THE GOAL OF THIS DICTIONARY is to alert Spanish and English speakers of the connections—and disconnections—between their spoken languages, using cognate pairs as the lexical entry. The dictionary also provides guidelines about usage, both in reference to social class and in reference to frequency of occurrence.
Using a five-point scale, and drawing upon an auditory familiarity with both languages, we offer a frequency guide, where 5 = daily, 4 = 2-3 times a week, 3 = 2-3 times a month, 2 = 2-3 times a year, 1 = rarely, 0 = almost never.
A good example is the cognate pair cotidiano/quotidian, the frequency value of which we score 5,0. The Spanish term is heard daily, or almost, and the English term is heard only very rarely, and in socially rarified writing or speech.
Another cognate pair, but going the other way in relation to frequency, is arguir/argue, the frequency score of which would be 2,4.
