A Frenchman walks into a restaurant in Egypt. He doesn't know what he wants to eat. "Can I see a menu?" he asks. The Egyptian waiter says, "Yes, menu," but he just stands there. The Frenchman asks, "A menu, please?" The waiter says, "Yes, yes, we have menu." Finally, the Frenchman stands up and leaves while the waiter tries to understand what happened. What happened was a "false friend." False friends are words that sound the same, but mean different things in different languages. In this case, in French, a menu is a list of food offered at a restaurant. In Arabic, menu means "food." So the Frenchman wanted a list, while the poor waiter just wanted to make him understand that he was in a restaurant! What happened was a "false friend." False friends are words that sound the same, but mean different things in different languages. In this case, in French, a menu is a list of food offered at a restaurant. In Arabic, menu means "food." So the Frenchman wanted a list, while the poor waiter just wanted to make him understand that he was in a restaurant! False friends can be very dangerous for language students. In Spanish, actual means "happening currently," not "real," as it does in English. To ask in Spanish if something is "actually happening" means "Is it happening now?" rather than "Is it really happening?" That's a big difference, especially if you're talking about a dangerous event! Bra is a funny one. In English, a bra is a kind of underwear. But in Swedish, it means "a good song." Imagine the looks you'd get if you walked into a department store in Sweden and asked for a bra! Demand is another example. In Italian, demand simply means "request." In English, it is more like a command—much more forceful. Imagine walking into a café in the United States and saying, "I demand a cup of coffee!" You might get hot coffee spilled all over your lap! False friends aren't really your friends. Be very careful of words that sound just like words in your language. They may not mean what you think they do!
一個法國人走進位在埃及的一家餐廳，他不知道想吃什麼，所以他要求看菜單。埃及服務生說：「是的，菜單」，但是一動也不動。法國人又問了：「菜單，麻煩你」。服務生說：「是的，是的，我們有菜單」。最後，法國人起身離開，弄得侍者一頭霧水。 這種情況叫做「假朋友」，用來表示那些聽起來一樣，但是在不同的語言裡代表不同東西的字彙。上述的情況中，法文的menu 是指清單上列有餐廳供應的各種食物。但是在阿拉伯文menu 指的是食物本身。所以當法國人試著拿到菜單的時候，這可憐的侍者只是想讓他知道他的確是身在餐廳裡呀！ 假朋友對語言學習者來說很容易誤用。西班牙語的actual 指的是「正在發生」，而不是英文裡「實際上」的意思。所以當你用西班牙語問某件事是不是正在發生，意思就是指「現在正在發生嗎？」而不是「真的有在發生嗎？」這是很大的分別，尤其當你是在討論一件危險的事件的時候。 bra 這字就有趣了。在英文裡，bra 指的是內衣，但是在瑞典語裡指的是「一首好歌」。想像一下當你走進瑞典的百貨公司，要求買一件bra，別人的反應會是如何。 demand 這個字是另一個例子，在義大利文裡，demand 就只是請求，但在英語裡，比較像是命令，強迫的性質居多。想像一下當你走進位在美國的咖啡廳然後說「I demand a cup of coffee!（我要求一杯咖啡！）」你大概會當場被潑熱咖啡吧！ 假朋友的這些字彙並不是你熟悉的意思，對於那些聽起來像是你語言的字彙要特別小心，它們可能不是你所知道的那個意思喔！ | 
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