False friends are those tricky and misleading words that make our life more difficult. They make us think that they're related, family, partners…but in reality they're almost enemies. If learning languages was as easy as learning million/millón, telephone/teléfono, mission/mission, everybody would speak at least ten different ones. Some of these tricky 'faux amis' are already well-known: actually / actualmente, carpet / carpeta, table / tabla, large / largo, library / librería, etc. Words that crop up over and over again in class, and by now you can probably picture your teacher repeating them tirelessly.

However there are other words that are as tricky, but not as well-known. These are the most common ones:

Billion / Billón: 'One billion' is not exactly 'un billón'; 'one billion' is 'un millardo' and 'un billón' is 'one trillion'. Clear? I know…it's complicated. The bottom line is: 'One billion' = 9 zeros, 'un billón' = 12 zeros. This is a translation mistake that would cost most economists their jobs.

¡Qué bizarro!/ How bizarre!: Enough. I can't stand that word anymore. If I continue to hear it in everyday conversation, I'll end up using it! No, 'bizarro' is not an adjective with a negative connotation, it's a compliment! 'Bizarro' doesn't mean weird or unusual, it means gallant and generous.

Sensible / Sensible: To cry while you're watching Titanic (for the tenth time) is one thing, but to have good judgment and act rationally (avoid watching it at all?) is a completely different thing. So, if you want to express how sensible you are, please avoid using the word 'sensible' in Spanish…unless you want to convey that you're one of those teary people.

Sane / Sano: A 'sane' person is not necessarily 'sana'. You can be very healthy (sano) and still be completely nuts. This kind of thing is what adds to the subtleties of language.

Molest / Molestar: This false friend can be especially unfriendly in the US, a country where suing has almost developed into a national sport. 'Molestar' can be translated as 'to annoy' or 'to bother', but if a Latin person thinks you're being annoying and decides to shout "he's molesting me”, run. It might be the only way to avoid public embarrassment.

Los falsos amigos, esas palabras engañosas y malignas que nos hacen la vida imposible, nos hacen creer que son familia, amigas, compañeras, pero en realidad son casi enemigas. Si todo fuera tan sencillo como aprender million/millón, telephone/teléfono, mission/misión todos seríamos políglotas. Algunas de las palabras catalogadas como falsos amigos quizá ya son bien conocidas: actually / actualmente, carpet / carpeta, table / tabla, large / largo, library / librería, etc., las típicas palabras que nuestros profesores de inglés nos repetían una y otra vez.

Sin embargo, también hay otras palabras no tan conocidas y que muchas personas tienden a confundir; estas son las más comunes:

Billion / Billón: 'one billion' no es exactamente 'un billón'; 'one billion' son mil millones (o un millardo) y 'un billón' es 'one trillion' en inglés... pequeña diferencia. Un pequeño error de traducción que le podría costar el puesto a muchos economistas.

¡Qué bizarro! / How bizarre!: Basta, no puedo más con la palabra bizarro, de tanto escucharla voy a terminar diciendo. No, bizarro no es un adjetivo con connotación negativa, es un halago. No estamos insultando a la persona ni lo estamos catalogando de raro, estrafalario, le estamos diciendo que es valiente y generoso.

Sensible / Sensible: Una cosa es llorar mientras ves Titanic y otra cosa es ser sensato y equilibrado. Si quieres decir que eres una persona sensible porque lloraste por tres horas de película usa la palabra sensitive en inglés, nunca sensible.

Sympathetic / Simpático / Patético: No, 'sympathetic' no es una persona que es simpática y patética a la vez. En inglés puedes sentir 'sympathy' hacia alguien y significa que le tienes compasión que comprendes lo que está pasando esa persona.

Sane / Sano: Hay que dejarlo claro, una persona sana no es necesariamente 'sane'. Es decir puedes ser una persona con un buen estado de salud a la que le falta un tornillo, entonces serías una persona sana y a la vez una persona 'INsane'.

