false friends

[Elvus]

It came to my mind to create a thread concerning the 'false friends' including all the languages. Maybe the name of false friends is not appropriate for them in this case because rather no e.g. Russian learning Spanish would be mistaken if accidentally some Spanish word sounds the same as some Russian one. But it's interesting, anyway. Perhaps we would call it 'the words which are written the same way in totally different - often very far from each other - languages but mean something completely unalike'. On the other hand it's probably hard to have any knowledge of such words for usually we come across them by chance and only if we understand a little the foreign language we find such word in. But I'll start with one example to show what I mean:

matka - Finnish: 'journey', Polish (and some other Slavic languages) 'mother'

An example from life:
At middle school I had a rather grumpy religion teacher who was much disliked by the class. One day the topic of lesson was 'Mother'. Of course the final target of discussion was the Blessed Virgin. But we started from scratch. Mrs. H. had written 'MOTHER' on the blackboard and each of us was supposed to stand up, come to the blackboard and write a word we associate with the 'mother'. Then, I whispered to my fellow I was sitting with: 'Matka' is 'a journey' in Finnish. Everyone started coming to the board and writing: 'gentleness', 'love', 'caring' and so on. It came my fellow's turn. He rose up and said Matka is also 'a journey' in Finnish... The whole class dismayed, the teacher stood silently with anger in her eyes, and my fellow went to write on the blackboard 'JOURNEY (IN FINNISH)'. That was a fascinating experience showing what advantages give us the knowledge of languages, that was indeed.

It may be not very funny or even pathetic when looked on from an objective perspective but you know... Anyway, if you find the thread stupid, silly or anyhow undeserving existence, don't hesitate to close it.

 

[Rallino]

No I don't find it stupid I don't have any examples but one, at this hour though ^^

The most common Turkish false friend, I think, is: apartman

English: appartment, French: appartement, Italian: appartamento...

In all these languages, this word means: a flat; while in Turkish it means an entire residential building with many flats. Turks who study English usually fail at using this word. ^^

 

[Encolpius]

It would be interesting to find triple false friends, I mean 1 word and 3 or more different meanings in different languages.
Like the word: kar.

kiss (English) - kiss (wee-wee in Swedish) - Kiss (very common family name in Hungarian)

 

[Rallino]

Well, there are more dangerous ones. For example, when I'd heard the Hungarian expression for "good luck" : sok sikert, I was shocked, and burst into laughing. Sok sikert in Turkish means: 'put it in and start f.cking' (litterally). Although the pronunciation of "s" differs, the overall similarity is quite surprising!

 

[sakvaka]

How about tenfold false friends?

ei
Nahuatl: three
Dutch: egg
Finnish: he doesn't / no
Kott: pine
Mandarin: desire, want
Romanian: they
Scots: eye
Norwegian: one
Armenian: you were
Japanese: ray (fish)

 

[Encolpius]

Well, there are more dangerous ones. For example, when I'd heard the Hungarian expression for "good luck" : sok sikert, I was shocked, and burst into laughing. Sok sikert in Turkish means: 'put it in and start f.cking' (litterally). Although the pronunciation of "s" differs, the overall similarity is quite surprising!

wow, that's really interesting. Would you please analyse the Turkish collocation, I know no Turkish. But maybe you could find some false friends if you know some Hungarian.

 

[Encolpius]

Tenfold false friends. As easy as pie!

far
1. English = remote in place
2. Albanian = lighthouse
3. Danish = father
4. Esperanto = by
5. Faroese = drive, tour
6. Hungarian = buttocks
7. Italian = short form of fare
8. Maltese = mouse
9. Scottisch Gaelic = where
10.Turkish = headlight; eye shadow

 

[Rallino]

wow, that's really interesting. Would you please analyse the Turkish collocation, I know no Turkish. But maybe you could find some false friends if you know some Hungarian.

collocation for "good luck", you mean?

