Posted by “False friends” are words that sound similar in two languages but have different meanings. Here are five examples:
Actualmente (Currently)
| Actualmente estamos trabajando en esto. | We are currently working on this. |
| Juan vive en California actualmente. | Juan currently lives in California. |
Actualmente does not mean actually, be careful with this! If we want to express the truth or facts of a situation, we should use de hecho (in fact) or realmente (in reality/in fact) instead:
| Actually, Peter is from Long Island. | De hecho, Peter es de Long Island. |
| Are you actually listening to me? | ¿Me estás escuchando realmente? |
Billón (Trillion)
Numbers work differently in Spanish:
| Number | In English | In Spanish |
| 1,000 | One thousand | Mil |
| 10,000 | Ten thousand | Diez mil |
| 100,000 | A hundred thousand | Cien mil |
| 1,000,000 | One million | Un millón |
| 10,000,000 | Ten million | Diez millones |
| 100,000,000 | One hundred million | Cien millones |
| 1,000,000,000 | One billion | Mil millones |
| 10,000,000,000 | Ten billion | Diez mil millones |
| 100,000,000,000 | One hundred billion | Cien mil millones |
| 1,000,000,000,000 | One trillion | Un billón |
Also, remember commas and periods are reversed in many Spanish speaking countries: One thousand: 1.000 (mil). One point five: 1,5 (uno coma cinco).
Carpeta (Folder)
Carpeta does not mean carpet.
| ¿Me puedes pasar esa carpeta? | Can you pass me that folder? |
| Había dos carpetas sobre la mesa. | There were two folders on the desk/table. |
So how do we say carpet in Spanish? We use a word that comes from Arabic: Alfombra.
| I should vacuum the carpet. | Debería aspirar la alfombra. |
| There’s a huge carpet in my living room. | Hay una alfombra enorme en mi sala. |
Emocionado, da (Excited; in some contexts, touched or emotionally moved)
Emocionado or emocionada does not mean emotional:
| Estoy muy emocionada. | I’m very excited. |
| Alberto estaba muy emocionado por su nuevo trabajo. | Alberto was very excited about his new job. |
Facultad (School or department inside a college, e.g. Law School)
This one is tricky, as both terms are used in an academic environment in both languages. However, they mean different things:
Faculty, in English, refers to the teaching staff at a college or department. The correct term for this in Spanish would be profesorado. The term facultad, in Spanish, refers to a specific department or school inside a college, and not to the professors teaching in it. In some contexts, it can also refer to the actual building that hosts said department or school.
| La Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Yale ofrece un curso sobre propiedad intelectual. | Yale Law School offers a course on intellectual property. |
| Me encontré a Silvia en la cafetería de la Facultad de Económicas. | I ran into Silvia in the coffee shop/cafeteria at the School of Economics. |
La Eñe 