True false friends 2

[Karavinka]

Incidentally, the use of affaire to mean "unspecified thing" is found in North American French. (This is the usual word for "thing" in most varieties of Louisiana French, for instance, corresponding roughly to European French truc.)

Also in Quebecois. These two lines from the Quebecois dubbing of The Simpsons can illustrate the usage.

Marge : On pourrait peut-être chercher cette affaire là, "Ide", dans le dictionnaire.
"We could look up this "id" thing in the dictionary."

The Simpsons are playing scrabble and Lisa says "id" is a word, the family doesn't believe it because they don't know what that word is.

Homer : Cette affaire-là va au-dessus pis ces affaires-là vont là.
"This thing goes up and these things go here."

Homer is showing Bart how to wear a tie.

[Linguaphile]

kraamima to clean, tidy up (intransitive verb), put into place, retrieve, dig out (transitive verb)
kramen to rummage around, dig around, delve (intransitive verb), retrieve, dig out (transitive verb)
to cram to fill completely, force into place haphazardly (transitive verb)

"He...[kraamima/kramen/cram]... in a drawer":
Ta kraamib sahtlis. He is putting things in place in a drawer, tidying up a drawer.
Er kramt in einer Schublade. He is rummaging in a drawer, digging around in a drawer.
He is cramming stuff in [into] a drawer. He is stuffing a drawer full, he is forcing things into a drawer in a disorganized way.

It's funny how when the meanings are listed in this order, the drawer starts out neat and tidy, and ends up a mess.

[Linguaphile]

optics having to do with light and vision; public image, appearance
óptica having to do with light and vision; point of view

The first meaning is the same in both languages; the second, more figurative meanings are nearly opposites (similar phenomena but seen from different sides). In Spanish a person's óptica is a person's point of view, how they see something; in English a person's (or event's) optics are the person's/event's public image, how others see it.

[Linguaphile]

balón inflatable ball, large ball
ballon inflatable ball, large ball
Ballon (party) balloon, (hot-air) balloon, beaker
balloon (party) balloon, (hot-air) balloon
balloon gas cylinder
баллон gas cylinder, inner tube, large jar

[Linguaphile]

simpatía liking, affection, charm, likability, friendliness
sympathie shared feelings; inclination, tendencies, taste, preference; liking
Sympathie goodwill, favour, affection
sympathy pity or sorrow for others; shared feelings or inclination to think alike
sümpaatia support, goodwill, affection; sweetheart, crush, girl or boy one likes
симпатия goodwill, affection; sweetheart, crush, girl or boy one likes

[Linguaphile]

tsensuurne acceptable for publication; decent
цензурный acceptable for publication; decent
censored removed by censors; not acceptable for publication

ebatsenuurne not acceptable for publication; indecent, obscene
нецензурный not acceptable for publication; indecent, obscene
uncensored not having had objectionable content removed
(eba-, не-, and un- are all negating prefixes.)

There is also a true cognate, tsenseeritud = censored, that is a better match (past participles of the related verbs). But I am listing the false cognate here because aside from being a past participle, censored is also the only cognate adjective we have in English and so with the English word censored in mind, I might have expected the meanings of the adjectives tsensuurne and ebatsensuurne to be the other way around. I am not accustomed to a form of the word "censor" (with no negative prefix) having the meaning of "acceptable, decent".

[Linguaphile]

appreciation recognition of value; feeling of gratitude; accurate perception or understanding; increase in value
apreciación evaluation, appraisal; recognition of value; feeling of gratitude; accurate perception or understanding; increase in value

The English meaning is normally used only for positive opinions and objective perceptions. The Spanish meaning can also include negative, subjective opinions as well.
Es só͘lo mi apreciación ~ it's just my opinion / it's just my own perception
¿Es só͘lo mi apreciación o...? ~is it just me or....?

[Linguaphile]

segregate to separate, to keep apart
segregar to separate, to keep apart; to secrete

This word has the same two meanings in Catalan and Portuguese as it has in Spanish. In English, it does not have the meaning of "to secrete", making this meaning a false friend with English.

