Abstract:

The focus of the article is the issue of teaching false cognates to Russian students, majoring in the English and Spanish languages. The concept of cognates is widespread in modern linguistic investigations, particularly nowadays in the period of close international contacts and collaboration. While many cognates can help English and Russian -speaking Spanish language learners easily expand their knowledge of the Spanish vocabulary, some of them are so-called false cognates – traditionally referred to as “false friends” – which can hinder this process. In Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University Spanish is taught as the first or the second foreign language to students specializing in translation and interpreting. Most students speak Russian as their native language and have at least pre-intermediate level of English. The present article is aimed at outlining the aspects of negative transfer, or language interference, that may facilitate the process of learning interpreters’ false friends for such students. The research conducted by the professors of Spanish has proved the necessity of false cognates revision with the students of all levels.

Keywords:

False cognate, student, teacher, learning, education.