False friends of German-learners

Miss V's pop quiz on some common false friends/falsche Freunde/faux amis for people trying to learn Deutsch. I know I've slipped up on them, especially at 6.30am.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• MissVerstaendnis
• false
• friends
• faux
• ami
• falscher
• Freund
• quiz
• why
• was
• up
• at
• this
• hour

[rewboss]

Ah, the wonderful false friend. You could fill a book with them... aktuell = current, latest Keks = biscuit, cookie Bisquit = spongecake Geranium = cranesbill Fernsehprogramm = TV schedule Kasse = checkout, cash desk Limonade = soft drink (not just lemonade) Limone = lime Kittchen = prison (colloquial) konsequent = consistent ...and so on and so on, ad infinitum.

[missverstaendnis101]

Once again, the rewboss takes the cake! There seem to be so many when you list them like that...

[42317]

I am deeply honored and moved by your mentioning me. ^_^

[missverstaendnis101]

Haha! You're welcome, you have interesting and insightful comments :)

[tavin15]

Fabrik is female, so "die Fabrik"

PS: die See heißt auch Meer

[missverstaendnis101]

Oh you are right. Oops! And thanks. My excuse is that it was 6.30!

[rewboss]

I've just remembered something, but be warned: this comment is PG rated.

It happened when my (German) wife first met my parents. We were talking, and my wife was doing well in English. Until she wanted to say: "Ich sah einen Igel in der Garage wanken."

She avoided one false friend (Igel = hedgehog), but fell prey to the next, extremely embarrassing, false friend (wanken = to waddle).

The worst thing is, I can't get the image out of my brain.

[TheTrueRandomness]

You're technically correct about see/lake meer/sea.

However, in the way you say it

"Wir wollen in DER See schwimmen",

it acutually does man "sea/ocean".

"Wir wollen in dem See schwimmen " or "Wir wollen im See schwimmen" (last one is the preferd way to say it), THEN it's talking about the lake.

"Die See" (yeah, female) actually means "the sea".

So "In der See" means "In the sea".

and "In dem See" means "In the lake".

Go figure ;-)

[josephtan1818]

hmmm, did anyone notice the different between Malays and indo? spelling & pronunciation are same but there's also false friend behind, example(indo's meaning in capital): *budak=kid/SLAVE, #butoh=male genitals/NEED, *berbual=to chat/TO TELL LIE, *comel=cute/pretty/SOMEONE WHO CAN'T KEEP THE SECRET, #koneksi=dick/CONNECTION

note:*cause misunderstanding in indonesia #cause misunderstanding in malaysia

[HesseJamez]

@TheTrueRandomness 'lol* I love our german language, esp. if nouns change their article in different modes.

So "der See" (male)= the lake "die See (female, but no plural!!) = the ocean the plural (of the lakes) was "die Seen", the other one has no plural mode, but you could also say "die Ozeane" instead, not to be cofused.

Unfortunately "die" becomes "der" in dativ mode, so if it's "in der See", the ocean is ment.

[HesseJamez]

Need more?

dick=fat, kind = child, bank=bench, garage= carport, gymnasium=high school, butt=halibut, bad=bathroom, kitchen=jailhouse, fix= fast, smoking=tuxedo, tank=fuelbox, mist=crap, comfort = luxury, after=anus, listen= to register,

telefonzelle= telephone box (not a cellphone!)...some more with different spell but english sound; igel (eagle)=hedgehog, drei(dry)=3, vier (fear)=4, sechs (sex)=6, nein(nine)= no, ei (eye)= egg, Frieden (freedom)=peace

[snakelemon]

By the way, Ocean means Ozean in german

[railwayliner]

I was born in England but my parents moved to Germany when I was 5. Learning German, I made exactly the same mistakes. This language is really EXTREMELY hard to learn...

[TheTrueRandomness]

Please ignore the typos ;-) Should have read through it again before clicking "post".

Also: It's "die Fabrik", not "der Fabrik".

[riffology]

I'm Filipino, and the Tagalog (our language) for factory is pagawaan or pabrika. And pabrika is a lot closer to "fabrik." As in, you know, to fabricate or to create. It got me thinking where the heck we got that word.

[NederSaks]

Bremerhaven is at the "Nordsee", aber the "Ammersee" is just a lake, let's blame the French for that.

German is very easy for me as a Dutch btw., Platt-German even more easy.

But though funny is that the Dutch are the only one that can say the G, like Ggggggggh. The Germans say it like a GK, also all others..

[Raith1337]

also laut der meisten Leute soll Deutsch eine extrem schwere Sprache sein. Irgendwie bin ich dadurch ziemlich stolz darauf, dass ich diese Sprache als Deutscher natürlich perfekt beherrsche :D