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Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Don't ask to be taken to a brothel! French 'false friends' translated - cars, casinos and stores are not what you think they are




 We received an extending rod to open a high in the roof Velux window. We read the instructions in other languages and came across a word we knew in English, stores, which clearly meant something else in context. I looked it up in translate Google and the answer came back, blinds. I reversed the direction of the translation. The translation for the English word blinds was the French word stores.

My husband mentioned that; in France; he had seen another confusing part of a two language pair. The word was occasion. My online search produced the occasion, not the word which I was expecting, sale, but the word opportunity.

A look at the Wiktionary page reminds me of lots of trouble you could get into. For example, ask to visit a casino in France, and you might end up in a brothel! Be careful what you wish for - and be careful what you say!

French - English

actuel - current

agent - police officer

arme - weapon

assortie - matching

avertissement - warning, alert

brushing - blow-dry (at the hairdresser)

car - bus/coach

cave - cellar

casino - brothel

crayon - pencil

crayon de cire - wax crayon

chef - boss/chief (as well as head cook)

demander -ask

eventuellement - maybe

etiquette - label

fabrique - factory

four - oven

grandiose - grand

gros - big

Iseland - Iceland

libraire - bookstore

magasins - stores

Merci - thanks (also short for no thanks)

occasion - opportunity

queue - tail

roman - novel (noun, book , not the adjective new)

sensible - sensitive

stores - blinds


English - French

arm - bras

big - gros

brothel - casino

bus/coach - car

blinds - stores

department store - grand magasin

grand - grandiose

large - grand

library - bibliothèque 

opportunity - occasion

stores - magasins (spelled with s or z? S, as in sins, big sins if you over-spend.)

Useful Websites

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_false_friends

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