Free Spanish Lesson 38. Embarrassed or pregnant?

You can’t always translate phrases directly from English to Spanish and expect to get them right or make sense. By the same token, you can’t take words that sound the same in both languages and suppose they have the same meaning.

That’s why a course like our Visual Link Spanish™ program is so valuable – it teaches you the proper use of words, correct pronunciation, how to build sentences and actually communicate in Spanish.

Are you ready for a heavy duty term in the language learning world? It is the word “cognate.” A cognate is a word that looks similar in English and Spanish and has the same meaning in both languages.

For example, the word “irregular” in Spanish and English is spelled the same, has the same meaning, and has similar pronunciation. It is a cognate. There are many words in Spanish and English that are cognates and many words that are false cognates.

A false cognate is a word that looks the same in both languages, sounds similar, but has a different meaning. You have to watch out for “false cognates” in Spanish because they can really get you into trouble. Let me give you a fun but embarrassing example.

The English word “embarrassed” sounds and looks a lot like the Spanish word “embarazada.” Many people learning Spanish think it has the same meaning.

However, the Spanish word “embarazada” actually means “pregnant”! Let me tell you — there is a big difference between being “pregnant” and being “embarrassed.” The following story will illustrate this fact and hopefully make you aware of “false cognates” and save you some potential embarrassment.

A large crowd had gathered in an auditorium to hear a lecture. There were some native Spanish speakers, who were dignitaries, sitting on the stage. An American woman had been invited to address the audience as one of the guest speakers.

As she began speaking, she introduced herself, and then to break the ice, she pointed to the person on the stage who had invited her to speak and said in Spanish, “I’m ’embarazada’ and it’s his fault.” She meant to say “I’m embarrassed and it’s his fault,” but what she actually said was “I’m ‘pregnant’ and it’s his fault.”

The crowd gasped and everyone was in shock. You can imagine how she must have felt afterward when she found out what she had really said.

(By the way, the Spanish word for embarrassed is “vergüenza.”)

This is a pretty extreme example, but it’s important to know that “false cognates” exist so you don’t make the same type of mistakes.

If you choose to learn Spanish with a Spanish course, it will generally teach you many of these false cognates as well as the correct ways to say things in Spanish. A formal course like our Visual Link Spanish™ program will help keep you on-track and avoid cultural faux-pas, and potential embarrassment.

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Written by David S. Clark – President of Visual Link Spanish who says…

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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.