Here at Nothing For UnGood, we keep the content filled at exactly 85% truth with the remaining 15% consisting of misrepresentations, generalizations, and flat out lies. Since we are reaching a truth imbalance, we shall explain two more false friends that damage German-American communication because we think we understand each other when we don’t.
So take a deep breath, count to 10, and watch out for these:
In German, eventuell, sounds like a cognate of the English eventually. This isn’t really true, eventually in English refers to the fact that an event will occur in the future, but that the exact timing is unknown. Eventuell in German means roughly “possibly”.
In German irritiert means confused, not irritated, even though it can be really irritating to be irritiert.
And remember, just because you think you understand what someone is saying, because you have heard of all the words before is quite different than really understanding what someone means.
deutsche Übersetzung für Astrid ein/ausblenden
Hallo Astrid,
hier die Übersetzung:
Unkorrekte Kumpels - eventuell irritierend
Hier bei Nothing For Ungood besteht der Inhalt in der Regel aus exakt 85% Wahrheit und die übrigen 15% bestehen aus falschen Angaben, Verallgemeinerungen und dreisten Lügen. Weil nun ein Ungleichgewicht bei der Wahrheit erreicht wird, sollten 2 weitere unkorrekte Kumpels erklärt werden, die die deutsch-amerikanische Kommunikation beeinträchtigen, weil man denkt, man versteht sich gegenseitig, wenn dies eigentlich gar nicht der Fall ist.
Also zählen Sie bis 10, holen Sie tief Luft und achten Sie auf Folgendes:
im Deutschen klingt eventuell wie ein Verwandter des englischen Wortes eventually. Dies stimmt aber nicht, eventually weist auf ein in der Zukunft auftretendes Ereignis hin, aber die genaue Zeit ist unbekannt. Das deutsche eventuell heisst grob gesagt vielleicht.
Im Deutschen heisst irritiert soviel wie verwirrt, nicht ärgerlich, auch wenn es wirklich ärgerlich sein kann, verwirrt zu sein.
Und denken Sie daran, zu denken, dass sie das verstehen, was jemand sagt, weil sie all diese Wörter vorher schon einmal gehört haben ist etwas anderes, als wirklich zu verstehen, was jemand meint.
Bis bald,
John
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June 6th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
For eventually we say “schließlich”, “letztendlich”, “endlich” which roughly means all the same.
June 6th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Haha, reminds me of “embarazado/a” in Spanish. I won’t ruin the surprise of what it really means, but imagine the looks of horror if you say, “Yo ha embarazado mi madre” when you’re trying to say, “I have embarrassed my mother.” BTW, the real word for embarrass is “avergonzado/a.”
June 6th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
my fav false friend is definitely pregnant and prägnant…hilarious!
June 7th, 2008 at 12:08 am
I really enjoyed when i offered a good female friend to help her with mounting.
June 7th, 2008 at 6:56 am
Speaking of different meanings - I had a fit of laughter when I read the heading to this article, because the term “Falscher Freund” can have a very … unusual meaning in Germany (as I learned while watching the TV show “Genial daneben!”).
They were talking about the third option on the list:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falscher_Freund_%28Begriffskl%C3%A4rung%29
June 7th, 2008 at 10:54 am
I appreciate your blog. And I enjoy the fun in it - so it took me more than a few minutes of thinking, but here it is: I disagree.
I believe “irritate” and “irritieren” is almost the same. “Irritiert sein” in the sense of “to be confused” is mostly used in an ironical context - because you don’t want to express you really are annoyed or angry.
“Ihr Verhalten, mein Herr, ist höchst irritierend”.
…. noli irritare leones
June 8th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Ich muss dem Beitrag auch widersprechen. Confused wäre etwas wie verwirrt, und verwirrt bezeichnet nur einen Teil von irritiert.Jemand, der irritiert ist, ist eben nicht einfach nur verwirrt, er ist auch gereizt und verärgert.
Irritate kommt dem Ganzen doch schon recht nahe.
June 8th, 2008 at 9:50 am
That “eventually” vs. “eventuell” is a real pitfall indeed. Now the obvious question is: who’s to blame?
I suggest we take the french language to judge this: In french “éventuel” has the same meaning than the german “eventuell”.
June 8th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Noch eine kleine Anekdote:
Once I was an exchange student in the US and I really loved it. My American family was amazing and my host brothers and I really had a great time. So, when I got back to Germany, we arranged everything for my exchange brother to come over. Before he came, my mom wrote a letter to his parents to say “thank you” again and how happy I was at their house and that she would love to meet them some time…. You need to know that her English was - hm - not perfect, I guess.
And so she wrote: “I am very afraid for your son to come into my house!”
My American mom called a few days later and first I had no clue about what this sentence was supposed to say - but then I got it. It was “erfreut!”
June 9th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
hehe cristina, funny story
June 9th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Two other good false friends are
overhear vs. überhören
and
oversee vs. übersehen
June 10th, 2008 at 11:16 am
And of course the good old “I become a beer, please.” (Ich bekomm’ bitte ein Bier.) I love these false friends =)
June 10th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Also nice ones…
pathetic vs. pathetisch
sensible vs. sensibel
Even Der Spiegel translates ‘pathetic excuses’ into ‘pathetische Entschuldigungen’. Aaargggh…..;-)
June 13th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Another pitfall that even those people fall over that have some experience is “must” and “must not” vs. “muß” and “muß nicht”.
Unsurprisingly, I find the German version much more logical.
The German logic goes like this: If I “_must_ do” something, I have no way avoiding it. But: If I “_must not_ do” something, it is voluntary, since the “not” cancels the “must”.
In the English understanding in contrast, I “must _not do_” something, e.g. it is forbidden. This seems illogical to Germans because “do” is an action verb and you cannot actively “not do” something.
Another one often misinterpreted is “silicone” vs. “Silikon”. There are movies where “Silikonchips” play a role.
Oh, and not to forget “billion” vs. “Billionen”.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Another one: actually vs. aktuell
October 11th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Untill maybe half a year ago, I still believed that “eventually” means the same as the “eventuell” (I’m German). I wish I would still think so, it made some sentences so much more poetic, like for example:
“They eventually went to the bar and had a couple of beers, and he eventually went home with that less attractive girl and had sex with her.” (quote from a book I read)
It sounds like you’re describing the day in a complete haze and as if nothing mattered anyway if you think that “eventually” means “possibly” or “maybe” ! It’s much more beautiful
September 7th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
gift vs. Gift