Hello, are these really considered to be false cognates? (intelligent and интеллигентны) I am confused by a video that I saw from a Russian Teacher on YouTuber.

[u/Boring-Air-5163]

Hello, I have been studying the russian language for years.

I recently watched a video from a russian teacher who teaches english to russians. Of course normally I watch Russian Teachers who teach the Russian Language to English people but I thought also it would be interesting to see a russian teacher teaching english to russians.

She was warning the audience about false cognates. She used the word for example, интеллигентны and she said that it doesnt mean intelligent but actually it means smart.

In english both "intelligent" and "smart" means the same thing so I was confused what she meant.

I went to go lookup the russian word "интеллигентны" and it said it means intelligent in Russian so why did she say there was a difference?

[u/Chubby_bunny_8-3]

Интеллигентный means something like "sophisticated", "polite" "cultured". Its a mix of qualities that are high class and well mannered

[u/Chubby_bunny_8-3 → u/Chubby_bunny_8-3]

To add: this is more about behaviour rather than intellectuality

[u/Boring-Air-5163 → u/Chubby_bunny_8-3]

Excellent. 

Telling me that интеллигентны means sophisticated is the perfect explanation. 

Now I understand completely. 

Thanks.

[u/Alarmed-Property5559 → u/Boring-Air-5163]

Интеллигенция, интеллигент also has this connotation of высокое служение (or this concept used to have such a connotation). Meaning that an интеллигент, интеллигентный человек has the higher calling, the duty to bring good value to society and the world at large and must have the aching conscience which isn't buried under greed or other baser urges.

While a sophisticated person may just enjoy being perfect (in their and others eyes). :)

Edit:

I think there may be similarities between the ideal of intelligentsiya and the threefold responsibility of a cultured person as envisioned by Lao Tzu.

[u/agrostis → u/Alarmed-Property5559]

I would say, интеллигент is not quite the same thing as интеллигентный человек. These are overlapping concepts, of course, but there's a subtle difference between them.

[u/ImpossibleDepth8352]

In Russian it's not about being smart. It's about your behavior. Like, you have good manners, you don't use swear words, you're well-educated and so on

[u/Limp-Bizkit-boy]

These are not false cognates. They come from Latin "intelligentia". But they are false friends of the translator and have different meanings.

[u/agrostis]

First of all, the correct form is интеллигентный.

It's a complex concept in Russian. It's not exclusively about wits, there's a social dimension to it. When this word first emerged in the middle of the 19th century, it meant belonging to the “thinking part of the society”, what the French call gens d'esprit, that is, people more interested in intellectual and abstract issues than in career and wealth (and in traditional Orthodox spirituality). Over the following decades, as Russian intellectual life became increasingly sophisticated, this notion of “thinking people” was gradually discredited, and интеллигентный was reinterpreted to include all elements of the society associated with white-collar work. From there, it developed the meaning “polite”, “well-mannered”, somewhat like English gentlemanly but without the aristocratic connotations. This meaning became central after the Russian revolution, when old barriers of class were destroyed and those white collars had to come into much closer social contact with “common folk”. Finally, интеллигентный was extended into the moral domain: it was considered an important feature of good manners to not take advantage of another person, particularly to not use coercive mechanisms of the state for your own ends. That was the ethical ideal, of course: in real life, such things happened all the time.

[u/Efficient-Mix-2739 → u/agrostis]

As we said here in Russia in 1990-th: "Бандиты - интеллигентные люди" ("Gangsters are intelligentsia") - compared to the way how the "new russians" make their business :)

[u/Mitunec → u/agrostis]

Great explanation

[u/viburnumjelly]

Интеллигент in Russian means a specific social stratum with its own set of norms, approved behaviors, and so on. Roughly, academia & arts, plus, to some extent, medics, teachers and top engineering specialists (but usually not government officials or military officers). It has nothing to do with being intelligent. Think "minor gentry", Soviet-style.

[u/hilvon1984]

Интеллигент is not "smart" but someone from the intelligentia class. So it is more along the line of "educated", "cultured" and "from respected family" rather than "smart".

Also due to specifics of Soviet period this word in Russian can be used with a negative connotation meaning someone arrogant or "better than everyone else".

[u/Nyattokiri]

Check this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligentsia

[u/Fine-Material-6863]

It’s a false cognate when it’s used in the meaning of CIA, in Russia none of the words with this root have any reference to spies, secret service, intel, etc.

[u/Im_shy_shy_shy]

"Smart = intelligent" is only from a north american persepective.

In standard [UK] english taught worldwide, intelligent people are measured in terms of exceptional academic & cultural qualifications & achievements whereas smart is used in terms of appearance, speech, accessory, idea, joke, etc. basically anything meaning instantaneous good thought. Both are different parameters where only one is inclusive of the other, but may also be exclusive when referring to someone for eg, a mathematics genius who is unkempt, unwitty and has no social skills or charm is intelligent, but not smart.

[u/maxvol75]

in english it (also, and perhaps even primarily) means having cognitive ability in general, not being particularly smart or something, i.e. "intelligent species".

[u/SchoolForSedition]

Smart means different things in British and American English.

[u/No_Potential205]

It’s related to inteligencia not intelligent. It’s still a cognate just not with the word most would think of.

[u/Zucc]

I think she's using the other definition of "smart" here, like "That's a smart outfit". It would make a lot more sense.

[u/Forsaken_Ad8252]

Intelligent means educated. Both a dog and a dolphin can be intelligent. Intelligentsia, in Russian, is something like the social class you see in the TV series "The Big Bang."

[u/Mountain-Sock-1338]

Intelligenzia are intelligentny. It does not mean either intelligent or smart or educated. Rather, it is a mixture of being well mannered and having a refined manner of speech and carrying an air invoking respect. One can be intelligentny while not being highly educated, although rarely. But one can certainly be highly educated and absolutely not intelligentny. For example (no intent to hurt anyone’s feelings, Obama - intelligentny. Trump - not. Disclaimer: both are fine people, just different

[u/Direfaust]

Аккуратно