Throughout our travels, Anastasia, Alex, and I consistently came in contact with a select set of words in each country's native tongue, and of these noticed that several words have been very nearly preserved across languages. We began wondering just why these particular words should be so consistent. Consider what kinds of sentences might be capable of crossing all language barriers, and why languages might have evolved to permit this (whether random or otherwise). Enjoy perusing through the following list, and see where your imagination takes you!police: polizia (Italian), polizei (German), politie (Dutch), police (French), póilíní (Gaelic), policie (Czech)
chocolate: cioccolato (Italian), schokolade (German), chocolade (Dutch), chocolat (French), seacláid (Gaelic... if you think how the name "Sean" is pronounced, this still sounds like chocolate!), čokoláda (Czech)
problem: problema (Italian), problem (German), probleem (Dutch), problème (French), fadhb (Gaelic... so okay, this sounds nothing like problem), problém (Czech)
restaurant: ristorante (Italian), restaurant (German), restaurant (Dutch), restaurant (French), bialann (again, Gaelic fails us), restaurace (Czech)
taxi: taxi (Italian), taxi (German), taxi (Dutch), taxi (French), tacsaí (Gaelic), taxík (Czech)
museum: museo (Italian), museum (German), museum (Dutch), musée (French), músaem (Gaelic), muzeum (Czech)
Thanks to my German-English, Dutch-English, Gaelic-English, and Czech-English online sources for word verifications!
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