Léxico: False friends

FALSE FRIENDS

We say that a word is a ‘false friend’ or a ‘false cognate’ when it has the same or very similar form in two languages, but a different meaning in each. The similarity may cause students to use the word wrongly, giving rise sometimes to awkward misunderstandings: fastidious, for example, does not mean ‘fastidioso’ (annoying, bothersome), but ‘meticuloso’. 
Sometimes an English term is equivalent to a Spanish one, but only in one of its meanings: to assist can mean ‘asistir’, but only in the sense of ‘socorrer, ayudar’; for ‘asistir a un acto’ you must use to attend; café means ‘café’ only in the sense of the place where you can have coffee (the beverage). These terms can be described as partially false friends.


EXERCISE: Answer the following questions:

a.-When someone refers to the actual events, is he referring to events happening now?

b.- If a woman says she’s embarrassed, does it mean she’s expecting a baby?

c.- If your teacher asks you to resume your work, does he want you to summarize it?

d.- If I say that my mother was dismayed at the news, do I mean that she passed out?

e.- If your girlfriend forgot to buy you a birthday present, would you regard it as a deception?

f.- Is a comedian supposed to be gracious?

KEY

a.- no, he’s referring to the events themselves; b.- no, she means she’s confused or disconcerted; c.- no, he wants me to continue with my work; d.- no, you mean that she was upset; e.- no, as a disappointment; f.- no, funny

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Sir Francis: falsos amigos

«Falsos amigos», palabras muy semejantes por su forma en los dos idiomas, pero que no significan lo mismo, por lo que pueden inducir a error: Cardinal es 'cardenal' en español, pero sólo en lo que se refiere a la dignidad eclesiástica, no a la señal producida por un golpe, etc., que es bruise; fastidious no significa 'fastidioso', que es annoying o bothersome, sino 'meticuloso'; to be embarrassed es estar violento, turbado, etc., no «embarazado. Al explicar este concepto de «falsos amigos», Sir Francis solía contar la anéc­dota de un español que en su primer viaje a Inglaterra estornudó en una fiesta, y, a modo de comentario dijo: I'm constipated». El hombre no se explicaba la risa de los presentes, hasta que un alma caritativa le aclaró que en inglés to be constipated no es precisamente 'estar constipado', si­no 'estreñido'.

Otros ejemplos de 'falsos amigos':

actual no significa ‘actual’ (current/present), sino ‘real, verdadero’

actually no significa ‘actualmente’ (at present), sino ‘de hecho, en realidad’

bigot no es ‘bigote’ (moustache), sino ‘beato,-a’

rape no es ‘rape’ (el pez) (anglerfish/monkfish), o ‘pelado al rape’ (closely cropped hair), sino ‘violación’

to resume no es ‘resumir’ (to summarize), sino ‘reanudar’

sensible no significa ‘sensible’ (sensitive), sino ‘sensato’

Para conocer más ejemplos de 'falsos amigos', ver en mi libro Short Stories to Help You Increase Your Vocabulary, pp. 84-85, 254-256 y 372-373.

Diccionarios recomendados:

Diccionario de Falsos Amigos (inglés-español) - Encarnación Postigo Pinazo, Ediciones Verba, 2007 y Diccionario de Falsos Amigos (inglés-español) - Marcial Prado, Gredos, 2001. 

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