The students are pointing at words and guessing what each one means. As you listen to them, do you agree with their observations?
Listen to the conversation.
Show TranscriptMale Student: I recognize this name...stazione! It has to mean station and centro has to be center. They must be what our French professor used to call cognates.
Female Student: Look! There are some more: Colosseo, and teatro. Museo has to be museum! And here’s bar – that’s got to be ‘bar’. Obviously...but the picture shows they are all drinking coffee. Strange.
Male Student: That’s right. Italian bars serve coffee and alcohol. It’s just a cultural difference.
Female Student: Here’s an easy one: banca.
Male Student: I see a picture of a pharmacy in the guidebook. The Italian word for it is farmacia. That’s helpful since I have a whopping headache – Maybe I can get an aspirin there.
Female Student: Looks like the Italian pharmacies have a green cross outside the doorway. That should make it easier for us to find one.
Now it’s your turn. Just as the Americans did in the previous activity, see what you can work out with your powers of deduction.
Look over the following verbs in Italian and identify which are cognates, Italian verbs that look similar to their English meaning, and which are false friends, verbs that may look similar but have different English meanings.