Bol şans, pronunced: Bol sánsz
or
İyi şanslar, pronunced: Iji sánszlár

Other than that, I'll count some more, the format will be:
the word - Hungarian meaning - Turkish meaning

Kamu - Unreal thing - Public
Baba - baby - father
Koca - sow (?) - husband
Cici - Breasts - Cute, sweety
Emel - to lift - Scope, goal
Harap - to bite - ruined, destroyed
Pazar - magnificent - Sunday
Hal - fish - situation
Fal - wall - Future prediction by looking at one's hands or at his/her coffee remaining
Dal - song - a tree branch
Kan - male boar - blood
Bal - left direction - honey
El - away - hand
Ön - you (formal) - front
Az - that - few

also:

Csók - Kiss - Very / many (Turkish spelling is çok, but pronunced the same)
Didim - My tits - a region to the west in Turkey

 

[Encolpius]

Wow, Rallino, I love those false friends, really funny.
No, I do not know what the wrod sok and sikert mean in Turkish?

 

[Rallino]

Wow, Rallino, I love those false friends, really funny.
No, I do not know what the wrod sok and sikert mean in Turkish?

sok is the imperative of: sokmak = to penetrate, to squeeze

sikert is the imperative of a colloquial verb: sikertmek, comes from sikmek = to f..k

 

[Volcano]

artist - one who creates works of art (paintings, sculptures, etc.)

artist - one who is known as popular, especially in movies (in Turkish)

 

[WondererCarvalho]

How about tenfold false friends?

ei
Nahuatl: three
Dutch: egg
Finnish: he doesn't / no
Kott: pine
Mandarin: desire, want
Romanian: they
Scots: eye
Norwegian: one
Armenian: you were
Japanese: ray (fish)

I found out that besides Ducth, German, not just have "ei" for egg, but also have this "ei" as "Hey!" or "Oh!" or "Gee!" that they say is not much common nowadays, when I had doubts about uses of "ei" in a lyric.
Here, my finished thread about uses of "ei" that in that context, I thought it meant "Ich"...

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1759688&highlight=ei+for+ich

Moreover, "ei" also means "hey!" in Portuguese and I haven't managed to realize that . And is written "ei!" in Portuguese!

Another example from myself, comparing to Portuguese:

Portuguese: Me:
(I think in Spanish those meanings are the same as in Portuguese)

Examples: "Me alcança aquele lápis, por favor!" - "Please, get me that pencil!"
"Faça-me o favor!/ Me faça o favor!" - "Do me a favor!"

Norwegian - We (Depending on dialect, I have a thread about it as well
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1759681&highlight=me+re+vi+er)

English - me/To me/ at me/ for me

 

[Elvus]

Also in Finnish me means 'we'.

In Polish me is a form of possessive pronoun moje which means 'my' in singular neutrum and in plural, e.g.

me czyny = moje czyny = my deeds
me dziecko = moje dziecko = my child

However, this form might be considered archaic or pompous and it's practically not used in spoken language. Often it's also, let's say, 'phonetically unsuitable' to use me.

 

[Bântuit]

Hi,

Cool means eat(the imperative from)in spoken arabic,it's written كول

 

[Orlin]

In Bulgarian as well as Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian ме/me is the enclitic form of the 1st person sg. personal pronoun, accusative case: Той ме вижда./ On me vidi. = He sees me.

 

[WondererCarvalho]

As Norwegian has "vi" (bokmål) for "we" as well, "vi" in Portuguese means "I've seen" (Pres. Perf.) or "I saw", that is past of verb "ver" (to see). Even its pronounce is the very same.
In English and German, just to give some examples of false friends:
Eng:a Port: the (fem)
Eng:no Port: In the (masc)
Ger:na Port: in the (fem)
Ger:nun Eng:well!/now
Eng: an Ger: about/in/at/by/upon/on

 

[volkonsky]

Russian: ковёр (kovyor) doesn't mean 'caviar' but 'carpet'.

And the Polish translation for 'carpet' is dywan, which is derived from Turkish and refers to a sofa or a couch in most European languages.

