False Friends - Taschen Guide

meant:
absolve
    freisprechen
passed; got
    absolvieren
study
    Arbeitszimmer
studies; degree
    Studium
concern
    Sorge
corporation, enterprise
    Konzern
genial
    gesellig
brilliant
    genial
representative
    repräsentativ für etwas
prestigious
    repräsentativ
great
    großartig
large
    groß
hectic
    hektisch
a lot of activity
    Hektik
old timer
    alter Hase
antique car; vintage car
    Oldtimer
loan
    Kredit
salary; payroll
    Lohn
personal
    persönlich
personnel, human resources
    Personal
learning
    lernen
revising (for a test or exam)
    lernen
lecture
    Vortrag
reading material; books
    Lektüre
make sport
    Sport schaffen
do sports
    Sport machen
wandering
    umherwandern
hiking
    Wandern

False friends in business communication
    If you are going to talk to someone on the telephone, write an email or a letter, participate in a meeting, present to a group of people, or handle negotiations of some kind, it is a good idea to watch out for the language pitfalls illustrated in this chapter.
    The following chapter contains numerous false friends hidden in
a phone conversation (page 20),
two types of written correspondence (page 21),
presentations, and a face-to-face conversation (page 25).
    On the telephone
    Telephone conversations with English-speaking business contacts can be a challenge. You cannot see those tell-tale facial expressions (rolling of eyes, frowns of confusion, or smiles of amusement) that would normally indicate whether you have said the right thing in English.
    Example
    Joachim calls his colleague John who is located in his company's British subsidiary.
    Joachim: Hi John, it's Joachim here. Am I calling at a good time?
    John: Hi Joachim, how are you doing? I've got a couple of minutes before my next meeting. What's it about?
    Joachim: Nothing serious! I wanted to ask you if you're coming to the trade fair in London in two weeks. Can we have a date?
    John: Pardon? ↓ ↓ ↓ (John wonders if he should warn Joachim that he has just told him he wants a romantic rendezvous with him). Do you mean can we arrange to meet up? Yes, I'll be free all day on the Wednesday. How are the preparations going?
    Joachim: As usual everything is last minute. We are still waiting for the prospects to arrive. You can't go to a trade fair without prospects to give to people.
    John: But the prospects are what you are going there to collect, aren't they? ↓ ↓ (John does not realize that Joachim is talking about brochures. Prospects are potential customers that companies go to trade fairs to impress.)
    Joachim: I don't understand what you mean, but anyway, we will be ready on time. I hope you will be able to spend a few hours with us at the booth. There will be a special feature: a tour of one of our fabrics using virtual reality. The visitors won't need to use their fantasy because the experience will feel completely real.
    John: Yes, I can imagine. It sounds interesting. Tell you what, as soon as I get to the exhibition centre, I'll come and find you and we can arrange a time to go off and have a chat. (John is a little confused now because Joachim has talked about walking round a fabric – Stoff – and using a fantasy – einen Traum. Joachim should have said ‚factory‘ and ‚imagination‘.) ↓ ↓
    Joachim: OK. Bye John!
    What is the cringe factor of this conversation? It could be rated as an overall ↓ ↓
    Important
    Whatever you do, avoid using ‚date‘ unless talking about a private, romantic type of meeting or, of course, a specific day. Everything else is an appointment .
    In emails
    Email is a means of communication with extra risks. It can be hard to get across in just a few words what you mean. If your email is going to be sent to everyone in your company – or even to external contacts or customers, your false friends could make a poor impact, at least on native English speakers.
    Find the false friends
    Example: email containing false friends
    From: M. Prohl
    To: All employees
    Sent: 30 May 2010
    Subject: Summer feast
    Dear colleagues,
    we heartily invite you to our summer feast 2010!
    You all know the company tradition of a summer feast and many of you have already attended it over the years. This time, we have a special occasion to celebrate – the 10th birthday of our company. So the celebration will be a little bit different and certainly more special.
    Please registrate yourself using the following link if you can attend and later you will become an armband in the internal mail which you will need to enter the