Today we learn how to identify false friends of the Spanish language in order to avoid their misleading use in the sentence!
False friends are common to find and hard to recognize. Belonging to the same language family, English and Spanish have many words that look similar but that have different meanings. The list of Spanish false friends for English speakers is very long, here we made a selection of the most common ones. Every Spanish student connects them to their English counterpart, it’s inevitable. However, it’s essential that once you find a false friend, never be sure of the meaning. Always doubt it and look for it in a dictionary in order to avoid saying sentences like “I didn’t mean to get you pregnant” instead of “I didn’t mean to embarrass you”.
The most common false friend that you’ll surely confuse with the English word is pretender. Unlike to what you might think, this Spanish verb means “to try to, to attempt to”. To pretend in Spanish translates into fingir.
The Studying/Working environment has a wide range of false friends:
Colegio: it means school. College is Universidad. Mañana mi nieto empieza el colegio.
Librería: it’s the bookstore. Library is biblioteca.
Lectura: means reading. Not to be confused with lecture which is conferencia.
Carrera: it’s degree/major. Career is carrera profesional.
Éxito: it’s success. The word for an exit in Spanish is una salida. Harry Potter tuvo un éxito mundial. (On the other side, un suceso is an event, as the verb suceder means to happen. )
Asistir: to attend. Remember, it doesn’t mean to assist that in Spanish would be ayudar. Pedro es un buen estudiante, siempre asiste a sus clases.
Oficio: occupation. In Spanish the office is despacho/oficina.
Agenda: schedule, diary, appointment book. The English agenda in Spanish is orden del día. Me lo apunté en la agenda así no se me olvida.
Altough the majority of false friends is found in the context of work or study, there is plenty of other confusing words to be aware of.
Parada: stop (for ex. Bus stop), the parade in Spanish is desfile.
Abocado: lawyer. The avocado fruit is aguacate.
Actualmente: nowadays. Actually in Spanish translates into en realidad.
Últimamente: recently. In Spanish ultimately is al final.
Embarazada: pregnant, while embarrassed in Spanish is avergonzado.
Eventualmente: it’s occasionally. Eventually is a largo plazo, al final, con el tiempo.
Carpeta: folder. Carpet in Spanish is alfombra.
Largo: long. Large is grande.
Nudo: knot. To say that someone is naked/nude the Spanish word is desnudo.
Noticia: news. Notice is anuncio.
Parientes: relatives. Parents: padres
Remover: to stir. Quitar is to remove.
Once: eleven. Once means una vez (que).
Ropa: clothes. The Spanish word for rope is cuerda.
Tópico: it’s a cliché. Topic in Spanish is tema/argumento.
Sopa: soup. Soap is jabón.
Recordar: to remember, it’s not to record which is grabar.
If you have any question feel free to write a comment or contact us, we’ll be happy to help you!
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