German and English are related languages and share quite a few common or very similar vocabularies. But there are always a few of those look-alikes out there to trick you!
When I went to the Departmental Retreat back in March, everyone drank something called ‘Helles’. It sounded rather hellish to me and I asked why they wanted to drink hell! With time and after reading enough rental advertisements, it finally dawned on me that the German word ‘hell’ is an adjective meaning ‘bright, clear’. So a Helles is in fact a clear beer (as opposed to other types of beer that contain some sediments and thus appear opaque). Rental advertisements always like to say that there is a ‘hell’ living room – now you know it’s a good thing!
Something that’s commonly found in German homes is a ‘Bad’. Would you have guessed that the English equivalent is ‘Bath’! The German ‘Bad’ can mean a bath or a bath tub, and is found in the names of many small towns where one can enjoy some public bathing. A famous one close to Munich is called Bad Tölz whose direction signs could be seen everywhere on the way to my last Departmental Retreat. And after all, there’s the English town Bath which still has public baths built from the Roman times. While on the topic of household items, the German ‘Bett’ has nothing to do with betting but it’s just what in English is called a ‘Bed’.
‘Not’ is another source of confusion. It’s a very economical way of writing ‘Difficulty’ or ‘Emergency’ compared to other languages. In public places and the underground railway, you’re sure to see signs of ‘Notausgang’ (Emergency Exit, ‘Ausgang’ meaning ‘exit’) and ‘Notruf’ (Emergency Communication, ‘Ruf’ meaning ‘call’). Don’t be put off using them when in need just because you see the word ‘Not’!
The list of those look-alikes does not end here. ‘Lust’ in German is nothing indecent but something rather pleasant (‘Lust’ means ‘Pleasure’). A ‘Gift’ is quite the opposite – it’s a poison or toxin! (Fellow scientists and doctors, if you order any poisonous chemicals next time, you’ll see on the label that the German translation for poisonous is Giftig.) So when a German person says to you in the future, ‘Please accept my gift,’ you’d better be sure what it actually is!
德語和英語同屬一系，好些字的讀音、拼法及意思仍然相近，但也有一些字的意思是大異其趣的，千萬要分清楚！
我剛來慕尼黑參加實驗室的Retreat時，人人都喝Helles，這個字跟英文Hell有幾分相似，心想為何會喝「地獄」這東西。後來我逐漸明白，看租房廣告看得多也晤出德語Hell此字解清晰、明亮，所以Helles就是一種清啤酒（有別於有沈澱物的濁啤酒），租房廣告常見Hell一字，就像香港說的「光猛大梗房」一樣。
德國家居必備Bad，相同於英語的Bath，即是沐浴或浴缸之意，很多以Bad起名的德國小鎮，便可供人泡浴，在慕尼黑附近其中一個有名的叫Bad Tölz，前住Retreat途中，看到路牌從四方八面指向該處，生怕遊人找不到似的。正如英國也有個城市叫Bath，仍保留了羅馬時代的公共浴池。提到家居用品，德語的Bett跟賭博(Betting)無關，而是英語的Bed（牀）。
Not此字作困難解，引伸為緊急情況，所以在公眾地方及地鐵，便常可看到Notausgang（緊急出口，Ausgang即是出口）及Notruf（緊急通話，Ruf即是通話）的指示，遇上緊急情況時，別因為看到Not字而不敢使用！
此外，德語Lust並非像英語一樣解作性慾，而是樂趣（Pleasure），Gift並非禮物，卻是毒物，化學品包裝上Giftig一字，便是德語「有毒」之意，所以如果有德國人送禮，說道：「Please accept my gift」（小小心意，請你笑納），你得搞清楚其「心意」實為何物也！
When I went to the Departmental Retreat back in March, everyone drank something called ‘Helles’. It sounded rather hellish to me and I asked why they wanted to drink hell! With time and after reading enough rental advertisements, it finally dawned on me that the German word ‘hell’ is an adjective meaning ‘bright, clear’. So a Helles is in fact a clear beer (as opposed to other types of beer that contain some sediments and thus appear opaque). Rental advertisements always like to say that there is a ‘hell’ living room – now you know it’s a good thing!
Something that’s commonly found in German homes is a ‘Bad’. Would you have guessed that the English equivalent is ‘Bath’! The German ‘Bad’ can mean a bath or a bath tub, and is found in the names of many small towns where one can enjoy some public bathing. A famous one close to Munich is called Bad Tölz whose direction signs could be seen everywhere on the way to my last Departmental Retreat. And after all, there’s the English town Bath which still has public baths built from the Roman times. While on the topic of household items, the German ‘Bett’ has nothing to do with betting but it’s just what in English is called a ‘Bed’.
‘Not’ is another source of confusion. It’s a very economical way of writing ‘Difficulty’ or ‘Emergency’ compared to other languages. In public places and the underground railway, you’re sure to see signs of ‘Notausgang’ (Emergency Exit, ‘Ausgang’ meaning ‘exit’) and ‘Notruf’ (Emergency Communication, ‘Ruf’ meaning ‘call’). Don’t be put off using them when in need just because you see the word ‘Not’!
The list of those look-alikes does not end here. ‘Lust’ in German is nothing indecent but something rather pleasant (‘Lust’ means ‘Pleasure’). A ‘Gift’ is quite the opposite – it’s a poison or toxin! (Fellow scientists and doctors, if you order any poisonous chemicals next time, you’ll see on the label that the German translation for poisonous is Giftig.) So when a German person says to you in the future, ‘Please accept my gift,’ you’d better be sure what it actually is!
德語和英語同屬一系，好些字的讀音、拼法及意思仍然相近，但也有一些字的意思是大異其趣的，千萬要分清楚！
我剛來慕尼黑參加實驗室的Retreat時，人人都喝Helles，這個字跟英文Hell有幾分相似，心想為何會喝「地獄」這東西。後來我逐漸明白，看租房廣告看得多也晤出德語Hell此字解清晰、明亮，所以Helles就是一種清啤酒（有別於有沈澱物的濁啤酒），租房廣告常見Hell一字，就像香港說的「光猛大梗房」一樣。
德國家居必備Bad，相同於英語的Bath，即是沐浴或浴缸之意，很多以Bad起名的德國小鎮，便可供人泡浴，在慕尼黑附近其中一個有名的叫Bad Tölz，前住Retreat途中，看到路牌從四方八面指向該處，生怕遊人找不到似的。正如英國也有個城市叫Bath，仍保留了羅馬時代的公共浴池。提到家居用品，德語的Bett跟賭博(Betting)無關，而是英語的Bed（牀）。
Not此字作困難解，引伸為緊急情況，所以在公眾地方及地鐵，便常可看到Notausgang（緊急出口，Ausgang即是出口）及Notruf（緊急通話，Ruf即是通話）的指示，遇上緊急情況時，別因為看到Not字而不敢使用！
此外，德語Lust並非像英語一樣解作性慾，而是樂趣（Pleasure），Gift並非禮物，卻是毒物，化學品包裝上Giftig一字，便是德語「有毒」之意，所以如果有德國人送禮，說道：「Please accept my gift」（小小心意，請你笑納），你得搞清楚其「心意」實為何物也！
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