Bonus points for examples from English and bonus points for any personal stories.

  • 𝕱𝖎𝖗𝖊𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    The term you’re looking for is false friends. Eg:

    • In Spanish, embarazado/a means pregnant, not embarrassed. Accidental mpreg is more likely than you think.
    • In French, excité(e) is more likely to be interpreted as sexually aroused than excited. Draw your own conclusions.
    • aloofPenguin@piefed.world
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      2 days ago

      I remember in class we were learning / practicing what you say when you meet up with another person after a long time. some one said «ah! ça fait longtemps qu’on ne se pas vu! Je suis excité…». they were corrected on that by the teacher.

      I might be getting some of that phrasing wrong. my ability to write French is slowly degrading (I can speak it well enough, but not as well a a few years ago)

    • Siegfried@lemmy.world
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      24 hours ago

      Embarazado in spanish has both meanings, being pregnant and being embarrassed.

      Edit: in any case, it is still odd to use it that way.

      “Estoy embarazada” 100% equals “im pregnant”… “estoy embarazado” would still be odd.

      To express embarrassment, we usually divert it not to us but to the origin of the embarrassment

      “Que situación embarazosa”