Interesting similarity between Japanese and Spanish
705
I am reading a reference for Spanish a Duo user shared. There is an example like this:
"El buffet de desayuno lo tenemos de miércoles a domingo"
I almost felt a は should have been there after desayuno.
Another example is about Want.
"Eso no me gusta mucho."
The perspective is the same as
これはあまり好きではありません。
There is no Spanish - Japanese course or Japanese - Spanish course yet in Duo. Perhaps it would be a short cut for those who knows either language already.
14 Comments
I recently realized how often I use that "topic" sentence structure in Portuguese. We do it all the time.
One can even find Portuguese listed as a topic-prominent language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topic-prominent_language#Examples (Granted, it mentions the Brazilian variety, but I assume that relates to what they happened to study, not implying that European Portuguese is necessarily different.)
I taught French and English in Japan for a while. After a while all the languages seem alike, except German.
- 1597
We all are a big, indo-european family after all -- yes, even that grumpy german uncle.
Except to English, German would be something like a father (or mother) - since English is a german(ic) derived language.
I gather you'll find this exceedingly interesting then.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_Japanese_words_of_Portuguese_origin
- 705
Thank you for the link. The theory about ありがとう coming from Obrigado is hilarious.
It is! The proposed connection between pão and "pan" (???) seems pretty plausible!
Also the verbs mirar (spanish) and miru (japanese) are pretty much the same meaning.
- 705
While English has only 2 groups of demonstrative adjectives This and That, Spanish and Japanese both has 3, and their concepts are also similar to a certain extent
Japanese : この、その、 あの
Spanish : Este, Ese, Aquel
As a native Spanish speaker, I find Japanese phonology not so different from Spanish.
Also, there's the Japanese expression "yatta", which means "I did it", while in Spanish there's the expression "ya está", which menas "it's done", both have nearly identical pronunciation and both are used in the same situations (when one has done, made or achieved something), so for us native Spanish speakers is funny everytime we hear a Japanese saying yatta since for us it looks like they are saying that in Spanish.
