English-French False Friends

1. English-FrenchFalse Friends By Miranda Wang

2. Faux Amis/ False Friends • Cognates: words in different languages that have similar spellings and meanings • Advantages: Words Expansion and Reading Comprehension • False Friends: Inter-lingual deceptive cognates, pairs of words that appear similar, but have different meaning in some or all contexts

3. Cognates and False-Friends can be distin- guished on the basis of an additional “translation” feature: if the two words are translations of each other in a bilingual dictionary, they are classified as Cognates; otherwise, they are assumed to be False-Friends. • A key point in the formation of false friends is that the majority of these words came into the language through specialist fields and when they transferred to the common lexicon, they underwent a process of generalization.

4. English as language of English parliament: From Norman Conquest to Hundred Years War Ex judge, mayor, noble, state, baron , duke Influence of French continues: Renaissance and Language of Diplomacy Vulgar Latin: French 11th-18th :22,000-25,000 number of words transfer to English,75% of which are still in use

5. Three Broad Categories • Words that have a common root but which have taken on quite different meanings over the centuries • Words that have no common root and which look alike through pure accident • Words that have a common root and one or more meanings in common but whose meanings also diverge

6. Français English • Préservatif: a condom in French • Preservative: a substance used to preserve foodstuffs, wood, or other materials against decay. Etymology: < Middle French, French préservatif that preserves, protects (1314; also as noun (1539 in sense ‘medicine that gives protection from disease’; 1567 in figurative use)) and its etymon post-classical Latin preservativusthat preserves, protects (from 1239 in British sources), also preservativum (noun) medicine that gives protection from disease (from a1350 in British sources)

7. English Français • Demand: to ask for a thing with legal right or authorities • Demander: ask, request

8. English Français • Actually: in fact • Actuallement: at the present, currently

9. English Français • Assist: help (someone), typically by doing a share of the work • Assister: intransitive verb: be present, be at… Transitive verb: help

10. English Français • Chair: a separate seat for one person, typically with a back and four legs. • Chair: flesh, meat • La chaise: chair in French

11. English Français • College:an educational institution or establishment, in particular one providing higher education or specialized professional or vocational training • Collège: middle school or highschool in French

12. English Français • Pretend: speak and act so as to make it appear that something is the case when in fact it is not • Prétnedre: claim, assert, affirmin French

13. English Français • Journey: speak and act so as to make it appear that something is the case when in fact it is not • Journée: day

14. English Français • Library: a building or room containing collections of books, periodicals, and sometimes films and recorded music for people to read, borrow • Librairie: bookstore

15. English Français • I am full • Je suispleine: I am pregnant

16. Partial False Friends • FrenchAdditional meaning(s) in French • Circulation traffic • Dramatique tragic • Manifester demonstrate, march (in protest) • Parfumflavour(of ice cream, yoghurt etc.) • Souvenir memory

17. cross-linguisticcommunicationTranslationSecond language ACQUISITION

18. References • Oxford Languages Dictionaries Online:http://www.oxfordlanguagedictionaries.com/Public/PublicResources.html?direction=b-fr-en&sp=S/oldo/resources/fr/Difficulties-in-French-fr.html • False Friends: A Historical Perspective: Implications for Lexical Acquition • False friends: their origin and semantics in some selected languages • OED