Germany vs USA - False Friends

[0amathev]

I would've liked if you had put the German words spelled out on the screen and not just the English ones.

[Aerien]

@0amathev Allow me: these are the words in German/English: Beamer/projector, Handy/cell phone, Zimmernachbar, Mitbewohner/room mate, Pepperoni/Jalapeno, Salami/pepperoni, scharf/spicy, hot; Chef/boss, Koch/chef, billion/trillion, milliarde/billion, schließlich, schliesslich/eventually, eventuell/maybe, Gymnasium/High school, Fitnessstudio/Gym, mutig/brave, brav/well-behaved, etwas werden/become, bekommen/to get, receive;

[nayarazen]

Esses garotos são foda..Adoroo!!!

[bheurk]

k, they brought it too ^^

[bheurk]

"eventually" used to puzzle me as a German, until I find out that it means "finally" (German "eventuell" means "maybe")

[Sharleen1982]

Yeah, a friend of mine ordered food in England by saying: "I become a meatball"...the waitress reacted in no way. But I laughed :)

[NoirThing]

i remember well, when one of my classmates said that he 'became a ps2 for his birthday' ^^

[booksaremypassion]

Best false-friend sentence i´ve ever heard was: I´m hot, i want take a douche..... what she wanted to say was: It´s warm here, i want to take a shower.... beause the German word DUSCHE sounds like the word DOUCHE ....so you see, her guestparents were pretty confused^^ (douche means Bidet in german^^)

[HesseJamez]

Germans sell "Retard"- capsules at drugstores. Look it up!

[HesseJamez]

Need more?

Gift = poison

But t= halibut

Bank = bench

dick = fat

Tank= fuel box (only)

Trunk= potion

bald = soon

mist = crap

[dinchen1989]

In the UK they say "mobile" :)

[jorandb]

Jim is SOOOOOOOO HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mayameeify]

Hab euren Channel grad erst entdeckt, macht Spaß euch zuzuschaun. :)

[prifiler]

did you never become a beef steak?

[BuckeyeExpat]

Great video! Love the Beamer one even I as an American said it before in the UK and they didn't know what I was talking about! Ha! Not sure why roommate is a false friend..In German I would say Zimmerkamerade. No confusion there eh?

[Muskelhias]

The billion/million thing is actually a lot more confusing, because it differs in the UK too, sometimes, sometimes not, i wish the would just write 100000000 or sometime all the time :) (look up wikipedia!)

[Timpianoman16]

You should do differences between american and German teenagers!!

[Paulbojert]

@Timpianoman16 Easy, Germans = athletic or much alcohol/smoking and mostly high school education

USA = fat, stupid, drugs

[laramenke]

@Timpianoman16

what's the difference? I'm german and my definition is a kid/young adult between the ages of 13 to 19. (usually more the younger ones from 13 to 16)

[TechSlayer000]

Misleading Titles... enough said.

[b0bbym45t3rZ2k]

@TechSlayer000 hm not at all lol

[turbotrooper84]

Love the videos guys. These are things that me and my German penpal are still figuring out.

[Muhlineks]

I remember Oldtimer for vintage cars.

[mrbr549]

I had a German friend ask me to pick him up a pack of cigarettes while in a bar and to please get "only" filters. Well, when I brought the cigs to him he looks really surprised. Come to find out he was saying "ohne" filter, and "ohne" in German means without.

[tokioalyssa483]

So false cognates, right? Like the german "gift" and english "gift" are two very different things. If a german tells you they want to give you a "gift" I would run as fast as I could. O.o

[PsYcHo4MuSiC]

Omg you guys still make videos?! That's legit!

[HesseJamez]

weit (sounds like "wide") = far (away)

breit (sounds like "bright") = wide !!!

Germans love to mix it up!

[Frosty1979]

@HesseJamez It´s the other way around... Meaning English were mixing up Germanic words on their island over time.

[HesseJamez]

Tank = fuelbox (only)

Trunk = potion

[HesseJamez]

mist = crap

[EmberOfTheMystics]

What's up with the pecans?

[yuzivazquez23]

Just finished watching all your videos(:

Was taking french in school but now i kind of want to take german(:

Could you guys talk about racism???

