Learning Spanish Improves Your English Vocabulary

Spanish is a Romance language with roots in Latin. Much of our medical terminology and graduate level vocabulary springs from Latin origins. Some of these words are easy to detect as they are cognates. Other words use the root word from Latin when they are formed in English. The word 'masticar' in Spanish, for example, means to chew. Of course, chew and masticar sound nothing alike. Yet, 'masticar' and another less frequently used English term, 'masticate' are almost exactly the same. If you knew 'masticar' in Spanish, you would almost automatically understand that masticate means to chew.

Escupir, in Spanish, means to spit. Again 'escupir' and 'spit' have little in common. When reading the instructions on your prescription medications you might notice being told to 'escupiate' and wonder what this means. Knowing 'escupir' in Spanish would lead you to the right conclusion. Being told someone has had a coronary infarction might not alarm you if you did not know what it meant. 'Infarto' in Spanish is defined as an attack, specifically a heart attack. You would not need to wonder what the doctor meant, leaving more time with the doctor to ask what can be done and not what has happened.

Outside of the doctor's office you can still find examples of how your Spanish can help you in English. In Spanish to fabricar an item or product means to make it, and fabricate in English means the same. You may have never heard the word fabricate in English, so think about the phrase used in law, 'a complete fabrication,' used when referring to a lie. We often dream of what our future will hold. Yet we do not always accomplish our dreams. Another way of saying this, which is used less often, would be to 'realize our dreams', in Spanish used very often, to 'realizar tus sueños.' There are even examples for our emotions. If you have 'ira' in Spanish, you are very angry. An educated word for being angry is ire. Try some of these words out; you may just impress your friends or coworkers.

If this does not convince you, and you intend to go to graduate school, consider the level of vocabulary used on the GRE and GMAT exams. Speaking Spanish could be a great help in deciphering words - that could be the difference between passing and failing. Spanish has value in more ways than we expect.