Learning false friends across contexts

Abstract

False friends are words in two languages that look or sound similar but differ significantly in meaning in some or all contexts. False friends are confusing for language students and could result in frustration and communication problems. This paper proposes a method to diagnose and prevent false friends mistakes based on students’ past learned words, current location and time. The proposed method uses records from the SCROLL system (System for Capturing and Reminding Of Learning Log) to analyze the previous activity of students. We assume that the past activity of a student can be used to predict the meaning intended by the student when looking up a polysemous word. The identification of the intended meaning in the student's current context is then used to provide the student with the appropriate translation, warnings and quizzes, possibly improving the learning process and avoiding false friends future mistakes.