{"id":229,"date":"2018-07-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-22T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/log.cudoo.com\/2018\/03\/11\/13-european-words-that-dont-mean-what-you-think\/"},"modified":"2019-02-21T07:29:04","modified_gmt":"2019-02-21T03:29:04","slug":"false-friends-13-similar-sounding-words-with-different-meanings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/false-friends-13-similar-sounding-words-with-different-meanings\/","title":{"rendered":"13 European Words That Don’t Mean What You Think"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every year, the European Day of Languages is celebrated on the 26th<\/sup> of September to celebrate the linguistic and cultural diversity in the region. The European region has over 200 native languages of which 24 are official languages. While there are many differences in the culture, traditions and people of the region, the languages overlap at some word or another. It\u2019s common practice to come across words that sound and mean the same in different languages. Words such as Actor, Animal, Auto, etc. <\/em>sound similar\/same and have the same definition in Spanish and English both. However, there are many words, known as False Friends<\/strong>, which sound similar but have completely different meanings. <\/p>\n

Bank<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Dutch<\/em> meaning of \u2018bank\u2019 is cough and we all know what it means in English (Hint: It\u2019s the place that keeps your money safe!) <\/p>\n

Chair<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Be very careful when you ask somebody to sit on a chair in French<\/em>! The word \u2018chair\u2019 means \u2018flesh\u2019 in French and not the wooden object you sit on. Do you see why you might need to be careful about it? <\/p>\n

Rat<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This is another tricky one. In English, we call a type of rodent \u2018rat\u2019. In German<\/em>, however, when somebody offers you a piece of \u2018rat\u2019 it isn\u2019t what you think it might be! The German<\/em> word for \u2018advice\u2019 is \u2018rat\u2019! Use this word carefully. <\/p>\n

Barn<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Did you imagine a wooden shed with hay after reading the word barn? Ask your Swedish friend what they imagine. Did they say \u2018children\u2019? That\u2019s probably because the Swedish word \u2018barn\u2019 means children! <\/p>\n

Burro<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When Italians<\/em> asks for some \u2018burro\u2019 with their toast, they\u2019re asking for \u2018butter\u2019. Your Spanish<\/em> friend might have a good laugh at that though since \u2018burro\u2019 in Spanish<\/em> means \u2018donkey\u2019. The Spanish <\/em>word for butter is \u2018mantequilla\u2019, pretty helpful if you remember. <\/p>\n

Gift<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Everybody loves gifts! Especially on special occasions like birthdays, Christmas, etc. Be cautious of using the word gift when giving a present to Norwegians<\/em> because it translates to \u2018poison\u2019 in Norwegian<\/em>. The word \u2018gift\u2019 means \u2018poison\u2019 in German<\/em> as well! <\/p>\n

Helmet<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A helmet is extremely important for the safety of a person in many situations. But when you ask someone in Finland to wear a \u2018helmet\u2019, they\u2019d probably wear a pearl necklace and it\u2019s probably because the literal translation of the word \u2018helmet\u2019 is \u2018pearls\u2019 in Finnish. <\/em> <\/p>\n

Tuna<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There are many ways to enjoy tuna; in a sandwich, a salad or even a casserole. Be vary when you ask for some \u2018tuna\u2019 with your salad in Spain though! The Spanish<\/em> translation of \u2018tuna\u2019 is \u2018cactus\u2019. Try not to imagine cactus in your sandwich, doesn\u2019t sound appetizing. <\/p>\n

Rana<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The word \u2018rana\u2019 translates to \u2018frog\u2019 in Spanish<\/em> while the Romanian<\/em> and Bulgarian<\/em> meaning of it is a \u2018wound\u2019. Pretty comical, isn\u2019t it? <\/p>\n

Panna<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Italian dessert Panna Cotta is a favorite among many, and the word \u2018panna\u2019 means \u2018cream\u2019 in Italian<\/em>. In Polish<\/em>, however, the word \u2018panna\u2019 means \u2018a single woman\u2019. If used incorrectly, it could cause quite a bit of trouble! <\/p>\n

Plot<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The word \u2018plot\u2019 holds a few different meaning in the English language; the main events\/concept of a play, movie etc. or a large piece of land meant for the construction of a house or building. In Czech,<\/em> the word \u2018plot\u2019 means fence. While you can jump a \u2018plot\u2019 in Czech, you can\u2019t really do the same in English. <\/p>\n

List<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Making a list is part of everyday life, literally! Be it your grocery list or \u2018to-do\u2019 list, a big part of being an adult is making lists. In Slovak<\/em> if you ever had to make a \u2018list\u2019, it would have been better for you to transform into a tree because the word \u2018list\u2019 means \u2018leaf\u2019 in Slovak.<\/em> Imagine if you could actually make them! <\/p>\n

Pasta<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s highly unlikely that somebody doesn\u2019t enjoy a good bowl of pasta, especially because it comes in so many shapes and sizes! The Portuguese<\/em> translation of \u2018pasta\u2019 is \u2018folder\u2019. Imagining a bowl full of folders? Quite an appetite killer. <\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year, the European Day of Languages is celebrated on the 26th of September to celebrate the linguistic and cultural diversity in the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":2411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[975,56,648,970,971,58,860,967,968,969,974,973,306,972,366,966,965,964,963,60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3049,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions\/3049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}