Learn about some Romanian-English false friends
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Intro |
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| Antoni: What are some Romanian-English false friends? |
| Anna: And what are some words that are often used incorrectly? |
| Antoni: At RomanianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. To help address these questions, let's imagine the following situation: Ben Lee is talking about the weather on a freezing day with his friend, Mara Moldoveanu. Ben says, |
| "It's pretty warm today." |
| Ben Lee: Este chiar cald astăzi. |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: Este chiar cald astăzi. |
| Mara Moldoveanu: Vrei să spui, rece? |
| Antoni: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: Este chiar cald astăzi. |
| Antoni: "It's pretty warm today." |
| Mara Moldoveanu: Vrei să spui, rece? |
| Antoni: "Do you mean 'cold'?" |
Lesson focus |
| Antoni: In this lesson, you will be learning about Romanian-English false friends. The term "false friends" or, in Romanian, |
| Anna: prieteni falsi, |
| Antoni: is a linguistic one, and it refers to words in different languages that look alike, sound alike, or are alike in both respects, but have different meanings in each language. There is a similar term called "false cognates," but this refers to words that appear to have the same origin, even though they do not. Cognates might even mean the same thing in different languages, but their origins are different. For instance, the English word "much" and the Spanish word "mucho" might appear to have the same roots, but they actually do not. They are similar in meaning, appearance, and even sound to some extent, but they are false cognates because they are not related in terms of origin or etymology. False friends, however, are words that appear to have the same meaning but do not. You already heard an example of a Romanian-English false friend in the dialogue, so let's listen to that again. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Antoni: Do you remember how Ben Lee says, "It's pretty warm today.?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Anna as Ben Lee: Este chiar cald astăzi. |
| Antoni: Here, Ben is saying that it's warm today but he wanted to say that it was cold. The reason for his mistake was that he was confused by a false friend in Romanian. The Romanian word for "warm" is |
| Anna: cald |
| Antoni: and, as you can hear, it sounds a lot like the English word "cold." Even the spelling is quite similar. The only difference is that the Romanian word has an "A" where the English word uses an "O." One can understand, therefore, how Ben could have made that incorrect association. Later in the dialogue, Mara corrects him by using the word |
| Anna: rece |
| Antoni: which is the correct translation of "cold." |
| [Summary] |
| Antoni: In this lesson so far, you have learned that "false friends" are words in different languages that have different meanings, but they are either spelled the same way or they are pronounced the same way. Some might even look and sound similar. This then gives the impression that they must be similar in meaning too. Since this can be confusing, it's important to know which words are false friends; otherwise, one might end up in a situation that leaves you feeling slightly embarrassed, just as Ben did in the dialogue. Let's look at some more examples of false friends. Keep in mind that these are by no means all the Romanian-English false friends, and it is probably a good idea to find a thorough list and study them when you can. |
| The first example is the word "cap." In English, this can refer to an item that is used to seal a bottle, or that we wear on our heads, but, in Romanian, the word |
| Anna: cap |
| Antoni: actually means "head." It's good to know this distinction because it could lead to some confusion if you asked a Romanian person if it's okay for you to wear your "head" inside, for instance! Another mistake would be to call a child a box. This is because, while the word "cutie" in English refers to a cute person, in Romanian, the word |
| Anna: cutie |
| Antoni: means "box." You might also end up talking about a rhinoceros' "chimney" if you don't know that this next word is a false friend. In Romanian, the word |
| Anna: horn |
| Antoni: means "chimney" and not the pointy thing you find at the top of a rhino's nose. Also keep in mind that, if you tell someone in Romanian that you feel |
| Anna: mizerabil, |
| Antoni: you are actually saying you feel "dirty" and not that you feel "very sad" or "down," which is what the word "miserable" means in English, of course. Don't be surprised if, when you tell a Romanian person that you need some "rest," they give you some coins. This is because the word |
| Anna: rest |
| Antoni: in Romanian means "change," as in the money you get back after a purchase. You might also confuse a Romanian person who is still learning English if you invite them to a black-tie event and tell them that there is no "smoking" at the event. This is because the word |
| Anna: smoching |
| Antoni: means "dinner jacket" in Romanian. |
| As you can see, being aware of these Romanian-English false friends can definitely help you to avoid confusion and even embarrassment. |
| Expansion/Contrast (Optional) |
| Antoni: While there are quite a few Romanian-English false friends, be careful not to make the mistake of thinking that every English-sounding word you hear in Romanian is a false friend. These days especially, since the opening up of Romania to Western culture around 1989, and with the increase of exposure to English on the internet, you will hear many English words being used in Romanian. These are not false friends but actual loanwords which have been borrowed directly from English. This often happens because an English word might simply be easier to use. Romanians often like to use the word "weekend," for instance, instead of the original Romanian expression: |
| Anna: sfârșit de săptămână. |
| Antoni: Another commonly used English word is "job" so don't be surprised if you hear a Romanian person using it. An oft-used question you might hear is |
| Anna: Ce job ai? |
| Antoni: meaning "what's your job?." You might even hear the plural |
| Anna: joburi |
| Antoni: being used. On a related note, the word "office" is also quite commonly used. An example of how it might be used is in the sentence: |
| Anna: Ma duc la office |
| Antoni: which means "I am going to the office." The original Romanian word for "office" is |
| Anna: birou. |
| Antoni: The English word "stress" has been so thoroughly embraced by speakers of Romanian that the original Romanian equivalent has all but been forgotten. The only difference is in the spelling because, in Romanian, the word is spelled with only one "S." In fact, the word has even been given a verb form in Romanian – |
| Anna: a stresa – |
| Antoni: and an adjective form – |
| Anna: stresat, |
| Antoni: or |
| Anna: stresată. |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion (Optional) |
| Antoni: On a final note, there are some words in Romanian which have been calqued from English. What this means is that the words sound Romanian, but they are actually based on an English construction. Consider the Romanian word for "guinea pig," for instance. It sounds like this: |
| Anna: porcușor de Guineea |
| Antoni: The word |
| Anna: porcușor |
| Antoni: actually means "piglet" and not "pig." It is probably used because it more aptly describes this small animal, which, in fact, is not a pig at all. Another interesting word that was calqued from English is |
| Anna: zgârie-nori |
| Antoni: The first part of this hyphenated compound is |
| Anna: zgârie |
| Antoni: which means "scratches" and the second part |
| Anna: nori |
| Antoni: means "clouds." The result is a word meaning "scratches clouds." This is derived from the English word "skyscraper." |
| And, with that, the lesson on Romanian-English false friends is concluded. |
Outro |
| Antoni: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Anna: La revedere. |
| Antoni: See you soon! |
| Credits: Anna (Romanian, Romania), Antoni (English, synthetic voice) |
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