Learn Spanish via Etymologies: The Addictive Way To Learn Spanish Quickly

by S. Morgan Friedman

This new method to learn Spanish makes each word come alive in your mind. Knowing where each Spanish vocabulary word came from makes it trivial for you to remember them. Once you know that the Spanish "mirar" (to look at) is related to the English "admire," "miracle," "mirage" -- all things you look at -- you'll always remember "mirar." Once you know that the Spanish for "lighthouse" is "faro," named after the King of ancient Egypt who built the Great Lighthouse at Alexandria, the "Pharaoh," then you'll always remember "faro." Once you know that most "ct" sounds in English are a parallel to the "ch" sound in Spanish, you'll always remember that "noCHe" (night) is similar to "noCTurnal", "ocho" (eight) is like "oCTogon", "leche" (milk) is like "laCTose," etc. And so on! From the creators of the hit site, "SpanishEtymology"

237 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 26, 2018

Reviews

[Babs the Owl · Rating 1 out of 5]

I haven't read the book but I have read the author's blog spanishetymology.com upon which it was based, and it's pretty poor.

Firstly, learning etymologies isn't a 'new' way of learning languages that the author invented. It's been forced upon kids for generations in traditional Grammar and private schools in the UK and across the old British empire. Soz.

It is certainly a good thing to encourage it as part of a language learning strategy (eg understanding Latin stare/esse makes Spanish estar/ser very easy), but it's not going to make the whole thing go miraculously 'quickly' as the title suggests. I do however agree that it's addictive and that a book is worth writing for general use.

Secondly, this author just gets it wrong quite a lot. They oversimplify, and under research (weird for someone who claims to be a nerd). Feliz / felix is indeed all about being happy and fertile. You just didn't mention that a major meaning of both is lucky. It's a good fortune thing.

The entry for vulva is the most embarrassing one. No, it does not come from the Latin word for 'returning' because it (oo-er) 'rolls back and forth' [FACEPALM]. Latin verb Volvere has a rich variety of meanings including to roll, turn about, turn round, tumble, coil, wrap, envelop, and form into a roll or ball. All that is searchable online in five seconds. You could have used the Spanish word involucrar to show the link, but no, you had to be a bit crude, and very wrong!

If you are going to write a book or blog on this subject, you need to take it a bit more seriously I'm afraid, or it just looks like a middle school project. It's a rich and interesting subject, to which this author isn't doing justice.

[John Monro · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fairly inexpensive purchase through Kindle - it's a book to accompany your Spanish learning only. I think it's basically just a book version of an internet resource. Etymology is a fascinating area of language, and finding cognates between different languages is part of this interest. However, there's quite a lot of repetitious writing in the book which is a bit tedious and which could usefully have been excised. But, it's an interesting book to dip into, and will help your Spanish vocabulary along, as well as your understanding of English.

[Darren · Rating 1 out of 5]

Such a bad book. It appears to just be a bunch of blog posts that have been collected together. It constantly refers to 'as we looked at before', which the boom didn't, so it just didn't make sense. I was thinking that some of it, that made sense, was interesting to know. But then other reviewers say that it is frequently wrong. I've been learning Spanish for a year and a half, and I don't think you could learn the language at all through this book. Perhaps a better book on the Etymology method, but not this one.

[Michelle Sum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting, not quite a Spanish book for learners, or useful vocab or guidance. Mostly interesting if you’re a fan of language I.e. etymologies - you don’t necessarily have to be interested in Spanish; just word evolution. Not recommended as a learner Spanish.

[Olivia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had very high hopes for this book, but it fell short of my expectations. A few entries are very insightful and helpful, but it is mostly random information thrown together rather than a serious, comprehensive review of etymology that paints a clear picture of language transformation over time.

[Antonio Padilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book to understand etymology and spanish in general

[Lynzee Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book actually made me angry