Vocabulary

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Video (up to 9:00, 15:00)

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

 

How do you say “wine”?

Miguel, from Portugal: In Portugal, we say “vin.”
Sara, from Spain: In Spain, we say “vino.”
Magda, from Poland: In Polish, we also say, “wino.”
Taya, from Russia: We also say, “wino”.
Giulia, from Italy: In Italian we also say “wino.”

Taya, Russia: Only English pronounces it “wine.”
Giulia, Italy: It sounds like Spanish, but it’s not Spanish; it’s like mmm-mmm.”

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Miguel, Portugal: Some of the words in Russia are similar.
Taya, Russia: They even sound similar, and the meaning is also the same.
Miguel, Portugal: But Polish, I don’t know. I think Polish is very different.
Sarah, Spain: I’ve never heard Polish before today.

Do you think Russian is very similar to Polish?

Sara, Spain: I don’t think so.
Giulia, Italy: I think a few words might be a little bit similar, but let’s see.

Miguel, Portugal: I think Portuguese is the closest language I know that is similar to Russian out of all the ones that are similar.
Taya, Russia: I don’t think there’s any language I can compare that is similar version of Russian. Maybe Polish can be quite similar to Russian. But I’m not sure.
 

How do you say “forest”?

Miguel: In Portugal, we say “Floresta.”
Sarah: So in Spanish, it is “Bosque.”
Magda: In Polish, it’s “Las.”
Giulia: In Italian, we say “Foresta.”
Taya: In Russian, we say “Les.”

Moderator: I think Polish is somewhat similar.
Giulia: Actually, in Italian, we call a small group of trees “Bosco,” which is a little different from “Foresta.”
Miguel, Portugal: We have “Bosco” as well — it means a small forest.

Sara, Spain: I’m also from Galicia, really close to Portugal. Sometimes I don’t remember Spanish properly.
Miguel, Portugal: Because I’m from Porto. I heard that Portuguese and Galician are super similar.
 

How do you say “car”?

Miguel: In Portugal, we say “Carro.”
Sara: That’s quite interesting because in Spain, “Caro” means baby stuff or something related to horses. In Spanish, we say “Coche.”
Magda: In Polish, we say “Samochód.”
Giulia: In Italian, we say “Macchina.”
Taya: In Russian, we say “Mashina.”

Giulia: Oh, that’s very similar. But again, “caro” to us is the one with the horses.

Miguel, Portugal: I wasn’t expecting Italian and Russian to be so similar.
Taya, Russia: Yeah, I also didn’t expect it. I thought they would sound really different.
Miguel, Portugal: And how is it in Polish?
Magda, Poland: “Samochód.”

Miguel, Portugal: Okay, that has nothing to do with the others.
 

How do you say “school”?

Miguel: In Portugal, we say “Escola.”
Sara: In Spanish, we say “Escuela.”
Magda: In Polish, we say “Szkoła.”
Giulia: In Italian, we say “Scuola.”
Taya: In Russian, we say “Shkola.”

Very similar!

Sara, Spain: I think we are the most different one.
Miguel, Portugal: I was surprised by Polish. When I heard it, I thought, “It’s a bit different.”
Magda: It’s a bit different.
Taya: Similar but different.
 

How do you say “happiness”?

Miguel: In Portugal, we say “Feliz.”
Sara: In Spain, we say “Feliz.”
Magda: In Polish, we say “Szczęście.”
Giulia: In Italian, we say “Felicita.”
Taya: In Russian, we say “Schastlye.”

Miguel, Portugal: I think this is going to be common for us three — Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian to be similar, while Polish and Russian will also be similar.

Does it sound the same to you?

For me, it sounds similar.
Taya: But a bit different. The pronunciation is different. I think I cannot pronounce the Polish version properly.

Miguel, Portugal: You can tell it’s a different language?

For me, it’s the same language.

Taya: No, no, I can definitely tell the difference.
 

How do you say “joy”?

Miguel: In Portugal, we say “Alegria.”
Sara: I don’t think in Spain we have a direct word for “joy,” but the closest one would be “Alegría.”
In Polish, I think it’s just the same, Szczęście. I don’t think there’s any word.
Giulia: In Italian, we say “Gioia,” but we also use “Alegria” for happiness when you laugh.
Taya: In Russian, I don’t think we have a separate word for “joy,” but the closest one would probably be “naslazhdat’saya” — it’s like when you enjoy something.

