Mistakes are not uncommon when reviewing or proofreading someone else’s translation. Sometimes there are typos, extra spaces, some minor grammatical errors or repetition. I can usually tell if the translation was done by a professional or someone who happens to be bilingual, based on some of the words they choose throughout the translation. One of the most common mistakes in translation is the use of a word that is written the same or very similarly in both languages. Sometimes a person may assume that they mean the same thing and use that word as the “translation”. Unfortunately for them this is not always the case. Those tricky words are called False-Cognates or also known as False-Friends.

Here are a couple common examples:

Example 1

English Word: Embarrassed 

Spanish Translation: Apenado, avergonzado

Spanish Word: Embarazada

English Translation: Pregnant

Example 2

English Word: Carpet

Spanish Translation: Tapete, alfombra

Spanish Word: Carpeta

English Translation: Folder, table cover

In the above examples, the English and the Spanish word have similar spelling and pronunciation, but as you can see by their corresponding translations, they mean very different things. Do you see how easy it can be for someone not throughly familiar with false-cognates or with an adequate command of vocabulary in the target language to make some of these assumptions?

Homonyms, Cognates, False-Friends. Do they know the difference? These are just some of the important linguistic aspects a professional translator should understand and recognize.

Homonyms are one or two words that are either spelled or pronounced alike but have different meaning. There are two types of Homonyms: Homographs and Homophones.

Homograph is one or two or more words spelled (graph=write) alike but different in meaning or derivation or pronunciation. As the bow of a ship, a bow and arrow.

Homophone is defined as one of two or more words pronounced (phone=sound) alike but different in meaning or derivation or spelling, such as the words to, too, and two.

Cognates are defined as words that exist in two different languages and have the same root origin, such as English and Spanish, which have Latin roots. Examples include: Actor, Agenda, Animal, Alcohol. These words have the same meaning in both, English and Spanish.

False-Friend is a word that is often confused with a word in another language with a different meaning because the two words look or sound similar: Rope/Ropa, Carpet/Carpeta, Largo/Long. Also known as “False-Cognate”.

As always, I encourage my readers to look into professional services and not simply rely on a bilingual individual, no matter how well they “speak” Spanish. Notice I said speak. Just because someone speaks Spanish, it doesn’t mean that they can write it and understand it at the same register or with the same accuracy as a professional translator. But that’s for another article for another day.