SPI214 Intro to Translation: Cognates

Hola clase,

Here's a recap of what we talked about in class:

Cognates... true cognates occur when the spelling of 2 words are identical or almost identical and their meaning is the SAME in both languages.

False Cognates occur when two words look alike but they have two different meanings.
For example...

1. actual DOES NOT mean actual or real, it means current or present
2. arsenal DOES NOT mean munitions factory, it means shipyard

Partial Cognates cause some problems and confusion (as we saw in class today) now you have a pair of words that still appear the same, but now share the same meanings, but in one language the word has additional meanings.

For example...

1. admirar does mean to admire, but in Spanish it ALSO means to astonish or to surprise
2. arena does mean arena like when you're talking about sports, but in Spanish it ALSO means sand

Partial False Cognates cause many problems, because like all forms of cognates they look alike in both languages and they share.. they may or may not be false cognates because they have several meanings.

For example...

1. asistir means to help or aid (rare usage), but is usually used to mean to attend
2. atender means to take care of, it DOES NOT mean to attend (to be present at)

As we discover more, I'll post them here, I'll add them to our class notes, and I'm thinking I'll add them to my web page (as soon as I remember my password.)

Ciao,

MLMoore