Miguel, Portugal: That’s so specific! The happiness, when you laugh is so cute. It’s so specific.

Sara: Yes, it’s very specific.
 

How do you say “house”?

Miguel: In Portugal, we say “Casa.”
Sara: In Spain, we say “Casa.”
Magda: In Polish, we say “Dom.”
Giulia: In Italy, we say “Casa.”
Taya: In Russian, we say “Dom.”

Giulia, Italy: But do you in Spain and Portugal have a word that sounds like “Dom”? Because we do: We have “Domo,” which is like “Cathedral.”
Sara, Spain: I don’t know if you have something similar in Spain. We don’t have that word, but many museums use it. But it’s not like “museum,” some museums take it as a Latin word and they use it.

Miguel: I’ve never heard of it.

Giulia: In Latin, I think, if I’m not wrong, “Casa” is “Domus.” Maybe that’s the origin.
 

How do you say “cheese”?

Miguel: In Portugal, we say “queijo”.
Sara: In Spain, we say “queso”.
Magda: In Polish, we say “ser”.
Giulia: In Italian, we say “formaggio”.
Taya: In Russian, we say “syr”.

Magda, Poland: syr, ser.
Taya, Russia: ser, syr.
Magda, Poland: One letter difference.
Sara, Spain: It quite sounds like “salt” in Spanish: that is “sal”. If you really it fast, you can get salt.

Miguel, Portugal: It’s related, I guess, cheese and salt.
Sara, Spain: Maybe salty cheese.

Miguel, Portugal: Italian is super random.
Taya, Russia: I wasn’t expecting that all all; I was expecting something like “cheeso” or something like that.
Giulia, Italy: “Formaggio”.
Miguel, Portugal: For cheese pizza, in Portugal, we say “Pizza de queijo.”
Giulia, Italy: Ah, “quattro formaggi”.
Sara, Spain: We say “quatro formaggio”.
 

How do you say “Wine”?

Miguel: In Portugal, we say “Vinho.”
Sara: In Spain, we say “Vino.”
Magda: In Polish, we say “Wino.”
Giulia: In Italian, we say “Vino.”
Taya: In Russian, we say “Vino.”

Magda: Now we all agree on this one!
Taya: Now we all have similar ones.

Miguel: “Wine” is so random.
Taya: Yes, only English is different with “wine.”

Miguel: In Portuguese, it’s “vinho.”
Sara: In Spanish, it’s “vino”.
Giulia: I think the prefix (beginning part) is the same for everyone; but the suffix (ending part) is a little bit different.
Taya: For Russian too, it’s not like “vino”, but “vino”.
Giulia: You put the accent in the end.
Taya: We put the accent at the end. Same but different at the same time.
 

How do you say “park”?

Miguel: In Portugal, we say “Parque.”
Sara: In Spain, we say “Parque.”
Magda: In Polish, we say “Park.”
Giulia: In Italian, we say “Parco.”
Taya: In Russian, we say “Park.”

Miguel, Portugal: I relate more to the Polish and Russian pronunciation many times. I feel like Spanish and Italian sometimes sound more like “parque” or something like that.

Sara, Spain: I think that’s the accent: Parque.
Miguel: But Russian and Polish are more similar to Portuguese, from Portugal, because it’s very close, like “parque”.
 

How do you say “beach”?

Miguel: In Portugal we say “praia”.
Sara: In Spain, we say “playa”.
Magda: In Polish, we say “plaza”.
Giulia: In Italian, we say “spiaggia”.
Taya: In Russian, we say “plyazhy”.

Giulia: Okay, this time, I’m the different one. But apart from the “S”, spiaggia, plaza, playa, are still quite similar.
 

How do you say “moon”?

Miguel: In Portugal, we say “lua”.
Sara: In Spain, we say “luna”.
Magda: In Polish, we say “ksiezyc”.
Giulia: In Italy, we say “luna”.
Taya: In Russia, we say “luna”.
Miguel, Portugal: Oh my god! What happened?
Sara, Spain: What happened to Poland?
Magda: And it’s also Polish sounds, in terms of pronunciation; I don’t know why.
Miguel, Portugal: I didn’t expect Polish to be so different — and Russian so similar to us. Normally, I would put Polish and Russian in the same group. But Russian has a lot of Romance and Latin influences, I guess.
 

