Learning a new language is an everyday challenge when, as beginners, we try our best to avoid making grammar mistakes or struggle with pronunciation. Acquiring new vocabulary might seem the easiest task instead, especially when the vocab in question seems familiar to us.
It is not only in English we can come across a lot of loanwords from different languages (such as Latin, Italian, French, to cite the most significant ones), but also listening or reading words which have a specific meaning in English and an opposite one in the language they come from.
The semantic field in which these kinds of words are mostly found is “food and eating”. As expected, in this case the language which English has adopted the majority of terms from is Italian.
For someone who is not familiar at all with the English language, it might sound weird to sit in a “café”, since “caffè” (almost the same word but with an extra “f” in the middle) is not a place, but the beverage you can enjoy with sugar, milk, or black strong.
Vegetarians should pay attention while ordering a pizza in the United Kingdom: in fact, they might think they are going to enjoy a tasty vegetarian one but, in this case, the disappointment is realized when they are served a pepperoni pizza, which is actually salami.
Italian kids are warned: if you are offered “confetti” during a party, you should not eat them! While “confetti” are sugared almond sweets in Italian, the same word is used in English to denote the little colourful pieces of paper which are thrown in the air during celebrations.
While the word “costume” reminds Italian people of summer holidays, spending time on the seashore sunbathing, it evokes Carnival or Halloween parties to English people, since it refers to fancy dress.
In addition to Italian, there are other languages which have this amusing connection with English. For instance, the word “air” is a homograph (so it is used with the same spelling) in Indonesian, but with a total different meaning! In fact, it stands for “water”! Same word, different element.
A joyful celebration for English speakers is always followed by getting or giving “gifts”, but German speakers cannot say the same, since “gift” is present in the German dictionary with the meaning of “poison”. Always utilised with a positive hue is the term “LOL”, an acronym which stands for “lot of laughs”, used in text-based communication to express amusement. It is actually a word in Dutch, and it means “fun”!
In conclusion, English could be tricky sometimes but also incredibly amusing when we discover such funny connections with other languages, learners just should not mix meanings up!
If you can think of anymore examples of loanwords that learners should be aware of let them know in the comments below and share this blog with your language loving friends!