2 4
O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | M A R C H 2 0 1 5
S U R G E O N S ' L O U N G E
W
ould you think twice
about telling a Spanish-
speaking patient to take
a certain medication once every 4
hours? You should. Once (pro-
nounced ohn-say) is 11 in Spanish.
"And there are examples where peo-
ple took medication 11 times instead
of once," says cross-cultural commu-
nication expert Gail Price-Wise,
MPH. Look-alike and sound-alike
words in English and Spanish often
have similar roots and similar mean-
ings. But not always. Watch out for
"false cognates" —
words that look simi-
lar but have very dif-
ferent 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,"
tinyurl.com/3lflxc).
— Jim Burger
Being Embarazada Is No Reason to Be Embarrassed
S A Y W H A T ?
False Cognates
Una decepción A disappointment, not a deception
Bizarro Refers to someone who's brave, not strange
Complexión Refers to your physical build, not to your skin
Compromiso A promise or commitment, not a compromise
Una constipación 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 jabón)
z LANGUAGE BARRIER Look-alike and sound-alike words
in English and Spanish don't always have similar meanings.