 

[Rallino]

My etymological dictionary says that Divan in Turkish, is an Arabic or Persian word.

 

[enoo]

A few in French, although the pronunciation is often very different (maybe not 3 meanings, but at least more that 3 letters ) :
English pain is the French for bread.
English coin is the French for corner.
English chat is the French for cat.
English bond is the French for leap.
Finnish lapin (of Lapland) is the French for rabbit.

(and to give words that were previously mentionned, "me" means "myself" with reflexive verbs, and "far" is a kind of dessert)

 

[volkonsky]

My etymological dictionary says that Divan in Turkish, is an Arabic or Persian word.

That's possible, but the word was introduced to Europe through the similarly named state council of the Ottoman Empire.

 

[Orlin]

In Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian vi is you (2nd person pl., nominative case).

 

[Perkele]

se
Finnish: 3rd person singular inanimate
Spanish: accusative/dative form, 3rd person general

me
Finnish: 1st person plural
Spanish: accusative/dative form, 1st person singular

te
Finnish: 2nd person plural
Spanish: accusative/dative form, 2nd person singular

su
Finnish: genetive, 2nd person singular (dialectal)
Spanish: genetive, 3rd person general

 

[Orlin]

Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian:
- se - a reflexive particle forming reflexive verbs (them same for Bulgarian се);
- te - enclitic personal pronoun for 2nd person sg., accusative case (=Bulgarian те);
- su - 3rd person pl. present (enclitic) of the verb "biti" (to be).

 

[apmoy70]

Greek:
Nαι (ne): Adverb used to show agreement or acceptance.
Bulgarian:
Hе (ne): Adverb used to show disagreement or negation.
BCS:
He/Ne: Adverb used to show disagreement or negation.

 

[Elvus]

rana
Latin: frog
Polish: wound

palik
Lithuanian: leave! (Imperative)
Polish: diminutive from pal (pole; stake; picket)

pas
Lithuanian: at, to (būti pas draugą - to be at friend's [place], eiti pas draugą - to go to friend's [place])
Polish: belt
Croatian: dog

jojo
Lithuanian: yo-yo but also 3rd person past form of the verb joti - to ride. (Jis jojo. - He rode.)
Polish: yo-yo

meta
Lithuanian: 3rd person present form of the verb mesti - to throw (Jis meta. - He throws.)
Polish: finish

puola
Lithuanian: 3rd person present form of the verb pulti - to fall (Jėzus puola trečią kartą. - Jesus falls for the third time.)
Finnish: Polish [language], Puola = Poland

katu
Finnish: street
Basque: cat
Polish: dative case of the noun kat - executioner

can
English: can
Galician: dog

hunt
English: hunt
Yiddish: dog

tie
English: tie
Finnish: road
Lithuanian: these (masculine)

verda
Esperanto & Ido: green
Lithuanian: 3rd person present form of the verb virti - to cook, to boil.

teka
Lithuanian: 3rd person present form of the verb tekėti - to flow
Polish: augmentative from teczka (briefcase; folder)


Enough for now.

 

[ilocas2]

German - Fluss - river
Czech - flus - spit (noun) (slang)

 

[Zsuzsu]

verda
Esperanto & Ido: green
Lithuanian: 3rd person present form of the verb virti - to cook, to boil.

In Hungarian slang verda means car.

 

[niernier]

Some classic examples of Filipino-Spanish false friends:

seguro in Tagalog means "maybe" (In Spanish it means "sure")
siempre in Tagalog means "of course" (In Spanish it means "always")
firmi in Chavacano/Bicolano means "always" (In Spanish it means "firm/steady")

I'm sure there are other false friends out there but these are the most popular ones.

 

[mataripis]

Tagalog: Mapagbalatkayo

 

[Encolpius]

banya: Hungarian (quite a funny word meaning ugly old woman) - English/Russian (steam bath) - Catalan (horn)

 

[Favara]

cama: Catalan leg, "let's go"; Spanish bed.
fart: English fart; Catalan tired; Swedish speed.

