A couple of days ago, I came across a confusing paper napkin. The confusing bit was the slogan printed on the napkin: The phrase for ecological thinking people is either grammatically incorrect (it should read for ecologically thinking people), or missing a comma after ecological (leaving out the comma is very confusing, and most people
In the context of languages, the term false friend refers to the incorrect use of a word in one language that is identical or very similar in terms of spelling to a word in another language. Of course, because of the common origin of many languages, there are many true friends, namely words that are
Whereas the German word homogen is rather straight forward to pronounce, the English equivalent, homogeneous, is slightly trickier. Oxford English suggests [ˌhɒməˈdʒiːniəs] (British English) and [ˌhoʊməˈdʒiːniəs] (American English), see and listen here. On the other hand, the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary includes the following possibilities: British English: [ˌhɒməʊˈdʒiːniəs] (used by 75% of the speakers) [ˌhoʊməʊˈdʒiːniəs] (used
I have previously mentioned an example of a major company falling into the literal translation trap in a presentation, see here. Today, I came across another such case, and the victim (or culprit?) is BMW. On their Facebook page, a presumably German employee translated the German expression “Ideallinie” as “ideal line”, although the correct English
The word please is very important when you try to be polite, and hence plays a central role in the British culture. However, it is often used incorrectly by German native speakers, and can be classified as a false friend related to the German word “Bitte”. Please vs. Welcome My first example is the use
The word quantum has made it all the way from physics to areas such as movies and parcel services (knowing about the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics, the name quantum view for a parcel tracking service causes some mild anxiety). The phrase quantum leap (Quantensprung in German) is commonly used, even though it typically refers
Taking pictures has turned from an expensive hobby to something that people do on an every-day basis, not just on holidays or special occasions. Let us look at some typical language mistakes that occur in this context. 1. Non-native speakers often use the phrase “to make a photo”, whereas the correct expression is “to take
While reading the news today, a German statement in the sports section caught my eye: Wir haben ein tolles Momentum im Team […] For some reason, this incorrect and completely unnecessary use of the word Momentum has become much more common recently, although it seems to be confined to sports so far. Clearly, Momentum is
When used as an incorrect translation of the German words genial or Genie, the English words genial and genie almost constitute an oxymoron. These false friends have a completely different meaning, but are often mixed up by German native speakers. The German word genial translates into ingenious. However, the true meaning of the English word
Here is an interesting false friend for those trying to learn German. The English word stress has a number of different meanings. According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, the word is used for, for example, mental pressure (as in stress management), physical pressure (for example, a stress fracture), emphasis (the boss lays great stress on