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Faux Amis ("False Friends") - The Bane of Every French Student


DonRocks

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In the Literature Index and especially the Art Index, I have sections called "Expositions." I use expositions instead of "Exhibitions" because I'm running a private joke, that only I will laugh at.

In French, a faux ami is a "false friend" - an English word that you assume will be the same in French. "Exhibition" is one of them - I found out the hard way, and was mocked by my teacher. When you "put on an exhibition" in France, you essentially get drunk and dance around with a lampshade over your head; the word for an "art exhibition" is "exposition." 

Anyway ...

"20 Common False Friends To Watch Out for" on fluentu.com

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Same issue in many languages (at least Romance languages). In Spanish "embarazada" means "pregnant," not "embarrassed."

The nice thing for English speakers about learning Chinese is that there are few false friends (or false cognates) because there are few cognates period.

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