Last week, I created an experiment where I generated a pair of False Friend Quizzes using the program GPT40 and not only tried it out in class, but also posted it here in this column. We had some very interesting reactions from the students who thought that there were some discreptancies in the questions while others who saw two similar answers come out for one question, interpreted them as differences in pronunciation. In either case, the conclusion is there are some limitations when asking a computer to put a quiz and activity together and sometimes, one either has to adjust the activites, go natural and do it from scratch, or if insistent, ask for help.
Nevertheless, here are the results of a pair of False Friend Quizzes for you to look at. The explanations- also generated by AI- are included in each answer. Feel free to try out the quiz yourself and/or comment in the section below.
So without further ado…….
Answers:
False Friend Exercise: English-German Verbs
Instructions:
For each English verb, choose the correct German translation from the options provided. Be careful, as some options are false friends!
- To become
- a) bekommen
- b) werden– Explanation: “Werden” means “to become”. “Bekommen” is a false friend and means “to receive”.
- c) bleiben
.
- To look
- a) sehen– Explanation: “Sehen” means “to look” or “to see”. “Suchen” means “to search for” and “schauen” can mean “to watch” or “to look” depending on the context.
- b) schauen
- c) suchen
.
- To realize
- a) realisieren
- b) erkennen– Explanation: “Erkennen” means “to realize” or “to recognize”. “Realisieren” is a false friend and often means “to make real” or “to implement”.
- c) verstehen
.
- To spend (money)
- a) verbringen
- b) ausgeben– Explanation: “Ausgeben” means “to spend money”. “Verbringen” means “to spend time” and “sparen” means “to save”.
- c) sparen
.
- To lend
- a) leihen– Explanation: “Leihen” means “to lend”. “Mieten” means “to rent” and “borgen” can also mean “to borrow” or “to lend” but is less commonly used.
- b) mieten
- c) borgen
.
- To attend
- a) besuchen- Explanation: “Besuchen” means “to attend” or “to visit”. “Warten” means “to wait” and “teilnehmen” means “to participate”.
- b) warten
- c) teilnehmen
.
- To pretend
- a) vorgeben
- b) versuchen
- c) vortäuschen- Explanation: “Vortäuschen” means “to pretend”. “Vorgeben” also means “to pretend” but can be contextually different. “Versuchen” means “to try”.
- To control
- a) kontrollieren
- b) steuern– Explanation: “Steuern” means “to control” in the sense of managing or directing. “Kontrollieren” is a false friend and means “to check” or “to monitor”.
- c) beherrschen
.
- To notice
- a) notieren
- b) bemerken– Explanation: “Bemerken” means “to notice”. “Notieren” means “to note down” and “beachten” means “to pay attention to”.
- c) beachten
.
- To argue
- a) argumentieren
- b) streiten– Explanation: “Streiten” means “to argue” or “to quarrel”. “Argumentieren” means “to argue” in the sense of making a case or reasoning. “Diskutieren” means “to discuss”.
- c) diskutieren
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False Friend Exercise: Unusual and Least Used Academic English-German Verbs
Instructions:
For each English verb, choose the correct German translation from the options provided. Be careful, as some options are false friends!
- To obfuscate
- a) obfusizieren
- b) verschleiern– Explanation: “Verschleiern” means “to obfuscate” or “to obscure”. “Obfusizieren” is not a correct German word. “Erhellen” means “to illuminate” or “to clarify”.
- c) erhellen
.
- To exacerbate
- a) exazerbieren
- b) verschlimmern- Explanation: “Verschlimmern” means “to exacerbate” or “to worsen”. “Exazerbieren” is a formal medical term meaning to make a disease worse, but it’s not commonly used in general language. “Verbessern” means “to improve”.
- c) verbessern
.
- To promulgate
- a) promulgieren
- b) veröffentlichen- Explanation: “Veröffentlichen” means “to promulgate” or “to publish”. “Promulgieren” is rarely used and can be misleading. “Verbergen” means “to hide”.
- c) verbergen
.
- To elucidate
- a) elucidieren
- b) erläutern– Explanation: “Erläutern” means “to elucidate” or “to explain”. “Elucidieren” is not a correct German word. “Verschleiern” means “to obfuscate”.
- c) verschleiern
.
- To juxtapose
- a) juxtapositionieren
- b) nebeneinanderstellen– Explanation: “Nebeneinanderstellen” means “to juxtapose” or “to place side by side”. “Juxtapositionieren” is not a correct German word. “Trennen” means “to separate”.
- c) trennen
.
- To peruse
- a) perusieren
- b) durchlesen– Explanation: “Durchlesen” means “to peruse” or “to read through”. “Perusieren” is not a correct German word. “Ignorieren” means “to ignore”.
- c) ignorieren
.
- To abscond
- a) abscondieren
- b) verschwinden– Explanation: “Verschwinden” means “to abscond” or “to disappear”. “Abscondieren” is not a correct German word. “Bleiben” means “to stay”.
- c) bleiben
.
- To ameliorate
- a) ameliorieren
- b) verbessern- Explanation: “Verbessern” means “to ameliorate” or “to improve”. “Ameliorieren” is not a correct German word. “Verschlechtern” means “to worsen”.
- c) verschlechtern
.
- To expound
- a) expoundieren
- b) darlegen– Explanation: “Darlegen” means “to expound” or “to explain”. “Expoundieren” is not a correct German word. “Verbergen” means “to hide”.
- c) verbergen
.
- To eschew
- a) eschewieren
- b) vermeiden- Explanation: “Vermeiden” means “to eschew” or “to avoid”. “Eschewieren” is not a correct German word. “Annehmen” means “to accept”.
- c) annehmen
.
Hope these answers help. Again, this is only produced with AI. If you disagree with the answers, feel free to comment below. 🙂
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