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| Are these birds having a discussion? An argument? Read on to find out! (Photo Credit) |
Hello! Today we have another False Friend to discuss. If you're not sure what a False Friend is, check out this introductory post. Today we'll be looking at the difference between discusión in Spanish and discussion in English. Like most False Friends, they look very similar and in fact sometimes there's no difference in meaning. Still, there are some contexts where they mean different things. Let's look:
| False Friend: discusión vs. discussion | ||
| This SPANISH word... | Looks like this ENGLISH word... | ...but they are DIFFERENT because... |
| discusión | discussion | In English, a discussion is usually the same thing as a conversation. It can be positive or negative, depending on the context. In Spanish, a discusión is usually a negative thing. In other words, if you use this word, it indicates that people were possibly yelling and getting very angry. Basically, it's like a verbal fight. If you want to say discusión in English, try to use a word like "an argument" or even "a fight." Those are closer to the meaning in Spanish. |
I'll be posting more False Friends in the days and weeks to come, but if you have any suggestions for other False Friends or Common Errors, please tell me.
Thanks for reading, and have a great day full of interesting discussions--but hopefully no arguments!
