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[–] 36 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (11 children)

Like recently where I am, it’s pushing “anticuado” as “outdated”. Except that is obviously “Antiquated”.

Don't rely on word similarity without checking dictionaries, otherwise you will end up like people who think "bizarro" means "bizarre". False friends are a thing.

"obliguado" doesn't seem like a real Spanish word to me, and the RAE dictionaries seem to agree with me.

Also it's very common for certain words to have no equivalent translation with the same root, so you will have to settle for "words used in the target language in this situation" even if they don't quite get the nuances across.

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  • [–] 17 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

    A couple of my favorite false cognates in Spanish are:

    pregunta = question

    embarazada = pregnant

    avergonzada = embarrassed

    (I included that last one because I've never actually known how to say embarrassed in Spanish, and now I know.)

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  • [–] 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

    The "embarazada"/"embarrassed" mix-up is really common and it always elicits the same confused reaction from people who hear it for the first time.

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  • [–] 12 points 3 days ago (3 children)

    another thing is that, sometimes the etymological equivalent even if not a false cognate, may still carry very different semantics and connotations

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  • [–] 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

    The Bizzaro thing is a good point, but also knowing the actual meaning, it seems the English equivalent would be "Brazen". Which is similar in structure and meaning.

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