[Annaconda1984]

I'm glad you guys are back with new episodes, I just re-watched the candy episode for the third or fourth time and it's brilliant and makes me hungry every time I see it. It makes me want rocher and toblerone (and it also makes me wanna try some US sweets). Now to this video. The list of false friends is just sooo long and some of them are pretty funny. What I really like about this video is that you guys always refer to stories (putting those words in context of awkward situations etc. <3

[HesseJamez]

There might be a few houndred false friends like.....

Bank = bench

See = lake

Smoking = tuxedo

Gift = poison

aktuell = topical

sensibel = sensitive

Garage = carport

Igel ( sounds "eagle") = hedgehog

Ei (sounds "eye") = egg...............and many more

[HesseJamez]

doll = crazy

toll = awsome

Bad = bathroom

Stock = stick

Fee = fairy

Mate = paraguay tea

gross = big

Rock = skirt

Mutter = mother

[MrFehlstart]

@HesseJamez awesome schreibt man mit "e" :P

[HesseJamez]

@MrFehlstart

*stimmt* ! - klarer Fall von Tippfehler.

[abdamit]

@HesseJamez awesome=geil ^^

[Molybdan42]

@abdamit

Your example makes no sense because the word "geil" doesn't exist in english.

I think you totally miss the point.

[abdamit]

@Molybdan42 that was a translation...the english word "awesome" means in german "geil"...

[IRyoWatanabeI]

@Molybdan42 the word "geil" can be translated into English O.o When it was created it meant something like "awesome" later it turned to "horny" but in this century you can use it for both meanings ;)

[Molybdan42]

@IRyoWatanabeI sigh* It makes no sense in this list because all that words in the list above have two meanings. Toll = awesome in german, charge/tax in english.

[ChaccaBaum]

maybe you guys could make an episode about the different school systems in germany and usa, i think that might be pretty interesting

[DEmonCrypt]

And you forgot the most dangerous misunderstanding of them all. :D

Gift. :>

[Exitus005]

Another false friend is the german word for "bassoon", it's "Fagott"... uncomfortable situation when a german conductor sais: "And now the fagots, please!".

[juliegirl1989]

No kidding: Our AP (Leistungskurs) English teacher in 13th grade actually told us that she was going to "become a baby" xD Hilarious but sad at the same time...

[airframer1981]

So Chef replaced Führer?

[ElphabaWeaslely]

@airframer1981 Führer is more like "leader"

[GuitarPlayer42]

A couple German words I was a bit surprised by while learning: "dick" and "Fahrgäste". Definitely don't mean what they might sound like.

[mephisto33]

@GuitarPlayer42 dick is obvious, but what dows Fahrgäste sound like?

[HesseJamez]

@mephisto33

Fahrgäste (passengers) might sound like "far guessed"

[nuvaboy]

my fave false freind is "aktuell;derzeit" and "actually"

[egon262]

Mein cousin aus Amerika vertauscht become und bekommen immer wenn er deutsch redet das klingt geau so lustig

[RoderichEdelstein727]

LMAO - Home of the brav!

yeah, right.

[6Kubik]

I love your show. Can you talk about the german and the american school system? I think, it would be very interessting because the german system is so different with Hauptschule, Realschule and Gymnasium.

[Gopfs]

in Polish 'high-school' is also "gimnazjum"

it's from ancient Greek

[Fallennyte]

I say 'Wo ist mein Handy?' all the time. My husband just holds his hand up at me...

[LadySeraph]

They do cramp 5 to 6 people to live together in the same room sometimes, but those are called dormitories. Usually it's just 2 people, but my school had supplementary housing where they would have 6 girls or 6 guys living together in just one room.

[FayeValentine666]

LOL I saw that episode of Ghost Hunters too.  I remember it.

[HazemonkeyXD]

In UK heißt es Mobilephone.

[mytubetravel]

that was fun and interesting. One of your best lads!

[daveassanowicz]

Have you guys ever done a video on lunch time/break. I hear that in Germany, many of the stores and shops close in the middle of the day.

[AndreR241]

@daveassanowicz They do, but not always. It depends on the business.

[MercenarySlick]

Americans invented the cellphone or mobile phone.

It's not an "Americanism" or a false term to call it a cellphone considering that was the original term coined by the American who invented it, Martin Cooper. But in the US people use both terms.

