# Translating: words that don't mean what you'd guess. Examples? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230 "2004-12-16T23:08:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/1 "2004-12-16T23:08:11Z")
If your first language is English and you learn French, you soon come across the verb ‘rester’. Many beginners fall into the trap of thinking it means ‘to rest’. It doesn’t. ‘Rester’ means ‘to stay’. Likewise, if you’re English and learning Italian, you encounter the adjective ‘caldo’. If I told you it had something to do with temperature, you’d guess ‘cold’, but it actually means ‘warm’. Can anyone provide any other examples of these ‘traps’ or ‘false friends’… words which novices tend to guess mean one thing but which actually mean something different? ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/2 "2004-12-16T23:16:03Z")
Well, I got into a whole confusing conversation once because I said that I was going to “atender” my sister’s wedding and “asister” her with her gown. Unfortunately, atender means to assist, and asistir means to attend. Oops. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/3 "2004-12-16T23:27:08Z")
One fairly well known one: “Embarazada” means “pregnant” in Spanish, but could be mistaken for “embarrassed.” Which could probably lead to some embarrassing situations (but hopefully no impregnating situations.) ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/4 "2004-12-16T23:28:33Z")
In Greek, “Ne” means “yes.” Something that sounds quite a lot like “OK” means “no” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/5 "2004-12-16T23:28:48Z")
In Spanish, you definitely want to avoid food with _preservativos_ in it . . . . . . since _preservativos_ means “condoms.” Also, _embarazada_ does not mean “embarassed,” but rather “pregnant,” and _intoxicado_ is more likely to mean “poisoned” than “drunk.” ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/6 "2004-12-16T23:37:32Z")
The technical term is “false cognates” – though some of them are actually “true cognates” where each language has taken a particular version of the meaning – like English _embarrassed_ and Spanish _embarazada_. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/7 "2004-12-16T23:41:38Z")
And drunk in Spanish is _boracho_. The Swedish word _eventuellt_ is dangerously close to eventually, but means perhaps or maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Tanach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@Tanach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanach)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/8 "2004-12-16T23:52:01Z")
My personal favorites are the french verbs commander (“to order”, as in food) and demander (which is “to ask” as in a question), they are easy to confuse and leave the French looking rather befuddled at you when you “commander” a question and “demander” a pizza. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/9 "2004-12-16T23:54:18Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > If your first language is English and you learn French, you soon come across the verb ‘rester’. Many beginners fall into the trap of thinking it means ‘to rest’. It doesn’t. ‘Rester’ means ‘to stay’. > > Likewise, if you’re English and learning Italian, you encounter the adjective ‘caldo’. If I told you it had something to do with temperature, you’d guess ‘cold’, but it actually means ‘warm’. So the words the Spanish _caldo_ and the English calorie might be related. Likewise the French _rester_ and the English resist? > [@](#): > > Can anyone provide any other examples of these ‘traps’ or ‘false friends’… words which novices tend to guess mean one thing but which actually mean something different? Based on the responses so far I’d say the answer to your question is “yes”. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/10 "2004-12-16T23:57:00Z")
I’ll also throw out that the French _poisson_ is not related to the English poison, nor is the German _Gift_ something you’d want to give, unless you really don’t like someone. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/11 "2004-12-17T00:10:34Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > Likewise, if you’re English and learning Italian, you encounter the adjective ‘caldo’. If I told you it had something to do with temperature, you’d guess ‘cold’, but it actually means ‘warm’. Actually, I thought of “scalding” and guessed it meant _hot_. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/12 "2004-12-17T00:13:56Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > The technical term is “false cognates” – though some of them are actually “true cognates” where each language has taken a particular version of the meaning – like English _embarrassed_ and Spanish _embarazada_. _Preservative/preservativo_ would be a good example of a true cognate that’s a very false friend, since in English what it’s preserving you from is becoming _intoxicado_, while in Spanish it’s _embarazada._ ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/13 "2004-12-17T00:21:17Z")
The German verb \bekommen\ means “to obtain”. “Waiter! I ordered twenty minutes ago! When will I become a sausage?” ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/14 "2004-12-17T00:21:27Z")
In Spanish, “vestido” is a dress, not a vest. “saltar” means to jump, and has nothing to do with salt. “tuna” is a type of musical group, and “atún” is tuna. That’s all that comes to mind right now, but it looks like a google search on “false cognates” turns up a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/15 "2004-12-17T00:37:24Z")
I understand there’s a potential for mentioning English _cushions_ and having a French speaker think you’re talking about pigs (_cochons_). “Would you like a pig on your chair?” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/16 "2004-12-17T00:57:33Z")
The French “désolé” as in “Je suis désolé.” It’s confused and translated to mean “desolated,” whereas it’s the much milder “very sad.” Mark Twain made this error. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/17 "2004-12-17T01:02:46Z")
“Ennuyer” in French means bored, not annoyed. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/18 "2004-12-17T01:12:30Z")
In Japan I soon learned that “hi” means “yes”, as in “can I help you”. And “ah so” pretty much means just what it sounds like. And if you hear a word that sounds like english, it most likely is. Young people in Japan when I was there (late 60’s) loved to try out their “rocky roll” english on us. 🙂 Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/19 "2004-12-17T01:17:21Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > “Ennuyer” in French means bored, not annoyed. Not quite - s’ennuyer means to be bored (it’s a reflexive verb). According to [this dictionary](http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/dictionary/) , ennuyer means to bore and can also mean to annoy. ennuye (acute accent on the last e) means worried, bothered, annoyed, put out. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230/20 "2004-12-17T01:20:17Z")
A lot of these false cognates aren’t so false if you just develop a sense of which words in English are of Germanic origin and which came in thru one of the Romance languages. For something a bit more confusing, look at the Danish word _skjorte_, which means shirt. (Same word in Norwegian, _skjorta_ in Swedish.) Both the English word “shirt” and “skirt” came from the same Old English or Old Norse word _skyrte/a_, but divereged somewhere along the line, with skirt taking on the meaning of a lady’s garment. Someone more knowledgeable might chime in, but I’m guessing that “skirt” came from Old Norse, and shirt came from Old English, with the k -\> h shift taking place before the Old Norse word came into the English language. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-words-that-dont-mean-what-youd-guess-examples/280230.md?page=2)