Top 10 False Friends

Everyone learning English knows the typical difficulties. First, there is the question of pronunciation. How do you avoid saying ‘shit’ when you mean ‘sheet’? Or that moment when the learner decides to use the full form ‘cannot’, instead of its contraction, to avoid saying English’s most taboo word by mistake? And then there are the hated phrasal verbs. There is also one area that never fails to cause problems, and sometimes embarrassment: false friends. 

SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT

A ‘false friend’ is a word in a foreign language that looks similar to one in your own language but with a different meaning – sometimes a radically different meaning! The term came from the phrase “false friends of the translator”, coined in 1928 by the French linguists Maxime Koessler and Jules Derocquigny. False friends are also known as ‘false cognates’, ‘deceptive words’, ‘treacherous twins’ or ‘belles infidèles’. 

CONNECTING 

Cognates are words in different languages sharing the same etymological origin. This permits you to sometimes guess the meaning of a word in another language. A couple of examples between English and Italian would be ‘salary’ and ‘salario’, or ‘extraordinary’ and ‘straordinario’. Learning a new language can be difficult, so when you see a word which looks familiar, you “reach out and hug it”, in the words of one linguist, only to discover — sometimes — that you have been deceived! 

LATIN ROOTS

Believe it or not, many words in English came originally from Latin. Some experts calculate that 30 per cent to 40 per cent of vocabulary in English has related words in Italian. This can obviously help learners of English if they can spot the connection between the two languages.   

PERFECT COGNATES

Connections between English and Italian begin, at the top, with ‘perfect cognates’: words that are spelt the same, with the same meaning. But pronunciation and stress can still be a problem! ‘Native’ becomes ‘native’, for example. Then we have ‘near-perfect cognates’: words which are very similar and have the same meaning, but the spelling is slightly different. Examples include ‘attention’/’attenzione’, ‘public’/’pubblico’ and ‘religious’/’religioso’.  

FALSE COGNATES

And, finally, we have the real traitors. ‘False cognates’, or ‘false friends’, are words in a foreign language, in this case English, that appear identical or very similar to words in the learner’s own language, but which have different meanings. These words have evolved from the same root, but the meanings have diverged.  

A COMMON LANGUAGE?

Anyone struggling through the idiosyncrasies of English should take some comfort from the fact that native English speakers also have their own problems. The famous Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once said, reputedly, that America and Britain were “two countries separated by a common language.” While ‘pants’ in America are ‘trousers’, they are ‘underpants’ in Britain, and ‘fag’ in the States is a derogative expression for a homosexual, but refers colloquially to a ‘cigarette’ in the UK. Just imagine the possibilities for unintended embarrassment here! And there are many more examples!   

1 Assist (aiutare)

English teachers have been surprised from time to time to learn that their Italian students, sometimes with a rather low level of English, have ‘assisted’ at a course or conference or congress ... when what they really mean is ‘attended’ a course.

2 Preservative (conservante)

Dangerous territory. A ‘preservative’ is used to extend the life of food, while a ‘preservativo’ is a condom. Brits might think: ‘What are condoms doing in a packet of cornflakes?’, for example. And Italians asking for a preservative in a British chemist’s ... ? 

3 Sensible (sensato)

A real problem for everyone learning English or Italian. ‘Sensible’ is ‘sensato’ and ‘sensitive’ is ‘sensibile’. Sensibility, however, as in the title of Jane Austen’s early-19th century novel Sense and Sensibility, is an old-fashioned usage closer to the Italian ‘sensibile’, meaning ‘strongly affected by emotions’. Today, people still refer to their ‘sensibilities’, meaning things that they feel emotional about. 

4 Actually (in realtà)

The English word is normally used to contradict a previous statement. “You said I was German. Actually, I’m Austrian.” To translate the Italian word, we use ‘currently’, meaning ‘at the moment’: “I am currently writing a book on false friends.”

5 Argument (discussione)

An unpleasant oral disagreement is described in English as an ‘argument’. And so is a statement in favour of or against a point. ‘Argomento’, on the other hand, is a particular line of reasoning, as well as a storyline (‘plot’) in a film, for example.

6 Conductor (dir. orchestra)

A 100 per cent genuine false friend! In the Royal Albert Hall in London, the ‘conductor’ would be in front of an orchestra. In Italy, he or she would be behind the wheel of a vehicle. Or presenting a radio or TV programme.

7 Fabric (tessuto)

The first word is a cloth or material made by knitting or weaving fibres: ‘woollen fabrics’. It comes from the Latin word ‘fabbrica’, meaning a ‘workshop‘. The second is a factory or a place of production. The meanings have diverged over time.

8 Library (biblioteca)

Another classic false friend! In the former, it is possible to sit and read and research and take books home for a period (‘to borrow’) – without charge. In the latter, you can also take books home, but this involves a different verb: ‘to buy’. 

9 Parent (genitore)

A subtle difference here, but still important. Everyone has two biological parents, a mother and a father. On the other hand, a person can have many ‘relatives’ or ‘parenti’, for good or for bad. The difference is sometimes relative. 

10 Sympathy (compassione)

Mick Jagger once sang, with compassion, of his ‘Sympathy for the Devil’. Satan, on the other hand, has never shown any ‘friendliness’ (‘simpatia’) towards the children of the couple he deceived in the Garden of Eden.