Just when I think I am getting the hang of Spanish, zipping along conversationally with bartenders, doctors and my boyfriend, I hit a speed bump and lurch wildly across the path. I say something relatively simple, about which I’m quite confident, and get a funny look – or, worse, have an argument.
My Spanish boyfriend speaks English fairly well, and often we will switch between his native language and mine. But the other day we almost had a fight over the word “pretend” which means, well, “pretend” in English and “intend” in Spanish. So he meant to say “I intend to do better” but what he actually said, in English, was: “I’ll pretend to do better.”
Pretendo hacerlo mejor = I intend to do it better.
Fingiré hacerlo mejor = I’ll pretend to do it better.
As I have been discovering, when learning a new language, you must be on the lookout for false friends. These are words in two languages that look or sound similar but actually have very different meanings. But because they appear familiar, they can easily trick you into using them incorrectly.
For example:
Another lost in translation moment with my Spanish boyfriend involved the word “compromiso.” In his mind he was talking about “commitment” but to my English mind he was talking about “compromise.” As you can imagine, we were having two different conversations about our relationship.
Here’s a list of common English–Spanish false friends that I’ve either discovered the hard way, or have simply learned in my online Spanish classes.
Hopefully these examples will help you keep an eye open for these false friends and avoid misunderstandings or, worse, fights with your real friends!
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