Learn Italian false friends

Who’s never used a word assuming it meant something else and, in so doing, s/he has created misunderstandings or awkward situations?

Don’t worry, this is perfectly normal. In fact, it’s typical of the language learning process: learners rely on what they know to try to communicate into another language.

One of the nightmares par excellence of any language learner is represented by false friends. False friends are words which look and/or sound similar in two different languages but which carry different meanings.

Italian and English, for example, having been both influenced by Latin, have several similar words, so it’s pretty easy to fall into the trap of false friends.

For instance, if you say something like il resort era pieno di persone luride – meaning the resort was full of lurid people – you will probably get disgusting faces in reply, because in reality you’re saying that the resort was full of filthy people.

Instead, if you say ci sono molti alieni in Italia – meaning aliens (people belonging to a foreign country) – you’ll get either loud laughter or puzzled faces in reply. In fact, as far as I know very few Italians have been so lucky as to see a little green man in their whole life, let alone many! If you haven’t got it yet, in the Italian sentence above, alieni means only extraterrestrial beings. Stranieri was, instead, the right word to use – ci sono molti stranieri in Italia.

As you can see, false friends can be rather tricky, so I’ve prepared a table with the most common ones to try to help you out.¹

 

ENGLISH	MEANING	ITALIAN	MEANING
Spot	Macchia	Spot	TV commercial
Mister	Signor(e)	Mister	Soccer coach
Smoking	Fumo	Smoking	Tuxedo
Janitors	Bagni	Genitori	Parents
Library	Biblioteca	Libreria	Bookstore
Magazine	Rivista	Magazzino	Warehouse
Cucumber	Cetriolo	Cocomero	Watermelon
Rumor	Pettegolezzo	Rumore	Noise
(to) Annoy	Seccare	Annoiare	To bore
Delusion	Illusione	Delusione	Disappointment
Exhibition	Mostra	Esibizione	Performance
Camera	Macchina fotografica	Camera	Room
Morbid	Macabro	Morbido	Soft
Box	Scatola	Box	Garage
Patent	Brevetto	Patente	Driving licence
Dent	Ammaccatura	Dente	Tooth
Fabric	Tessuto	Fabbrica	Factory
Pretend	Fingere	Pretendere	To demand
Argument	Discussione	Argomento	Subject
Estate	Proprietà	Estate	Summer
Preservative	Conservante	Preservativo	Condom
Factory	Fabbrica	Fattoria	Farm
Canteen	Mensa	Cantina	Cellar
Sensible	Ragionevole	Sensibile	Emotional
Eventually	Alla fine	Eventualmente	In case
Pepperoni	Salsa piccante	Peperoni	Peppers
Male	Maschio	Male	Bad

How many of these words did you know?

1.Obviously, some false friends have more than one meaning. Here I give you only one of their possible meanings.