False Friends in French as a Third Language: Insights from a Pilot Study

This pilot study investigates the phenomenon of false friends in the acquisition of French as a third language among students at a public university in Malaysia. False friends are pairs of lexical items that share similar forms or pronunciations across languages but differ in meaning, often creating confusion and misunderstanding. Since English is widely used as a second language in Malaysia, French–English false friends pose a particular challenge for learners when acquiring French. The main objective of this research is to investigate whether students who completed 3 levels of French lessons still struggle with French-English false friends. This study also explored the most common false friends among these French learners. The study employed a quantitative method in which 30 students who completed 3 levels of French lessons answered a set of questions requiring them to choose the correct translation for each French word. Data were collected through the participation of learners, focusing on the identification and analysis of common French–English false friends. Findings reveal that false friends indeed still exist among students and words such as symphatique, maintenant and journal got the highest percentage of wrong answers. Pedagogical recommendations include the use of visual materials and context based lessons in improving learners’ comprehension and overall communicative competence.