English words that are frequently used in the German language can easily become false friends when used with the same meaning in English. A classic example is Handy, the widely used term for mobile phone (or cell phone), which will certainly confuse native speakers a lot. While very few advanced speakers make the mistake of
I just came across a very dangerous false friend while listening to a scientific talk. This time, it’s a false friend for non-native German speakers. Please, do not translate the English word ordinary as ordinär. The former means gewöhnlich (common) or einfach (simple), whereas the latter means vulgär (vulgar).
A couple of years ago, I attended a company presentation as part of a job market session at a big physics conference in Germany. Two high-potential employees, with doctoral degrees from famous universities and way too much self-confidence, discussed the different markets their company is engaged in. Of course there was the usual talk about
Very often while waiting for something in a crowd of people, I hear non-native speakers (predominantly from countries such as Italy or Spain) trying to make their way through by repeatedly saying “Sorry!”. The problem is, practically none of the native speakers, and very few of the non-native speakers pay attention. The reason is not