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Foreign words used in strange ways | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5116 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 32 21 April 2010 at 9:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Sometimes a word is taken from one language, and is used in another language with a slightly different meaning. Germans have been known to be disappointed when a Norwegian woman invite them home for a Vorspiel. I do not know what they would then expect, but what she would intend to invite them to was a small party where a few people would have some drinks and snacks before going out to town.
(Both Vorspiel and Nachspiel are part of Norwegian party culture, because it is so expensive to buy a drink at a disco or a club that we need to buy alcohol in a regular shop and drink it at home before we go out, and to finish off the party also at home for the same reason). We often also get some eyebrows raised when we invite a Frenchmen home for a "caffé avec". His immediate question would be "avec quoi"? And our surprised answer (because it is so obvious to us) is, with cognac of course! (This one does not have economic reasons, it is more of a question of our puritanism, where alcohol is in some circles considered to be a topic not to be discussed, hence the euphemism). Do you have similar examples from your languages? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| OlafP Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5217 days ago 261 posts - 667 votes Speaks: German*, French, English | Message 2 of 32 21 April 2010 at 9:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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In Russian there is the word бутерброд, which is the German "Butterbrot", meaning bread with butter, but they use it for all kinds of sandwiches if I'm not mistaken. However, the best I've come across and always good for a laugh is the Russian word for hairdresser: парикмахер, which sounds like Perückenmacher in German and means wig maker.
I always feel uncomfortable with how the French use "a priori". They seem to understand it like "in general", "at the first glance", or even "in truth". For someone who tried to understand Immanuel Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" this is quite different from how he used it for concepts that are not withdrawn from experience. All theorems of mathematics are statements a priori. Whatever I heard the French call "a priori" was a judgement a posteriori, so the exact opposite. I never use "a priori" in French, because it makes me feel uneasy. Every native English speaker breaks into laughter when learning that Germans call their mobile phone "Handy". Edited by OlafP on 22 April 2010 at 12:31am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5451 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 3 of 32 22 April 2010 at 8:51am | IP Logged | ||
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There are a few in Czech that confused me at first. It is hard to know if these are "false friends" or simply that somebody got the meanings a bit twisted when adopting a word. Two of my favourites are
The "host" at a party is actually the term for a "guest" "Leasing" a car means that you are buying it using a bank loan There are dozens of these between Czech and Polish, and with them both being Slavic languages, it is again difficult to know if they are coincidental false friends, or whether somebody simply got confused along the way. Some are very innocent causing mere confusion: "Květen" is the month of "May" in Czech, but in Polish the same word (Kwiecień) is the month of "April". Some, though, can cause serious embarrassment: "Šukat" in Czech means to "f*ck" whereas the same word (Szukać) in Polish means to "search". So, when the rather religious Poles tell the very non-religious Czechs they are searching for Jesus, it sounds like they mean something very different indeed. 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5116 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 4 of 32 22 April 2010 at 9:05am | IP Logged | ||
The Czech language can be difficult indeed. When my purse got stolen in Prague I tried to explain to the police officer that I worked for the Norwegian railways, using the only local word I thought I actually knew, but then he blushed and the interpreter laughed and told me that the way I had said it I had just informed him that I was his Norwegian girlfriend. Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 22 April 2010 at 2:08pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6701 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes Speaks: English* | Message 5 of 32 22 April 2010 at 2:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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French uses a lot of words that seem like English, but are not.
Examples: Shampooing (shampoo) Lifting (face lift) and the German word "Evergreen" always makes me laugh. It does not refer to a tree, but a classic popular song by people like Sinatra, Tony Bennett, etc. would sing. Then there is the German "Oldtimer" that does not refer to an old person, but rather to an old car. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kounotori Triglot Senior Member Finland Joined 5126 days ago 136 posts - 264 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, Russian Studies: Mandarin | Message 6 of 32 22 April 2010 at 7:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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Japanese has loads of words of foreign origin (mainly English) that have been twisted and turned in all sorts of fun and creative ways.
The verb サボる (saboru), for example, comes from "sabotage" but means "to play hooky, be truant, skip work/school". Then there's the verb ダブる (daburu), which comes from "double" and means "to coincide, duplicate, overlap". In Japan you can be a salaryman (サラリーマン sarariiman; office worker) who has his own my-car (マイカー maikaa; privately owned car) and who lives in a nice mansion (マンション manshon; apartment) (which is his first my-home (マイホーム maihoomu; owning one's home)) in a bed-town (ベッドタウン beddotaun; commuter town). The salaryman also has a very petite, smart (スマート sumaato; slim) wife and a lovely daughter who likes to collect seals (シール shiiru; sticker). When she grows up, she's going to be beautiful and only-one (オンリーワン onriiwan; unique) enough to take part in a miss-contest (ミスコンテスト misukontesuto; beauty pageant), and she's also going to date an attractive guardman (ガードマン gaadoman; security guard) she met at the hello-work (ハローワーク haroowaaku; job center) and with whom she has a very intimate skinship (スキンシップ sukinshippu; close relationship) (too bad the guardman had a pipe-cut! (パイプカット paipukatto; vasectomy)). But she does everything my-pace (マイペース maipeesu, at one's own pace), so maybe children won't even matter, at least until she goes down the virgin-road (バージンロード baajinroodo; wedding aisle). Here's the same text without the explanatory notes, so that you can just slowly take in all the absurdity: In Japan you can be a salaryman who has his own my-car and who lives in a nice mansion (which is his first my-home) in a bed-town. The salaryman also has a very petite, smart wife and a lovely daughter who likes to collect seals. When she grows up, she's going to be beautiful and only-one enough to take part in a miss-contest, and she's also going to date an attractive guardman she met at the hello-work and with whom she has a very intimate skinship (too bad the guardman had a pipe-cut!). But she does everything my-pace, so maybe children won't even matter, at least until she goes down the virgin-road. 10 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| dolly Senior Member United States Joined 5572 days ago 191 posts - 376 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Latin | Message 7 of 32 22 April 2010 at 8:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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The use of apropos (from the French à propos) as a substitute for "appropriate" is a common error in English.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Emme Triglot Senior Member Italy Joined 5129 days ago 980 posts - 1594 votes Speaks: Italian*, English, German Studies: Russian, Swedish, French | Message 8 of 32 22 April 2010 at 10:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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Inexplicably in Italy we use the word ‘footing’ for ‘jogging’. In fact we use both words interchangeably. I don’t have any scientific evidence, but I have the feeling that the word ‘jogging’ is gaining popularity whereas ‘footing’ is no longer as common as it used to be.
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