Translating: words that don't mean what you'd guess. Examples?

Chaud is French for Hot.

Rubber is English for Eraser
Rubber is American for Condom :wink:

Ooops. Should’ve been sk -> sh shift, not k -> h.

Same thing with prezervativy in Russian. I found that one out the hard way. (No, no pun intended.)

The French word **mine **is equivalent to the English word mien .
The French word **mien **is equivalent to the English word mine.

Go figure.

‘Largo’ in Spanish means long, not large. And in Portuguese, it means wide.

No, as I understand it, both came from Old Norse – actually Old Danish, but the difference was at that point purely dialectal. But words beginning with a “sk-” were pronounced, and later came to be spelled, with as “sh-” sound in Danelaw-dialect Norse and from there by borrowing into Old English. The “sk-” forms that survived were borrowed later and did not experience this shift. (One of our resident linguists can speak more to this shift; I’m just aware it happened, not the details of when and why.)

Not sure if this qualifies exactly, but I think I heard about an embarrasing one in German: ein heisser Hund is NOT a hot dog, but rather a dog in heat.

Más de español:

consecuente: consistent, not consequent, which is consiguente
eventual: possible, temporary (related to Swedish eventuellt through Latin, I assume)
noticias: the news, not “notices”, but related.
prevenir: to warn, not prevent
canapé: settee, sofa

I’m sure there are plenty more, but those are the ones I’ve run across lately.

And to add to the German from Shibb – Don’t ever tell a German that there was a light mist in the air and use the German word Mist when you do. It doesn’t mean that.

There’s also das Etikett, for “label”; eventuell, again like Swedish and Spanish; das Handy for “cellphone”; das Lokal, which is a false friend for Americans, but means the same to the Brits and Germans, i.e., the local pub; Puff meaning “brothel”; and der Tripper, for “gonorrhea”.

And there is an odd loanword or two in modern Denglish – Body Bag (one-shoulder backpack) is one I like a lot.

You will find most sk words are from old Norse.

Breit means ‘broad’ in German. It’s especially confusing when playing German music, because “bright” would generally indicate a faster tempo, whereas “broad” would usually mean a slower tempo.

“Dress” means “suit” in Norwegian.

Norwegian “rolig” = calm, Swedish “rolig” = fun.

Norwegian “klar” = ready, Norwegian dialect trøndersk “klar” = exhausted (so when a trøndersk girl says to the non-trønder boy she’s dancing with: “Æ e klar!” the “I’m tired” versus “I’m ready” misunderstanding might be embarrassing…)

Norwegian “øl” = beer, German “öl” = oil. A Norwegian ordering “Ein Öl, bitte” in Germany is a classic :slight_smile:

This is probably more an IMHO thread, I would have thought.

Some people, when trying to think of the Spanish for “butter” will think “Hmm… beurre in French… let’s try sticking an “o” on the end…” might come up with burro.

Unfortunately, that means “donkey”, which could cause confusion at the breakfast table.

… of course, Basil Fawlty had that problem:

Burro does mean butter in Italian, though.

One of my personal favorites, as seen on little signs hanging on hotel doors in French-speaking parts of the world:

Ne dérangez pas

Which is not, of course, “Do not derange,” but “Do not disturb.”

[QUOTE=Colibri]
In Spanish, you definitely want to avoid food with preservativos in it . . .
. . . since preservativos means “condoms.”

[QUOTE]

It also means preservative (as in chemical you add to food), but still likely to get some giggles.

Last year working with people from 6 different Latin nationalities we had serious problems finding a word meaning “to grab” that wouldn’t send someone rolling on the floor :rolleyes: I say Latin instead of Hispanic cos we had Brazilians (and we all learned to say Brasil properly, with that sort of humming s)

Librería means bookstore; library is biblioteca.

Actualmente is currently, realmente means actually, and en realidad would be really. Actually, “really” is pretty hard to translate, since lots of people just use it as a verbal crutch :smiley: in which case it would be lo cierto es que , but certainly means por supuesto. Let’s just dump adverbs, ok?

Of course, there are exceptions. If you hear people saying something like “Ohio”, they aren’t referring to the state in the US: they are saying “Good morning.”

<a href=http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20010602.html>No, ‘mercy’ and ‘mercenary’ may sound alike, but I can assure you it’s just a misleading coincidence.</a>

Russian “magazin” = “store”

And French magasin.

And English “magazine”, of course. This is a true cognate (think of a magazine of ammunition) but the senses have grown apart. A magazine (as in periodical) is called that because it is a collection, or store, of different articles.

Peut-etre, mon ami, but anywere outside of the dictionary the only acceptable meaning is boredom, and not annoyance.
Either that, or my wife and in-laws, and other assorted French mother-tonguers are just repeatedly jerking my chain :wink: