In this video we’re going to look at false friends in English and Russian.
What are false friends and why are they so important?
A false friend (also called a false cognate) is a word that is regularly
confused with a word in another language because the two words sound or look similar.
For example, this word in English (chat) means to talk casually with
someone whereas in French it is spelt the same, pronounced (chat) and means cat.
So why Russian?
Russian is a Slavic language with official status in 4 countries - Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan and of course, Russia. It is widely used in many other countries in
Europe and Asia and across the whole globe. It has around 150 million native speakers
worldwide and is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, the UN.
I’ve worked in Latvia for 3 years and actually around 90% of my students have
Russian as their first language. In my experience, knowing these false friends
helps Russian speakers learning English and English speakers learning Russian.
By the way, if we’re meeting for the first time, I’m Alister. On this channel we have all sorts
of tips, lessons and advice about English. If you’re new here, consider subscribing.
Brilliant and бриллиант
Бриллиант means diamond.
Brilliant in Russian has many different words, one of which is oтлично.
Stool and стул
A стул looks like this, not this or this. In English, we call this word a chair.
This one is an absolute classic in the classroom,
especially at the start of the year when new students are deciding which стул is theirs.
A stool is a chair without a back, looks like this, and is often found in bars and pubs.
Band and банда
A банда is a group of criminals or a group of (usually) young people who often fight
another банда and generally behave badly. In English, this is a gang, not a band.
A band is a group of musicians. For example,
my favourite band from the 1960’s were The Beach Boys.
Who are your favourite bands? Let me know in the comments below!
In Russian, the word группа would be used instead of band, which actually isn’t really so different.
Smelly and смелый
This one is one of my personal favourites. A person who is described as cмелый is brave.
Smelly in English isn’t so positive. It usually carries
negative connotations - something that doesn’t smell nice, for example feet or body odour.
Mark and марка
A марка is a stamp, put in the corner of a letter before it is posted to wherever it goes.
Mark in English has many meanings,
including a grade or judgement you get for a piece of work at school or university;
it can also mean written symbols - question marks and exclamation marks, for example.
Lunatic and лунатик
A лунатик is a sleepwalker, which totally makes sense because луна in Russian is the moon.
A lunatic is someone who is crazy or silly, usually in a dangerous way.
You can see the potential similarities here. A лунатик may well be a lunatic
and also the other way around, vice-versa.
Penal and пенал
A пенал is a pencil case.
You can imagine this one is going to cause some
difficulties for younger learners. “Please pass me my pencil case”.
The word penal is quite rare in English. It’s an adjective relating to punishment given by law.
So yeh, absolutely nothing to do with pencil cases! Unless,
anyone knows any laws about pencil cases - anybody!?
Accurate and аккуратный
Аккуратный is quite difficult to explain. Some combination of neat, tidy, careful and orderly.
For example, a person who is very precise with how they tidy everything
in their house and keep it organised and clean would be described as аккуратный.
Accurate in English means to be correct, exact, without any mistakes. When solving difficult Maths
problems it’s important to be accurate with your method. In Russian, accurate is точно.
Insult and инсульт
An инсульт happens when a blood vessel carrying oxygen and nutrients to the
brain becomes blocked or bursts. As a result, this part of the brain cannot get the necessary
oxygen and nutrients and so some brain cells die. In English, we call this a stroke.
An insult is something said or done that isn’t very nice,
upsets people and possibly offends them. In Russian, this is оскорбление.
This video is part of my false friends series so be sure to check out false friends between
English and other languages. The playlist is up here and I’ll also put a link below
in the YouTube description. Check it out after you've watched this video.
Clay and клей
Quite simply, клей is glue.
Many younger students, when doing an activity involving
cutting and sticking ask for a клей-карандаш or a glue stick.
Clay is a material that is soft when wet and hard when dry or baked,
it is used to make bricks and pottery. In Russian, clay is глина.
Magazine and магазин
An extremely common false friend, for example this one also happens in French. A магазин is a shop.
This is a magazine and the Russian word is журнал.
Family and фамилия
Фамилия means surname or family name.
The фамилия of the current Russian president is Putin.
Your family is the group of people related to you - Mum, Dad, brother, sister and so on.
Bog and Бог
Бог means God.
Bog has two meanings in English. It is an informal or slang way of saying
the toilet. Or an area with soft, wet ground, something like this.
Talon and талон
A талон is a piece of paper that allows the user to get something at a reduced price,
or for free. These were extremely common during the Soviet Union times. Probably
best translates as coupon in English, or possibly voucher.
A talon is a sharp nail on the foot of certain birds of prey,
especially useful for hunting animals. In Russian, коготь.
Check out this video showing false friends between English and Latvian.
Thanks so much for watching and I’ll see you over here in the next video.