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Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

Recently, Anna at Polish Blog and I, at my blog, recently did posts on false friends.

I realize that neither of our lists come anywhere close to coming up with a comprehensive database of commonly mistaken expressions between the two languages. I think it would be smart to use the knowledge of this community to compile a list of false friends and then post them on the net for posterity.

What do you all think? If you agree, write some false friends and we'll see how many we can come up with!

Link to my blog: http://www.mypolishlife.pl/index.php/2008/09/polish-en...
(the link to my post includes a link to Anna's post in it)
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Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

oferta
angina
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Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

But there are some mistakes on the meaning of Polish words.....KOmunikacja is not only public transport, it's also comminication. Promotion is not only sale, it's also promotion.
Wyrafinowany has neutral or positive meaning, not negative, as you wrote.
And so on....

I'm sorry but you are making mistakes in Polish.
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Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

Maria B.:
But there are some mistakes on the meaning of Polish words.....KOmunikacja is not only public transport, it's also comminication. Promotion is not only sale, it's also promotion.
Wyrafinowany has neutral or positive meaning, not negative, as you wrote.
And so on....

I'm sorry but you are making mistakes in Polish.


You are right that "komunikacja" has more than one meaning in Polish, but the point is that it doesn't have that meaning in English. In other words, you can't use communication to talk about public transport in English. Same with promotion. In the next list I'll be sure to add the alternate meanings; you are right that that's not clear.

I will have to disagree with you in terms of "wyrafinowany". It can be VERY negative in Polish. For example, "Ta kobeita szuka starego bogatego faceta. Ona jest bardzo wyrafinowana." So, "interesowna". The PWN Słownik confirms this definition.
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Steve Jones

Steve Jones Business English
Trainer, Translator,
Proofreader

Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

I thought "wyrafinowany" meant "sophisticated".... how can that be negative?
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Michal B.

Michal B. stud.

Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

Steve, from what I know (and I don't know too much, so beware!) the word "wyrafinowany" ("sophisticated") is often used in Polish to describe cunning and devious methods used to cheat someone and methods of torture and cruelty.
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Michal B.

Michal B. stud.

Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

Polish 'konsekwentny' is often mistakenly translated into English as "consequent".

(Pl)konsekwentny = (Eng) consistent
(Eng)consequent = (Pl)będący następstwem czegoś, spowodowany czymśMichał B. edytował(a) ten post dnia 02.09.08 o godzinie 14:15
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Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

(Pl)kaczynski = (En)dickhead
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Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

Dave Andrew:
(Pl)kaczynski = (En)dickhead


hehehehe lovely
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Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

(En) Euro2012 = (Pl) Chaos
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Michal B.

Michal B. stud.

Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

Dave Andrew:
(Pl)kaczynski = (En)dickhead

You mean like:

(Eng) George Brown = (Pl) Ciemna Masa :-)
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Anna Dorota Zagórna

Anna Dorota Zagórna HR linguist

Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

e.g. actual and aktualny
for more read "Difficult Words in Polish English Translation"
by Christine Douglas-Kozłowska
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Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

Michał B.:

(Eng) George Brown = (Pl) Ciemna Masa :-)
don't understand
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Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

(En) Coffee = (Pl) szybki numerek
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Malgorzata F.

Malgorzata F. Project Manager

Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

Andre Chmielewski:
I will have to disagree with you in terms of "wyrafinowany". It can be VERY negative in Polish. For example, "Ta kobeita szuka starego bogatego faceta. Ona jest bardzo wyrafinowana." So, "interesowna". The PWN Słownik confirms this definition.


I think you meant - WYRACHOWANA = INTERESOWNA

Wyrafinowana doesn't make any sense in this context
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Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

The very word: "Biesiada" certainly never means 'a talk' in polish. The basic meaning of 'biesiada' is 'a feast', 'a banquet' or 'a (grand) party'. The meaning 'ceremony' sounds really awkward. Biesiada is also used to describe cultural events like poetry recitation i.e. 'biesiada poetycka'. On the other hand the word rozmowa means 'a talk' but never ever a 'party, ceremony'. Now that looks like a mess.
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Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

Malgorzata F.:
Andre Chmielewski:

I will have to disagree with you in terms of "wyrafinowany". It can be VERY negative in Polish. For example, "Ta kobeita szuka starego bogatego faceta. Ona jest bardzo wyrafinowana." So, "interesowna". The PWN Słownik confirms this definition.


I think you meant - WYRACHOWANA = INTERESOWNA

Wyrafinowana doesn't make any sense in this context

Hmm... it's entirely possible; I won't put money down on it. This example got stuck in my mind because I once called someone "wyrafinowany" meaning to call them sophisticated, and after that there was a lot of explaining to do... they were not pleased. The same is true for some other words I put on the post.
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Lidia K.

Lidia K. +

Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

cleaver?
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Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

Andre Chmielewski:

I will have to disagree with you in terms of "wyrafinowany". It can be VERY negative in Polish. For example, "Ta kobeita szuka starego bogatego faceta. Ona jest bardzo wyrafinowana." So, "interesowna". The PWN Słownik confirms this definition.
Well, as MA in Polish I have to disagree. Wyrafinowany means sophisticated. It can be use in the negative meaning but it's used as such very rarely. Not to mention that according to PWN Slownik Jezyka Polskiego - "dążenie do osiągnięcia własnych celów, nawet kosztem innych, zachowując pozory szlachetności". So you absolutly cannot say that wyrafinowany means interesowny.

Wyrafinowany has positive meaning - something on a very high level, extraordinary.
Dave Andrew:
(Pl)kaczynski = (En)dickhead
Buahahahahaha
Love it :)))))Maria B. edytował(a) ten post dnia 02.09.08 o godzinie 15:28
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Michal B.

Michal B. stud.

Temat: False Friends between Polish and English

Dave Andrew:
Michał B.:

(Eng) George Brown = (Pl) Ciemna Masa :-)
don't understand

No wonder you don't understand; it was a 'poniżej pasa' (primitive)joke. :-)
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