You know the type: they look so innocent and easy to understand; you’d never suspect them of trying to fool you (or worse, trying to make a fool out of you!); and they seem to get along perfectly with others you know inside and out. Why wouldn’t you trust them to tell you the truth?

Well, if you’re talking about the false friends that many linguists know, it’s not surprising that your trust has gotten you into trouble. In vocabulary terms, a “false friend” is a word in one language that seems to match exactly with a word in another language, but which has a completely different meaning. Although we at The Vocabulary Builder’s Blog encourage everyone to learn a second language because of the additional English vocabulary skills that can be gained – as well as the social, international, and business benefits it provides – we also want to point out that it’s a mistake to assume that two similar words have the same definition.

For example, if you’re perusing the titles of books on the shelves at a French librairie and find one that’s interesting, you won’t be able to borrow it for a week or two to read it. A librairie isn’t a library, but rather a bookstore. You might also become embarrassed if you try to use the German word bekommen or the Spanish embarazada. Bekommen means “to get” (not “to become”) and embarazada means “pregnant.” And when you’re traveling, don’t be afraid of a demande in French – that’s just a request or a question.

That’s just a sample of the problems you might encounter with similar-seeming words in different languages, so if you have any doubt about the meaning of a word you’re using, be sure to check a dictionary in one or both languages. Learning English vocabulary definitely includes learning those terms based on loanwords from other languages, but watch out for those tricky words that might lead you astray.

We haven’t even touched on the problems that arise with tonal languages like Chinese. Pity the poor fast food executive who approved the advertising phrase “eat your fingers off” thinking that the Chinese characters matched the popular fried chicken brand’s slogan!