Transparent words or Faux-amis?
By Kate Grady
EuroLogos.com
www.eurologos.com
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No language possesses 100% of its words
that are free from any foreign influence. The
English language is no exception to the rule
and contains many words borrowed from many different
languages worldwide.
Today, English is pointed out as the main language
on which new words are based (especially in
scientific research and Information Technology).
This can appear as a great advantage, especially
for non-native English speakers who have to
deal with the English language at work. Indeed,
this makes it easier for them to understand
new words because they can guess the English
meaning by finding the equivalent which is similar
to their own language.
However, it is dangerous to simply "transpose"
a word from one language into the other. This
could create big misinterpretations because
the meaning of some words can be misleading.
Such misleading words are called: Faux-amis
(false friends). These are opposed to transparent
words that have the same meaning in both
languages.
Transparency = transparence
Transparent words are two words that
have a similar spelling and the same meaning.
For example, the words "Kalendar" (German) and
"calendar" (English) are nearly identical and
their meaning can be deducted very easily. A
lot of transparent words can be found in English.
However, they are not always as transparent
as they appear.
What is a Faux-ami?
Two apparently transparent words that
have a complete different meaning. If a French
speaker for example comes across the sentence:
"The family was sympathetic towards Julia."
He could consider sympathetic as a transparent
word and understand the sentence meaning
that the family was friendly to Julia since
"sympathique" in French does not mean compassionate
but friendly. Here, there is quite a difference
in the meaning and this can have a lot of consequence
on the text.
How to recognise a Faux-ami?
It is not a simple task to differentiate Faux-ami
from transparent words. Unfortunately,
there are no set rules that allow to distinguish
between the two categories so the best thing
to do is to rely on the context.
Influence of the context
The most important point to remember when reading
or translating a text is to try and understand
the word using the context as a backup and if
necessary the dictionary. You cannot understand
a word without its context.
Last but not least!
To conclude, beware of the different "nuances"
between the different languages: a "Bus" in
German does not necessarily mean a "bus"
in English, it can also mean a coach
(a more comfortable bus for longer journeys).
Words that are borrowed from the English do
not always mean the same thing in other languages.
For example, the word "handy" which means
mobile phone in German. has nothing to do with
the English expression "to come in handy".
The same applies to French where a "Smoking"
is translated by a dinner jacket in English.
How confusing!!!
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