Cognate, as defined by Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, means ‘same or similar in nature’.
Applying this definition to languages, cognates are words that are similar or same between two languages.
Cognates can be useful when learning another language because they can provide a bridge between the two languages with vocabulary. As building your vocabulary for a language is a vital first step, this is a helpful tool.
What are some German cognates?
Some German cognate examples are:
house + haus (both pronounced like the english word)
mouse + maus (both pronounced like the english word
fish + fisch (both pronounced like the english word)
milk + milch (while the ch sounds similar to k, it’s a softer k but still easily recognizable as it’s english counterpart).
beer and bier (both pronounced like the English word)
As these examples show, cognates can be useful for vocabulary building and word recognition. It can also help you learn how to pronounce words as you recognize patterns such as the aus in Maus and Haus is pronounced like ouse in house and mouse.
German is not the only language with cognates nor is it the only one with false cognates.
What is a false cognate?
False cognates are words that look or sound the same but don’t mean the same. They are a trick and can be confusing to new learners.
Some examples of false cognates in German that are common are:
where + wer (pronounced vare and means who)
who + wo (pronounced vo and means where)
Gift (in German pronounced gift like english) means poison actually.
I know when I started learning German, I mixed up wo and wer as did many of my classmates. With practice and patient reminders from our professor we were all able to remember correctly.
Other confusing cognates are el in Spanish is he, but elle (pronounced the same) in French is her! Or Gateau in French is cake but in Spanish Gato is cat.
Using Cognates in Practice
Knowing what a cognate is and how to use them is a wonderful tool with learning and using a foreign language. It can provide a bridge between your current language and your target language.
Here are a couple ways you can use a cognate while learning or using a foreign language.
- Building your personal dictionary
There’s a tool called a functional dictionary.
A functional dictionary can be digital or paper, with or without pictures and you write the definitions in your words. These only include words that you need in there, nothing about mechanical engineering (unless you are a mechanical engineer). You can include as many or few words as you need.
Cognates help build associations and using them in your personal functional dictionary can help build your vocabulary.
- Recognizing words in different contexts like example menus
Cognates can be a bridge between two languages.
Knowing this, when you’re out at a new restaurant and you see a word similar to your native language on the menu, it might be the same ingredient!
That being said, if you have allergies, always always always know what that is in the language of the countries you travel to!
These are just a few of the examples of how to use cognates when learning a foreign language. As you learn a foreign language and learn strategies that work for you you’ll find more uses for cognates than listed here.
Other notes
As a teacher of foreign language, Cognates have been useful for teaching older students to help them connect words between languages.
I even know translators have used them in professional situations to help clients understand the situation better.
