Following on from last week’s article Italian False Friends, and taking into account the contributions made by you in your comments, we’re going to take a look at a few more common false cognitives.

Common False Friends:

Il lupo travestito da pecora = The wolf in sheep’s clothing

argomento can be mistaken for ‘argument’ but actually means ‘topic’, e.g. stamattina il maestro ci ha introdotto un argomento molto interessante … il sesso! (this morning the teacher introduced us to a very interesting topic … sex!)

assistere can be mistaken for ‘to assist’ but usually means ‘to attend’ or ‘to be present at’ e.g. ieri abbiamo assistito ad un bello spettacolo al teatro (yesterday we attended a great show at the theatre). In some cases it also means ‘to assist/help’ e.g. assistere un povero (to help a poor person), assistere un malato (to assist an ill person)

comprensivo can be mistaken for ‘comprehensive’ but actually means ‘understanding’, e.g. Marco è un ragazzo molto comprensivo (Marco is a very understanding guy)

confrontare can be mistaken for ‘to confront’ but actually means ‘to compare’, e.g. devo confrontare queste due stampanti per capire qual è la migliore (I need to compare these two printers in order to understand which is better)

educato can be mistaken for ‘educated’ but actually means ‘polite/well mannered’, e.g. Federico è stato molto educato (Federico was very polite). Hence maleducato means ‘rude/impolite/badly mannered’, però sua sorella è stata un po’ maleducata (however, his sister was a bit rude)

fabbrica can be mistaken for ‘fabric’ but actually means ‘factory’, e.g. ho lavorato nella stessa fabbrica per quindici anni (I’ve worked at the same factory for fifteen years)

fattoria can be mistaken for ‘factory’ but actually means ‘farm’, da ragazzo mi piaceva andare alla fattoria del babbo del mio amico Carlo (when I was a lad I used to like going to my friend Carlo’s father’s farm)

intendere can be mistaken for ‘to intend’ but actually means ‘to understand’, e.g. mi hai inteso? (did you understand me?), tu non intendi nulla di questo argomento, vero? (you don’t understand anything about this topic, do you?)

libreria can be mistaken for ‘library’ but actually means ‘bookshop’, see: In a Bookshop in Italy

morbido can be mistaken for ‘morbid’ but actually means ‘soft’, e.g questa è una stoffa molto morbida (this is a really soft cloth)

parente can be mistaken for ‘parent’ but actually means ‘relative’, e.g. questo week-end vengono i miei parenti da Genova (my relatives from Genoa are coming this weekend)

rumore can be mistaken for ‘rumour’ but actually means ‘noise’, e.g. cos’è quello strano rumore che sento? (what’s that strange noise that I can hear?)

simpatico can be mistaken for ‘sympathetic’ but actually means ‘nice/friendly/likeable’, e.g. Pontremoli è una città simpatica (Pontremoli is a friendly town), Lucia è una ragazza molto simpatica (Lucia is a really likeable girl)

False False Friends?

Some words are simply considered false friends based on a misunderstanding of their etymology. These words can be our friends because we can actually learn a lot from them if we look a bit deeper.
Take the word camera for example: the original name for the device that we use to take photos was camera obscura (Latin: dark room). In contemporary English, we’ve dropped the word ‘obscura’ and shortened the name to ‘camera’. So, in actuality, camera still means room whether we’re referring to a photographic machine or speaking about a room in Italian, it’s just that we’ve forgotten it. In fact, the Italian name, macchina fotografica, is probably more accurate and contemporary.

Thanks for your helpful comments, keep them coming!