Molest / Molestar: Este falso amigo es especialmente peligroso en los Estados Unidos en donde todo parece ser una posible demanda. Molestar es fastidiar que se puede traducir como 'to annoy', pero si una mujer cree que la estás fastidiado y decide gritar a los cuatro vientos "He's molesting me!" Corre. Pues la mujer te estaría acusando de acoso sexual.

When my 12 year-old brother came back from his first Spanish class, he said laughing:
“Un hombre pelado con el saco en la mano corre detrás de la buseta.”

While the meaning in Spanish is simple and innocent (“A bald man with the jacket in his hands runs after the bus”), in Portuguese it sounds really dirty: “A naked man with his balls in his hands runs after the pussy”.
Spanish and Portuguese may be very similar to each other, but a few misunderstandings can happen when we don´t pay attention to false friends. Some examples…

• If a Spanish person goes to visit friends in Brazil and says that the food is “exquisita” (in Spanish meaning ‘delicious’), the Brazilians might get upset. After all the meaning of “esquisita” in Portuguese is ‘weird’.

• In the classroom, if a Brazilian asks his Colombian classmate whether he can lend him a ‘borracha’ (in Portuguese, eraser/rubber), the Colombian will probably laugh, since a ‘borracha’ in Spanish means a drunken woman.

• When filling out your personal details at the start of a test in Spanish and asked for your “Apellido”, a Portuguese speaker could get confused because ‘Apellido’ in Spanish means ‘surname’, while ‘apelido’ in Portuguese means ‘nickname’.

• In Brazil we pronounce ‘RR’ as ‘H’. So if a Brazilian was talking to a friend from Venezuela and he said “Eu corri com a Maria ontem” (“I ran with Maria yesterday”), his Spanish speaking friend would probably think that he had had sexual relations with Maria, since ‘coger’ (or ‘cojer’ as a slang) is pronounced the same way as ‘correr’ in Portuguese, but means something totally different.

Test your knowledge and expand your Spanish and Portuguese vocabulary with these quizzes about false friends: Test 1 & Test 2

Ps. Regarding the title of the text, don´t forget that ‘embarazada’ in Spanish doesn’t mean ‘embarrassed’: it means pregnant!

Quando meu irmão de 12 anos voltou de sua primeira aula de espanhol, falou entre risos uma frase que tinha aprendido:

“Un hombre pelado con el saco en la mano corre detrás de la buseta.”

Para quem fala espanhol, essa frase pode parecer simples e inocente. (“Um homem careca com o casaco nas mãos corre atrás do ônibus”.)

Os que não falam espanhol, porém, já devem estar rindo em frente ao computador. Pois bem, são os nossos falsos cognatos, ou falsos amigos. A língua espanhola e portuguesa são muitos similares em diversos sentidos, mas não devemos nos deixar enganar.

Alguns outros exemplos que podem deixá-lo confuso...

• Se um espanhol fosse visitar amigos no Brasil e falasse que a comida está “esquisita”, seu amigo brasileiro pode ficar chateado. O motivo: ‘exquisito’ em espanhol significa delicioso.

• Se em uma sala de aula um brasileiro pedisse para um colombiano lhe alcançar a ‘borracha’, seria encarado de forma estranha, já que “borracha” em espanhol significa uma mulher bêbada.

• Quando for responder a uma prova em espanhol, não se confunda se na primeira linha estiver escrito para você completar com seu ‘apellido’. Eles não querem saber seu apelido, mas sim seu sobrenome.

• No Brasil pronunciamos ‘RR’ como H. Pois bem, se ao conversar com um amigo da Venezuela por exemplo você dissesse “Eu corri com a Maria ontem”, ele poderia entender que você teve relações sexuais com a Maria, já que coger (em gíria, cojer) pode ter esse significado.

Teste seus conhecimentos com esses dois quizzes sobre falsos cognatos entre Português e Espanhol: Teste 1 e Teste 2.

