language: false cognates

In Spanish, like many languages, there are cognates. This means that the word in English and Spanish are the same, and have the same meanings. Some examples are:

menú

telefono

actor

papaya

mango

It gets tricky, though, when cognates are false. I have had some embarassing instances when guessing translations before speaking. Here are a few examples of false cognates:

embarazada----->pregnant, NOT embarassed

sopa---->soup, NOT soap

constipada----->congested, NOT constipated (i was very confused when my padre asked if i was constipada)

biblioteca---->library NOT bookstore

pretender----> try NOT pretend

preservativos----> condoms, NOT preservatives.

it's good to think before you speak when in a different country :)