False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

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Vlürch
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Vlürch »

k1234567890y wrote: 31 Jul 2018 09:48chinchin(ちんちん)
Because of that, these will probably always make me laugh: :chn: 親親 (qīnqīn) - "darling" and 津津 (jīnjīn) - "overflowing (of water); delicious (of food); interesting (of words)". [xP]

:eng: free could in theory be a borderline auto-antonym in certain contexts; for example, "free people" could be misinterpreted as "people who are being given away as slaves for no cost".
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Shemtov
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Shemtov »

Vlürch wrote: 03 Aug 2018 16:57
k1234567890y wrote: 31 Jul 2018 09:48chinchin(ちんちん)
Because of that, these will probably always make me laugh: :chn: 親親 (qīnqīn) - "darling" and 津津 (jīnjīn) - "overflowing (of water); delicious (of food); interesting (of words)". [xP]

:eng: free could in theory be a borderline auto-antonym in certain contexts; for example, "free people" could be misinterpreted as "people who are being given away as slaves for no cost".
If we're counting the aspirated vs. unaspirated series in :chn: then this is confusing for learners whose native language (such as most European languages):
父親 Fùqīn "Father" 附近 fùjìn "Vicinity".
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k1234567890y
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by k1234567890y »

tones can be confusing to speakers whose native languages don't have tones.

btw

English tongs and English tongue
I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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eldin raigmore
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by eldin raigmore »

In what dialect of English are <tong> and <tongue> pronounced with the same vowel?
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k1234567890y
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by k1234567890y »

Avestan Ahura Mazda "The good and main deity of the Zoroastrianism" and Sanskrit Asura "supernatural beings that are antagonistic to the deities"

English black and English blank
I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by WeepingElf »

k1234567890y wrote: 05 Aug 2018 07:10 Avestan Ahura Mazda "The good and main deity of the Zoroastrianism" and Sanskrit Asura "supernatural beings that are antagonistic to the deities"
Also Avestan daeva 'evil spirit' vs. Sanskrit deva 'god'
English black and English blank
Also Cologne German bläck 'blank, bare'. There is a Schlager band from Cologne named Bläck Fööss, which doesn't mean 'black feet', as many people assume, but 'barefooted'.
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k1234567890y
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by k1234567890y »

WeepingElf wrote: 05 Aug 2018 22:14
k1234567890y wrote: 05 Aug 2018 07:10 Avestan Ahura Mazda "The good and main deity of the Zoroastrianism" and Sanskrit Asura "supernatural beings that are antagonistic to the deities"
Also Avestan daeva 'evil spirit' vs. Sanskrit deva 'god'
English black and English blank
Also Cologne German bläck 'blank, bare'. There is a Schlager band from Cologne named Bläck Fööss, which doesn't mean 'black feet', as many people assume, but 'barefooted'.
nice thanks (:

As for the daeva v.s. deva part, eldin also pmed me for something similar. (:

also English snake and Standard German Schnecke "snail, slug".

Btw, I remember there are some false friends that are true cognates between English and other West Germanic languages(e.g. Dutch, German)?
I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Zé do Rock »

GrandPiano wrote: 31 Jul 2018 02:31 If it doesn't exist, does it even count? You could have just as easily gone with puñete vs. punheta for basically the same effect.
I think the point is that that’s what a Portuguese speaker might think that the word meant if they didn’t know better.
[/quote]

REFORMEE

È ver. Y agora dé una busca en google, ay 27 000 hits pra palabra. Probablemente no ta en diccionarios oficial, mas incontrei nun diccionario informal onlain.

Hoite ain noies wort:

In bahasa indonesia: bunda = muther
En braziliano portugalian: bunda = lee fess

Brasilis ki vad ad Indonesia i ve un reclame KLINIK SPESIALIS BUNDA no deverai pensar ki ay clínica specializad im bund en Indonesia, é so una maternidad... i BUNDA TERESA
no é la bumbum de Teresa, é la Madre Teresa.

ENGLISH

True. And now i searched for it in google, there are 27 000 hits for the word. Probably you dont find it in official dictionaries, but i did find it in an informal dictionary online.

And today another word:

In bahasa indonesia: bunda = mother
In brazilian portuguese: bunda = bum

Brazilians who visit Indonesia and see the sign KLINIK SPESIALIS BUNDA shouldnt think this is a clinic specialized in butts, it is just a maternity hospital. And BUNDA TERESA doesnt mean Teresa's ass, it's just Mother Teresa.
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Lao Kou »

OMG!! Just found out about this mere moments ago! Put it somewhere else if it fits:

鸨母 [bǎo mǔ] - procuress, madam (of a brothel)
褓姆/保姆 [bǎo mǔ] - nanny, nursemaid
道可道,非常道
名可名,非常名
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Shemtov »

Lao Kou wrote: 08 Aug 2018 18:58 OMG!! Just found out about this mere moments ago! Put it somewhere else if it fits:

鸨母 [bǎo mǔ] - procuress, madam (of a brothel)
褓姆/保姆 [bǎo mǔ] - nanny, nursemaid
Given Tone Sandhi, are there any lexemes that are <báo mǔ> in Pinyin that we can add?
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k1234567890y
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by k1234567890y »

