The English Language Center
Zully Katherin Patiño Viviescas Professor Paul Metzger
June 8, 2013 Saturday Program Level 6- Spring 2013
Spanish versus English
Proficiency in a second language involves the acquisition of range of knowledge and skills conditioned in part by experiences lived that will help you in your personal or professional level. It is for this reason that today I will talk about the differences and similarities between the English and Spanish languages. Two languages and two ways of seeing the world.
First of all, English and Spanish as languages are cousins, as they have a common ancestor, known as Indo-European. And sometimes, These languages can seem even closer than cousins, because English has adopted many words from French, which might be seen as a sister language to Spanish. Secondly, both languages use the Roman alphabet and that knowledge helps build the the bases in the pronunciation and spelling. Some words in English have a related word in Spanish with similar sound, appearance and meaning, so these cognates help transfer that word knowledge into the second language.
The two languages have a grammar structure base on the tense, and the basic structure of the sentences is the same (Subject- verb- complement). Besides for learning to read an write uses the equal basic processes (pronunciation, fluency, comprehension, writing mechanics). On the part of the vocabulary there are of the more common patterns of similarity. Words that end in "-tion" in English often end in "-ción" in Spanish (nation- nación); many English words that have a "ph" in them have an "f" in the Spanish version (photo- foto); words that end in "-ty" in English often en in "dad" in Spanish (fidelity- fidelidad); adjectives that end in "-ous" may have a Spanish equivalent ending in