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April 25, 2024
Growing demand for anesthesia services at ASCs is being met with a dwindling supply of anesthesia providers....
LANGUAGE BARRIER Look-alike and sound-alike words in English and Spanish don't always have similar meanings. SAY WHAT?
Being Embarazada Is No Reason to Be Embarrassed
Would you think twice about telling a Spanish-speaking patient to take a certain medication once every 4 hours? You should. Once (pronounced ohn-say) is 11 in Spanish. "And there are examples where people took medication 11 times instead of once," says cross-cultural communication expert Gail Price-Wise, MPH. Look-alike and sound-alike words in English and Spanish often have similar roots and similar meanings. But not always. Watch out for "false cognates" — words that look similar but have very different meanings. In the table above you'll find examples of word pairs that look like they might mean the same thing but don't (courtesy of "Obvious But Wrong").
False Cognates
Una decepci??n | A disappointment, not a deception |
Bizarro | Refers to someone who's brave, not strange |
Complexi??n | Refers to your physical build, not to your skin |
Compromiso | A promise or commitment, not a compromise |
Una constipaci??n | A cold, not constipation |
Desgracia | A mistake or misfortune, not a disgrace |
Disgusto | Displeasure or misfortune, not disgust |
Embarazada | To be pregnant, not embarrassed |
En absoluto | Not at all or absolutely not, as opposed to the opposite |
Molestar | To bother or annoy; there are no sexual connotations |
Pretender | To try, not to fake anything |
Sopa | Soup, not soap (that's jab??n) |
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