Buondì.
Following on from Friday’s popular quiz on ‘false friends’, today I have something similar for you.
The words I chose for you last week were identical to English words, in their spelling, if not in their pronunciation or meaning. The examples I used were ‘male’ and ‘brave’.
But there really aren’t so many of those. Italian words often conjugate, so making their endings unlike English words.
Just look back at that sentence. The one beginning with ‘But there really…’ and check out the endings of the words:
ut / re / ly / n’t /o / ny / f /se / s / an / ds / en / te / o / ng / ir / gs / ke / sh / ds
Some of them are possible Italian word endings, but not most. Italian words tend not to end with ‘consonant clusters’, for instance (ly, ny, ds, ng, gs, sh – in the list above), which makes some English words quite hard work for Italian speakers. Poverini.
Anyway, the point is that there are a lot more Italian words which are strongly reminiscent of English words (probably having the same original Latin root) but are not spelled in the same way.
Often they’re easily guessable, for instance ‘arrivare’, ‘informare’, and ‘transformare’. There are thousands like that, which is a huge advantage for English speakers learning Italian.
However, sometimes, as with Friday’s selection, the meanings of the similar-looking Italian and English words have diverged over the centuries, making them false friends indeed! Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…
Two good examples are the Italian words ‘rumore’ and ‘noioso’, which do rather look like ‘rumour’ and ‘noise’, don’t they? Apart from the endings.
A reasonable person with good reading skills (guessing, basically) might well be taken in. And yet ‘rumore’ is ‘noise’, while ‘noioso’ is something quite different – it means ‘boring’.
Confused? Good!
For, in my humble opinion, these deceitful words are actually really easy to learn. You know the old saying?
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
It’s that.
When someone tricks you (steals your wallet while you’re loading a heavy toddler in a stroller onto a packed rush-hour bus), you’ll be extra careful next time, right?
What’s ‘noioso’ in English?
What’s a ‘rumore’?
See? They’re memorable.
And as such, function as words you can ‘hang your hat’ on while reading Italian. In the same way as words that are familiar but aren’t ‘false friends’.
Example:
“Ho sentito un rumore strano in garage!”
Let’s assume you’re just starting out with Italian, so don’t know any of the first three words in that sentence – Ho / sentito / un.
Keep reading though and you come across ‘rumore’, ‘strano’, and ‘garage’.
Either you know the false friend or you don’t, no matter.
But extrapolating from the context – we’re in a strange house, there’s a storm blowing, we’re scared – and working back from the final word ‘garage’, ‘strano = strange?’, ‘rumore’…
OMG! A strange rumour in the garage? No wait, you must mean ‘noise’, yeah, that banging! I heard it too!
You’re brain has evolved to find meaning, if you give it a chance, and has all these pre-installed ways of doing that.
In context, false friends tend to give themselves away, which makes them easy to learn, I think.
And when they come teamed up with words that are familiar but which aren’t false friends, that makes them even simpler.
Takeaway: guessing from context will teach you a lot about the words that are similar in English, but also about the ones that aren’t.
All you have to do is make sure you’re getting plenty of input, so enough ‘context’ for the magic to work.
Other examples of Italian/English false friends?
Here are some classics:
attualmente, camera, canone, fattoria, laboratori, libreria, moda,
morbido, obbligazioni, opera, pratica, processo, ritardi, spettacoli, terapia
Given that I haven’t provided context, you’ll probably need to look them up. Enjoy!
Bear in mind while you’re doing so that words often have multiple uses, one or more of which might be the same in English. That doesn’t mean they all are…
‘Visitare’ is a good example. I remember my wife being in ospedale, waiting to give birth to our eldest, who was refusing to exit at the expected time.
Those familiar with these things will know about the various potions that can be applied to induce labour, and the physical examinations which might be required to verify that it is finally beginning.
But I wasn’t.
So when I called round after my lessons, to offer moral support, and was told in Italian “The doctor visited me”, well, of course, I was enthusiastic.
How nice of him/her, I replied!
It’s wasn’t nice AT ALL, I was told.
How would you like having a stranger’s hand in your…?
So yes, ‘visitare’ is a false friend, at least sometimes (see the second meaning here.)
I don’t suppose you’ll forget that example any time soon…
Another is ‘interrogare‘.
Believe it or not, that’s what teachers do to kids in Italy…
Slap, stomach punch, “We have ways of making you talk!”, kick…
A mercoledì!
4 Half-Price eBook Easy Readers from 2015
This week we’re doing the half-price ‘eBook of the Week’ offer on four A1/A2 (elementary/pre-intermdiate) ‘easy reader’ ebooks we published way back in 2015.
Any of them will cost you just £3.99 until Sunday 18th June 2023.
Check the FREE sample chapters to verify which of them might be right for you.
Too easy? Check out our Catalog for materials at your level!
Il grande pesce rosso 
Michele is 10 and about to discover that, as Italians say, “lies have legs”…
- .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
- .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
- 8 chapters to read and listen to
- Comprehension questions to check your understanding
- Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
- Suitable for students at any level
- Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
Buy Il grande pesce rosso just £3.99 | FREE sample chapter (.pdf) | Catalog
Cena con delitto 
Join us in the questura (police station). A husband and wife have witnessed a murder in a restaurant. Can the police commissioner find out the truth?
- .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
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- 8 chapters to read and listen to
- Comprehension questions to check your understanding
- Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
- Suitable for students at any level
- Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
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Ciak si gira 
Follow Marco and his best friend Luca – a young Italian student who dreams of becoming an actor – as they catch a train to Rome for an audition.
- .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
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- 8 chapters to read and listen to
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- Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
- Suitable for students at any level
- Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
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Uno studente in viaggio 
Follow the adventures and misadventures of Jean, a young French student exploring Italy for the first time.
- .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
- .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
- 8 chapters to read and listen to
- Comprehension questions to check your understanding
- Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
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Diane Horban says
Ciao Daniel, Don’t forget to keep your wallet zipped in your jacket or velcroed in your pants pocket to prevent another theft. Ti auguro il meglio. Diane H
Daniel says
I do normally, Diane, but on that occasion I was wrangling a heavy child. I must have been an obvious victim, and once the guy jumped off the bus with my wallet, didn’t really have the option to abandon her and chase after the bad guy…
Lesson learnt, though! Next time I’ll chase the thief, on the assumption that the cops would bring the kid back home at some point, probably, but would have no interest in finding my stolen wallet.
(only joking…)
Isabel says
Ciao Daniel,
Thank you for another entertaining & informative article. I enjoyed trying the quiz the other day – rather late to the party as usual.
As a lazy learner & past student of Latin (2 yrs in high school, 57 yrs ago) I have often fallen into the false friend trap when reading but that tiny bit of Latin has also helped by allowing me to resist looking up words in the dictionary – a big, big plus. Whether or not it is strictly correct it usually gets me in the ball park of comprehension. Other times, of course, I find out I was completely wrong like the horror of your wife’s “visitare” (that 2nd translation will indeed stay with me.)
Ancora grazie,
Isabel
Daniel says
Prego!
Indeed, it’s only when we learn a language that has no common roots with our own or with others we know that it really becomes apparent how much harder that is…
I think native English speaker kids have it quite tough with more or less any language studied at school (kids in Europe have an easier time), but not so much as Japanese kids I used to teach – nothing much was similar in English or other languages they studied.