Vocabulary compared

These are just comparisons of word similarities between languages, a commonplace for linguist but so interesting to the polyglot language learner. I made these lists for me, but as I directly used html I offer them to any interested reader on earth. If you love to learn languages and want to discuss this or the way you learn them, please contact me. I speak, read and write french, english, german and spanish, and I'm learning russian and italian, which I can only read by the time I write this. As russian readers of this page are supposed to understand the latin alphabet to have a defendable interest in it, I used my own transcription of the cyrrilic.

Indo european languages
Germanic		Slavic	Latin
English	German	Russian	French	Italian	Spanish
English	Deutsch	Russki	Français	Italiano	Español

one	ein	adin	un	uno	uno
I	ich	ya	je	io	yo
Some words are well known as being the same in most indo-european languages. They are the most basic, describing simple, enduring aspects of human life.
brother	Bruder	brat	frère	fratello	hermano
buy	kaufen	kupitj	acheter	comprare	comprar
to love	lieben	lubitj	aimer	amare	querer
none	kein		aucun	ninguno	ningun
car	Wagen		voiture	machina	coche
foot	Fuss		pied		pie
thief	Dieb		voleur	ladrone	ladron
milk	Milch	malako	lait	latte	late
cat	Katze		chat		gato
How much	Wieviel		Combien	Quanto	Cuanto
When	Wann		Quand	Quando	Cuando
mother	Mutter	matj	mère		madre
door	Tür	dvjer	porte		porta
bread	Brot	xljep	pain	pane	pan
us	uns	nas	nous	noi	nosotros
money	geld		argent	soldi	dinero
head	Kopf		tête		cabeza
cow	Kuh		vache		vaca
here	hier	zdjes	ici	qui	aqui
two	zwei	dva	deux	due	dos

name	Name	nazvanye	nom	nome	nombre
less	weniger	menchiyi	moins	meno	menos
water	Wasser	voda	eau	aqua	aqua

to call	rufen	zvatj	appeler	chiamar	llamar
to be named (to be called)	heissen	minya zavut (they call me)	s'appeler	chiamarsi	llamarse
In latin languages and russian your name is what the call you, so the this suggests the first function of a name could be to call (draw the attention, summon) someone.
to find	finden		trouver	trovare	encontrar
to be located (to be found)	sich befinden		se trouver	trovarsi	encontrarse

today	heute	sitchas	aujourd'hui	oggi	hoy
yesterday	gestern	ftchira	hier	ieri	ayer
before	bevor	ranchiye	avant	avanti	antes
the day before yesterday	vorgestern	pazaftchira	avant-hier	l'altro ieri	anteayer
tomorrow	morgen	zaftra	demain	domani	mañaña
morning	Morgen	utra	matin	mattina	mañaña
after	nach	poslyie	après	dopo	despues
the day after tomorrow	übermorgen	poslyiezaftra	après demain	dopodomani	pasado mañaña

good	gut	xaracho	bon	buono	bueno
well	gut		bien	bene	bien

language	Sprache	yizik	langue	lingua	lengua
tongue (anat.)	Zunge	yizik	langue	lingua	lengua
The assimilation of the tongue (body part) and the tongue (language spoken) is the same in all the languages surveyed.
to must	müssen		devoir	devere	debere
man	Mann	muchina	homme	uomo	hombre

The similarities between the latin/romanic languages is not surprising if we consider their recent and powerful common ancestor, latin, which also gave birth to portuguese, romanian, galician, catalan, and many other languages which are now considered as regional "dialects", as a national language won over them in the 19 th century.

These strong similarities across close and less close languages illustrate, for the language learner, the fact that the more you know, the easier it is to learn more. Or, as the economist in me would put it, the marginal cost of learning a language is declining. I once heard the story of a man who learned the three major latin/romanic languages at once, but I never tried. The similarities come to your attention by themselves when you learn a new word and you try to connect it with something already present in your mind, but of course this can lead you to some inevitable confusion, like committing hispanisms in italian or (more difficult) germanis in english. My own doctrine is, try to avoid them as much as you can, but never be shy of speaking a language you don't know by fear of committing errors.