Jun
5
101 Falsos Amigos
It’s natural to look for words that sound or look like words in your native tongue when you are learning a foreign language. It’s like swimming in an ocean of inscrutable words when suddenly, on the horizon, appears a (verbal) life jacket. You grab ahold of it, quickly put it on, thinking you’ve bought yourself a reprieve from drowning, only to realize, too late, that that verbal life jacket you are wearing isn’t going to make things better, but possibly, make things worse. OK, maybe not worse, just more confusing.
These tricksters are false cognates or cognados equívocos in Spanish. That’s their technical name. Informally they’re called “false friends” or falsos amigos. The reason is because they have spellings similar to English words (or, in some cases spellings that are exactly the same) but they have totally different meanings. A prime example is embarazada (which means pregnant) and embarassed. There are a ton of these false friends, too many to fit comfortably in a single blog post, that’s why I’ve put together a list of 101 of them.
If you’d like to get this free list, all you have to do is sign up for my e-newsletter. The sign-up box is on the right-hand side of this page.
If you’re already on my email list and would like to receive this eight-page easy reference guide to Spanish-English falsos amigos, just leave a comment below or drop me a line via the contact page and I’ll send it to you.
P.S. Just a quick technical note: To get the 101 Falsos Amigos guide, you MUST respond to the automated email that you will receive asking you to verify your sign-up. The service that I’m using to email this guide requires confirmation that whatever I’m emailing has been requested by the recipient and is not spam. If you do not respond to that automated email, you will not receive the link allowing you to download the 101 Falsos Amigos PDF.
Please check your junk mail folder if you don’t see this confirmation email after subscribing to the e-newsletter.
Sorry to be such a stickler about this but it’s the only way to ensure that you are getting stuff that you really want to receive.
Thanks!
Eleena
June 6th, 2008 at 11:45 am
I am very interested in taking the DELE.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Yeah, me too. Which level are you considering taking?
June 8th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I’d like to recieve that list please. I’ve gotten into the habit of checking similar-looking words that I ‘think’ I understand, even when the context seems to confirm that the meanings are similar. It’s been worth the effort!
June 30th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Hey there. I’d like to receive that list as well, if at all possible.
June 30th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Hi Jeremy,
I sent you an email with the link. Saludos.
July 17th, 2008 at 9:56 am
I would love to be able to see this list! Thank you for everything that you post, I love reading your page. =)
January 7th, 2009 at 12:11 am
Hi, Eleena – I’m a bit late with this request. May I please have a copy when your time permits. Muchas gracias Liz
February 18th, 2009 at 2:57 am
Muchas gracias por sus podcasts y materiales escritos. Por favor, quisiera que usted me mande una copia de “101 cognatos falsos”
November 18th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Please resend the list to me. Someone borrowed my copy.
Muchas gracias Juana
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Hi Joan,
I tried to email you the PDF and the email was returned as undeliverable. That means the email address I had for you was not correct. Please contact me, via this blog’s “Contact” page, if you still need the document. Thanks.