This week we\u2019re going to look at that linguistic phenomenon known as the \u201cfalse friend\u201d. So, what is a false friend?<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Basically false friends are words or phrases that exist in two different languages or dialects that, though they might look and sound similar, in fact have different, or at least partially different, meanings in each case. False friends can be a cause of confusion when you\u2019re learning a foreign language, especially if that language has links to your mother tongue. And the misunderstandings created when you unwittingly use a false friend can often have comic consequences!<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look at just a few examples of false friends in Romanian and English. Take the English word \u201cactual\u201d, which also exists in Romanian, \u201cactual\u201d<\/em>. What\u2019s the difference? In English \u201cactual\u201d is used to mean \u201creal\u201d or \u201ctrue\u201d, while in Romanian — as, incidentally, in various other European languages — it means \u201ccurrent\u201d, as in \u201ccurrent affairs\u201d.<\/p>\n
Another common false friend is the word \u201cmagazine\u201d, which in English is a periodical publication like The Economist or Private Eye magazine. In Romanian, however, the word magazin<\/em> means shop! So make sure you take enough money with you next time you say \u201cI\u2019m going to buy un magazin<\/em>\u201d!<\/p>\n
And another fun example is the Romanian word \u201csef\u201d<\/em>\u2019, which in English sounds like \u201cchef\u201d, someone who cooks for a living, which in Romanian actually means \u2018boss\u2019. So unless your boss is also a professional good cook, you\u2019d better try not to confuse these two words!<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s also the Romanian \u201clibrarie\u201d<\/em>, which looks and sounds similar to the English \u201cLibrary\u201d. However, a \u201clibrarie\u201d<\/em> is not somewhere you go to borrow a book, it\u2019s actually<\/em> where you go to buy one — that is, a bookshop!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Words that look and sound similar in Romanian and English but have different meanings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46193],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-176976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-romanian-without-tears"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n