 

[AutumnOwl]

Rata
Finnish: railroad track
Swedish: scorn

Sota
Finnish: war
Swedish: to soot

Made
Finnish: burbot (a fish)
English: made

Maila
Finnish: stick, club
Swedish: to e-mail

Sork
Swedish: vole
Gutamål: boy (Gutamål is the dialect on the Swedish island of Gotland)

Sur
French: on
Swedish: acid, sour

Hot
Swedish: threat
English: hot

 

[AutumnOwl]

se
Finnish: 3rd person singular inanimate
Spanish: accusative/dative form, 3rd person general

Swedish: to see

 

[WondererCarvalho]

It's worth mentioning that most Spanish rules showed here apply for Portuguese as well

 

[In Vino Veritas]

MÉTER NÉLKÜL (hungarian) Without a meter...a bad word in italian.
Katso merta (finnish) Look at the sea...a bad word in italian.
КАК ДЕЛА(russian) how are you...a bad word in italian.
KUL RÖTT (swedish) cool red...a bad word in italian.
etc etc etc

 

[apmoy70]

se
Finnish: 3rd person singular inanimate
Spanish: accusative/dative form, 3rd person general

Greek: Weak form of 2nd person sing. personal pronoun in accusative «σε»

me
Finnish: 1st person plural
Spanish: accusative/dative form, 1st person singular

Greek: Weak form of 1st person sing. personal pronoun in accusative «με»

su
Finnish: genetive, 2nd person singular (dialectal)
Spanish: genetive, 3rd person general

Greek: Weak form of 2nd person sing. personal pronoun in genitive «σου»

 

[Favara]

A few more with Catalan and Spanish:

acostar CAT: to approach; ES: to lie down.
cebar CAT: to add onions (when cooking); ES: to prime, to bait, to feed, to stoke, to cram.
colgar CAT: to bury; ES: to hang.
escoltar CAT: to listen; ES to escort, to guard.
jueves CAT: jew women; ES: thursday.
prima CAT: lean woman; ES: cousin (fem.).
pudor CAT: stink; ES: modesty.
tasca CAT: task; ES: pub.

 

[sakvaka]

Some more between Swedish and English.

tall (pine)
full (of a thing: full, of a person: drunk)
gift (married/poison)
vrist (ankle)
kock (chef)
chef (boss)
fan (fan/c*nt)
fart (speed)
fack (compartment)
gem (paperclip)
glass (ice cream)
lake (a kind of fish)
personal (personell)
smäll /'smell/ (blow)
pregnant (packed with meaning; pithy)

 

[Favara]

Autista: IT driver; CAT/ES autistic

 

[Encolpius]

This thread is for franknagy who have been cofusing coincidences and false friends

Hungarian "eleven" means "vivid", "living" not 11 as in English.
HU "ragad" verb. "It is sticking" <--> EN "rugged".
HU "liszt"=flour EN "list" RU "лист"= leav(es).
HU "kasza" = scythe RU "коса" = ponytail.
HU "más" = other SP "más" =but, more.

 

[Gavril]

Finnish pois "away"
Portuguese pois "because, whereas"
French pois "pea"

English no
Finnish no "well ..."
Portuguese no "in/on the [+ masc. singular noun]"
Greek nō "we two"

Finnish typpi "nitrogen"
Icelandic typpi "button, knob"

Spanish (and other Romance langs.) tú "you" (singular), tu "your"
Slovenian tu "here"
Welsh tu "side"

 

[Encolpius]

I think there are millions of false friends and I personally do not find this thread interesting at all unlike the "coincidences" thread which is fascinating....

 

[ilocas2]

Hungarian liszt - flour

Czech list - leaf

The most famous Hungarian composer Ferenc Liszt was Ferenc Flour

 

[bibax]

Hungarian liszt - flour

Czech list - leaf

The most famous Hungarian composer Ferenc Liszt was Ferenc Flour

German: List, Hinterlist - trick, ruse, subterfuge;

Franz List (Liszt) was an ethnic German.

