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German and English word pairings are like walking on broken glass. While there are some word pairings that fit in terms of their meanings, there are others that have more than one meaning in the other language. The biggest pitfalls are the word pairings where the spelling is similar in both, yet the meanings are totally different. This leads to the question which word pairings are true friends, which ones are acquaintances (namely ones that are mixed) and which ones are false friends. For false friends it is very important to understand the differences in meanings between the word pairings.
Hence the series which I hope you enjoy! 😊
Activity 1: Determine which pairs are true friends and which ones are false. Be prepared to explain why.
- Also <=> Auch
- Billion <=> Billion
- Chance <=> Chance
- Colleague <=> Kollege
- Doppelganger <=> Doppelgänger
- Chef <=> Chef
- Decent <=> Dezent
- Gymnasium <=> Gymnasium
- Hell <=> Hell
- Praline <=> Praline
- Team <=> Team
- Nest <=> Nest
- Experiment <=> Experiment
- For <=> Vor
- Fast <=> Fast
Activity 2: The following German words have more than one meaning in English. Try to find the meanings.
- Rucksack
- Kaputt
- Gesundheit
- Reich
- Mist
- Last
- Bad
- Klasse
- Bank
- Hahn
More to come! Stay tuned! 😊
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