mercoledì 12 agosto 2009

False Friends

False friends (or faux amis) are pairs of words in two different languages that seem or sound similar, but differ in meaning.
For instance,
actual, which in English is usually a synonym of "real", has a different meaning in other European languages, in which it signifies "current" or "up-to-date" (aktuell in German, actuel in French, actual in Spanish, and attuale in Italian) and has the logical derivative as a verb aktualisieren (German), actualiser (French) meaning "to make current" or "to update". "Actualise" in English ("Actualize" in N.A. English) means "to realize in action, to make real, or to become actual".
Other examples:
‘Maschine’ in German means: airplane, whereas ‘macchina’ in Italian means: car.
‘Burro’ in Spanish means: donkey, whereas ‘burro’ in Italian means: butter.
Salir means to go out in Spanish, but to go up, or climb in Italian, and to soil, to make dirty in French.
‘Largo
in Spanish means: long, whereas ‘largo’ in Italian means: wide.

Puzzling false friend:
‘Biograf’ in Danish means: cinema.
‘Transparent’ in Slovenian means: sign, slogan.

3 commenti:

  1. Questo commento è stato eliminato dall'autore.

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  2. «Polvo» in Italian means «powder» and «Polvo» in Portuguese means «octupus»

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  3. Yes its very helpful.
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