Try a Few Foreign Proverbs on for Size (Part I)

As far as I am concerned, the more different ways you can find to inject a bit of fun into your learning of a new language the better. I am a bit of a sucker for proverbs and I always been. This means that I can recommend going online and checking out a few in the language you are learning. You might be surprised at what you find.

Spanish - A quien madruga, Dios le ayuda

A quick look at proverbs in the language you are starting to study is a good idea. This is because I think that it gives you an idea how close the culture is to your native culture. For example, when I started looking up Spanish proverbs I was delighted to see that many of them were direct translations of English ones (or vice versa). The one I have quoted is, I guess, most closely related to “The early bird catches the worm”. If you ever spend time in Spain or Latin America you will hear this quote a lot, and if you ever need to go and form a queue in a government office you will realise that most people take this proverb literally.

German - An den Früchten erkennt man den Baum

I had assumed that German proverbs would be similar to English ones as well, but after a bit of research I came to the conclusion that that isn’t really the case as much as it is in Spanish. This proverb translates as “The apple does not fall far from the tree”. The point it seems to be making is that children learn from the example of their parents each day. If you like the idea of learning German proverbs from a native teacher then click here to get started.