How do you say “sea”?

Miguel: In Portugal, we say “oceano”.
Sara: In Spain, we say “mar”.
Magda: In Polish, we say “morze”.
Giulia: In Italian, we can say both “mare” or “oceano”.
Taya: In Russian, we say “more”.

Sara, Spain: Why is it so cute? Sounds cute to me.
Miguel: We can also say “mar”.
Sara, Spain: We say “mar” if it’s a sea; and “oceano” if it is an ocean.
Miguel: Maybe I did the wrong translation.
Sara: The thing is, like in the Europe area, we all have a lot of influence with other languages. So I think that’s why they have really similar words. If you think about it, we even have similar words with English.

So it’s all mixed already.
 

How do you say “world”?

Miguel: In Portugal, we say “Mundo.”
Sara: In Spain, we also say “Mundo.”
Magda: In Polish, we say “Świat.”
Giulia: In Italy, we say “Mondo.”
Taya: In Russian, we say “Mir.”

Sara: Polish is the only one I’m impresses with!
 

How do you say “cold”?

Miguel: In Portugal, we say “Frio.”
Sara: In Spain, we also say “Frío.”
Magda: In Polish, we say “Zimno.”
Giulia: In Italy, we say “Freddo.”
Taya: In Russian, we say “Holodno.”

Miguel: It’s interesting how Italian sometimes has completely different words.
Giulia: Yes, but it still sounds similar to me!
Miguel: Same vibe, right?
Giulia: Frio. I don’t know, but I would understand.
 

How do you say “honey”?

Miguel: In Portugal we say “mel”.
Sara: In Spain, we say “miel”.
Magda: In Polish, we say “miod”.
Giulia: In Italy, we say “miele”.
Taya: In Russian, we say “myod”.

Sara, Spain: Cute! I think it’s a cute word!
Miguel: So for Spanish, I think your language and my language too, we have some accents to it, right? And the English accent.

And the Spanish-English accent, I mean, it’s kind of a stereotype, but every time I hear someone say they’re from Spain in English, they go like, “I’m from a Spain.”

Sara, Spain: Portuguese does it too.
Miguel, Portugal: Really?
Sara, Spain: Yeah, mostly in the north, you guys also speak the same way.
Miguel, Portugal: And that would be my stereotype: “Ah, yes, I’m from a Spain.”

It’s funny how languages can be grouped in different ways depending on the words. Sometimes Portuguese and Polish feel similar because of certain sounds, but other times Portuguese and Spanish are much closer. It’s all connected in some way!

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Questions

 

Bush, Tree, Forest. This video was a Portuguese language lesson. Is this entirely true, mostly true, yes and no, in the middle, partially true, largely false, or totally, completely false?

Leaf-Leaves, Branch, Trunk. Were the participants students from Brazil, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Mexico, and the UK?

Bicycle, Scooter, Car, Van, Truck. The Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Italian and Russian words for “forest” and “cold” are completely different from each other. Is this right or wrong?

Bus, Train, Airplane, Ship. Is Galician a regional Spanish dialect? Are Galician and Castilian Spanish closely related?

School, College, University. Are all the words for “car” automobile or a derivative of it?

Happiness, Sadness, Anger. Are the words for “school”, “wine”, “park”, and “honey” all very different in Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Italian, and Russian?

House, Building, Cathedral. Is there only one type of “happiness” and “joy”?

Dairy, Milk, Cheese, Yogurt. Were there any “oddball” languages (regarding words like “beach”, “moon”)?

Honey, Salt, Pepper. Did the participants draw any conclusions or make certain relationships between languages?
 
 
 
Tea, Coffee, Hot Chocolate. Did you recognize certain words or patterns among different languages?

Park, Yard, Playground. Which language or languages are related to or similar to yours? Is it “easy” to learn these languages?

Sun, Moon, Stars. What are the origins of words in your language?

Pond, Lake, Sea, Ocean. What might happen in the future?

World, Globe, Earth, Planet. What could or should people, schools, businesses, governments do (think of China, France, Japan)?