[xPaula16x]

in the uk we say mobile and also handy isn't used as commonly here either!

[LaMoiify]

âlso das mit false friends hab ich aber vorher anders verstanden ... :)

[zebidee55]

The 'billion' thing relates to the long and short scale systems for naming large numbers. The British used billion = a million million up to 1974, when they switched to the American system, which was in more common usage.

A 'chef' in its original French usage is short for chef de cuisine, who is the head of a kitchen. The English use of the term has changed to mean a commercial cook, but is still correctly used in large kitchens. Easiest to think of it as the English word 'chief'.

[UrM3LausmEiS]

I become a Big Mac, please...

[speakingoflanguages]

My favorites:

Der (or das) Evergreen = golden oldie (a song)

Der Mist = manure

and of course

Das Gift = poison

[chemiewaffe]

in the uk is it a mobile phone

[TheCatsCanary]

My dad used to work for Nixdorf, and he told me a story about a German coworker who actually did say "I would like to become a beefsteak" when they had dinner at a restaurant together.

Of course, my dad also messed up his German and told a florist that he wanted to buy poison for his secretary. XD

[hardstyle905]

@TheCatsCanary lol

[Lemolum]

It's "mobile" in Britain.

[YourCriTick]

German: Oldtimer --- English: Antique car

English: Oldtimer --- German: an elderly person

[Schmidt54]

oh wow, I didn't know about this pepperoni-thing. That's really confusing. :-D

I think Americans say "cell phone", British say "mobile" and Germans made up "Handy" because English words sound more fancy. Which is also why the term "body bag" usually refers to a style of backpack or rucksack in Germany while in an English speaking country you put dead people in there. :D

[moffedan]

@Schmidt54

I never heard about "body bags" in Germany. Rucksack already is a german word.

[HesseJamez]

@moffedan

"body bags" was used in a german commercial for fashionable handbags. Germans love to use english words and give them a new meaning*lol*

[LadySeraph]

British and American English differs in some words too. This British guy was taking notes in our math class, and asked if he could borrow a rubber from me. I was so very confused. O_O I'm sure there are some others too.

[AndreR241]

@LadySeraph You call them eraser, don't you?

[PhotoZech]

@AndreR241 They are erasers in america. Over here, a rubber refers to a condom.

[AndreR241]

@PhotoZech Ouh Kayh!

[LadySeraph]

@AndreR241 Yeah =P

British: rubber = eraser

American: rubber = condom

[MerchantofTarshish]

@LadySeraph We say "rubber" too for eraser but it sounds like a condom

[boredwithcoldfeet]

hazelnuts?

[samacoy]

I always refer to my phone as a handy. My German teacher let us keep our phones out if we referred to it as a handy, so we had it engraved it in our minds.

[DasDeutschlandmann]

Keep making videos

[blackrogue6]

these videos rock make more! I really like when u guys spell out the german words ur sayin.

[AustroTieger]

haha wie geil.

Was ihr noch erwähnen solltet das es unterschiede zwischen den UK Englisch das was wir in Europa lernen und den US Englisch gibt.

[hardstyle905]

@AustroTieger ja - so wie chips - fries

[wutzernutzer]

If you can think of more you should do another installment!

[FujiR500]

yeah the title of the video confused me...I thought they were gonna talk about people who pretend to be your friend and then later you find out they really were just jerks or jerkettes.

[megan235]

@FujiR500 haha that's what i thought, too! on that subject, this reminds me of a woman living in germany who said germans may be a little slower to open up to you but they become your friends for life, whereas americans become friends quickly but aren't always "real" friends. it may be a huge generalization but it could be true...maybe they could make a video on that although it's probably too much of a "depends on the person" kinda thing.

[monstersemmel]

@FujiR500 sounds like this expression is a false friend, too. ;-)

[janzig1]

Love your videos!

[realomon]

besucht mal sachsen ;)))))))))))))))))))

[tonybeir]

I become a cheeseburger please!

[TheApollon87]

one of the best episodes. keep em coming :)

[thegreyeyedmonster]

ok maybe its because im a teenager, but there was another meaning to 'handy' that i immediately thought of XD

[thebluestofpeas]

Eventually/eventuell...that's a good one.

