In part fourteen of our blog series on tricky false friends between German and English we will discuss the difference between two nouns- the German “Meinung” and the English “meaning”. Even though their spelling is very similar indeed, their translations are quite different. The last thirteen entries of our blog series on tricky false friends in German and English clarified the German brav and the English brave, the difference between the German Bad and the English bad, the German Chef and the English chef, revealed that there is no relation between the German Art and the English art, German fast and the English fast, German blenden and the English blend, the difference between become and bekommen, the surprising meaning of a German Gift, English also and its meaning in German, the English "bald" vs. the German "bald", the difference between “brand” vs ”Brand”, showed that "spenden" in German is not what you might think it is, and explained why schmuck wouldn't be considered as an insult by a German native speaker.
Even though both nouns are derived from “meinen” (to mean), the German word “die Meinung” translates as “opinion”, while the English “meaning” is equivalent to “die Bedeutung” in German. So watch out; not least because we all know that in our 'digital age' we are being bombarded with a lot of opinions but they don't necessarily have any real meaning. Leaving you with that deep thought ;).
On our German Language Blog "Auf Deutsch, bitte!", you will find posts on how long it takes to learn German, a review of language learning apps Duolingo, Memrise, Babbel, Quizlet, and Busuu, and a comparison between dict.leo, dict.cc, Linguee, and Collins online dictionaries, a post on very German things to do, the most beautiful German words, the imperative in German, tricky false friends in English and German like brav and brave, the German kennen vs. wissen, the difference between sehr and viel, how modal verbs can help you speak German, as well as besuchen vs. besichtigen. We also cure your German grammar phobia with our posts explaining adjective ending rules in German, the difference between viel and viele, the German cases, rules on German genders, weak nouns in German, when to use ß in German, the Konjunktiv 2 in German, German word order, and many other topics. Just scroll through our blog and learn more about the language.
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