 

[涼宮]

Japanese - Spanish

傘 Kasa (umbrella) - casa (house)

まりこ Mariko (female name*) - marico (gay)

の No (possessive particle, explicative particle) - no (not/don't/non)

手 te (hand) - té/te (tea, thee)

かま kama (iron pot, furnace, sickle) - cama (bed)

毛 ke (hair) - que/qué (that, what)

物 mono (thing, object) - mono (monkey)

マンコ manko (pussy, cunt -genital-) - manco (one-armed person, amputee)

ここ koko (here) - coco (coconut, col. head)

伸せ nose (stretch!) - no sé (I don't know)

米 kome (rice) - come, ¡come! (s/he eats, eat!)

緯度/井戸 ido (latitude, water well), ido (gone)

In German kochen means to cook but in Spanish it means they grab/take/fuck

In Ukrainian and Serbo-Croatian tata means dad but in English it's one of the many ways to say boob, though I've always seen the word in the plural form, tatas.


*If I remember it's also a female name in Italy, though the spelling would differ.

 

[810senior]

These cases, put down by same Chinese characters but having different meanings.
That's what I have ever heard of.


Japanese:手紙 a letter
Chinese:手紙 toilet paper
*手=hand, 紙=paper

Japanese:愛人 a lover (the partner who you have sex with in particular)
Korean:愛人 a girlfriend/boyfriend
*愛=love, 人=man, person

Japanese:来日 coming to Japan
Chinese:来日 future
Korean:来日 tomorrow
*来=to come, 日=day

Japanese:湯 hot water
Chinese:湯 soup
*湯=boiling water, decoction

 

[涼宮]

Suka

It means bitch in Russian, Slovak and Polish, to vomit in Tagalog, brush in Finnish, to like in Indonesian and Malay, and to shake in Swahili. Such a versatile word .

 

[Ghabi]

I think Japanese-Chinese false friends can be divided into "character false friends" and "word false friends". The former, when spelled out, will lose their hypocrisy instantly (I use the Cantonese form for Chinese):

Characters	Chinese word	Japanese word
湯	tong1 "hot water (classical); soup (modern)"	yu "hot water"
手紙	sau2zi2 "hand-paper"-->"toilet paper"	tegami "hand-paper"-->"letter"

The latter are words which are etymologically related (i.e. the Japanese words are composed of Sino-Japanese morphemes), for example:

Characters	Chinese word	Japanese word
大丈夫	dai6zoeng6fu1 "a macho man"	daijōbu "fine; okay; not injured"
人間	jan4gaan1 "human world"	ningen "human beings"
皮肉	pei4juk6 "physical; carnal"	hiniku "sarcasm"
勉強	min5koeng5 "barely; reluctantly"	benkyō "study"

The strange thing is, false friends can become real ones.

Characters	Chinese word	Japanese word
覺(覚)悟	gok3ng6 "to be enlightened; awakened"	kakugo "mental readiness"

In recent years I've noticed that gok3ng6 is more and more used in the Japanese sense. Perhaps in the beginning the usage was only found among Japanophiles, serving as a kind of shibboleth, but the usage has apparently spread, and is nowadays used by those who don't know Japanese at all.

 

[Zsanna]

Suka

It means bitch in Russian, Slovak and Polish, to vomit in Tagalog, brush in Finnish, to like in Indonesian and Malay, and to shake in Swahili. Such a versatile word .

Although I don't think it belongs to the false friends category but to add another word to your list: szuka (sz pronounced as the s in English) means a female dog in Hungarian and also used as a derogatory term for a woman ("a lower value female thing"..., there are several different shades to its usage).

 

[Zsanna]

I would also like to add that Liszt Ferenc (see in wiki) was a Hungarian composer, I suppose partly on the basis that he himself considered himself to be and that he was born in Western Hungary.