[ArtemKonstantinovich]

Great timing! I'm going to study at Uni Heidelberg in 3 weeks and I probably would have used every one of these words in the false form. Thanks for saving me from the embarrassment and confusion (and from ordering a jalapeño pizza). Thanks!

[iradexxx]

Please also do not mix up "Pickle" (Spelled "Pickel" in German but pronounced the same way, meaning pimple) and "After" (meaning "Anus" in German).

[Terlaudo]

omgggg what you guys are bacck

[Mowglibri]

5:30 "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Are you still uploading old episodes or are these new ones?

[FcK2420]

I become a beefsteak haha

[UnlimitedApathy]

I think in the UK they call it a "mobile" yeah.

[schiggi1988]

Are you serious, you're comparing the german Gymnasium with the american high school? That is such a big difference if you know the two types of school.

I think it is better to compare the Gymnasium with college, because the demands at college are comparable with the Gymnasium. High school is more like the german Realschule or Berufschule.

At the end a praise for your videos, I learned some things I did not know before, thanks for that :)

[Kanoki989]

@schiggi1988 I really hope you meant it compares to community college. Because America's college system is the one part of education that's better than most peoples.

[schiggi1988]

@Kanoki989 Yes of course I meant the undergraduate schools like community college! I heared how hard the universities or colleges can be!

[Beakle]

When i was in a MC D´s in the UK and heard some german guy saying that he would like to become a cheeseburger :D

Just as funny as embarrassing. ^^

[Zettt1981]

I would love to turn into a beef steak! :D

[xXxNeatzxXx]

We call a "Handy" either 'Mobile' or just "Phone".

[Iamthemaster2]

A beamer in the UK is blushing.

[xPaula16x]

@Iamthemaster2 i don't understand this comment. that's not the meaning in the uk?

[TheOriginalSebacrush]

re-upload

wann kommen mal neue folgen ?

[JoINezZ]

i also become a beefsteak :D

[rocanlovercommander]

what about "die"

[regentissatanas]

Handy in UK englisch ist eigendlich ein vibrator xD

[Ma1992Wi]

@regentissatanas

Handy heißt va. erst mal praktisch, nützlich, passend

[Imvenion]

Naja, Handy wird mitlerweile auch immer weiter durch das Wort Smartphone ersetzt.

[sdrawkcabgnipytmi]

@Imvenion

Smartphone ist eine Sorte von Handy. Nicht alle Handys sind Samartphones.

[FreshFatih]

Hey 2 or 3 days ago we also talked about false friends in school :D

[TheMissSweety1]

also echt wer hat sich eigentlich das Wort "handy" ausgedacht?

gibt es da nicht noch den falschen Freund "gift"? gift meint ja im Englischen Geschenk und im Deutschen halt Gift. oh gott da kommen die Erinnerungen an meine englische Austauschschülerin hoch...sie wollte mir ein "gift" geben und ich war nur voll geschockt xD

[polsoz]

@TheMissSweety1 Sprachen ändern im Laufe der Zeit die Bedeutung von Worten. Früher hat im Deutschen das Wort Gift auch die Bedeutung von "Gabe", man denke hier nur an die Mitgift. Andere Worte wären: Albern - früher lustig, spaßig; heute eher dümmlich, kindisch. Grille - früher Insekt aber auch komische, seltsame Idee - daher auch in alten Liedern und Balladen öfters die Grillen im Kopf ^^

[LaViennaa]

haha funny :D

[footballskillz77]

gute folge!!

[taytay817]

So funny! :D

[darkTrumpetlicious]

Mein Englischlehrer hat uns den Unterschied zwischen to become und to get auch mit einem Witz beigebraucht, in dem ein Gast in einem Restaurant zum Kellner gesagt hat: "I become a beef steak." :D

[Sugartalker]

I was in Germany last September and yeah, pepperoni was a surprise for me lol.

[CrushaRoo]

its a mobile or just a phone in britian - definitely not a handy! :)

[MickeyKnox]

Gott ich HASSE das Wort Handy!!!! Das dämlichste Werbewort was den Deutschen JE eingefallen ist ...

