„Ich weiß nicht, welches Handy ich kaufen soll. Ich werde mich irgendwann entscheiden müssen. Eventuell frage ich meinen Chef um Rat.“ Dieser Satz ist ganz leicht zu übersetzen, oder? Vorsicht! Er enthält drei falsche Freunde – Handy, eventuell und Chef haben im Englischen eine ganz andere Bedeutung.
- In English, handy is an adjective and means useful. The German Handy is mobile (phone) (UK) or cellphone (US).
- Eventuell is not eventually. Eventually means schließlich, endlich.
- The German eventuell is usually translated with the modal verb may or might. I might go to the cinema this evening/Ich gehe heute abend eventuell ins Kino. You can also use possibly or maybe: Will you be at the meeting tomorrow? Yes, perhaps / Yes maybe / I might be.
- The English chef is Chefkoch. Chief on its own means Indianerhäuptling. Used as an adjective, it means Haupt (chief accountant / chief executive officer).
- The German Chef is boss.
So the above sentence translates as: I don’t know which mobile to buy. I’ll have to make up my mind eventually. I may/might ask my boss for advice.