What for a picture
A friend scrolls through their phone, and you see something unusual. You can’t quite tell what it is and ask:
What is that for a picture‽
If you speak German, you understand that the question asks what kind of picture something is:
Was ist das für ein Bild‽
When comparing both versions, the pattern used in the translation becomes obvious. The sentence was translated word-for-word, which resulted in an awkward and incorrect translation.
This pattern makes foreign languages seem approachable. When translating many words at once seems hard, translating individual words seems easy. One word at a time, we could easily translate full sentences. We could translate entire books like this.
Unfortunately, languages are rarely this similar. Translations following this pattern will usually sound out of place.
“What for a” does not translate to “was für ein”. Use “what kind of” or drop the classifier when talking about details of something:
- What is that for a noise? → What kind of noise is that?
- What for a day is today? → What day is today?
- What for a great tip! → What a great tip!
“What for” is closer to “warum” or “wofür”. You use it when inquiring about the reason behind something:
- What are we having this meeting for?
- What did you punch me for?
You can capture a sentence’s essence without reproducing its grammar and wording. As long as the other person understands your intention, you don’t need to translate every single word.
All lessons in this course
An actual video
Two words can look like translations of each other even if they aren’t. The word “actual” is our first venture into this category of false friends.
Read full lessonMaking a photo
Even if you translate each individual word in a sentence correctly, the resulting translation can still be off.
Read full lessonWhat for a picture
Not every word in a sentence needs to appear in its translation. Languages don’t map to each other one-to-one.
Read full lessonOr?
You can spot Germans by the fact that they use “or” to ask questions. Unfortunately, the word doesn’t work that way in English.
Read full lessonHello together
This mistranslation gave this course its name. “Together” refers to doing something with others. Here’s how to greet a group of people instead.
Read full lessonHandy
What do you call a phone you can hold in your hand? Well, it’s not this. If you call it a handy, you’re in for some awkward looks.
Read full lessonBecoming a car
“Bekommen” and “to become” are another pair of false friends. If you want something, make sure you’re not accidentally turning yourself into that thing.
Read full lessonLess vs fewer
Is it “less mistakes” or “fewer mistakes”? They both seem to say that something is not as much as it was before, but only one is grammatically correct.
Read full lessonEventually
False friends are everywhere. Eventually is very similar to the German “eventuell”, but it means something completely different.
Read full lessonWhom
Why isn’t it “Whom let the dogs out”? The extra letter does not turn a regular “who” into a fancy version of itself.
Read full lessonApostrophes
When coming from a language that doesn’t normally use them, where to put apostrophes can seem confusing.
Read full lessonI vs me
Was an event organized by “Nina and I” or “Nina and me”? To find which one applies, take the other person out of the sentence for a second.
Read full lessonGood vs well
You’re doing well, Superman is doing good. This lesson looks at the rules behind which of these two is correct in a given situation.
Read full lessonLooking forward
When you’re excited about something, tell others what that thing is. On its own, you’re only saying half an expression otherwise.
Read full lessonGender-neutral pronouns
When you don’t know someone’s preferred pronouns, you can use they/them even when speaking about an individual person and not a group.
Read full lessonPlease
We have been taught to always say please and thank you. Whether they are right for a situation depends on the context.
Read full lessonEach other
Some actions happen to multiple people at once, like running into someone. In these situations, we need to use reciprocal pronouns.
Read full lessonDo
Other languages don’t always use the auxillary “do” as much as the English language does, so it’s often lost in translation.
Read full lesson