he funny thing is that in dozens of tiny ways, Portuguese is very slightly close to English than Spanish is. Basically, in anything that's borrowed from Latin, Spanish adds a little twist, and English and Portuguese don't. So "almost" is "quasi" in English, "quasi" in Portuguese, "casi" in Spanish. Lots of words in Latin that start with …
he funny thing is that in dozens of tiny ways, Portuguese is very slightly close to English than Spanish is. Basically, in anything that's borrowed from Latin, Spanish adds a little twist, and English and Portuguese don't. So "almost" is "quasi" in English, "quasi" in Portuguese, "casi" in Spanish. Lots of words in Latin that start with "f" get changed to "h" in Spanish. So "filio" in Latin gives us "filial," Portuguese "filho," and Spanish "hijo." I didn't even realize that "hijo" is a modification of "filho" until I started on Portuguese. "fungus" in Latin is "fungus" is English is "fungo" in Portuguese... but "hongo" in Spanish. And Spanish adds all those little "ye" and "tuh" twists. "Time" is "tempus" in Latin, as in "tempus fugit," and "tempo" as in music in English, and "tempo" in Portuguese... but "tiempo" in Spanish. "Terra", as in "terra firma" and "terrestrial" is "terra" in Portuguese... but "tierra" in Spanish.
That's really interesting. The fact that I learned some Spanish in school is both helping and hurting. It's hard to know which has the upper hand overall. Maybe I just need to learn to untwist the Spanish. (He says, as if that will be easy.)
he funny thing is that in dozens of tiny ways, Portuguese is very slightly close to English than Spanish is. Basically, in anything that's borrowed from Latin, Spanish adds a little twist, and English and Portuguese don't. So "almost" is "quasi" in English, "quasi" in Portuguese, "casi" in Spanish. Lots of words in Latin that start with "f" get changed to "h" in Spanish. So "filio" in Latin gives us "filial," Portuguese "filho," and Spanish "hijo." I didn't even realize that "hijo" is a modification of "filho" until I started on Portuguese. "fungus" in Latin is "fungus" is English is "fungo" in Portuguese... but "hongo" in Spanish. And Spanish adds all those little "ye" and "tuh" twists. "Time" is "tempus" in Latin, as in "tempus fugit," and "tempo" as in music in English, and "tempo" in Portuguese... but "tiempo" in Spanish. "Terra", as in "terra firma" and "terrestrial" is "terra" in Portuguese... but "tierra" in Spanish.
That's really interesting. The fact that I learned some Spanish in school is both helping and hurting. It's hard to know which has the upper hand overall. Maybe I just need to learn to untwist the Spanish. (He says, as if that will be easy.)