[AndreR241]

@MickeyKnox Das Wort viel eigentlich den Amerikanern ein. Es kann schließlich kein Deutscher etwas dafür, dass die Ami-Soldaten hier her kommen und ihre tragbaren Funkgeräte ausgerechnet "Handy Talky" nennen (Die größeren Pendate dementsprechend "Walky Talky").

[MickeyKnox]

@AndreR241 Ich bezweifle ich mal stark, weil wenn du dir FIlme aus den frühen 90'ern ansiehst die diese Dinger schon enthalten, wird halt noch MOBILTELEFONEN gesprochen ... und selbst wenn deine Geschichte stimmen sollte, dann war das aber eher ein falsches Verstehen der Deutschen des Wortes und nichts was den Amis einFiel bzw. sie uns aufdrückten. Die Deutschen sind nunmal bekannt dafür, dass sie gerne englisch klingende Worte für irgendwelche Sachen nutzen, damit es hipper klingt - siehe Keks

[AndreR241]

@MickeyKnox Das ist nur halb wahr: Tatsächlich hat sich der Deutsche seit den frühesten Tagen Wörter aus anderen Sprachen entlehnt um die eigene Stellung aufzuwerten. Im ausklingenden Mittelalter haben sich alle wichtigtuer lateinische Namen gegeben, im 18. Jahrhundert kaufte man bei der Bahn ein Billet, dass dann vom Kondukteur getackert wurde und im Speisewagen aß man vom Kantineur dargebotene Speisen. Heute meinen die Wichtigtuer eben, Englisch sei das Maß aller Dinge.

[MickeyKnox]

@AndreR241 Hab auch nichts anderes behauptet

[Stupefyin]

sad that those are just the old vids....

[LairyLory]

i think its mobile phone in britain

[Molletovcocktail]

handy kann man auch fernmeldetaschenapperat nennen

[Rooo8]

@Molletovcocktail Ich versuche immer "Mobiltelefon" zu sagen. Klingt wenigstens noch nach Deutsch.

[schdaude]

@Rooo8 Weder "mobil" (latein) noch "Telefon" (griechisch) sind originär deutsche Wörter *klugscheiß* Wenn Du's deutsch haben willst, müsstest Du "Herumtragfernsprecher" sagen. Oder mein Favorit: "Funkfernsprecher".

[Rooo8]

@schdaude Ja, aber du sagst zu einem "normalen" Telefon ja auch Telefon und das wird so schon seit hunderten von Jahren gemacht. Wenn es danach geht, können wir auch alle anfangen Althochdeutsch zu reden. Mir geht es nur auf den Sack, wenn wir heutzutage anfangen bisherige, völlig ausreichende Wörter gegen falsche Freunde auszutauschen. Ich habe allerdings nichts gegen englische Wörter ohne passendes, genau so kurzes und prägnantes deutsches Äquivalent.

[schdaude]

@Rooo8 Handy is nun einfach kürzer als "Mobiltelefon", also warum nicht Handy. Kann uns doch wurscht sein, ob uns Engländer nicht verstehen. Wir müssen halt nur beachten, dass wir im Urlaub "Handy" korrekt ins Englische übersetzen (Mobile / Cellular Phone)

Ich bin zudem der letzte, der was gegen eine Weiterentwicklung der Deutschen Sprache hat. Im Gegenteil. Das Deutsche lebt von den Einflüssen anderer Sprachen und Kulturen. Das macht die Sprache auch so lebendig und spannend! Grüße.

[AndreR241]

@Rooo8 Genau, selbst Richard Löwenherz hat schon ein Telefon benutzt. Warum also jetzt irgendwelche neumodischen Begriffe einführen?

Ich übertrage dann eben ein paar fernschriftliche Kurzmitteilungen mit meinem tragbaren und kabellosen Handfernsprecher.

[SirGimper]

nice video ! :D

[Symaethis]

I'll become a horse!

[Killerkarpfen1990]

@Symaethis Your girlfriends horse? :P Actually I didn't know the eventually meaning so I guess I screwed that one up several times.

[breakinspeed]

Awesome!

[petersupermann]

yay :)

[KingofSenf]

You are great!

[NoAlexOh]

endlich wieder Gift= Geschenk and not Gift

[schdaude]

@NoAlexOh stimmt. Auch sehr gern verwechselt! Ihr solltet noch eine Folge machen. Fals friends reloaded.