The blog
Two languages, read as one
Short essays on the patterns English, Spanish and Italian share — the cognates you already know, the false friends that trip you up, and how to read both languages at once.
Cognates
You already know 1,000+ Spanish and Italian words
English is a Latin magpie. Thanks to shared roots you already recognise 1,000+ Spanish and Italian words — starting with the -tion / -ción / -zione family.
18 Jul 2026
Cognates
-ción and -zione: one ending, hundreds of words
English -tion becomes Spanish -ción and Italian -zione almost every time. One ending unlocks hundreds of words in both languages at once.
14 Jul 2026
False friends
False friends that trip you up in Spanish and Italian
Embarazada isn't embarrassed, caldo isn't cold. Meet the Spanish and Italian false friends that look English but mean something else — flagged, not feared.
10 Jul 2026
Method
Why learn Spanish and Italian together, not one at a time
Spanish and Italian share Latin roots, so learning them together is far less than double the work — each language sharpens the other as you read.
6 Jul 2026
Method
The Latin bones English, Spanish and Italian share
Spanish and Italian descend from Latin; English borrowed vast Latinate vocabulary through French and the Renaissance. That's why the three languages rhyme.
2 Jul 2026
False friends
Reading an Italian menu when you studied Spanish
Spanish unlocks most of an Italian menu — until burro means butter, not donkey. The food cognates that transfer, and the false friends that bite.
28 Jun 2026
Method
What language learning looks like without streaks
No streaks, no flames, no guilt. Parlet teaches you to read Spanish and Italian by the patterns they share — one rule unlocks hundreds of words in both.
24 Jun 2026
Suffixes
The -ty / -dad / -tà pattern: abstract words in three languages
English -ty becomes Spanish -dad and Italian -tà. One Latin suffix unlocks hundreds of abstract nouns in both — plus the accent that marks the stress.
20 Jun 2026
Cognates
How similar are Spanish and Italian, really?
Spanish and Italian look like twins on the page and part ways out loud — an honest look at shared roots, tricky verbs, and the false friends that bite.
16 Jun 2026