"Se siente embarazado": False friend?

Question

I'm reading a Spanish translation of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile and the following passage is bothering me:

"Un inglés corriente, como Simon Doyle, se siente embarazado cuando tiene que mostrar algún afecto."

I take it that Simon was embarrassed rather than pregnant!

I always thought "embarazada" was a false friend as it means pregnant but is often confused in the English speaking world for "embarrassed". Yet the dictionary on this site says embarazado means "embarrassed, perplexed, mazy" (mazy?!). And WordReference.com gives embarazado/a as Molesto, Incómodo.

So now I'm confused! Is embarazado/o the false friend we thought it to be?

I'd really welcome any comments from native speakers.

Thank you,

Andrew

Answer 1

Yes, embarazado here is not a bad friend, and it works perfectly. (

Edit :from RAE

embarazo.

1. m. Impedimento, dificultad, obstáculo.
2. m. Estado en que se halla la hembra gestante. 3. m. Encogimiento, falta de soltura en los modales o en la acción.

El señor Simon siente embarazo, se siente embarazado, se ve sumido en una situación embarazosa.

Why embarazado is understood as a false friend? Because it's a very common mistake. When someone translates "I'm embarrased" from English into Spanish often says "estoy embarazado" instead of "me da vergüenza, siento embarazo".

Here is the problem: Sentirse embarazado and estar embarazado have very different meanings in Spanish.

El señor Simon siente embarazo, se siente embarazado, se ve sumido en una situación embarazosa.

¡Pero no está embarazado!

Great answer Coqumela :) - Kiwi-Girl, Oct 28, 2010

Thank you for making it so clear! - silverlake, Oct 29, 2010

Answer 2

I think I watched a movie where a man became pregnant. In that case it wouldn't be a false friend, hehe. Although it is possible to use "embarazado" in some cases to mean "hindered", for feelings of confusion and shame we normally use the word "embarazoso".

Answer 3

I'm embarrassed: Me da pena. I'd get laughed at if I claimed to be embarazado. Eso me daría pena.

Answer 4

Now that one is a false friend although I think it is a rare use to say embarrassed, that is a problem with translated books. You should read all the reviews to make sure they have good translations. Many of them have terrible translations. Read the reviews of "Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal" at Amazon and you'll see how bad the translation on some of these books are.

From the site:

Nunca se deberia traducir palabras como "embarrased" a "embarazado". No tiene sentido. Le quita la dicha a uno de leer este libro. Lo compre para leereselo a mi hijo pequeno y tengo que siempre cambiarle las palabras "al vuelo" para que las oraciones tengan sentido. Una lastima que una obra tan buena se feamente desmejorada por la pesima traduccion

Estoy de acuerdo en que no es la palabra más bonita, a mí tampoco me gusta encontrármela en una traducción. ¡Pero es una palabra válida! No es un error gramatical. - cogumela, Oct 28, 2010

Answer 5

This from link text

1. tr. Impedir, estorbar, retardar algo.
2. tr. Dejar encinta a una mujer.
3. prnl. Dicho de una mujer: Quedarse embarazada.
4. prnl. Quedar impedido con cualquier embarazo.

Nothing about embarrassment there! Perhaps something needs to be rectified in our dictionary.

although this one also has 'embarrassed' as a definition! Good question hhttp://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=embarazado - Kiwi-Girl, Oct 28, 2010