Linguistically independent aphoristic equivalencies

[Cervaise]

Or, “it’s raining cats and dogs” around the world.

We all know the almost-certainly apocryphal story about the translation machine that rendered the English expression “out of sight, out of mind” into some other language (Chinese or Russian, typically) and back to English, producing an amusingly non-equivalent but recognizably congruent phrase like “invisible madman” or “blind idiot.” I would presume, however, that had this hypothetical computer been given a database of epigrams and adages, it would have been able to produce a colloquial Chinese (or Russian) phrase encapsulating the idea, “If you can’t see something, you probably aren’t thinking about it.” It’s not an uncommon notion, and it makes sense that other languages would have their own versions of it, epigrammatic counterparts if not precise syntactic matches.

My question: I’m curious about aphorisms that straddle languages, and language families, expressing similar ideas. I’m especially interested in aphorisms that use similar words to express a thought, and that can be translated more or less directly from one language to another and still mean the same thing.

For example, while I’m just speculating and haven’t actually looked into this, I’d be surprised if the standard response to a difficult question, “that’s a long story,” weren’t approximately the same in many languages, as a means of communicating, in shorthand, a rather ambiguous bundle of thoughts: I can answer your question, but it will be lengthy and complicated for a variety of reasons, and you may or may not be satisfied with it, but I’m not exactly brushing you off, because I’m willing to give you the explanation, and I might even enjoy telling the story, but I want to make sure you accept this caveat and don’t either cut me off before I’m finished or complain too much about it afterward if you decide you don’t like it and would have preferred a simpler answer, which I am not able to give.

(My curiosity comes out of an episode of “Rome” a few weeks ago, wherein I would swear one character said to another “I’ll show you the onions” as the equivalent of “I’ll show you the ropes,” i.e. I’ll demonstrate to you how the thing is to be done. I asked about it in the specific episode thread, but got no joy. So it’s been on my mind.)

In short: How common are colloquialisms that can be translated more or less as-is from language to language, and are there any that are more common than others?

[ultrafilter]

The English phrase “wet behind the ears” can be literally translated into Dutch without losing its meaning.

[JKellyMap]

My experience with Spanish is that about half the common aphorisms are roughly word-for-word parallels to their English equivalents (example: “kill two birds with one stone” =* “matar dos pajaros con un solo tiro”, * literally “kill two birds with only one shot/throw”), whereas the other half express the same idea in an entirely different way (example: “if you snooze, you lose” = “el camaron que se duerme, se lo lleva el corriente”, literally “the shrimp that falls asleeps is taken away by the current”).
Since Spanish and English have had contact for centuries, I assume that this approximate 50% rate (anectdotal – I could be way off) would not hold true for languages that have had less contact. Let’s see if, as this thread develops, we find that there are a few aphorisms which are expressed similarly in many less-related languages.

[RealityChuck]

A friend in grad school once pointed out that many languages equivalent to the English “so-so” (“How are you doing?” “So-so”) are reduplicative. The French, for instance is “Comme si, comme ca”; the Greek is “Etzky-ketzky.” He would ask speakers of other languages for additional examples.

[Roderick_Femm]

@RealityChuck

A friend in grad school once pointed out that many languages equivalent to the English “so-so” (“How are you doing?” “So-so”) are reduplicative. The French, for instance is “Comme si, comme ca”; the Greek is “Etzky-ketzky.” He would ask speakers of other languages for additional examples.

Japanese = “maa-maa”

[twickster]

@RealityChuck

A friend in grad school once pointed out that many languages equivalent to the English “so-so” (“How are you doing?” “So-so”) are reduplicative. The French, for instance is “Comme si, comme ca”; the Greek is “Etzky-ketzky.” He would ask speakers of other languages for additional examples.

Too cool!

[bordelond]

@RealityChuck

He would ask speakers of other languages for additional examples.

Spanish: asi asi

[bordelond]

@JKellyMap

My experience with Spanish is that about half the common aphorisms are roughly word-for-word parallels to their English equivalents (example: “kill two birds with one stone” =* “matar dos pajaros con un solo tiro”, * literally “kill two birds with only one shot/throw”) …

French has many of these as well:

All’s well that ends well = Tout est bien qui finit bien
Better late than never = Mieux vaut tard que jamais
Love me, love my dog = Qui m’aime, aime mon chien
Nothing ventured, nothing gained = Qui ne risque rien n’a rien
Time is money = Le temps, c’est de l’argent
Strike while the iron’s hot = Battre le fer pendant qu’il est chaud
The walls have ears = Les murs ont des oreilles
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire = Il n’y a pas de fumée sans feu
Can’t make an omellette without breaking eggs = On ne fait pas d’omelette sans casser des oeufs
He who laughs last, laughs best = Rira bien qui rira le dernier

[bordelond]

From A Book of English and Russian Proverbs and Sayings by M. Dubrovin – the following expressions parse more or less cleanly into Russian (sorry, no Russian translations):

All roads lead to Rome

All is well that ends well

All that glitters isn’t gold

You made your bed – lie in it

Better late than never

Take the bull by the horns

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

[bordelond]

Here’s some from Italian, many from Wikipedia’s entry for Italian proverbs:

Choose the lesser of two evils = Fra il due mali scegli il minore

When the cat’s away, the mice will play = *Quando il gatto manca, i topi ballano * (lit. … the mice will dance)

To kill two birds with one stone = *Prendere due piccione con una fava * (lit. … with one bean)

A new broom sweeps clean = *Scopa nuova scopa bene * (lit. … sweeps well)

Seek and ye shall find = Chi cerca trova

Nothing new under the sun = Nulla è nuovo sotto il sole

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth = A caval donato non si guarda in bocca

In a world of blind people, a one-eyed man is king = In un mondo di ciechi un orbo è re

Better late than never = Meglio tardi che mai

No news is good news = Nessuna nuova, buona nuova

He who laughs last laughs best = Ride bene chi ride ultimo

All roads lead to Rome = Tutte le strade portano a Roma

…

This last one is Sicilian. I include it because I wonder if it is the ultimate source of the expression “Avoid X like the plague”:

Friend who won’t give, relatives who won’t lend you a hand, avoid them like the plague = Amicu ca non ti duna, parendi ca non ti mpresta, fuili comu la pesta (Sicilian)

[Atticus_Finch]

@RealityChuck

A friend in grad school once pointed out that many languages equivalent to the English “so-so” (“How are you doing?” “So-so”) are reduplicative. The French, for instance is “Comme si, comme ca”; the Greek is “Etzky-ketzky.” He would ask speakers of other languages for additional examples.

Indonesian: “baik-baik”. The Arabic “shway shway” is kinda similar, means “a little”, “not much”.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

@Atticus Finch

Indonesian: “baik-baik”. The Arabic “shway shway” is kinda similar, means “a little”, “not much”.

Italian- metza-metza (although the spelling may be wrong)

[bordelond]

@IvoryTowerDenizen

Italian- metza-metza (although the spelling may be wrong)

Mezzo-mezzo, I believe.