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False Friends: Educated vs. Educado
- noviembre 6, 2015
- Posted by: Joel
- Category: News
Both the Spanish and English words refer to things people have learned, especially as children, but they are just different enough that you need to learn them separately.
“Educado” in Spanish refers to behavior. If your parents raised you well, to be respectful and follow the rules of etiquette, people consider you to be polite or well-mannered. Children who have good manners are called well behaved. So we are dealing with how the children were raised, but not what they learned in school.
That’s what the English word educated is for. This does not refer to how you act but rather all the information you learned in school. Life lessons are not usually included in the definition of “educated”.
Mary’s children are so well-behaved: they always say “please” and “thank you”
The English are said to be very polite, sometimes too polite. But I think it’s mostly superficial.
I was not educated well: I had to start work at 16, so I never finished my education.
He was educated at Yale, and his sister was educated at Harvard. I don’t know why they chose different universities.
So continue your English education!
