Hospice or Asylum?
 

Quiz:

1) A place for people who are mentally ill (sick; having mental problems) is called in English:

a) asylum

b) hospice

c) nursing home

 

If you answered asylum it's correct!

Estes são mais alguns falsos cognatos (false friends) e vale a pena saber as diferenças para não entrar em apuros na hora de uma conversa ou uma redação.

 

 Asylum  /əˈsaɪləm/ = it seems like the word 'asilo' in Portuguese, but it's not a place for the elderly (old people). Asylum is a place for mentally ill people... which in Portuguese would be 'hospício'.

In another context, asylum is also a form of protection given by a government to someone who has left another country in order to escape being harmed. Example: She asked for political asylum. She was granted asylum after it was made clear that she would be killed if she returned to her native country. (source: Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionay)

 

 Hospice  /ˈhɑ:spəs/  = it seems like the word 'hospício' in Portuguese, but it is not a place for crazy people! Hospice is a place that shelters people who are dying or are incurably ill.

 

 Nursing Home /'nə:s ɪn ˈhoʊm/    = it's a home (an institution) for elderly people who can no longer care for themselves. This is what is "asilo" in Portuguese.

 

Trocando em miúdos:

  = hospício

   = instituição para doentes terminais

  = asilo

 

That's enough for today. I don't want you to get so crazy with English that you have to move to an asylum! 

Take care! Be healthy, young and keep studying with LEP!  :-p

 

 

 

 

 

If you have questions, just ask me!

 

  

 

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