What strategies can I use to avoid mistakes caused by false friends

Strategies to avoid mistakes caused by false friends in language learning include:

• Increasing awareness of false friends by identifying and learning common pairs that look or sound similar but have different meanings.
• Using bilingual dictionaries or trusted online resources to verify word meaning when in doubt.
• Focusing on learning contextual usage rather than translating words directly, which helps understand the proper meaning in the target language.
• Practicing and reinforcing distinctions through exercises, quizzes, or flashcards specifically targeting false friends.
• Seeking explicit feedback from native speakers or teachers to correct and clarify misunderstandings early.
• Comparing false friends side-by-side to highlight differences in meaning, pronunciation, or connotation to aid memorization.
• Being cautious with words that seem familiar, always double-checking before using them in writing or speaking.

These strategies build linguistic awareness and reduce interference from native language assumptions, helping language learners avoid confusion and errors related to false friends effectively.

References

• The Treatment of Error in Oral Work.

• Deliberate Erring Improves Far Transfer of Learning More Than Errorless Elaboration and Spotting and Correcting Others’ Errors

• Accuracy & Fluency – Inspiration from Error-correction of Interlanguage Theory

• Do not give up! The importance of mistakes in the process of teaching and learning foreign languages

• On “False Friends” in the Field of Economics

• Learning and growing: an alternative strategy to teach English

• Policies for Teachers towards Errors in College English Writing

• Truthful but Misleading: Advanced Linguistic Strategies for Lying Among Children

• The Impact of Error Analysis and Feedback in English Second Language Learning

• Language Error from Western Scholar Perspectives

• Truthful but Misleading: Advanced Linguistic Strategies for Lying Among Children

• Error Correction in Oral Classroom English Teaching.

• Exploring language learning and corrective feedback in an eTandem project

• Perceptions of Oral Errors and Their Corrective Feedback: Teachers vs. Students

• Familiar Strategies Feel Fluent: The Role of Study Strategy Familiarity in the Misinterpreted-Effort Model of Self-Regulated Learning

• Understanding EFL Learners’ Errors in Language Knowledge in Ongoing Assessments

• Error Analysis of a Sample of Kuala Kangsar University Students’ English Placement Writing Test

• CONSIDERABLE STRATEGIES OF TEACHING LARGE MULTI-LEVEL CLASSES: A NARRATIVE STUDY OF WHAT EFL TEACHERS SHOULD DO

• An Analysis of College Students’ Attitudes towards Error Correction in EFL Context

• An Experimental Analysis of Errors in Light of Language Learning and Language Use and the Role of Executing Involvement to Increase Motivation in the English Language Classroom