Dialectical Albanian grundë "bran, pollard, sawdust" v.s. Standard German Grund "ground"
Shemtov wrote: 09 Aug 2018 03:38 <báo>
薄? 雹?
I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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Lao Kou
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Lao Kou »

k1234567890y wrote: 09 Aug 2018 07:10
Shemtov wrote: 09 Aug 2018 03:38... are there any lexemes that are <báo mǔ> in Pinyin that we can add?
薄? 雹?
I think what Shemtov was asking, if I've understood correctly, was if there were other words bǎomǔ or báomǔ in Mandarin. There certainly may well be, but nothing else springs to mind, and I'm not particularly inclined to leafing through a dictionary looking for others (y'all others, of course, are free to [>:)] ). I just found the cathouse madam/nanny dichotomy rather amusant, especially at 1AM last night (though main squeeze says he'd never heard 鸨母 bǎomǔ before -- goodness, how I unabashedly and obnoxiously adore teaching Chinese to the Chinese [>:D] ).
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k1234567890y
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by k1234567890y »

Lao Kou wrote: 09 Aug 2018 12:02
k1234567890y wrote: 09 Aug 2018 07:10
Shemtov wrote: 09 Aug 2018 03:38... are there any lexemes that are <báo mǔ> in Pinyin that we can add?
薄? 雹?
I think what Shemtov was asking, if I've understood correctly, was if there were other words bǎomǔ or báomǔ in Mandarin. There certainly may well be, but nothing else springs to mind, and I'm not particularly inclined to leafing through a dictionary looking for others (y'all others, of course, are free to [>:)] ). I just found the cathouse madam/nanny dichotomy rather amusant, especially at 1AM last night (though main squeeze says he'd never heard 鸨母 bǎomǔ before -- goodness, how I unabashedly and obnoxiously adore teaching Chinese to the Chinese [>:D] ).
ok and lol
I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by GrandPiano »

Shemtov wrote: 09 Aug 2018 03:38
Lao Kou wrote: 08 Aug 2018 18:58 OMG!! Just found out about this mere moments ago! Put it somewhere else if it fits:

鸨母 [bǎo mǔ] - procuress, madam (of a brothel)
褓姆/保姆 [bǎo mǔ] - nanny, nursemaid
Given Tone Sandhi, are there any lexemes that are <báo mǔ> in Pinyin that we can add?
I checked a few online dictionaries and haven't found anything, sadly.
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Shemtov »

Lao Kou wrote: 09 Aug 2018 12:02
k1234567890y wrote: 09 Aug 2018 07:10
Shemtov wrote: 09 Aug 2018 03:38... are there any lexemes that are <báo mǔ> in Pinyin that we can add?
薄? 雹?
I think what Shemtov was asking, if I've understood correctly, was if there were other words bǎomǔ or báomǔ in Mandarin. There certainly may well be, but nothing else springs to mind, and I'm not particularly inclined to leafing through a dictionary looking for others (y'all others, of course, are free to [>:)] ). I just found the cathouse madam/nanny dichotomy rather amusant, especially at 1AM last night (though main squeeze says he'd never heard 鸨母 bǎomǔ before -- goodness, how I unabashedly and obnoxiously adore teaching Chinese to the Chinese [>:D] ).
I figured you had encountered them as the only bǎomǔ in Pinyin, but the rule of 3rd tone is a 2nd tone before another 3rd tone was on my mind, as I was up to a section in my Chinese book last night which had a reading that kept having sequences of 3 or 4 3rd tones together.
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by GrandPiano »

:chn: 巳 sì "sixth Earthly Branch" and 四 sì "four"
:chn: 午 wǔ "seventh Earthly Branch" and 五 wǔ "five"
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Khemehekis »

GrandPiano wrote: 12 Aug 2018 05:42 :chn: 巳 sì "sixth Earthly Branch" and 四 sì "four"
:chn: 午 wǔ "seventh Earthly Branch" and 五 wǔ "five"
Sounds very confusing!
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Lao Kou »

Khemehekis wrote: 12 Aug 2018 05:45
GrandPiano wrote: 12 Aug 2018 05:42 :chn: 巳 sì "sixth Earthly Branch" and 四 sì "four"
:chn: 午 wǔ "seventh Earthly Branch" and 五 wǔ "five"
Sounds very confusing!
Not so much. 午 wǔ normally appears in compounds like 上午 (forenoon), 中午 (noon, 12:00 or thereabouts), 下午 (afternoon), and 午夜 (midnight, 0:00 or thereabouts) (there are others, like "lunch" and "nap", but hopefully, you get the idea). 五 wǔ is a number, so you have context and/or the infamous "measure words" to help you out.

As for 巳 sì, I've only seen this in the context of talking about the Earthly Branches, or as a topic about what a mindf*ck 巳 sì vs. 已 yǐ vs. 己 jǐ is.

For reckoning time, 巳 covers 9:00 - 11:00; 午 covers 11:00 - 13:00 (hence all the noon-related vocab); their being the sixth and seventh branches of the clock respectively isn't really confounding with "four" and "five".
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by Shemtov »

:chn: 漢 Hàn (South) "Chinese people" :kor: 한 /han/ "Korea; Korean". This isn't as confusing as :kor: uses 중 /t͡ɕuŋ/ for most Chinese things, except for 한자 "Hanja; Hanzi". Add to this a :can:/ :us-ak: First people/Native Ethnic group called the Hän.
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Re: False friends and other unfortunate coincidences

Post by GrandPiano »

Shemtov wrote: 12 Aug 2018 23:49 :chn: 漢 Hàn (South) "Chinese people" :kor: 한 /han/ "Korea; Korean".
This exists within Mandarin, too - 韓 hán means “Korean”. 漢 and 韓 (simplified: 汉 and 韩) are only used in compound words, though; the only pair that’s likely to cause confusion for learners unaccustomed to tones is 漢語 hànyǔ “Chinese (language)” and 韓語 hányǔ “Korean (language)” (fortunately, 中文 zhōngwén and 韓文 hánwén exist as alternate names for the languages).
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