About exams and notes

A couple of times my German speaking students have told me, “In the exams, I got a good note in English”. At first I got confused. I wanted to ask, „So who wrote you a note during an exam? What was written on this note?“ Then I understood the reason for their confusion. Die Note and note are false friends.

The German nouns die Note or die Zensur are translated as the mark or the grade in English, or more generally exam results.
The English word note has many different meanings. It can mean a musical symbol, or a short and informal written communication, just like the one above.

Another example of false friends is eventuell – eventually. For more tips on false friends check out our future blog entries. We hope you enjoy our blog. If so, please share it on a social media platform of your choice!