TransLex Legal Translation Blog

⚠️ Socio-economic false friend: syndicate ≠ syndicat (in the French labor law sense) The English word syndicate looks a lot like the French syndicat, but their meanings diverge sharply depending on…

⚠️ Financial false friend: solvable in English ≠ solvable in French The English word solvable is often mistranslated as solvable in French, which can cause serious misunderstandings in finance, law…

⚠️ False friend alert: surety ≠ sûreté The English term surety is a technical concept in the law of personal guarantees. It is often mistakenly interpreted as a synonym for security, but it does not…

⚠️ Textile vs. legal false friend: suit ≠ always costume The meaning of suit depends entirely on context: Everyday usage: suit → costume (vêtement) Legal usage: suit → procès…

⚠️ Legal false friend alert: subsidiary ≠ succursale In French, subsidiary = filiale — not succursale. Using succursale for subsidiary leads to serious legal inaccuracies. Why? Filiale (subsid…

⚠️ Grammatical and legal false friend: sentence ≠ only "phrase" The word "sentence" is a classic example of a false friend when translating into French. In everyday language, it simply means a phras…