Who are “False friends”and

how to make friends with them?

Konov Mark,a pupil of the 4th

form,lyceum 4, Ryazan

KorotkovaIrina Ivanovna,an English teacher,doctor of science

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The main aim of my project:

To study the phenomenon of “False friends” by the example of Russian and English, to find out its sources and to decide how to avoid mistakes dealing with them.

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The hypothesis:Though “False friends” are a very difficult phenomenon and can be translated incorrectly, there are some special features, which can help us to recognize them.

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The goals of my project:

1. To find and select the necessary information on my topic;

2. To analyze and systematize this information;

3. To test if it is possible to find out the difference between unfamiliar “False Friends” and “True Friends”;http://www.deti-66.ru

The goals of my project:

4. To make conclusions;5. According to the conclusions to

decide how we can avoid mistakes.

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Misleading words(false friends – (Fr. Faux amis), interlinguistic homonyms) are words from different languages, similar or almost similar in spelling and pronunciation, but completely different in meaning. The term was created in 1928 by M. Koessler.

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Misleading words

Magazine

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КОМПОЗИТОР

The first type:These are homonyms which have absolutely different meanings. They can be confused only because of their similar pronunciation.Compositor

наборщикhttp://www.deti-66.ru

АНГИНА

The second type:

Angina(quinsy)

These are homonyms which have related meanings, or meanings belonging to one sphere of use.

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The third type:Some scientists (linguists) call polysemantic words (multiple-meaning words) “False friends” as they also cause a lot of mistakes in translation.

староста класса

Monitorмонитор

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A special case of “Misleading words”:

Pseudo-international words are interlinguistic homonyms which are confused with international words (because of their spelling or pronunciation).

род занятий, профессияOccupation

оккупация (invasion)

оккупация

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Why do “False friends” appear?There are several

reasons:

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1. Coincidence: similar forms of words are

purely accidental

Replica – точная копия (а не реплика - retort)Crest – гребень, грива или шлем (а не крест –

cross)More – более (а не море – sea)

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2. Independentdevelopment of languages:The similarity of words is caused by a common word existing in the ancestor language of the two. There are no such cases among Russian – English misleading words as they have different ancestor languages.(художник)

ARTISTАРТИСТhttp://www.deti-66.ru

3. Some words change their meaning after

borrowing:The word «док» was borrowed to name dockage facility (помещение для ремонта кораблей), though in English it means the whole wharf.

Poem (стихотворение) and поэма; Sympathy (сочувствие) and симпатия.

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4. Parallel borrowing:Two different languages can borrow the same words from one language but in different meanings. In case of Russian – English “False friends” the ancestor language is mainly Latin.

DARELatin word(to given)

DATUS(given)

DATUM(a thing given)

ДАТА(date)

DATA(данные)

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My experiment:To prove the difficulty of misleading words and to find probable special features of “False Friends” I offered my classmates to test their intuition and say whether these words have similar meanings:

• revolution = революция• spectacles = спектакли• politics = политика• replica = реплика• data = дата• concentration = концентрация• economics = экономика•more = море• cabin = кабина• crest = крест•magazine = магазин•music = музыка• occupation = оккупация• list = лист• fabric = фабрика.http://www.deti-66.ru

Results of my experiment.

13%

25%

25%13%

25%

15 примеров0 ошибок 1 ошибка 2 ошибки 3 ошибки4 ошибки 5 ошибок 6 ошибок 7 ошибок

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Conclusions:1. Every translator (interpreter) has

“friends” and “enemies” in English. These are words which can help to translate or mislead.

2. False friends are words from different languages, similar or almost similar in spelling and pronunciation, but completely different in meaning.

3. False friends can be of different types (according to the most frequent mistakes).

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Conclusions:4. Sometimes even the whole idioms may

be misleading.5. False friends appear because of:

coincidence, independent development of related languages, change of meaning after borrowing or parallel borrowing.

6. There are no bright signs which can help to tell the difference, between “true” and “False friends” of a translator. But there is some advice how to make it easier.

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Some advice: Better safe than sorry: don’t hurry to make a

decision about the translation of a word if it resembles you a Russian one;

Take into account the word’s form (English adjective can’t correspond to a Russian noun: electric ≠ электрик);

Think of possible words which contain the same root and can show you the true meaning of the word under question (multiplication ≠ мультипликация, multiple = множественный → multiplication = умножение);

If you are not sure, consult a dictionary. This will guarantee you the correctness of your translation.

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Bibliographic list: Акуленко В. “О "ложных друзьях переводчика", М.,

1969г А к у л е н к о В. В., “Существует ли интернациональная

лексика? "Вопросы языкознания", 1961, № 3 Англо-руссский словарь ложных друзей переводчика

http://falsefriends.ru/ffslovar.htm Фасмер Макс

Этимологический словарь русского языка (онлайн версия) http://www.classes.ru/all-russian/russian-dictionary-Vasmer-term-4549.htm

Longman Dictionary of contemporary English on-line http://www.ldoceonline.com

Online Etimology Dictionary http://www.etymonline.com/index.php

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