False friends (in Norwegian) "False friends" are words in two different languages, that sounds similar, and perhaps even have the same origin, but have different meanings.In Norwegian some of these ar

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Andreas

False friends (in Norwegian)

"False friends" are words in two different languages, that sounds similar, and perhaps even have the same origin, but have different meanings.

In Norwegian some of these are:

Full

The English word means the opposite of hungry, while the Norwegian word means "(being) drunk". So if you're saying "jeg er full", it means "I'm drunk", not "I'm full". If you want to say "I'm full", you have to say "jeg er mett" or "jeg er forsynt".

Go - gå

I've seen many Norwegian learners make this mistake. When they try to say "I want to go to Norway", they translate it to "jeg vil gå til Norge". But what they're really saying, it "I want to walk to Norway".

Because in most cases "gå" means "walk".

Though there are some exceptions: we also use "gå" when we're about to leave ("jeg går nå" - "I'm leaving/going now").

Map - mappe

For this one, I've actually heard Norwegian make mistakes when trying to say it in English. The Norwegian word "mappe" usually means "folder", but can also be a small bag or pouch. Therefore it's funny when people say "toilet map" when they actually mean "toiletry bag". "Map" in Norwegian is "kart".

Leg - legg

The Norwegian word "legg" is the area between the ankle and the knee. "Leg" in Norwegian is "bein/ben".

Chin - kinn

"Kinn" means "cheek". So if you want to say "chin" you have to say "hake".

Steak - stek

"Stek" means "a roast", while the Norwegian word for "steak" is "biff". Which brings us to the next one.

Beef - biff

"Beef" in Norwegian is "storfekjøtt" (literally "cattle meat").

Rolig (Norwegian vs. Swedish)

In Norwegian "rolig" means "calm", while in Swedish it means "fun" or "festive".

Bärs - bæsj (Swedish vs. Norwegian)

The Swedish word "bärs" is a pilsner or lager beer, while the Norwegian word "bæsj" actually means "poop". It can be quite funny to Norwegians when Swedish people seemingly wants to drink poop.

Glass (Swedish vs. Norwegian)

The Swedish word means "ice cream", while the Norwegian word means "glass".

Bolle (Norwegian vs. Danish)

In Norwegian "bolle" is a sweet bun. In Danish however, it's slang for having sex.

<a href="https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_over_falske_venner" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_over_falske_venner</a>;

29 Oca 2020 18:32

Yorumlar · 6

Hi Andreas,

In French we have the same "Fake friends" or "faux amis" and which refers to what you said.

An example would be: "Terrific" which means great or awesome. Whereas "Terriffiant" in French describes something scary or horrifying.

20 Şubat 2020

Thank you Andreas,

This is very interesting.

I discovered that some of the false friends also apply for the german language! :)

My favorite one is the word full (which is "voll" in german):

in english it means that you are not hungry and ate a lot;

in norwegian it means that you are very very drunk;

and you can use it for both meanings in german!

21 Şubat 2020

"Jeg vil dra til Norge"

20 Şubat 2020

Im not learning Norweigan, but this was awesome to k ow .thanksssss

29 Ocak 2020

I think I could give a few examples from my first/native language too (which is Hungarian).

You can say 'mappa' in Hungarian, however it means 'folder' just like 'mappe' in Norwegian. The word 'térkép' is the equivalent of the English word 'map'.

'Leg' in Hungarian is used to create superlative adjectives, so it functions just like 'most' in the English language (and, by the way, 'most' in Hungarian means 'now' in English...).

But wait, there's more!

You can also say 'kinn' in Hungarian, but that would mean 'out' or 'outside' in English.

Another example that comes to my mind is 'protekció'. Speakers of other languages would instantly say it means 'protection'. While it's not far from the truth, the word itself would rather mean 'nepotism', or 'patronage' in English.

These examples form only the tip of the iceberg, however.

In any case, it's an interesting topic. I became interested in Scandinavian languages some time ago, so this will be useful to remember while distinguishing them.

21 Şubat 2020

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