Dealing with False Cognates between Spanish and English in Teaching Finance in an EFL Context

Pablo Moreno Alemay, Colombia

Pablo Moreno Alemay is member of the English Content Based Instruction Research Group at International School of Economics and Administrative Sciences University of La Sabana, Colombia. E-mail: pablo.moreno@unisabana.edu.co

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Introduction
False cognates in the field of finance
The Importance of English Content Based Instruction
References

Introduction

Since 2002 I have been teaching an important range of subjects in Finance to Spanish speaking students. Due to the globalization of markets, the financial technical vocabulary has been taught both in Spanish and English, and I have noticed that many words confuse students resulting in false cognates in the languages. A false cognate is a word in a foreign language very similar to its equivalent in the mother tongue in terms of its spelling and pronunciation but different in terms of meaning. In the Colombian context, where English is generally a foreign language, false cognates must be strongly emphasized to students, otherwise they could remain “fossilized” resulting in the teaching of academic content being an obstacle to learning, as opposed to being a benefit to language and subject acquisition. This article addresses some examples and problems associated with this situation.

False cognates in the field of finance

The Spanish word activo is well translated as active, which according to Cambridge Dictionary means “busy with or ready to perform a particular activity”. However, in financial terms, it is a technical word that basically refers to tangible and intangible resources owned by a business. When Spanish speakers are asked about how they think that word should be translated, they often answer active because of its phonetic similitude with the word in their native language, but that technical word must be translated as asset. A similar circumstance occurs with the Spanish word pasivo, which is used to express how a business finances its operations and asset acquisitions, with other entities or people different to the owners. For financial issues it must be translated in English as liability, not as passive as Spanish speakers normally think should be the translation.

The same case occurs with the Spanish word utilidades, another highly used technical term. Its correct translation is profits, yet terms such as income and earnings are well used synonyms. Undoubtedly there is a word in English that confuses Spanish speakers, which is utilities. There are several meanings for the word, but it is definitely not a synonym for profits! It is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “a service which is used by the public, such as an electricity or gas supply or a train service”. Another word in English that confuses people is rent. In Spanish, it could be thought that it refers to rentabilidad (profitability), yet it really means arriendo, or a fixed and regular amount of money paid to use a particular asset. Likewise, Impuesto a la Renta translates to Income Taxes, instead of “Rent Taxes” as Spanish speakers would tend to assume as being the correct translation.

To provide a final example, several companies issue and buy shares in the capital markets. A share in the Spanish language is called acción; therefore Spanish speakers could get confused with the English word action that refers to the process of doing something. The translation of action is also acción; nonetheless, the Spanish financial technical word acción means exclusively share in English!

The Importance of English Content Based Instruction

When Spanish speakers hear these examples, they realize the importance of studying finance in a foreign language, or at least to learn the technical words in both languages. In academic scenarios, the lecturer must constantly use these words and force students to repeat them and use them as well. Many researchers in this topic agree about the positive results of English Content Based Instruction. For instance, Fiorito (2005) notes in his paper “Teaching English for Specific Purposes”: “As a matter of fact, English for Specific Purposes combines subject matter and English language teaching… Being able to use the vocabulary and structures that they learn in a meaningful context reinforces what is taught and increases their motivation”.

At the University of La Sabana in Colombia, there is a research on “English Content Based Instruction in Autonomous Learning”. Some teachers of English combine efforts with lecturers of different fields to help students to learn contents, in addition to improving their English while they build their vocabulary. I have joined the group for specific finance matters and have realized the importance of implementing further strategies to teach finance subjects in a foreign language considering language learning tools. Not getting confused by false cognates in finance courses is an important area to overcome in English Content Based Instruction.

References

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Fiorito, Lorenzo, 2005, “Teaching English for Specific Purposes”, From: UsingEnglish.com,
www.usingenglish.com/articles/teaching-english-for-specific-purposes-esp.html

Please check the How to teach English to Business People course at Pilgrims website.