Transcript Why it is important to teach Cognates?

What is a cognate?
They are words that exist in two languages
that are spelled exactly or almost exactly the
same way and have the same meaning. This
makes it easier to learn much of the vocabulary
of another language. You simply use your
knowledge of English vocabulary and apply the
rules that determine the spelling change
between the two languages.
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Spanish is a language that evolved from Latin
over the last two thousand years.
English, although it is not as closely related to
Latin as Spanish, borrows thousands of words
from Latin, many of them the same words that
Spanish uses.
Both languages have borrowed many words from
Classical Greek. This results in thousands of
cognates between English and Spanish.
This helps to give us a leg up in learning Spanish
vocabulary.
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While some of the words with a common
origin in Latin have different meanings in the
two languages.
These words are called false cognates.
But relax…
 Only 10 % of these words are false cognates.
When looking at an English word, we don't necessarily
know the gender of the Spanish cognate. When you
learn the Spanish word, learn the gender with it.
Keep in mind that…
 Knowing cognates is a quick shortcut, but it doesn't
cover all the bases.
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As you learn Spanish cognates, notice that many of
these words also have a slightly different spelling from
English.
 Words that end in -a, -o, or -e very often drop or
change this last vowel in English.
For example:
 The Spanish word 'forma' simply drops the -a to
become 'form' in English, but for 'positivo' we must
change the -o to -e.
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For instance, in Spanish double consonants like -tt, -nn
and -mm are much more rare than in English.
The -rr is a different letter in Spanish - it is the highly
trilled or rolled erre not the slightly trilled or tapped
ere.
The -cc is like in English 'accent' - the first c is hard
like k and the second is soft like s. It is never like
'accumulate' where there is no soft s sound, which
would be spelled with just one c.
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The h sound is always silent in Spanish, and where it
occurs in English words it often disappears in Spanish.
There is no th in Spanish, the h is usually dropped and
it is spelled and pronounced as just a t.
Words that start with st or sp in English often have a
Spanish cognate with an added e in front. For example
'estado' equals English 'state'.
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Many words in English have nearly identical Spanish cognates.
Only the pronunciation is different and, at most, a very little
spelling change.
Examples:
auto
chocolate
cónsul
familiar
gas
hotel
idea
melón
millón
plaza
radio
regular
similar
teléfono
villa
Spanish words that end in -a, -o or -e very often have an
equivalent in English. Simply drop or change the last
vowel.
Examples:
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aire
atleta (athlete)
caso
causa
costo
creativo
credito
dieta
drama
Many Spanish words that end in -ma are irregular in
that they are masculine in gender, even though they end
in the usually feminine -a.
Examples:
clima (climate)
diagrama
idioma (idiom,language)
problema
programa
sistema (system)
tema (theme)
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There are many Spanish cognates that end in -cion. The
equivalent English word ends in -tion. Note that all of these
words have the stress on the final syllable. Also, all of these
words are feminine in gender.
Examples:
abreviación
sensación
separación
significación
situación
ventilación
violación
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Words that end in -ary in English very often have a Spanish
cognate that ends in -ario.
Examples:
aniversario
diccionario
disciplinario
itinerario
literario
necesario
ordinario
salario
vocabulario
Words that in in -dad are quite common in Spanish.
They usually correspond to an English word that ends
in -ty. All of these words are feminine in gender.
Examples:
autoridad (authority)
ciudad (city)
comunidad
dificultad
enfermedad (infirmity, illness)
formalidad
velocidad
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English words that end in -ic usually have a Spanish
cognate that simply add an -o.
Examples:
atlántico
automático
democrático
didáctico
escolástico
romántico
sarcástico
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Like the previous category, English words that end in -ical
have a Spanish cognate that ends in -ico.
Examples:
clásico
cómico
eléctrico
físico
histérico
metódico
periódico (newspaper,periodical)
político
práctico
sicológico (psychological)
técnico
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English words that end in -ent often have a cognate in
Spanish that ends in -ente. These words are usually
adjectives.
Examples:
agente
cliente
diferente
equivalente
indiferente
inteligente
suficiente
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Spanish words that end in - mente (as opposed to just ente). They usually have an English cognate that ends in -ly.
These are adverbs.
Examples:
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correctamente
desafortunadamente (unfortunately)
especialmente
exactamente
finalmente
generalmente
moralmente
rapidamente
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Words that end in -ment in English have equivalents in
Spanish that simply add an -o. These words are nouns.
argumento
monumento
sacramento
suplemento
testamento
Words that end in -al in both English and Spanish are often
cognates.
Examples;
animal
anual
capital
central
comercial
especial
general
hospital
intelectual
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English words that end in -ence or -ance
often have a Spanish cognate that ends in encia or -ancia.
Examples:
abundancia
ausencia (absence)
circunstancia
conciencia
diferencia
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-ant (or sometimes –ent )words in English sometimes
end in -ante in Spanish.
Examples:
abundante
constante
elegante
estudiante
importante
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Some English words that end in -ous have a Spanish
cognate that ends in -oso.
Examples:
ambicioso
curioso
delicioso
famoso
glorioso
gracioso
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English words with the ending -y sometimes have an
equivalent in Spanish with the ending -ia or -io.
Examples:
aristocracia
compañía (company)
democracia
eficacia
familia
farmacia (pharmacy)
historia
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English words that end in -or often have a Spanish
cognate that is identical.
Examples:
actor
autor (author)
color
director
doctor
humor
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English words that end in -ist often have a Spanish
cognate.
Examples:
artista
florista
moralista
pianista
turista
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Cognates help to Spanish beginners feel more
comfortable with this new language.
Establishes a link between English and
Spanish.
Students are aware of the common origin of
words.
Allows students to explore the language far
beyond from school’s objectives.
Activities for finding and using cognates
 Look for cognates in their textbook.
 Read magazines and newspapers in order to
find cognates
 Try to translate the main idea of a paragraph
by identifying cognates that will help to
understand its content.