In connection with the European Cup Championship in Soccer, I found this sticker on a lamppost that needs no introduction, just a gesture of sportsmanship. In English it’s translated as follows:
Soccer/Football belongs to the fans! ⚽🏟️
Enough said. 😊
The showpiece final of this summer’s European Championship, likely to attract a worldwide television audience in excess of 300 million people, will be played on July 14 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin — a stadium originally built and funded on the orders of Europe’s […]
Adolf Hitler, Jesse Owens and Berlin’s Olympiastadion: the complicated history of Euro 2024 final venue
A look at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, one of the sites for this year’s European Cup Championship.
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In a sense, the world, inside America and beyond, is merely reverting to the historical norm, in which values mattered less and power more.
Andreas Kluth: U.S. exceptionalism is dead no matter who wins the election
This article looks at the idea of American Exceptionalism, which the author Andreas Kluth sees it as dead. What do you think? Click on the link to read the article then feel free to comment on it.
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Our next False Friend Quiz takes a look at the word Halten in German and its meaning in English. Looking at it in terms of lexica and when it stands out, Halten means either To Hold or To Keep in English, pending on how the word is used. Use the German word as an expression, one will find different meanings in English that stand out far away from the meaning of the single word. Combine Hold with another word in English you will find not only a different meaning but when translated into German, one has to think about paraphrasing. In other words, no matter if it’s a noun or preposition, each phrasal pair has a different meaning that is difficult to translate without having to encounter a false friend.
How different? Let’s check this out with a set of activities for you to do. The Answers will be made available next week. Good Luck! 🙂
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Exercise 1: Translate the following expressions correctly into English.
Exercise 2: Repeat the same procedure but into German.
Exercise 3: Match and Translate Match the following phrasal verbs to the meanings on the right. Then translate them into German.
| Phrasal Verb | Meaning | Auf Deutsch |
| 1. Hold on | a. Keep to something | 1. |
| 2. Hold back | b. Delay/Postpone/Cancel | 2. |
| 3. Hold off | c. Wait/ Stay put | 3. |
| 4. Hold to | d. Limit/ keep down | 4. |
| 5. Hold with | e. Agree with/ support something | 5. |
| 6. Hold down | f. Retreat | 6. |
Check out the other False Friend pairs and other activities by clicking on the window below:
It also includes the answers from the False Friends Quiz on Feelings. 🙂
Now that you have tried out this batch of False Friends Quiz on the topic of Feelings, are you ready to take a look at the results? You should be, for the answers may surprise you.
Without further ado…… 🙂
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Exercise 1: According to AI- When following up on this topic, I inquired about it through AI. The following is generated by GPT 40. This is a multiple choice exercise where you should choose the best answer possible. Then identify the mistakes as there are a couple of them.
Exercise 2. Determine whether these word pairs are true friends or false friends. For the false friends, explain why.
ANS: False Friend- Bad (D) means health spa or bathroom; Bad (EN) means böse
ANS: True Friend except Irritiert can mean perplexed
ANS: False Friend- Sensibel means sensitive whereas Sensible means vernünftig
ANS: True Friend
ANS: False Friend- Sympathisch means likeable/friendly, while Sympathetic means emphatic
ANS: False Friend- Dezent means discreet; Decent means anständig
ANS: False Friend- Faul means lazy, while Foul means schmutzig
ANS: True Friend
ANS: True Friend
ANS: True Friend
ANS: False Friend- Ordinär means vulgar, while Ordinary means ordentlich or normal
ANS: True Friend
ANS: False Friend- Kraft means energy while Craft means hands-on skills
ANS: False Friend- Sinn means sense whereas Sin means Sünde
ANS: True Friend
Exercise 3. Denglish. The following words are used in German, but what do they really mean? Look up the meanings in both languages.
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Hope these answers help. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to state them. 🙂
While you are at it, check out the Pocket Guide to False Friends, where you can find a growing list of examples as well as activities for you to do at home, in the classroom or wherever you are on the road:
And if you are interested, check out the other fun English-German activities by visiting the Language Corner:
In this edition of No Comment, this photo was brought to my attention recently. It’s a restaurant and gas station located in the US and if you look at it further, the wording is wrong on so many accounts. Can you identify the grave mistake there? And do you think that the owner is still in business? 🤔😁
Germany’s working-age population to decrease by 2% by 2045.
Germany’s working-age population to decline by 2% by 2045, study shows
Despite measures being sought by the Scholz government, the Germany will see a substantial decline of the worker population in the next 20 years. Details here.
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Willie Mays, arguably the greatest all-around player in major league history, passed away on Tuesday afternoon at the age of 93.
Willie Mays dies at 93
When we think of baseball, one of the first names that come to mind is Willie Mays, the home run king and greatest player of his time. Mays died yesterday at the age of 93. Here’s a look at his life and career.
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Malu Dreyer, Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, declares her resignation. Her successor has already been chosen. The Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer (SPD), has introduced her resignation, as a number of media shops have persistently reported. Based on data from “Spiegel”, Labor Minister Alexander Schweitzer can be her successor. The newspaper “Rheinpfalz” additionally reported on […]
Prime Minister Malu Dreyer resigns
One of the main factors influencing her decision was Multiple Sclerosis, which was made public in 2021. Details in the article.
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U.S. Surgeon General calls for warning label on social media due to harm on young people. Click here to read the story:
US Surgeon General calls for social media warning labels to protect adolescents
Already measures are being sought to restrict access to social media for children and adolescents, as we see in Florida. But an idea for a warning label is controversial. For cigarettes and alcohol yes, for fatty foods and sweets it’s imaginable but tough to pass.
But what about the use of social media?
It serves as a reminder that a social media survey is still being carried out for academic and writing purposes. Click here to participate, you have 12 more days until the polls close and the results are revealed:
When you are done with that, there’s another one on the importance of English in 30+ years from now you should check out and chime in:
Thank you for your support and encouraging others to participate in the polls. It’s much appreciated. 🙂
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