Finding similarities between the Spanish words you are learning and English words in your vocabulary is one of the most effective ways of expanding your knowledge of the new language. When you start learning Spanish, many of the words you come across from lesson one look similar in both languages, or even identical: individual, mineral, hora, presentar, teléfono, momento, electrónico, radio, recomendar, salmón, limón, apartamento and countless more. Those will be easy to learn and to remember, and a great boost to your motivation. In my experience both as a Spanish teacher and as a student of foreign languages, what is even more encouraging is finding less obvious connections between words in both languages. For instance, have you noticed that the Spanish word for ‘beef’ and ‘cow’ (vaca) has the same origin as the English word ‘vaccine’?; or are you aware of how many English words share their origin with the Spanish numbers: unity (uno), duo (dos), trio (tres), quartet (cuatro), sexagenarian (seis), September (seven), octopus (ocho), November (nueve), December (diez)?Once you have seen those similarities, you are more likely to remember the new Spanish words without effort because your brain works by making associations. If you have ever tried to learn lists of Spanish words without context or associations you will know what a hopeless endeavor that is. That is why I always teach Spanish vocabulary to my students by connecting the new words to other words they already know. Even if you have only just started learning Spanish, making those connections will be one of your greatest allies. They will save you precious time and energy, and will transform the learning process into a game and an enjoyable challenge. The problem, however, is that if you are a beginner, or even if you have already reached an intermediate level, finding similarities between English and Spanish words might not always be easy. A good Spanish language course, however, should point at those similarities, as well as guide you through the most efficient vocabulary learning techniques. To show you how much faster you can learn new Spanish words by associating them to other words you are familiar with, here are twenty-five everyday Spanish words. In brackets I have given you the English translation and on the right is the English word of the same origin as the Spanish:lavadora (washing machine) – lavatorymicroondas (microwave) – undulatecongelador (freezer) – to congealbebida (drink) – beveragecaña (small beer) – canecopa (glass) – cupmanta (blanket) – mantlevino (wine) – vineyardtinto (red [wine]) – tinctureterraza (balcony) – terracemarisco (shellfish) – marinaquerer (to want) – to querycarne (meat) – carnivoreprimero (first) premiercasa (house) – casinotener (to have) – tenantantes (before) – antenatalequipaje (luggage) – to equiphabitación (room) – cohabitationlavaplatos (dishwasher) – lavatory, platemandar (to order) – mandateordenador (computer) – orderencantado (delighted) – enchantedlibre (vacant) – libertycarta (menu) – cartographyCan you connect other Spanish words you know to English words of the same origin? What about ‘pasillo’, ‘fumador’, ‘último’, ‘pescado’, ’suavizante’, ’sombrilla’?
Posts Tagged ‘English Word’
Learn Spanish fast – find similarities between English and Spanish words
January 7th, 2010Learning Spanish For Adults
December 15th, 2009Have you ever thought of learning Spanish but never had the time and right opportunity to do it? You don’t need to worry about “how” to actually do it but what you want to think about twice is if you really have the dedication and interest to learn the Spanish language.
Learning for adults does not come easy any longer compared to how children and teenagers learn. This is true because there is a certain point and range of interest and learning skills each age group has and as a person gets older, the ability to learn depreciates. Think about young children, learning a different language to them is easy as learning A,B,C’s.
Now the next question comes into mind. . . how do I learn a foreign language fast? We all know that it takes a while to learn new things. It also takes great enthusiasm and interest over something to be able to learn it well and apply it to normal day to day activities. Also, a good memory is built from a vivid event. Findings show that we tend to store in events or images that has a strong impact towards the senses in our memory. This is also why it’s recommended to imagine silly and outrageous images in learning foreign languages because the words can be easily remembered this way. A human brain can certainly not erase these images.
By now you should be able to realize that whatever you have seen ever since you were small is all still registered in your brain. So the next time you see something familiar, be aware that you haven’t completely forgotten what it is or what it is for but just that the image might have not been too interesting at the moment you saw it and in turn, didn’t alert your attention as you were absorbing it to your brain.
So to give you an example how pictures can create an impact in learning a foreign language, we’ll take the English word morning and mañana in Spanish as an example. Imagine this sentence as it happens: Every morning, the postman delivers mails and packages to houses with family names of Manny in a successive order. By associating the words in a scenario as you imagine it happening makes it a lot easier and fun to learn the Spanish language.
Try learning other Spanish words by visiting this link http://learn-spanish-program. com.
Easy Italian Learning
September 1st, 2009Try to think of the people who visit Italy just to learn the language. The time and expenses is not a joke but since immersion is the most effective way of learning the Italian language, these people go the extra mile. Now surely you can’t say to yourself you just don’t have the time to learn things like this. Of course you do. The generation now is full of accessible information on the tip of your fingertips. Get ahead of your friends and take advantage of the Internet by adding a foreign vocabulary to your learning.
The point of this whole thing is to inform you that learning another language or Italian for that matter isn’t difficult as you usually thought it is no matter how unachievable you put it. Believe in the saying if there’s a will, then, there is a way. One method you can use to help you memorize Italian words easily is the Link-Word method. This doesn’t only apply with the Italian language; it’s also applicable with other major international languages such as Spanish, French, Japanese and Chinese languages.
Link-Word method works like all the other vending machines. What you input the machine is processed immediately and it gives you the output. In this case, you have the coin as an input, the machine processes the coin and drops the chosen product (which is the output) you want. Now, let’s try one word to see how effective link-word method is. Imagine a bear knocking on your front door. Terrified with what’s happening, you took a ball or saw to drive the bear away. Now this may not be hilarious but its one silly situation that you won’t easily forget but easily remember.
Now you’re wondering, where is the Italian word in there? The Italian word for bear is orso. In the scenario, we used the English words or saw to associate it with the equivalent English word which is bear and yet indicate the Italian translation. Try it yourself; pick an Italian word and its English equivalent then create a crazy scene.
Learn more Italian words easily by clicking http://learn-italian-program.com.
By: Shareen Aguilar
