False friends – Romanian vs English
Don’t panic! This article is organic. We are not talking here about those friends who are like pennies, two-faced and worthless, but about a fun way to learn a foreign language.
Learning Romanian is not that complicated because this is a melodic language that will stick fairly quickly. Just like in the case of any language, you need to dedicate an hour or two for studying it, trying to learn a few new words every day and, most importantly, to get familiar with the language by listening to audios. If we are to take a look at the biggest threat that can come between your ability to learn Romanian fast and easy, then most certainly this threat is represented by the Romanian-English so-called “false friends”.
The “false friends” are words that have the same pronunciation and, in most cases, they are even written in the same manner, but they have completely different meanings. In other words, even if they appear to be the same, they mean one thing in English and an entirely different meaning in Romanian. So, if you want to make sure that you learn Romanian correctly and in an easy manner, you need to be aware of these false friends.
31 Romanian English false friends list
| English | Romanian |
| Cap = bottle seal or hat | Cap = head |
| Chef = cook | Chef = mood or party |
| Chin = body part in the lower mandible | Chin = torment |
| Comma = punctuation mark | Comă = coma |
| Commercial = advertisement in business | Comercial = sales or business sector |
| Actual = true | Actual = current |
| Car = vehicle | Car = cart or carriage |
| Caution = attention | Cauţiune = jail bail |
| Cutie = beautiful woman or cute child | Cutie = box |
| Crime = law-breaking | Crimă = murder |
| Effective = efficient | Efectiv = manpower |
| Fabric = cloth or material | Fabrică = factory |
| Glass = mirror or fragile material | Glas = voice |
| Far = at a distance | Far = lighthouse |
| Jar = jug | Jar = burning coal |
| Grave = tomb | Grav = serious or severe |
| Gymnasium = sports arena | Gimnaziu = middle school |
| Lack = the absence of something | Lac = lake |
| Mere = sheer or bare | Mere = apples |
| Horn = alarm or deer’s antler | Horn = chimney |
| Miserable = unhappy | Mizerabil = dirty |
| Pat = touch or tap on the shoulder | Pat = bed |
| Physician = doctor | Fizician = physicist |
| Pork = pig meat | Porc = the pig (animal itself) |
| Prize = award | Prize = electrical outlets |
| Rest = downtime | Rest = money change after a purchase |
| Pace = rhythm or step | Pace = peace |
| Verse = stanza | Vers = lyric |
| To supply = to provide something | A suplini = to substitute someone |
| Smoking = from the verb “to smoke” | Smoking = tuxedo |
| Scope = range or compass | Scop = purpose |
We also crafted a video version with some of the examples above, to help you memorize them easier
So, as you can see, there are quite a few false friends to look out for. And these are just a part of the false friends that are out there, as these are the ones that are most commonly met and mistaken. With a bit of attention and the right Romanian e-learning courses, you will discover how to see and avoid these false friends. Thus, this is not a reason to get worried about because you will soon learn to make the difference between these words, as long as you stay consistent when it comes to learning Romanian.
