Spanish words which sound similar to English

 I have been re-learning, revising, Italian which I learned two years ago on Duolingo, but using Spanish as which I have been learning for 6 months, as the instruction language. A huge number of words in Spanish sound similar to English. Once you have learned the correct translation, the Spanish words is easy to recognize.

Here are the ones I have found.

Spanish - English

acerca de - about (think of encircled by)

ahora - now (now is the hour, as the old song said, on the hour) (not to be confused with allora, Italian for now, let's go, then)

allegra/o - lively

amatista - amethyst

ascenso - ascend/rise

asi - so (ah - see, so)

borrar - delete (brush off, rub out)

clic - click

descenso - descent

describir - describe

division (accent on the o) - division

empleo - employment

escribe - write/inscribe

estado - status (in Spanish the letter e often goes before s at the start of the word, like the name of the country, Espana, escuala - school)

felicidades - congratulations (felicitations)

gramaticales - grammatical

impresionante - awesome/impressive

legas - leagues

minutos - minutes

perfecta - perfect

practicar - practise

reportar - to report

terminos - terms

utilizar - to utilize

zona - zone

verdad (Spanish)/vero (Italian) - true (like the English word verify)

 

Did You Know That The Japanese Don't Say No?

Problem
The Japanese don't say no. Why? So how do you refuse a request?

Answer
The Japanese consider it rude to say no. Not just because it is negative, or they might be disappointed. You are rejecting the other person, turning them down, so they lose face, status. It hurts their self-esteem. If others are listening, the rejected person is being humiliated in front of others.

So how do you refuse? Let's take one example. You ask a Japanese friend, "Are you free to meet me for lunch on Monday?"

Instead of saying no, they reply, "Ah, yes - but Tuesday would be better".

That way, you keep a friend.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher of English and other languages.