Study skills: COGNATES AND FALSE FRIENDS

True cognates and false friends

Many words in a foreign language will be similar to words in a language you already know. Sure, some of these will be 'false friends', such as English  `eventually´ (meaning 'finally') and Spanish  'eventualmente' (meaning `by chance´). But most cognates - words that look similar in two different languages - are real friends. That means that to remember them all you need is see the similarity with the other word you already know.

The more you study languages, the more attractive it will be to notice these hidden similarities and to use them to recall new foreign language words.

Cognates: words with the same meaning which derive from the same word, e.g. nuit, notte, noche, nacht, night, noite or stella, estel, star, estrella

False friends: pairs of words in two languages that look or sound similar, but differ in meaning.

e.g. :   actual (real, true) ≠ `actual´; carpet ≠ carpeta