Personally I love all aspects of folklore and tradition, and proverbs are no exception. They are both rooted in their own time and eternal, both parochial and international. Their specific form expresses the character of the peoples which produced them but their concerns are much the same in every country. They transmit the wisdom and humour of age and experience to the young. They are warnings, advice, jokes and observations. But they are also of great value to the learner of a language.
Why are they so useful? Well, think of the words that are used in common proverbs. Because most proverbs are ways of expressing abstract concepts using concrete language, they very often make use of common and basic vocabulary – animals, colours, food, geographical features. But they also contain a useful core of abstract vocabulary – fear, hope, love, thrift, intelligence, speed, accuracy.
Think of the following proverb: Tógfaidh dath dubh ach ní thógfaidh dubh dath. It is an image derived from the world of dyeing. The learner will learn a lot from it: the Irish for take (tóg), the future tense (tógfaidh), the negative of the future tense (ní thógfaidh), the word for colour (dath) and the word for black (dubh). There is a music about this proverb, an elegance of expression. And there is also a warning and a wisdom about it. It is warning against jumping to conclusions about people or defaming them. A coloured cloth, it says, can be dyed black very easily, but a black cloth cannot be dyed any other colour. Once you have defamed someone, it is not so easy to restore their reputation. This is just one example of a great proverb, and there are hundreds to choose from in Irish!
Now, some people might say that proverbs are clichés, and to a point this is true. But I would ask you to remember that a lot of humour depends on changing clichéd forms of language to give them a new twist and this is an important way that languages have of revitalizing themselves. What about this one, which changes a few words: – Is fearr cara sa Pharlaimint Eorpach ná euro sa sparán (Better a friend in the European Parliament than a euro in the purse), which is based on Is fearr cara sa chúirt ná punt sa sparán (better a friend in the court than a pound in the purse). Or we can add a bit to an old proverb. For example, Ní dhéanfadh an saol capall rása d’asal (the whole world couldn’t make a race horse out of a donkey) is an old proverb, but you could add a second part – ach is iomaí capall rása a ndearna an saol asal de! (But it’s many a racehorse the world made a donkey of!) I am sure you can think of better examples. Being creative is a vital part of language learning and no language should ever be treated as a museum exhibit.
Posted
Feb 20 2010