FALSE FRIENDS
(ENGLISH – POLISH)
Justyna Filim
FALSE FRIENDS
(ENGLISH – POLISH)
Justyna Filim
False friends
(French: faux
amis) are pairs of words or
phrases in two languages or
dialects (or letters in two
alphabets)[citation needed]
that look or sound similar,
but differ in meaning.
The
term
should
be
distinguished from
"false
cognates",
which
are
similar words in different
languages that appear to
have a common historical
linguistic origin (whatever
their current meaning) but
actually do not.
Both false friends and false
cognates can cause difficulty
for
students
learning
a
foreign language, particularly
one that is related to their
native language, because
students are likely to identify
the words wrongly due to
linguistic interference.
Basic division of false friends:
Total false friends
-
pairs of words which
meanings are completely
disparate although they
look or sound practically
the same,
Polish
English
Accurate
translation
of English
word
Accurate
translation
of Polish
word
karnacja
carnation
goździk
complexion
konduktor
conductor
dyrygent
ticket
controler
paw
paw
łapa
peacock
data
data
dane
date
sad
sad
smutny
orchard
klozet
closet
szafa
toilet
Polish
English
Accurate
translation
of English
word
Accurate
translation
of Polish
word
pies
pies
placki
dog
list
list
lista
letter
sad
sad
smutny
orchard
fabryka
fabric
Materiał
factory
ewentualnie
eventually
w końcu
alternatively
patetyczny
pathetic
żałosny
exalted
Partial false friends
-
pairs of words which
meanings are slightly
similar (but narrower or
broader) although they
look or sound
practically the same.
e.g. English word
dog
and the
Polish
dog
are party similar in
meaning, but the Polish word
dog
has a narrower range as
it denotes only one breed of
dog; the word has undergone
the semantic process called
specialization.
Thank you for your
attention :)