En este post, vamos a tratar otra vez el tema de los “false friends” más habituales. Si todavía no has leído la parte 1, puedes encontrarla aquí. Si estás interesado en leerlo en inglés, lo puedes encontrar más abajo ¡aprovéchalo si quieres mejorar tu nivel! Scroll down to see the English version! (Advanced).
Al igual que en la parte 1 de nuestra serie de “false friends”, vamos a ver algunos de los errores más comunes que se cometen cuando los españoles nativos hablan inglés y, a menudo, cuando los ingleses nativos hablan español. Sin embargo, en lugar de exponer todos mis errores lingüísticos para que el mundo los vea, como en la parte 1, este post se centra más en los errores cometidos por algunos de mis estudiantes a lo largo de los años.
Algunos de los false friends más habituales
Exit VS. Success
Solía dar clases a un grupo de chicas adolescentes muy amables, todas de la misma edad y, todas las semanas, tenía muchas ganas de enseñarles algo nuevo. Sin embargo, todos sabemos lo difícil que puede ser para los adolescentes mantenerse motivados. Precisamente, por eso, intentaba incluir en nuestras clases mucha “cultura pop”; algo interesante para ellas. También llegué a conocer sus hobbies e intereses y los incorporaba a nuestras lecciones.
Recuerdo que, un día, hablando de nuestros cantantes favoritos, una de mis alumnas quiso expresar lo mucho que le gustaba “One Direction” y que era un grupo muy popular y conocido, pero no recordaba la traducción de “éxito” (a lo que yo di una mini lección improvisada de “false friends”). Existe la palabra “exit” en inglés, pero no se traduce como “éxito”. Veamos las traducciones y los ejemplos aquí.
Exit = to leave (Salida (n)/salir (v)).
Ej. ”Excuse me, where is the exit? I want to leave the building.”
Success = The accomplishment of an aim or purpose (éxito).
Ej. “During their career, The Beatles had a lot of success, they were famous all over the world.”
Assist VS. Attend
Aunque este “falso amigo” crea menos problemas que otros, vale la pena mencionar la diferencia y cómo se traduce al español.
Assist (formal) = to help (ayudar (formal)).
Ej. “Excuse me, can you assist me please? I want to buy this T-shirt, but in blue.”
Attend = to be present at an event (Asistir).
Ej. “I wanted to attend the party, but I was sick.”.
Actually VS. Currently
He visto a muchos nativos ingleses ser víctimas de estos “false friends”, no solamente a los españoles nativos. El principal problema con las palabras “actually” y “actualmente” es que son muy similares y sabemos que las palabras que terminan con “-ly” en inglés, suelen traducirse en palabras que terminan “-mente” en español. Aunque esa regla es correcta el 99,9% de las veces, esta es una excepción, ya que la traducción de “actually” es muy diferente en español.
Actually = Used when we want to correct something that someone has said by giving the truth or facts of a situation (de hecho/realmente).
Ej. Grandma: “Happy birthday, now you’re 21!” Me: “Actually, i’m 31”.
Currently = At the moment (actualmente).
Ej. “I’m currently teaching adults, but I usually teach children”.
Sensitive VS. Sensible
Es totalmente lógico que alguien inglés o español repita estas palabras de forma incorrecta y esto se debe a que la palabra “sensible” existe en ambos idiomas, pero no se puede traducir directamente.
Sensitive = When something reacts to changes easily e.g. the skin / a person who is easily upset (sensible).
Ej. ”I can’t use this sunscreen, my skin is sensitive and it gets very irritated”.
Sensible = An adjective to describe a person who follows rules/instructions accordingly (sensato).
Ej. “My little brother is very sensible, he always wears his seatbelt in the car.”
Compromise VS. Commitment
Este “false friend” parece ser para estudiantes más avanzados, ya que es algo que descubrí bastante tiempo después de haber empezado a aprender español, probablemente porque se necesita un buen nivel de vocabulario para poder hablar de los temas que harían surgir estas dos palabras. Sorry, no tengo ninguna historia en particular, así que aquí están las traducciones y los ejemplos.
Compromise (n)/(v) = To come to a mutual agreement (acuerdo mutuo/llegar a un acuerdo).
Ej. “So for our holiday I want to go to the beach and you want to go to the mountains. We have to make a compromise!”
Commitment = When somebody is dedicated to something (compromiso).
Ej. “My sister wants to get married, but her partner is afraid of commitment.”
Support VS. Tolerate (to put up with – phrasal verb)
Este verbo puede provocar fácilmente situaciones incómodas, especialmente cuando se traduce del inglés al español. Imagina que tu amigo está muy enfadado y lo único que quieres hacer es consolarlo, pero, en lugar de eso, lo insultas diciéndole que no lo puedes tolerar ¡Ay, qué pena! Ten cuidado con esto, especialmente si la gente que te rodea es bastante “sensitive” (no, no es “sensible”). Pero, ¿por qué la gente comete este error? Veamos.