Se quiser expandir os conhecimentos sobre falsos cognatos em inglês, tente este quiz.

Ps. Sobre o título do texto, não esqueça que ‘embarazada’ em espanhol não significa envergonhada, mas sim grávida.

Quand on apprend une langue étrangère, on est toujours heureux de rencontrer des mots similaires à sa langue maternelle. On se dit: “Enfin un mot que je vais pouvoir utiliser sans hésitation!” Cependant, ces mots à l’apparence familière et symapathique, sont souvent de faux amis, et leur similarité s’arrête le plus souvent à la forme.

Les employer dans certains contextes, peut parfois mener à des situations cocasses voire embarassantes!
Voici 3 petits exemples de faux amis à utiliser avec précaution!

Un italien demandant la recette (ricetta) pourrait se retrouver face un chef cuisinier alors qu’il souhaite voir un médecin! En effet, ricetta signifie ordonnance en italien!

Un francais se trouvant en Allemagne et demandant à rajouter de la Chicorée dans son café pourrait se retrouver avec une endive dans sa tasse plutôt qu’avec de la chicorée!

Un espagnol se disant constipé (de l’espagnol constipado) se retrouverait avec un traitement du postérieur alors que celui-ci souhaitent quelque chose pour son nez! Constipado significant enrhumé en espagnol…

While learning a foreign language, you always find yourself happy when you come across a word that´s similar to one in your native language! However, don’t get too excited, these friendly-looking words are sometimes what we call false friends and the similarity to your native language often only resides in form, not meaning.

Using a false friend in a particular context can lead to a comical or even an embarrassing situation…
Here are 3 examples of false friends that can be harmful if spoken:

An Italian asking for the recette (of the Italian ricetta) in France will probably end up talking to a Chef when he/she actually wanted to see a doctor. Recette means cooking recipe whereas ricetta means medical prescription!

A Frenchman in Germany should think twice before asking for extra Chicorée in their coffee, as he is likely to end up with a piece of endive (yeah… the salad leaf) when he wanted some more coffee chicory!

A Spaniard telling his doctor in France that he is constipé ( of the Spanish constipado ) will most probably be given medicine for his stomach and bottom, even though he was in need of something for his nose! Constipé=constipated and constipado= having a cold.

As a British citizen I can wholeheartedly appreciate the need to avoid social faux pas. Good manners and etiquette rules are ingrained within our culture, from thanking waiters when they provide us with food in a restaurant (surely a pre-requisite to eating out?), to lifting our little fingers as we drink tea. Therefore, there is nothing more humiliating for British people who are learning German than to be fooled by those pesky words we call ‘false friends’.

However, when native English speakers learn German it is easy to see why they get confused. They are introduced to seemingly innocent words which sound and look alike to their English counterparts. For example:

house Haus, garden Garten, to swim schwimmen, green grün

And this is not surprising considering that English and German are linguistically very close. However, native English speakers beware; false friends do exist in German, and they can creep up on you when you least expect it.

Mystifying Maths

False Friends can fool you even when doing simple additions. One must be careful not to get billions mixed up with trillions when doing large sums. You see, in German a Billion is equivalent to a trillion in US numbers. In German, if you want to count in US trillions, you must use a German Milliarde. Confused yet? It get’s much more complicated…

Attempted Murder

When Christmas comes around it is a time for family, sharing, and of course the giving of presents. But make sure you give a Geschenk and not a Gift to your parents; otherwise they may become very wary of you. In German Gift means poison.

Preserving Friendship
English-German false friends can ruin your chances with any potential love interest too. If asked by someone to get some preservative to make a jam, be sure to get Konservierungsmittel and not a Präservativ, otherwise you will find yourself red-faced at the checkout with a condom and one confused friend. And if you do try and cover the embarrassment up with a childish wink, make sure to zwinkern, otherwise you could find yourself waving goodbye to a friend. You see in German winken means to wave.

