What is a false friend and why do they compromise quality?
A Galician-Spanish translator constantly comes up against the challenge of false friends. These are pairs of words that look similar in these languages, but have a different meaning. In professional settings, they lead to mistakes, they cause ambiguity and they can invalidate documents if they affect clauses, instructions or metrics. Specialized literature describes their origin in formal similarity and polysemy, which is why they require specific terminological monitoring and contextual review, not just bilingual “intuition”.
High risk pairs in Galician ↔ Spanish (with functional examples)
- rato: in Galician, this refers to a rodent (“to hunt a rato-rodent”); in Spanish, it is a short period of time (“wait for a rato-while”). In contracts or minutes, getting this mixed up will alter the operative meaning of timeframes and actions. See regulatory entries.
- cuello/coello: cuello (Spanish) (neck) → pescozo (Galician) (neck); coello (Galician) (rabbit) = conejo (Spanish) (rabbit). In veterinary or health-related reports, this crossover of terms can lead to misreported diagnoses.
- encuesta/encosta: encuesta (Spanish) (survey) → enquisa (Galician) (survey); encosta (Galician) (slope) = cuesta, ladera (Spanish) (slope). Critical in public works projects, where encosta describes physical relief.
- experto/esperto: experto (Spanish) (expert) = experto, perito (Galician) (expert); esperto (Galician) (awake) = despierto (Spanish) (awake). In judicial reports, confusing these affects the qualification of the signatory.
- presa/présa: presa (Spanish) (prisoner) = detenida or dique (Galician) (prisoner); présa (Galician) (rush) = prisa (Spanish) (rush). In timelines and work orders, replacing présa with presa distorts the time requirement.
- rojo/roxo: rojo (Spanish) (red) → vermello (Galician) (red); roxo (Galician) (purple) = rojizo/morado (Spanish) (purple). In color specifications (branding, labels), this nuance is critical.
- polvo/polbo: polvo (Spanish) (dust) sounds like polbo, which is Galician for pulpo(Spanish for octopus). In food labelling and HACCP, it is vital that this is not confused.
- toro/toro: toro (Spanish) (bull) → touro (Galician); toro in Galician istree trunk. In forestry management or wood purchases, this mistake completely changes the object.
Operational recommendation: for critical terms, always check against normative dictionaries (RAG/Digalego) and record the pair in the project’s term base.
Technical protocol for professional Galician translations
- Contextual disambiguation: validate the domain (legal, technical or health) before determining equivalents; false friends are highly dependent on the context.
- Live glossaries according to client: include Galician-Spanish pairs with fields: definition, notes for usage, examples and regulatory sources; version recording and auditing.
- Linguistic QA: automatic rules for coello/pescozo, encosta/enquisa, roxo/vermello, etc., and human proofreading for “red alerts”.
- Cross-checking: a senior Galician to Spanish translator validates terminology and an independent proofreader verifies the semantic impact on clauses and metrics. Recent studies show that lexical interference persists even in professionals where there are no checks.
- Traceability: each terminology decision documented with a source and date for quality audits and technical defense in response to third parties.
In short, Galician-Spanish false friends are not just a matter for academic debate; they impact compliance, safety and reputation. A Spanish-Galician translator with a process and regulatory sources reduces risk, ensures terminological accuracy and increases the reliability of professional Galician translations.
