Learn some Russian-English false friends
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Intro |
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| Michael: What are some Russian-English false friends? |
| Saodat: And what are some words that are often used incorrectly? |
| Michael: At RussianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Mark Lee started a conversation with a man sitting next to him on the plane. The man, Viktor Veselov, asks, |
| "What's your surname?" |
| Какая у Вас фамилия? (Kakaya u Vas familiya?) |
| Dialogue |
| Виктор Веселов: Какая у Вас фамилия? (Viktor Veselov: Kakaya u Vas familiya?) |
| Марк Ли: У меня жена и двое детей. (Mark Li: U menya zhena i dvoye detey.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Виктор Веселов: Какая у Вас фамилия? (Kakaya u Vas familiya?) |
| Michael: "What's your surname?" |
| Марк Ли: У меня жена и двое детей. (U menya zhena i dvoye detey.) |
| Michael: "I have a wife and two kids. " |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, we’re going to talk about False Friends. I’m not talking about people who pretend to be your friends but are really not. The term False Friends, or |
| Saodat: Ненастоящие Друзья (Nenastoyashchiye Druz'ya) |
| Michael: is a term in linguistics that refers to two words in two different languages that may look and sound the same but do not share the same meaning at all. In fact, they may even have opposite meanings. They are called “false friends” or “false cognates” because they are often mistaken to be the same word. False friends occur for a number of reasons, but, before we talk about that, let’s first go back to the dialogue from earlier. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Viktor Veselov says "What's your surname?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Saodat: Какая у Вас фамилия? (Kakaya u Vas familiya?) |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now, let’s take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Mark Lee says "I have a wife and two kids?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Saodat: У меня жена и двое детей. (U menya zhena i dvoye detey.) |
| Michael: You’re probably just as confused as Mark Lee was in that dialogue. You see, Mark Lee assumed that Viktor was asking him what his family was like. Viktor used the word |
| Saodat: фамилия (familiya), |
| Michael: which is the Russian word for “surname” or “family name.” Since the word sounded much like the English or Latin word for “family,” Mark replied by describing what his family was like, that is, that he had a wife and two kids. This is an example of what false friends are in linguistics. Here, we have two words from two different languages that sound alike but do not carry the same meaning at all. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you’ve learned how False Friends work—that a Russian word may look or sound the same as a word from another language, but it does not necessarily share the same origin and meaning with that word. We’ve already had the word “family” as an example. Let’s take a look at some more, starting with |
| Saodat: артист (artíst). |
| Michael: This is the Russian word for “actor,” but since it sounds exactly like the English word “artist.” This is often mistaken to refer to someone who paints or draws. In Russian, the word for “artist” is |
| Saodat: художник (khudozhnik) |
| Michael: Our second example is the word |
| Saodat: кондуктор (konduktor). |
| Michael: You’re probably thinking of a man leading an orchestra, but this Russian word actually refers to the person who sells tickets on buses and trains. Next, we have the word |
| Saodat: фабрика (fabrika). |
| Michael: It’s easy for some people to mistake this word for the English “fabric.” In reality, this word refers to the place where fabric is made—a factory. In case you’re wondering, the Russian word for “fabric” is |
| Saodat: ткань (tkan') |
| Michael: Now, here’s one that’s a bit more confusing: |
| Saodat: новелла (novella) |
| Michael: In Spanish and English, a novel refers to a relatively long work of narrative fiction. In Russian, however, the word means the exact opposite. It means “a short story.” In Russian, the word for “novel” is |
| Saodat: pоман (roman) |
| Michael: And, finally, we have the word |
| Saodat: трап (trap) |
| Michael: Setting a “trap” in Russian is different from setting one in English. In English, a trap is something that you use to catch something. In Russian, the word refers to a “gangway.” The Russian word for “trap,” by the way, is |
| Saodat: ловушка (lovushka). |
| Expansion |
| Michael: If Russian has “false friends,” it has “true friends” as well. These are words in both Russian and English that have very similar meanings but are not exactly words borrowed from each other but primarily from Latin. One example is the word |
| Saodat: класс (klass), |
| Michael: which carries the same meaning as the English “class.” It could refer to “class” as in a group of students studying together, “class” as in a division of people based on social status, or “class” as in a level of quality. Another example would be the word |
| Saodat: отель (otel') |
| Michael: Yes, it means exactly what it says—an establishment that provides accommodation for travelers and tourists. But, no, it’s not borrowed from English, as the word “hotel” is originally a French word. And, finally, there’s the word |
| Saodat: пост (post), |
| Michael: which carries three different meanings. The first one is similar to that of the English word “post,” as in army post. The second meaning is that of a position in an organization. The third meaning is that of a religious fast. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: It’s interesting how the Russian language evolves to keep up with the times. Consider the word “post,” or |
| Saodat: пост (post), |
| Michael: which we covered earlier. In the past few years, the word has developed a new meaning in addition to the three different ones we’ve discussed, which has to do with the rise in popularity of social network sites. The word developed a new verb: |
| Saodat: запостить (zapostit) |
| Michael: which refers to the act of posting something online, such as when you say, |
| Saodat: Пытаюсь решить, запостить ли в блоге свою статью. (Pytayus' reshit', zapostit' li v bloge svoyu stat'yu.) |
| Michael: or “I'm trying to decide whether to post my article on the blog.” |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Saodat: Пока! (Poka!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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