Os falsos cognatos são palavras parecidas (às vezes até iguais) em dois idiomas diferentes, mas que possuem significados completamente diferentes! Há muitos falsos cognatos entre o inglês e o português, e o uso errado pode causar muita confusão. Veja os campeões de erros:
Actual / Actually
Parece “atual / atualmente”, mas não é. Actual significa “real”, “ocorrido de fato” e actually significa “na verdade”, “na realidade”.
Use “current” para “atual” e “currently” para “atualmente” em inglês. Ex:
- Did you see the actual results for last month? It was 35% higher than the budget, our team did a great job!
- The system was supposed to be implemented in 2 months, but actually it took more than 4 months!
- We thought he was the manager, but actually he was the owner.
- You have to use the current dolar exchange rate for this calculation, not the one from last year.
- We are currently discussing the details of this agreement.
Comprehensive
Parece “compreensivo”, certo? Na verdade comprehensive significa “abrangente”, “completo”.
Use “understanding” para compreensivo. Ex:
- You can find all the information you need in this brochure, it is very comprehensive.
- I need a comprehensive report on your trip.
- The customer was quite understanding and gave us two more days to deliver the products.
Conheça também o curso Business Writing:
