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Similarities between French and Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| kewms Senior Member United States Joined 6187 days ago 160 posts - 159 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 9 of 18 29 February 2008 at 11:25am | IP Logged | ||
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I didn't appreciate how similar the major European languages are until I started studying Japanese.
Katherine 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cothromóid Triglot Groupie Ireland Joined 6146 days ago 77 posts - 78 votes Speaks: English*, French, Irish Studies: Spanish, Italian | Message 10 of 18 29 February 2008 at 12:22pm | IP Logged | ||
How's that?! :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kewms Senior Member United States Joined 6187 days ago 160 posts - 159 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 11 of 18 29 February 2008 at 1:07pm | IP Logged | ||
Well, consider the words posted in this thread so far: * spider-araignée-araña -- 蜘蛛 [くも: KUMO] * hedgehog-hérisson-erizo -- 蝟 [はりねずみ: HARINEZUMI] * wolf-loup-lobo -- 狼 [おおかみ: OOKAMI] * stag-cerf-ciervo -- 牡鹿 [おじか: OJIKA] * mole-taupe-topo -- 土竜 [もぐら: MOGURA] cow - vache - vacca (mucca) - vaca -- 牛 [うし: USHI] horse - cheval - cavallo - caballo -- 馬 [うま: UMA] camel - chameau - cammello - camello -- 駱駝 [らくだ: RAKUDA] giraffe - girafe - giraffa - jirafa -- ジラフ [ JIRAFU] (The giraffe was unknown in Japan before contact with the West. The native Japanese word 麒麟 [きりん: KIRIN] is also used, but doesn't really refer to the same animal.) bear - ours - orso - oso -- 熊 [くま: KUMA] bull - taureau - toro - toro -- 牡牛 [おうし: OUSHI] buffalo - buffle - bufalo - búfalo -- 野牛 [やぎゅう: YAGYUU] But it's not just the vocabulary. Each of these words carries a whole web of associations and related words. Often, English uses Latinate words for these related concepts, even if it still uses Anglo-Saxon words for the base animals. Taurus, the bull, is a sign of the zodiac and is associated with a particular temperament. Chevaliers are French knights, known for the practice of chivalry. Humans can have lupine faces and attitudes. And on and on. None of which is transferable to Japanese. You don't know what you've got til it's gone. Katherine Edited by kewms on 29 February 2008 at 1:10pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cothromóid Triglot Groupie Ireland Joined 6146 days ago 77 posts - 78 votes Speaks: English*, French, Irish Studies: Spanish, Italian | Message 12 of 18 29 February 2008 at 2:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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I suppose you're right. But did you study a romance language before you studied Japanese?
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| JD Diglot Newbie Sweden Joined 6166 days ago 36 posts - 37 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Finnish, French | Message 13 of 18 29 February 2008 at 3:07pm | IP Logged | ||
Indeed. I remember when I first got in contact with the Dutch language a couple of years ago, and was absolutely stunned about the fact that I could understand so much of this new "exotic" language, despite never having studied it one single minute. All because of my English, German and Swedish knowledge! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kewms Senior Member United States Joined 6187 days ago 160 posts - 159 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 14 of 18 29 February 2008 at 3:38pm | IP Logged | ||
French, in high school. And I thought it was completely alien-- new vocabulary, new grammar--until I decided to tackle Japanese. Katherine 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cothromóid Triglot Groupie Ireland Joined 6146 days ago 77 posts - 78 votes Speaks: English*, French, Irish Studies: Spanish, Italian | Message 15 of 18 29 February 2008 at 4:26pm | IP Logged | ||
I suppose I've had it easy so far with regards to grammar (except Irish). I don't know what I'll do when I eventually have to step outside the romance family! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6151 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 16 of 18 04 March 2008 at 4:21am | IP Logged | ||
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If the Romance languages descended from Latin, I can see why there is similar vocabulary for animals. What is odd is that some words ended up very different. Why are horse, cow, and bull similar, but rabbit, swallow and butterfly different ?
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