False Friends

By: Matja Miku, Noelia

Lopez Bonina and Merima Muji
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Presentation Overview
O History of false friends
O Definition of false friends
O Slovene English false friends
O German English false friends
O French English false friends
O Spanish English false friends
O Italian English false friends
O Romance languages and false friends
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1.History of False Friends
O Common origin = Latin
O Began in 597 A.D
O In the 16th century words were being
borrowed but with a change in meaning
O Two reasons for borrowing:
- naming new things
- to enrich the language (Renaissance)
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O The borrowing still continues today
O Words undergo mutations
O Linguistic traps for students reading
Shakespeare, Chaucer and J.Austen. For
example:

1.a) - nice ( L. nescius (ignorant)) from
meaning foolishly particular ( J. Austen) to
meaning pleasant.
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2.Definition of False Friends
O According to Gabrovek (2004) false friends are: pairs of
foreign sounding lexical items which are etymologically
related but semantically fully or partly different.
O They can be divided into five different categories which
are:
O Semantic false friends
O Morphological false friends
O Orthographical false friends
O Phonological false friends
O Zero-equivalent false friends
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2.1.Semantic False Friends
O Total false friends: no sense in common
O Partial false friends: at least one shared
sense
O SL: organ vs. EN: organ
O SL: profesor vs. EN: professor
O SL: akcija vs. EN: action
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2.2.Morphological False
Friends
O Pairs of lexical items which have the same
meaning but different morphological
structures
O different affixes:
O affix in the first language:
O affix in the second language:
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2.3.Orthographical False
Friends

O Pairs of lexical items with different spelling
O faraon vs. pharaoh
O diskoteka vs. discotehque
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O Phonological false friends

O Zero-equivalent false friends
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3.Slovene-English False
Friends
O 3.a) Za dobro torto je potreben dober biskvit. - For a
good cake you need a good sponge-cake.
O May I offer you a biscuit? - Ali ti lahko ponudim pikot?

O 3.b) Kolona je nastala pred izvozom za Vrhniko. - A long-
line formed before the exit for Vrhnika.
O Youve missed a colon in front of the quotation marks. -
Pozabil si na dvopije pred narekovaji.

O 3.c) Prezervative se lahko kupi v lekarni.- Condoms can
be bought at the farmacy.
O Yogurts are full of preservatives. - Jogurti so polni
konzervansov.
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4.German English False
Friends

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4.a) Gift (n) ; German Gift vs. English gift

O a) English: This was a gift from my
parents.


O b) German: Das ist wie Gift fr ihn. (That
is like poison for him.)
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4.b) Eventually (adv.): German eventuell
vs. English eventually
O a) English: Ingredients: tomato, cucumber,
pepper, onion, water, olive oil, wine
winegar, salt, garlic, and eventually
[finally] lemon.
O b) German: Zutaten: Tomaten, Gurken,
Paprika, Zwiebeln, Wasser, Olivenl,
Weinessig, Salz, Knoblauch, und eventuell
[perhaps] Zitrone.
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4.c) To Become (v.): German bekommen
vs. English become

O a) English: I want to become a rockstar.


O b) German: Am ende der Woche bekomme
ich mein neues Fahrrad. (Im getting my
new bike at the end of the week.)
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4.d) sensible (adj.): German sensibel vs.
English sensible


O a) English: I think it would be sensible to
leave early, in case there is a lot of traffic.



O b) German: Die Instrumente reagieren sehr
sensibel. ( The instruments are very
sensitive.)
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5. French Faux Amis
O French replaced English as the language of the ruling
classes
O true friends or true cognates vrais amis- are French
words that have come into the language and have changed
little in spelling but do not change their meaning:
O identical in both languages: intelligence, instinct,
situation, absent, accident
O Words that changed in spelling: diplomacy (diplomatie),
adventure (aventure), address (adresse).
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5.1. True Faux Amis
O words that have a common root but which have changed
their meanings over the centuries, and words that have no
common root and which look alike through pure accident.
O Examples:

O 5.1.a) Sensible sensible
O Loreille humaine est moins sensible certains soons
The human ear is less sensitive to certain sounds.
O Vous tes trop sensible You are too sensitive.
O Il est toujours sensible son charme Hes still sensitive
to her charm.
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O 5.1.b) Comprhensif comprehensive
O Il est comprhensif et sympathique Hes understanding
and likeable.
O Un prservatif a preservative
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5.2. French Partial False
Friends
O French words which do mean the same as their English
cognates, but which have other meanings as well.
O Examples:
O 5.2.a) Importer to import
O Il importe quil arrive lheure Its important that he
arrives on time.
O Peu mimporte It doesnt matter to me.
O Parfum perfume
O Dites-moi votre parfum de glace prfr - Tell me your
favorite ice cream flavor.
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6. Spanish False Friends
(Falsos amigos)

O True friends in Spanish: many English words that
come from Latin are transparent to the English speaker:
accidente, enciclopedia, inteligencia, situacin, etc.
O Example:
O 6.a) Accidente accident
O Se convirti en un empresario por accidente.
O He became a businessman by accident.
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6.1. Spanish True False
friends
O Words that have a common root but have taken on
different meanings over time, or words that just look
similar.
O Examples:
O 6.1.a) Simple simple
O A simple question - Una pregunta sencilla.
O Una pregunta simple - A mere question.
O 6.1.b) Adecuado - adequate
O The right man for the job - El hombre adecuado para el
cargo.
O The Money I have is adequate for this trip - El dinero que
tengo es suficiente para este viaje.
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O 6.1.c) Pie pie
O You can find countless variations on meat pies made
around the world. Some are baked, some are fried, some
are prepared in deep dishes and others are intended to be
eaten by hand.

O Puedes encontrar un sinnmero de variaciones de los
*pies de carne realizados en todo el mundo. Algunos son
horneados, algunos fritos, algunos se preparan en platos
hondos y otros estn hechos para comer con la mano.
O *Piefoot!

O Puedes encontrar un sinnmero de variaciones de los
pasteles de carne realizados en todo el mundo.
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O 6.1.d) Embarazada - embarrassed
O I was embarrassed to look her in the eye.
O Estaba avergonzado para verla a los ojos.

O She is eight months pregnant.
O Ella est embarazada de ocho meses.

O 6.1.e) Fbrica - fabric

O This fabric is impermeable to water.
O Este tejido es impermeable.

O The factory produces cotton goods.
O La fbrica produce buen algodn.
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7. Italian-English False
Friends
O 7.a) La libreria si trova alla fine della via. - The book
store is located at the end of the street.
O This is the university library. - Questa la biblioteca
universitaria.

O 7.b) Mi passi il sale perfavore! - Could you pass me the
salt please!
O The sales are finally going up. - Finalmente le vendite si
stanno migliorando.
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8. Coincidences of false
friends in Italian, Spanish,
Portuguese, and French.

O 8.a) Blank
O Spblanco/blanca;
O Frblanc/blanche;
O Prbranco/branca;
O It bianco/bianca
O My grandmother's house is white.
O (Sp) La casa de mi abuela es blanca.
O (Fr) la maison de ma grand-mre est blanche.
O (Pr) A casa da minha av branca.
O (It) La casa della mia nonna bianca.
WHITE
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O To fill the blanks with a number."
O (Sp) llenar los espacios vacos con un
nmero.
O (Pr) Preencher os espaos vazios com um
nmero.
O (It) Riempire gli spazi vuoti con un numero.
O (Fr) Remplir les espaces vides avec un
nombre.
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Conclusion
O Historical overview

O The definition

O Slovene, German, French, Spanish and
Italian false friends
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