False Friends

Post date: Feb 06, 2016 9:49:25 PM

Gentile and simpatico, both mean nice rather than gentle (dolce or leggero) or sympathetic (comprensivo). 

Crudo translates as raw (as in vegetables) while crude is volgare 

Grosso is large. 

Someone overly fastidious can be fastidioso (annoying) in Italian, but if you’re annoyed, you’re not annoiato (bored) but seccato.

Educazione is manners while istruzione is education. Students may attend un collegio, or boarding school, not a college, which is a university. If you go to a ginnasio, you won't go to a gym, but to a high school.

An Italian camera (room)  is not for taking pictures. 

You buy books in a libreria (bookshop) and borrow them from a library (biblioteca)--both good places to look for a romanzo (novel, not romance). You probably won’t find anything to read in an Italianmagazzino (warehouse), not magazine (rivista). You wouldn’t expect to see cows and pigs in a factory (fabbrica), but you would on a fattoria (farm). (The word for fabric or material is tessuto, not materiale.)

Eventualmente does not mean eventually but “possibly” or “in that case.” Don’t confuse attualmente (currently) with actually (veramente or in realtà). 

 A hotel manager chuckled when I commented on Americans' growing appreciation for luxury (lusso). The reason: I had used the false friend lussuria (lust). At least I didn’t make the mistake of a British man with a fondness for jam who asked a startled waiter for preservativi (condoms) with his toast.

More Amici Falsi

fame  - hunger 

fama -  fame

sensibile - sensitive

sensato - sensible 

morbido - soft

morboso - morbid 

noioso - boring

rumoroso  - noisy

firma - signature, not business firm (azienda)

Accidenti! - is not an accident, but a swear word

ingiuria  - insult 

ferita - injury

argomento -  topic, not an argument or fight

confrontare -- compare, not confront

intendere -- understand, not intend

pretendere -- expect, not pretend

attendere -- to wait , not to attend

bravo -- good or clever, not brave

casuale -- coincidental, not casual

delusione is a disappointment, not a delusion (false belief)

patente -- license, not patent

parente -- relative, not parent

preservativi - condom

conservanti - preservatives

lusso - luxury

lussuria - lust

costipato - stuffed up, blocked up, congested, not constipated