It would be much better if False Friends didn’t exist
Having false friends that aren’t reliable is a real issue. If we’re honest it would be better if they didn’t exist, especially considering they really do give you some mixed signals. You can’t live with them, can’t live without them. How could a friend deceive you and be so two-faced?
If you keep your friends close and enemies closer — what do you do about false friends?
You know I’m not talking about my friends, right? They aren’t that bad.
I’m talking about Spanish False Friends. They tell you one thing in English but mean another in Spanish. And no, I still don’t mean my amigos.
I’m referring to the False Cognates. These words sound the same or similar in English and Spanish, but couldn’t be further from the same.
The real deal
Spanish is the official language of 20 countries and is becoming increasingly more spoken/learnt in other parts of world. It may be great to speak but let’s not forget that it isn’t faithful through and through.
However; as an English speaker, there is some advantage to learning Spanish as a Second Language, as I did, for two very important reasons:
1. There is more or less the same alphabet apart from the additional letter ñ
2. There are a number of Perfect/Near perfect cognates (True friends)
Since Spanish and English both have very similar Greek and Latin roots, they have many similar sounds and spellings which are known as Cognates. So, you can look at one word and instantly know what it will mean. There may be a little bit of a pronunciation difference, but you’ll get by. Most times there’s just the case of adding the ‘o’ for masculine and ‘a’ for feminine words. Simple rule…
Beginners can make the Decisión to start learning Spanish, find that it is actually a walk in the Parque (park-é) and they’ll be Perfecto in no time. Don’t Pánico! They may even start to earn a good Salario if they continue learning. They can eat Chocolate (choco-laté) with no Problema and still feel in Control (con-tról) — okay, I think you get the gist.
Not all plain sailing
Spanish is not always trying to do you so many favours. The similarity does end when you find you have False Cognates. Allow me to give you a mini lesson when dealing with these fake friends. You will really face some difficulty identifying these words due to the linguistic interference that occurs.
There’s been many a red face when first speaking Spanish around natives and attempting to use the Verbos- which in itself seems quite straightforward. The famous telling someone they’re very ‘embarazado/a’ and the listener proceeds to congratulate them, touch their stomach — wishing them well for their pregnancy… *Embarazado- pregnant, tener vergüenza-embarrassed*.
Meanwhile, to asistir and enviar seem quite obvious (assist and envy, respectively?) but when put in a sentence (I assist/envy my friend) in translation, you would actually say I’m attending/ sending my friend. *Asistir- attend, enviar- send. What you need: ayudar- assist, envidiar- envy*.
Similarly, recordar and grabar- seem obvious in translation (record and grab) for example, recordar- ‘the singer recorded an album’ and grabar- ‘he grabbed the bag’, you think you’d be spot on in Spanish?
However, recordar means to remember/recall and grabar actually means to record. PLOT TWIST!!!
So, there’d be recalling an album and recording a bag. What we were actually looking for is grabar- record and coger- grab.
Finally, if you realizar that you’re not blindar to the truth, Spanish can’t pretender with you, any longer… well, you’d be very wrong.
Realizar seems similar to ‘to realise’ but in reality it is ‘to carry something out’ and to make it even more confusing; realise is *Darse cuenta de que*…
Not being blindar, well essentially, you’re not being ‘armour-plated/iron-clad’ to the truth, which works in some metaphorical sense, but not what we typically would want to say *cegar- blind*.
Finally, if you think Spanish can’t pretender, it has the English verb itself embedded in the word like all the others… and yeah, like the rest, it couldn’t be further from what it means in English- *pretender- to hope or expect*, fingir- to pretend. *
Say no to Nouns
Meanwhile, the nouns can also really get you in some sticky situations…
With what appears to be a Perfect match- We all love some good old British Pies and we tend to cook our Shrove Tuesday pancakes on Pans but in Spain we can’t say we love Pies (pí-es) as we’d be saying we love Feet and that we cook pancakes on Bread. * Pastel- pie, pie (pi-é) — foot, pan- bread, sartén- pan*.
People also think ‘just add an o or an a - you’ll be fine’. You take a word for face value and go ahead trying to communicate, telling people about the Delito (delight) you had with your long-lost friends. Spaniards may be a little shocked, particularly if it’s a policeman, as you just admitted to a crime! *Delito- crime, placer- delight*.
It’s the same with climbing a Ropa and washing your hands with Sopa, you may get a few odd looks. In translation, you’re actually climbing your clothes and washing your hands in soup. *Ropa- clothes, cuerda- rope. Sopa- soup, jabón- soap*.
Meanwhile, if you are out and about in a Spanish town you will be faced with some difficulty along the way.
Firstly, if you visit CarpetRight, you’d go in the shop knowing what to expect but in Spain you’d be presented with a folder. *Carpeta- folder, alfombra- carpet*.
Whilst if you visited the supermarket searching endlessly for lentils, you may be pointed in the direction of the opticians. *Lentillas- lenses and lentejas- lentils*.
Alike, if you’re looking for some fábrica — for your costume, you’d be directed to the nearest factory- *fábrica- factory* and you’re actually looking for *tela- fabric*.
Lastly, if you decide to go to the Librería , to borrow some books — take care! The alarms may go off as the Librería is in fact the bookshop not the Library, so the shop attendant may be somewhat confused when you do not pay for the “borrowed book”. *Librería- bookshop, biblioteca- library*.
Finally, if you arrive at a time of the year where Spain has parades, perhaps the Three Kings Parados or Paradas, it’ll be one of the two, right?
I’m sure you can see a pattern forming here, that it’s most probable that what you’re asking for is completely incorrect.
‘Three Kings Unemployed’ *parado*- hit a tough time?
‘Three Kings Bus Stop’ *parada*- modern camels?
They both sound pretty plausible, to be honest, but what you are actually looking for is the Procesión/ desfile de los 3 Reyes.
A Mediterranean muddle
On the other hand, for Spanish speakers learning English they may also have a few awkward moments. In England, if they’re feeling rather unwell, they can manage that they need to see a Médico (medic/ doctor) or go to a Farmacía (pharmacy). On telling the doctor they are Constipado, for English speakers, they would point them in the direction of Laxatives, when in fact what they really wanted to sort out was their cold *constipado- cold/flu*.
Finally, my Spanish friends will bid you lots of Exit when learning Spanish… *éxito= success, sálida- exit*.
And on that note I think we’ll say adiós.
With thanks to Connor Clark
