ellie925
In my previous post, Grace and Introvert mentioned the differences in the meaning of certain words in different languages. That inspired me to create and share a list of words that are false friends in English and Bulgarian.
(False friends are words in two languages that look or sound similar, but differ significantly in meaning.)
Extra
The word “extra” indicates that something has a greater extent than usual; and in slang, it’s used to say that something is too much or over the top. However, in Bulgarian slang when someone says “extra”, it means “awesome”, “great” or “perfect”. Be careful when your behaviour is described as extra in one of the two languages. 😀
Magazine
This is something that probably many Bulgarian speakers who are beginners with English confuse, because in Bulgarian “magazin” means “store” or “shop”. I know it took me some time when I was first starting with English to remember not to call the shop “magazine”.
List
In Bulgarian “list” means “leaf” or “sheet”, while in English it’s a record of short pieces of information. You can write a list on a “list” though!
Boy
In English “boy” means a young male, but in Bulgarian it’s “beat”, “battle” or “fight”. Another one to be careful about.
Ship
In English the world “ship” means a large boat for travelling on water, but in Bulgarian it’s just a thorn or a spike.
Job
“Dzhob”, which could be romanized in many different ways, but is basically pronounced as “job”, means “a pocket”. You need to find a job in order to fill your “dzhob”.
Die
The last one is “day”, which sounds exactly like the English “die”. Don’t be scared if someone says this to you; they are not mad at you, they just want you to give them something. “Day” or “day mi” means “give me”.
Image: pixabay.com
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Question of
Would you like to see such posts about other languages as well?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Will you share some false friends in English and another language in the comments?
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Yes
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No
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The English language can certainly be confusing when words have different meanings.
That’s true! Thank you for your comments!
An interesting idea. Thanks for sharing this post with us.
Thank you very much!
We have some words in NZ english which can be confusing.
“Bring a plate!” usually means bring food.
“Having a chip on your shoulder!” is not an actual chip but someone who has a chip on their should holds a grudge.
That’s very interesting, I have never heard about the chip on the shoulder. Thank you for sharing!
Yes, we have a few odd sayings, I suppose all places have their own local lingo.
ship also has a more modern meaning – to take a package to the post office, or a “shipping company” is to ship a box!
The reality of language is the differences.
Yes, many words have more than one meaning. Thanks for the reminder!
it is a great idea.
we see a tree.
but when a dog trees a raccoon, the raccoon runs up the tree!
You died me a very good time reading your post. 😀
Haha, that’s a good one! Thanks for reading!
Die me made me laugh. Great share.
Glad it made you laugh!
This one is German and English
Tag – means day in German – Guten Tag – Good day
You know what tag is in English.
That’s a good one, thank you for sharing!
This was very interesting thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much for your kind words!
Very interesting post. I didn’t know that. Everything is new to me.
Thank you! I wanted to share some new infromation.
Hmm nice Ellie, I just can understand English nor Bulgarian!!!
Thank you! The Bulgarian words in the list sound like English words, but have a different meaning.
This one is English and Spanish false friends:
Tuna: Order this at a desert restaurant and you’ll get edible cactus. A tuna is also a college musical glee club. The fish is atún.
That’s a great one, I didn’t know it!