How come most spanish words sound like english words?

Question

I can not figure this one out.

• Why don't you give a few examples? - Issabela Sep 24, 2009

Answer 1

It may be helpful to make a distinction between "resemble" and "sounds like". Spanish is, of course a Romance language (which is to say, derived from Latin).

English is (in principle) a Germanic language but with extensive borrowings from Latin. More to the point, English was heavily influenced by French (which is, itself, a Romance language). As a result we have a large number of words imported directly from Latin and an, even larger, number of words imported from French (which they, in turn, were imported from Latin).

Thus the influence of Latin was tremendous but much of it was by way of French. The result was that English speakers very often attempt the French "pronunciation" (insofar as they could) or (in many cases) the different nuances of meaning that the French had adopted.

• What are you? Some kind of philologist? That was great. - Seitheach Sep 24, 2009

Answer 2

I think you mean they look like English words because they are cognates primarily from Latin.

They aren't supposed to sound like English words as my Latina esposa points out to me every time I say something in Spanish to her. I can hear her now: "pobrecito gabacho."

Answer 3

It seems like a lot of words are the same or similar.These words are called cognates or near cognates. There are also words identical to English words, but have a totally different meaning. These are called false cognates.

Despite how things seem to you now, the more you study Spanish, the more you will realize that the majority of words are not the same.

Answer 4

Tal como ellos han dicho antes que yo, most spanish words don't sound like english words. The reason it appears that way to you is because your vocabulary at this point is small. With time, you will see this is very untrue.

• Agreed. - Charlius Sep 24, 2009
• I also agree - learn Sep 24, 2009
• Agreed, unfortunately Q-Q - fatcinnaroll Sep 24, 2009
• well some sound similar some don't so that is really the answer to the ouestion. - spanish5354 Sep 25, 2009

Answer 5

Oh, how I wish that were true. The more I learn the more I reaize how few words are similar.

Answer 6

Many foreign words have common origin, e.g. Greek or Latin and are, in fact, "regional" variations of their ancestors, changed with time.

Answer 7

No, most Spanish words don't sound like the English equivalent but there are many cognates. Spanish is derived from Latin and over half of the words in English also come from Latin.

Answer 8

Reagan, please go to your page and look at your PM, private message. Thanks.

Answer 9

Phil - (or anyone) If I had your email address I could send you a file that shows just how many words are the same or very similar. Very few if any actually sound the same but they look the same.

Answer 10

One thng to consider is even though the words sound the same, they evolved to have radically different meanings. They're called false cognates. For example, "I am embarressed" vs. "estoy embarezada" are two totally different things. Another is "librería" for library.

Answer 11

the answer to the question is really kind of a middle answer because some sound the same and some don't but the more you learn the more you realize the words sound the same or don't sound the same that is why english and spanish are two complete different languages and the all the words aren't going to sound the same so it is kind of a middle answer.

Answer 12

One thing I've noticed is that a lot of signs in Spanish in public places use tons of cognates. When I read things written by native Spanish speakers, the languages look a lot less similar.

It might be that native English speakers tend to favor cognates when they translate, making it look like cognates are more common than they really are.

----- attempt at Spanish -----

Una cosa que he notado es que mucho señales de español de lugares publicos usan muchos cognados. Cuando leo escrituras de habladores de español naturales, los dos idiomas no parecen tan similares.

Quiza habladores de inglés naturales usan mas cognados para traducir, resultando en los idiomas aparecen mas común que realidad.

• I don't suppose anyone wants to correct the mistakes in my Spanish? - Jason_Bryant Sep 25, 2009