Cognates and False Friends: Your Shortcut (and Pitfall) in Language Learning

What Are Cognates?

Cognates are words in different languages that share a common ancestor and have similar meanings. They exist because languages evolve from shared roots.

English-Spanish Cognates (Thousands)

• Information → Información
• University → Universidad
• Family → Familia
• Important → Importante
• Telephone → Teléfono

English-German Cognates

• House → Haus
• Water → Wasser
• Garden → Garten
• Winter → Winter
• Hand → Hand

Cognates are free vocabulary. If you speak English and are learning a Romance or Germanic language, you already know hundreds of words. That is a large part of why Category I languages feel fast in how to learn the easiest languages for English speakers.

For more on this topic, see our guide on The Bilingual Brain: How Learning a Language Changes Your Mind.

What Are False Friends?

False friends (faux amis) are words that look similar across languages but have different meanings. They are traps that lead to embarrassing or confusing miscommunication.

Famous False Friends

Spanish:

• Embarazada does NOT mean embarrassed. It means pregnant.
• Éxito does NOT mean exit. It means success.
• Sensible does NOT mean sensible. It means sensitive.

French:

• Blessé does NOT mean blessed. It means injured.
• Actuellement does NOT mean actually. It means currently.
• Préservatif does NOT mean preservative. It means condom.

German:

• Gift does NOT mean gift. It means poison.
• Bald does NOT mean bald. It means soon.
• Chef does NOT mean chef. It means boss.

How to Use Cognates Strategically

1. When encountering a new word in your target language, check if it resembles an English word. There is a good chance the meanings are related.
2. Be cautious with words that look almost but not exactly like English words. These are prime false friend candidates.
3. When in doubt, verify with a dictionary. The embarrassment of using a false friend incorrectly is a powerful memory aid.

For more on this topic, see our guide on How Long Does It Really Take to Learn a Language? FSI Data Explained.