Birçok dilin olduğu gibi Türkçenin de diğer yabancı dillerle farklı şekillerde benzeşen kelimeleri var. Bu kelimeler Türkler için yabancı dil öğrenmeyi bazen kolaylaştırıyor, bazen de içinden çıkılmaz bir hale sokuyor. Basitçe bu kelimeleri şöyle sınıflayabiliriz:

1. Yakın anlamda olup okunuşları veya yazılışları birbirine benzeyen kelimeler

Bu kelimeler zamanla Türk dilinden İngilizceye geçmiş olabilir ya da tam tersine İngilizceden Türkçeleştirdiğimiz bir kelime olabilir. Bu durumda zorluk yaşamayız. Bir İngiliz TV kanalında ‘sport’ kelimesini görürsek, bunun Türkçede hangi anlama geldiğini biliriz. Yani bu benzerlik bizi yanılgıya sürüklemez. Bu tür kelimelere birçok örnek bulabiliriz: telephone-telefon, boat-bot, bira-beer vs...

1. Farklı anlamda olup okunuşları veya yazılışları birbirine benzeyen kelimeler

İşte uzak durulması gereken kelimeler! Hangi dilde olursa olsun bu kelimeler (faux amis), insanı yanılgıya düşürür. Uzmanlar da dil öğrenmeyi geciktiren unsurlar arasına bu etkeni koyuyorlar. İngilizcede ‘false friends’ diye adlandırdığımız bu kelime çiftleri, yazılışları veya okunuşları aynı olsa bile tamamen alakasız anlamlara gelebilmektedir. Örnekleri şu şekilde sıralayabiliriz:

Konserve / Conserve: Türkçe karşılığı korumak, muhafaza etmek olan bu kelime, İngilizcede bildiğiniz üzere canned food anlamında kullanılır.

Ten: Türkçe karşılığı sayı olarak ‘on’ olan bu kelime, İngilizcede bildiğiniz üzere cilt, deri anlamına gelen ‘skin’ olarak kullanılabilir.

Kolon / Colon: Türkçedeki kolon kelimesinin anlamını hepimiz biliyoruz. Türkçedeki bu kelimenin İngilizce karşılığı ‘column’ kelimesidir. Ancak İngilizcede de var olan ‘colon’ kelimesi tamamen farklı anlamlara açılmaktadır.

Yeni bir dil öğrenmeye başladıysanız eğer, kendi anadilinizde benzer bulduğunuz kelimeler ile anlam çıkarımları yapmayın. Yanlış anladığınız şey, sizi tahmin edemeyeceğiniz maceralara sürükleyebilir.

Your native language is Turkish and you are trying to learn English or viceversa. During the learning process, aside from grammar issues, you'll experience other problems which will lead you to a sea of confusion. 'False friends' rank first within these problems. If we stop to think for a mıinute, we can easily find hundreds of examples for this topic. Without giving an explanation of this phrase, I'll go through some examples of false friends.

Konserve / Conserve: As you may guess the word 'konserve' is a Turkish word and its English meaning is 'canned food'. The English word 'to conserve' has a totally different meaning as you all know. It is one of the most common mistakes among English-learning Turks.

Ten: Ten is a Turkish word whose meaning is 'skin'. It is also the name of a number in English. The confusion between these two words usually grows out of the poor knowledge of English since the word 'ten' is common knowledge in English.

Kolon / Colon: The Turkish word 'kolon' has exactly the same meaning as the English word 'column', but obviously these two words have a different pronunciation. Then we have the English word 'colon' which has exactly the same pronunciation as 'kolon'. From this point on, confusion starts for English learners.

According to language experts, false friends have stronger effects than expected for language learners. People use words which have the same pronunciation as their own native language and this results in misunderstanding for both sides. In order to solve this problem, we should avoid these problematic words if we are not so sure about their meanings and try to find synonyms of these words.