Anything to do with the psyche – the human mind or soul, after the goddess of the same name – has to be referred to as “psychological” or “mental”, not “psychic”.
Category Archives: Mistranslations
Relations and relationships
Dutch uses the same word for both (relatie), but the meanings in English are distinctly different.
Cowboys and Indonesians
Unusually for European languages, Dutch has retained the word “Indisch” as the demonym for the former East Indies and people are always mistranslating it as “Indian”.
Three contronyms
A word that takes diametrically opposed meanings, depending on the context, can’t be translated with a one-size-fits-all solution into a language where different words are used for those meanings.
Quartermaster
A quartermaster is a low or mid-level military administrator responsible for supplies and equipment, not some kind of high-level official trailblazer for projects.
Power, force and strength
Three concepts with distinct, interrelated meanings in physics. And lines that are blurred in everyday usage in differing ways in the different languages. Tricky.
Trajectories are for ballistics
The curve taken under gravity by a thrown object, or a metaphorical upward progression such as a career. Not a generic synonym for a route or pathway.
Eventually
Most Dutch writers are aware that “eventual” means “uiteindelijk”: in the end. But they’re still often unsure how to deal with the faux-ami “eventueel”.
A monumental mistake
A monument is a structure erected in remembrance of a person or event. They’re often on a grand scale, which is why “monumental” simply means extremely large.
So-called
Watch the overtones: it’s not only telling you a term is used but also implying that it’s incorrect. A so-called expert or so-called friend is not to be trusted!
