WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER (2)

Last time we spoke about the way in which successful language learners work smarter not harder, by thinking about how they are learning - they develop strategies to make the whole process easier.

Learning Spanish, for example, could be easier than you think, especially if you consider what you already know. You actually more than what you might give yourself credit for!

There are many words that are common in both Spanish and English because both languages have their origins in Latin (this is the case with Spanish more than English) and the English language has also been influenced by French, which is also a Latin based or Romance language.

Some Spanish words look very similar to English ones (these are usually known as cognates*). In some instances the only difference is an accent mark in Spanish – which affects the pronunciation of the word more than the meaning. Here are some Spanish words - the English equivalent is obvious!

chocolate  área  gas  melón  hotel  teléfono

This is especially true with words ending in –al where the meaning is the same in both languages: animal, central, hospital, personal are a few examples.

You can also understand the meaning of a lot of Spanish words simply by changing how the end of the word is spelt:

Replace –ción with –tion

circulación = circulation

identificación = identification

vacación = vacation

Replace –ario with –ary

aniversario =  anniversary

itinerario = itinerary

vocabulario = vocabulary

Replace –dad with –ty

comunidad = community

publicidad = publicity

universidad = university

So the next time you look at a Spanish newspaper or website look out for words that could be cognates and check them in a dictionary – you’ll be surprised at how much you really know.

*Just a word of caution. Some words are known as false friends because they may look the same as an English counterpart but they actually have a different meaning. The good news is that only a minority of words are false friends!