Some of you may know about Spanish having 2 separate words for “to know” (1 Viewer)

[Ahsoka]

Saber and conocer. The usage depends j the context. For those learning Spanish as a non native language, it may seem confusing. Why two words when you could have just one?

But did you know English also has words from those same roots? The distinction is blurred, but it’s there. Similar to conocer, English has words solar to cognition, which gives a feel of innate intelligence usually more so than learned. In the other hand, we have savvy, which comes from Portuguese saber, and implies a strong knowledge and ability. Sapience is another one, meaning wise, and is why we are called Homo sapiens.

So of course know is the general knowledge term, and it doesn’t differ in the same way saber and conocer do. But that doesn’t mean English doesn’t have words like conocer and saber, they’re just not the only options.

 

[Ahsoka]

Language tag:
@athenarose @Lexie @Nyaz @Dreamer_of_Songs @Nina @velvet @ChuuAntics @MyLovelyLove @alo @Chiara @eclipsoul @sick

 

[alo]

i know the french cognates to the spanish verbs - savoir and connaître. and i kinda figured cognition was related to connaître due to words like reconnaître (which literally means to regognise, go figure). but i didn't know that's where savvy came from!

 

[Ahsoka]

i know the french cognates to the spanish verbs - savoir and connaître. and i kinda figured cognition was related to connaître due to words like reconnaître (which literally means to regognise, go figure). but i didn't know that's where savvy came from!

It does seem like English developed a lot of words based on the same roots as conocer, and less from the same roots as saber. Maybe English speakers need to do more studying and go less with their gut

 

[MyLovelyLove]

It does seem like English developed a lot of words based on the same roots as conocer, and less from the same roots as saber. Maybe English speakers need to do more studying and go less with their gut

lol,I took it personally,hahaha,
TT-TT

 

[eclipsoul]

polish too but it's not some fancy complicated difference like spanish - it's just that we have "wiedzieć" which means to know an information or a fact like the fact that spanish has two words for know and "znać" which means to know a person like knowing someone who told you that spanish has two words for know but what are their roots i'll never know... with most polish words they all sound as if they just showed up there

 

[Ahsoka]

polish too but it's not some fancy complicated difference like spanish - it's just that we have "wiedzieć" which means to know an information or a fact like the fact that spanish has two words for know and "znać" which means to know a person like knowing someone who told you that spanish has two words for know but what are their roots i'll never know... with most polish words they all sound as if they just showed up there

I just looked at the Polish ones and tbh, Polish is would actually harder for English speakers to get used to than Spanish. The overall idea of to know factually vs be familiar with something is the same in the two, saber is the same as wiedzieć and conocer the same as znać, but polish has harder grammar in general which means an English speakers wouldn’t be able to learn the difference and practice it as early on as in Spanish. But the complexity of the distinction itself is exactly the same, Polish has the same situation where some things don’t neatly fit into one of the categories if you haven’t grown up using it