8 false cognates in English and other languages

Languages are wonderful.

Have you ever heard about false friends?

It's not what you are thinking. Hello guys.

This video is going to be a little different.

You and I are going to be learning from English and other languages.

Come on, I can't wait to show you.

False friend or false cognate is a word that is often confused

with a word in another language with a different meaning because

the two words sound or look very similar.

I know what you’re thinking.

Attualmente sounds very similar to actually.

However, what attualmente really means is currently.

If you want to say actually in Italian, it will be in realtà.

This is a very funny one.

Parenti sounds just like parents, but parenti means relatives,

which is not exactly the same.

If you want to say parents in Italian, this would be genitori.

For these ones I got Rebecca’s help.

We often use the word realise in English to mean that we have

become aware of something.

But in Portuguese and in Spanish the word realizar is to do or make.

If you want to say the word realise in Portuguese, it will be perceber.

Everybody knows that in English an appointment

is a formal arrangement to meet or visit someone.

The Portuguese word apontamento sounds very similar,

but it actually means note, or to highlight or to mark something,

like a report, for example.

If you want to say appointment in Portuguese, you will use

consulta or agendamento.

Jiri suggested these ones and I found them pretty interesting.

The first word is chef, which in English means

and is related to cook.

But in Czech, which sounds very similar, šéf means boss.

So, a chef could be your šéf but your šéf won't normally be your chef.

If you want to say chef in Czech, you will say šéfkuchař.

Another false friend is brigade, which in English is not so common to

use in a daily context because it refers to a group of soldiers

in an army or a group of people who have something in common.

However, in Czech, brigáda is a much more

common word to use as it refers to a summer job or part-time job.

Hang explained to me that there are more right cognates in Vietnamese

than false ones.

However, she gave me two examples of false friends.

Tricky one, they look exactly the same, but pin in Vietnamese is not a thin

piece of metal with a sharp point used to fasten pieces of clothes

together as in English.

Pin in Vietnamese is battery.

If you want to refer to the English pin,

you will say kim.

Lungs in English are the organs people and some animals use to breathe with.

Although in Vietnamese lu’ng is a part of your body,

it is not an organ.

It means back.

If you want to refer to the lungs, you will say phổi.

That’s everything for today guys. l hope you had as much fun as me.

If you recognise any false cognate between

your mother tongue and English, please share them in the comments

section so we can all learn a little bit from other languages.