Support = To help / to hold up (apoyar).
Ej. “I love and support you. I am here for you!”
Tolerate (to put up with) = To endure something you dislike (soportar).
Ej. “I cannot tolerate your bad attitude anymore!”
Hemos llegado al final de nuestra serie de los “false friends” más repetidos, me encantaría que me contaras tus experiencias con los false friends en los comentarios de abajo. ¿Conoces a otros “falsos amigos” de los que hayas sido víctima? Recuerda que todos podemos aprender, no solamente de nuestros errores, sino también de los de los demás 😉
False Friends – Part 2
Consistent with part 1 of our false friends series, we’re going to look at some of the most common mistakes made when spanish natives speak english and often when english natives speak spanish. However, rather than exposing all of my language mistakes for the world to see like in part 1, part 2 focuses more on the mistakes made by various students over the years.
Exit VS. Success
I used to teach a group of really sweet teenage girls, all around the same age and every week I always looked forward to our class. However, we all know how difficult it can be for teenageers to stay motivated and for that reason I tried to include as much pop culture in our classes as possible. I also got to know all of their individual hobbies and interests, in order to incorporate them into our lessons. I distinctly remember talking about our favourite singers one day, when one of my students wanted to express how much she loved ‘One Direction’ and how they were a very popular and well – known band, however she couldn’t remember the translation for ‘exito’ (to which I then gave a mini improvised false friends lesson). There is a word ‘exit’ in English, but it doesn not translate as ‘exito’. Let’s see the translations and examples here.
Exit = to leave (Salida (n)/salir (v)).
e.g. ‘ Excuse me, where is the exit? I want to leave the building.’
Success = The accomplishment of an aim or purpose (éxito).
e.g. ‘During their career, The Beatles had a lot of success, they were famous all over the world.’
Assist VS. Attend
Although this pair of false friends creates less problems than others, it is still worth mentioning the difference and how they can be translated into spanish.
Assist (formal) = to help (ayudar (formal)).
e.g. ‘Excuse me, can you assist me please? I want to buy this T-shirt, but in blue.’
Attend = to be present at an event (Asistir).
e.g. ‘I wanted to attend the party, but I was sick.’
Actually VS. Currently
I have seen many English natives fall victim to these false friends, not only Spanish natives. The main problem is with ‘actually’/’actualmente’ as they are very similar, and we already know that -ly endings in English are often translated as -mente endings in spanish. Although that rule is correct 99.9% of the time, this is an exception, with the translation of ‘actually’ being very different in Spanish.
Actually = Used when we want to correct something that someone has said by giving the truth or facts of a situation (de hecho/realmente).
e.g. Grandma: ‘Happy birthday, now you’re 21!’ Me: ‘Actually, i’m 31’.
Currently = At the moment (actualmente).
e.g. ‘I’m currently teaching adults, but I usually teach children’
Sensitive VS. Sensible
It makes complete sense why someone English or Spanish would use these words incorrectly and this is because the word ‘sensible’ exists in both languages, but cannot be translated directly.
Sensitive = When something reacts to changes easily e.g. the skin / a person who is easily upset (sensible).
e.g. ‘I can’t use this sunscreen, my skin is sensitive and it gets very irritated.’
Sensible = An adjective to describe a person who follows rules/instructions accordingly (sensato).
e.g. ‘My little brother is very sensible, he always wears his seatbelt in the car’
Compromise VS. Commitment
These false friends seem to be for more advanced learners as it is something I discovered quite a while after I’d started learning Spanish, probably because a good level of vocabulary is needed in order to talk about the topics that would bring up these two words. Unfortunately I don’t have any story in particular, so here are the translations and examples.
Compromise (n) / (v) = to come to a mutual agreement / a mutual agreement (acuerdo mutuo/llegar a un acuerdo).
e.g. ‘So for our holiday I want to go to the beach and you want to go to the mountains. We have to make a compromise!’
Commitment = when somebody is dedicated to something (compromiso).
e.g. ‘My sister wants to get married, but her partner is afraid of commitment.’
Support VS Tolerate (to put up with – phrasal verb).
This one can easily cause some awkward situations, especially when translating from English to Spanish. Imagine your friend being very upset and all you want to do is comfort them, however instead you insult them by telling them you cannot tolerate them. Ouch. Be careful with this one, especially if the people around you are quite sensitive (no, not sensible). But why do people make this mistake? Let’s see.
Support = to help / to hold up (apoyar).
e.g . I love and support you. I am here for you!
Tolerate (to put up with) = to endure something you dislike (soportar).
e.g. ‘I cannot tolerate your bad attitude anymore!’
As we’ve come to the end of our false friends series, I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments down below. Are there any other false friends that you’ve fallen victim to? Remember, we can all learn from not only our mistakes, but also from the mistakes of others 😉
