False friends: decepcionar
By Peter on May 25, 2009 in Spanish
Every once in a while, we all run into a word that deceives us about its meaning. Often it is because the word looks similar to a word in your native language, which happened to me today on twitter. I had just discovered an excellent blog called ReVerbSpanish and I had tweeted about it. The author of that blog, Eleena, sent me this tweet:
@peterjcarroll ¡Muchas gracias por tu voto de confianza! Espero que no te decepcione.
Decepcione? I read that and thought to myself, “Why would she hope to not deceive me?” It was clearly dictionary time. It turns out that the verb decepcionar means to disappoint. I felt silly, but I’ve learned a new word and I won’t make that same mistake again!
Are there any false friends in your language of study that have deceived you before? Tell us in the comments!
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One false friend that comes to mind is “duidelijk”, which is the Dutch word for “certain”. When I started learning Dutch, I kept thinking this word meant “doubtful” as both words have a similar sound. A silly mistake but one that took me a few weeks to get over.
Kelly | May 25, 2009 | Reply
How about when your nose gets plugged up in Spanish and you say that it’s “constipado”? That’s sort of just funny for us English speakers, but pretty dangerous for an unsuspecting Spanish speaker with a cold.
Kristy | Jun 16, 2009 | Reply
@Kristy: I didn’t know that one, that’s great!
peter | Jun 16, 2009 | Reply
We’ve had a lot of fun with “Fake False Cognates” in Spanish at Cachando Chile. Please excuse the self-plug, but if you like this kind of thing, check out: http://cachandochile.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/speaking-chilensis-fake-false-cognates/
Margaret | May 17, 2010 | Reply
In French:
decevoir = to disappoint
lunatique = spacy, absent-minded
blonde = girlfriend (only in Quebec)
chum = boyfriend (also only in Quebec)
In Japanese
マンション (mansion) = apartment or condo
bubble | Feb 15, 2011 | Reply