Don’t be tricked into a linguistic misunderstanding! Are you familiar with false friends?

I don’t mean the type who flirt with your boyfriend, crash your car, or take endless unreturned cash loans from you – I’m talking about the treacherous false friends of a language learner! These are words which sound or look the same across two different languages, but have a completely different meaning.

Unlike the poor Frenchman who turned up late for a business meeting, apologising that he was so retarded (en retard means to be late in French), you needn’t be caught in an awkward international business situation again! Consider taking a French course Liverpool or just check out this handy list!

French and English share a few of these tricky “faux amis” – take for instance the opposing meanings of demand. In French, demander is “to ask”, so it’s essentially a polite request for something. In English, if you demand something, it’s forceful and a requirement. No questions asked; you will fulfil this obligation. Ouch! Make sure you don’t confuse the two!

It’s the same in Spanish. I learned some of the following at a Spanish course London. For instance, to contest something isn’t contestar in Spanish. Far from it! In fact, contestar means “to answer” and contender means “to contest.” Get my drift? It gets even more awkward if you want to determine if someone is pregnant or embarrassed. Embarazada means “to be pregnant”, while tiene vergüenza or se siente avergonzado means “to be embarrassed.” Mess that one up, and you’re likely to have at least one embarrassed conversation participant! Look for éxito when you merely want an exit, and you’ll be thought to want a hit or a success, when really you just want una salida.

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