Our Project
The Proverbs Project is an anthropological and sociolinguistic exploration of seven diverse cultures and languages of the world, using proverbs as a tool to gain insight into human nature and behavior.
Proverbs seem to transcend geography, culture and language, proving the indelible link between proverbs and the universality of human behavior regardless of which language one speaks. .
Our Mission
To answer a rather novel question: Does the culturally accepted wisdom embedded in a particular Spanish proverb have an equivalent in all of these widely spoken languages?
English / Russian / Chinese / Arabic / Hindi / Swahili
To create a community of collaborators around the world
How we did it
Step 1: We randomly selected 53 commonly used Spanish proverbs.
For example:
Vístame despacio, tengo prisa / Dress me slowly, I am in a hurry
A perro flaco, todo son pulgas / To a skinny dog, everything is fleas
A la tercera, va la vencida / On the third time goes the winner
Step 2: Then, we searched for and found the equivalent proverbs in all 6 other languages.
English / Russian / Chinese / Arabic / Hindi / Swahili
Step 3: We realized the answer to our mission question was a resounding – Yes.
The wisdom conveyed by every one of the 53 Spanish proverbs do have an equivalent expression in the other 6 other languages.
One example of this shared human wisdom
English: Variety is the spice of life
Spanish: En la variedad está el gusto
Hindi: रुचियों के मामूल का नियम नहीं होता
SW: Kila ndege huruka na mbawa zake.
Chinese: 丰富多彩的生活才乐趣横生
Russian: На вкусы нет закона.
Arabic: لولا اختلاف النظر، لبارت السلع
How to navigate the full list of 53 proverbs in 7 different languages?
1. If you click on any language below, for ex. Chinese, you’ll to see the full list of 53 proverbs in Chinese, which are the Chinese equivalents of the original 53 Spanish proverbs.
So, each proverb on the list is displayed like above and you are encouraged to make comments on the proverb. Click here to learn more about how to collaborate.
2. If you click on any of the 53 proverbs, you’ll see the equivalent proverbs in all 7 languages, just like you see in the example above.
So, the list of 53 Chinese proverbs are NOT translations of Spanish nor English proverbs. They are Chinese proverbs that convey the same meaning as the other 6 languages.
You will see a literal English translation below each Chinese proverb on the full list of 53. The same is true for Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Swahili and Hindi.
Full List of 53 Proverbs in 7 Languages
The Universality Score
The striking conclusion of the Proverbs Project is that every proverb on our list of 53 randomly selcted Spanish proverbs has an equivalent in all of the other 6 languages:
English / Russian / Chinese / Arabic / Hindi / Swahili (Total number of proverbs = 371)
Click here to see: Full List of Proverbs
To measure how close the seven versions of a proverb are, we have developed a
Universality Score.
Let’s use the following example below to explain what we mean by universality.
Proverb #44 expresses the idea that quite often people don’t apply in their personal
life things they know or do well.
Spanish: En casa del herrero, cuchillo de palo
Hindi: कबीरा ख़ार-जा, चप्पल छूर.
Chinese: 卖盐老婆喝淡汤
Russian: Сапожник без сапог.
Arabic: الإسكافي حافي وباب النَجَّار مَخْلوع
A hard worker knows the defects of his profession
100% coincidence (7 of 7 languages)
Professions, several
43% coincidence (3 of 7 languages)
Shoemaker
UNIVERSAL
One will notice that every proverb uses a profession to describe this quirky human behavior.
The Universality Scoring is shown in the lower right oval.
100% coincidence in the use of professions (blacksmith / shoemaker / street vendor / barber / weaver)
43% coincidence in shoemaker (Spanish / Russian / Hindi)
Categories like professions, animals, natural phenomena, god or body parts are prevalent
in the 371 proverbs.
What we want to do
To create a community of collaborators around the world
Become part of an engaging community dedicated to exploring the anthro-linguistic significance of proverbs and how they reflect the common values and beliefs of billions of people around the globe!
Learn more about how the multiple ways you can collaborate and contribute to the Proverbs Project