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Not recognizing familiar words? | ||
Tags: Meaning of words | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6869 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 1 of 11 14 March 2011 at 4:58am | IP Logged | ||
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Sometimes I see a word in a given language and understand it in just that language, but not in another language where the word is written the same but has a different meaning.
For example: The other day I saw the word "leer" written on a car's window. I guess it was the name of the glass manufacturer, but without context my mind immediately saw it as the German word for "empty". A second later I recognized as the Spanish word for "to read" and only then did I think of the English word. But my point is, when I see words like that in German, I don't think "Oh this word would be... in Spanish" and whenever I saw "leer" in a Spanish context I never thought of the German or English false friend. I think this is a very neat observation. I think this is because when I speak, my mind shifts completely or almost so into that language, and I am then in German-mode or Spanish-mode. I think all successful language learners probably learn the mind-shift, but does anyone else have false-friend blindness? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jdmoncada Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5035 days ago 470 posts - 741 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Finnish Studies: Russian, Japanese | Message 2 of 11 14 March 2011 at 5:54am | IP Logged | ||
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Leer isn't really the glass manufacturer, but it makes those covers for pickup trucks. it includes the fiberglass and the rest of the shape.
False cognates rarely mix me up, but I do have one recurring problem, the word that is ya in Spanish, ja in Finnish or German and Я. Phonetically, it sounds the same, but in purpose of each of those languages, it means something very different. (In order: already, and, yes, I) When I speak German, I keep wanting to use the Finnish ja instead of the German und. It's such a small and dumb mistake, but I keep wanting to do it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hnedka Triglot Newbie Czech Republic Joined 5328 days ago 5 posts - 13 votes Speaks: Czech*, English, Spanish | Message 3 of 11 14 March 2011 at 4:21pm | IP Logged | ||
Arabic has this word too, it's very common and is used when calling someone by name / grabbing his attention (ya Frank, ya habibi, ya Mubarak, ...). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5382 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 4 of 11 14 March 2011 at 4:33pm | IP Logged | ||
Why did you assume it was German? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| global_gizzy Senior Member United States maxcollege.blogspot. Joined 5704 days ago 275 posts - 310 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 5 of 11 14 March 2011 at 4:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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Whenever I see leer I think of "to read" in Spanish. I had no idea what they really do/was.
Whenever I see/hear "ya" in Spanish, I think of Ya in Arabic. Its used to call someones attention. Ya Abu! Ya Ummi! Ya...[name]. I don't know why, but thats what I do. I 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6869 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 6 of 11 14 March 2011 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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Arekkusu, it wasn't really an assumption. German is one of my favorite languages, so I think I defaulted to it.
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| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5382 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 7 of 11 14 March 2011 at 5:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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This should help you compartmentalize languages so you have little interference from languages when you are speaking one.
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| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6869 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 8 of 11 14 March 2011 at 5:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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It does. That's what I was implying. I was wondering if others experience the same thing, too, though. One person even told me that even my body language changes from one language to the next.
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