of your foot, or about a roll in the oven, you'll instantly recognize that the 'picture' is different, so new meanings will be crafted based on surrounding clues. The end result is much more than two unrelated vocabulary words in different lists, with more than one meaning each; it's three very different mental images - images that come complete with reusable phrases and all the grammar you'll need to convey the same 'picture' to someone else.

Items are certainly listed, and there are good reasons to have lists, but I personally think that the written word is the best 'list'.
:twocents:

[poli]

I agree with Rusty, but everyone is different. If you are interested in lists,
a good one to form is a false cognate list. You can start it with Rusty's example real and actual.

Because there are so many words that translate directly between the two
languages, it's good to remember the ones that betray us. Recently I was surprized to find out that the word mundane's look-alike mundana means worldly. The two words have the same Latin root, but their meanings shifted. There's a lot like that.

[lingos]

I agree, thinking of a situation, a context, etc makes the word written in memory easily, however listing (organizing) words does not have to lack this feature, for example in my lists I always use example phrases

but especially for english words that are the same in spanish and have the same meaning, there is no reason to try to memorize their meaning, since you already know it, so there is not that crucial to give an example phrase in order to try to remember it

ofcourse in case the word is used in other meaning or it is used differently (eg it's accompanied with a specific preposition, etc), then yes, an example phrase is essential, and seeing the word in a text would be better, but only in these cases, as for the english-spanish common words, in the other cases its advantage is diminished

texts surely add vocabulary and at the same time offer a way to learn to use the vocabulary, plus this may be mnemonic, especially for the people that use active way of learning (among the three types of learning, by hearing, seeing, or acting)

however one would wonder, if the mind remembers more easy a list of spoon, fork, knife, plate or if one sees each of these words in different texts in different time each others, in different text context, and given ofcourse the fact that it would be too inconvenient if he wants to do repetition

I often see people doing their own vocabulary lists from vocabulary that they extract from a passage and in most ocassions such vocabularies contain irrelevant words, eg fork and ball

if we accept that learning/memorizing vocabulary using passages, one would argue if remembering a word by the context, a whole phrase, would require more effort, time and memory than learning just the word, especially for nouns (for verbs, prepositions, etc may be more valuable to see in in use of a phrase) and moreover, it may be just indifferent to see the word fork in a phrase, eg 'he lfited the fork'

it would be very interesting if anyone know any research by linguisticians and learning psychologists (Psycholinguistics) about language learning, eg the article I once read about how fast one can forget a second language he learned

please don't misunderstand, I don't disagree that learning vocabulary from passages is both useful and essential, I just need to explore other learning toolsin order NOT to replace, but to expand and enrich the learning quiver

it's good to remember the ones that betray us
yes, that would be very useful, for example simpático means nothing like sympathetic and the fact that they share the same stem may mislead someone while he writes an essay for example

thanks

[Fazor]

One thing that I've been doing is going to this comic strip site (http://www.gocomics.com), and going to the "Comics in Spanish" section. The great part there is, they are short (so you don't burn yourself out); there's pictures to help you try to figure out the words you don't know, and once you think you understand it, you can go look at the English version and see if you are correct.

[laepelba]

One thing that I've been doing is going to this comic strip site (http://www.gocomics.com), and going to the "Comics in Spanish" section. The great part there is, they are short (so you don't burn yourself out); there's pictures to help you try to figure out the words you don't know, and once you think you understand it, you can go look at the English version and see if you are correct.

How do you get to the Comics in Spanish section? ... I don't see it on the front page.....

[Rusty]

Select the Comics link on the left-hand side. On the page that appears, the Comics in Spanish link is on the right-hand side.

[laepelba]

Thanks! :)

[Fazor]

Now it does have some comics that do not have English translations. I like El Condorito, personally. It's usually pretty easy to understand yet always has some words for me to learn.

[chileno]

Now it does have some comics that do not have English translations. I like El Condorito, personally. It's usually pretty easy to understand yet always has some words for me to learn.

Condorito is original of chile. Pepo, its author, is chilean. :-)

I grew up with it. :)

[Fazor]

Ah, well kudos. It's my favorite of the non-US comics on that page. :)

[SitgesStalker]

Hi - seems like nobody is particularly keen on your similar words list idea - too much friendly fire? I'm only a learner myself but it seems quite a few English words that end in 'tion' are similar in Spanish, albeit mainly with a 'cion'. Has got me out of a few 'village idiot' situations I have to say. "Hey, the monosyllabic Englishman has just thrown in a big word! Organizacion. Maybe he’s not so stupid after all!” I am, but I prefer to delay that discovery as long as possible.

[CrOtALiTo]

I believe that in the magazines you can find the words that you need about it.
In the stories magazines there are a lot of words write in English and Spanish too.

[irmamar]

You can find some here (http://www.latinamericalinks.com/spanish_cognates.htm). :)

[SitgesStalker]

Well played Irmamar, well played indeed! The list you have directed us to is mouthwatering. And I thought their summation of the pros and cons of Spanish cognates was spot on too. Below a snippet.

Again, nice work and thanks.

"many words in Spanish resemble words in English and if studied should provide the Spanish student a quick source of building a strong Spanish vocabulary. However, it should be noted that not all words that sound alike in Spanish and English, have the same meaning. This dictionary will eventually present about 4000 words."

[irmamar]

Well, I didn't have a list of words, so I made a search about Spanish cognates. I was surprised when I saw so many. :)

[bobjenkins]

Y hay tantos que son casi parecido como...

Sponsor (patron)
patrocinador :)