BBC: False Friends

Cognates - words that sound similar in different languages - can be very helpful when learning another lingo. But sometimes they can turn out to be 'false friends' and mean something completely different. Warning: These contain some examples of adult humour.

John - Shameless (Spanish/English)
Godot - Giving up a bad habit (Spanish/English)
Natalie - Lots of fun in Brasil (Spanish/Portuguese)
Caron - Nice but not sympathetic (Spanish/English)

John - The pen is mightier than ... (Spanish/Italian)
George - Hot and horno (English/Spanish)
Victor - Miraculous conception (English/Spanish)
Ben - Llama, what's your name? (Spanish/Quechuan)

Ronaldo - A sty in my eye (English/Spanish)
Pammie - Jump! (Spanish/Portuguese)
Jaime - Bird flu (English/Spanish)
Kristie - Linda? No, Kristie... (Spanish/English)

Google Sites

Report abuse