Te hace segregar mucha saliva, aunque parece ser que más tarde te reseca la boca, lo que explica que cada uno vaya siempre acompañado de una botellita de agua. It makes you secrete a lot of saliva, although it seems that later it dries out your mouth, which explains why everyone was always accompanied by a little bottle of water.

[linguoboy]

呼出 hūchū exhale
呼出하다 hochwul-hata page, summon

[Linguaphile]

practise / practice to repeat in order to improve; perform or observe regularly; to pursue a career
practicar to repeat in order to improve; perform or observe regularly; to do; to make; to play (a sport)

In the book I am reading this evening I came across practicar used twice to mean "to make", both referring to holes that have been made in something:

Toda la mezquita irradia una luz especial filtrado por los huecos practicados en el techo. The entire mosque radiates a special light, filtered by the holes made in the roof.

Hacer una montaña de arroz y practicar 6 o 7 agujeros en ella con el dorso de la cuchara de madera. Make a mound of rice and make 6 or 7 holes in it with the back of the wooden spoon.

[Dormouse559]

encenser v - to praise
incense v - to anger, infuriate

Guillaume Canet encense la prestation d’Angèle dans son film “Astérix et Obélix” : “Je pense que c’est une grande actrice”
Guillaume Canet praises Angèle’s performance in his film “Asterix & Obelix”: “I think she’s a great actress”

[Linguaphile]

to document to record in documents
documentarse to research, to gather information, to familiarize oneself with

Por mucho que me documenté acerca de la ciudad, debo admitir que me impresionó como si no hubiera leído nada sobre ella.
For as much as I had researched the city, I have to admit that it [still] impressed me as if I had read nothing about it.

[Linguaphile]

unconscious not awake; having no awareness; without directed thought or conscious control
inconsciente unconscious (same meanings as in English); irresponsible, thoughtless

Nosotros, inconscientes, a la vista de que el barullo del tráfico había desaparecido, optamos por continuar, internándonos de nuevo en la niebla.
Irresponsibly, in light of the fact that the din of traffic had disappeared, we chose to continue, going back into the fog again.

[Linguaphile]

revoke to invalidate, call back, bring back
revocar to invalidate, call back, bring back; to plaster

Rodeando el recinto arbolado se levanta un pequeño muro de bloques de cemento recién revocado y pintado.
A small wall of recently-plastered and painted cement blocks rises around the tree-lined enclosure.

[Linguaphile]

appreciate view as valuable; think highly of; increase in valu
apreciar view as valuable; think highly of; increase in value; see, notice, detect

Al desembarcar, aprecié más descontrol que en los países que había visitado anteriormente.
As I disembarked, I noticed more disorganization than in the countries I had previously visited.

[Linguaphile]

disgust to cause to feel revulsion or intense disapproval
disgustar to cause to feel revulsion or intense disapproval; to dislike, to not like

No me disgustaba el país, pero me resultó un lugar aburrido.
I didn't dislike the country, but I found it to be a boring place.

[Linguaphile]

make time arrange to have time available for something ( sacar tiempo)
hacer tiempo do something to stay busy while waiting for something () to kill time, waste time)

Fui en busca de una librería para hacer tiempo mientras esperaba a unos amigos.
I went in search of a bookstore to kill time while I was waiting for some friends.

These are different from the other false friends I've been listing, because it's not a phonological or orthographic similarity that makes them false friends, but rather the literal meaning of the individual words (hacer=make, tiempo=time) that might lead someone to expect them to have the same idiomatic meaning. They don't.

[h34]

родина family
родина ≈ motherland, fatherland, native land, homeland
(≈ батьківщина)

[Linguaphile]

jõugi sandy (Estonian liivane)
jõgi river (Livonian joug)

[h34]

ю (ju) river
ю (ju) cereal
юв (juv) awn
jyvä grain, corn