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

French - Amour, toux et fumée En ne secret sont demeurée

I live this French proverb. It means “Love, smoke and cough are hard to hide.” It is similar to a Spanish one which says that money, pain and love are hard to hide. In fact, the German one we just looked at has a Spanish equivalent as well now that I think about it, so the different European languages have a lot of similar proverbs. With their French lessons Edinburgh residents can learn many exciting proverbs like this one.

Italian - A caval donato non si guarda in bocca

This is one of the classic proverbs which you will hear in many different languages. If I said that it had to with gift horses and mouths I am sure you would know which one it is in English.

Arabic – (translates as) More lost than the moon in the winter

This is another fantastic sounding proverb although I can’t quite seem to pin down its literal meaning. One of the great things about learning an exotic language is that you are going to come across many wonderful proverbs which are quite different from the ones you know. When they start Arabic lessons Leeds students should be sure to ask their teacher for a few proverbs.