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I only know a few, and I would really like to learn some more. If anyone can recommend a source, or just post proverbs on here, I'd be very grateful.
This one is fun, because it can be messed around with:
弱肉強食 (jaku niku kyou shoku - weak meat strong eat - survival of the fittest)
What's fun is that people sometimes jokingly order 弱肉強食 in a restaurant, when what they mean is:
焼肉定食 (yakiniku teishoku - a set meal with grilled meat) -
えええ、people really mix up じゃ and や in pronunciation? :|
To me that's such a huge difference in the pronunciation that I'd not soon make that mistake.
OTOH, what's more annoying is listening to people and notice that use a ng sound for g. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology#Phonological_processes -- I really classify as a C speaker, then again, I'm also known to intermix some 関西弁 in my 日本語 usage at times... ;) ) -
In Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell has one of the characters (not Japanese) say 'The weak are meat, the strong do eat', and it's pretty clear (though he never overtly says so) that he's taken the Japanese proverb as a model. Especially given the time he's spent in Japan. Not a problem, and it was fun to spot, but the proverb always makes me think of the book now. Good book.
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You may well have seen the Wikipedia page for '4 character compound words', several idiomatic, but I'll link it anyway.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yojijukugo
And there are also a lot on Wikiquote:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Japanese_proverbs
I like '竜頭蛇尾 ryuutou dabi', which I've seen a couple of times recently. Dragon's head, snake's tail, in other words, a disappointing anti-climax. -
[quote]
[p]えええ、people really mix up じゃ and や in pronunciation? :|Posted By: asmodai
To me that's such a huge difference in the pronunciation that I'd not soon make that mistake.
I think you misunderstood. It's not so much a mistake as a deliberate play on words. I haven't tried ordering that way myself, so I'm not sure how the waiting staff would react - I assume most of them would pick up on it, though. -
[p]You may well have seen the Wikipedia page for '4 character compound words', several idiomatic, but I'll link it anyway.[/p][p]Posted By: Richardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yojijukugo[/p][p]And there are also a lot on Wikiquote:[/p][p]http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Japanese_proverbs[/p][p]I like '竜頭蛇尾 ryuutou dabi', which I've seen a couple of times recently. Dragon's head, snake's tail, in other words, a disappointing anti-climax.[/p]
Cool, thanks.
An example of a non-idiomatic 四字熟語 (I like how 四字熟語 is a 四字熟語 - I know, I'm a geek) not mentioned on the Wikipedia site is 女子高生, who of course have a huge impact on Japanese culture ;) -
This link was pretty interesting for finding a whole lot of yoji jukugo.
http://www.manythings.org/japanese/vocabulary/kh-yojijukugo1.html
I went through them with the matching activity, which I think might be best, because you can work out the answers with a little effort (all good for learning, right?) Although the sheer number of compounds is rather overwhelming.
My favourite one from here was 'temae miso' (手前味噌) which means 'to blow your own trumpet', deriving from showing off about your home-made miso apparently, though I had to find the derivation on Google. -
[p]This link was pretty interesting for finding a whole lot of yoji jukugo.[/p][p]Posted By: Richardhttp://www.manythings.org/japanese/vocabulary/kh-yojijukugo1.html[/p][p]I went through them with the matching activity, which I think might be best, because you can work out the answers with a little effort (all good for learning, right?) Although the sheer number of compounds is rather overwhelming.[/p][p]My favourite one from here was 'temae miso' (手前味噌) which means 'to blow your own trumpet', deriving from showing off about your home-made miso apparently, though I had to find the derivation on Google.[/p]
If you say お手前味噌ですが or simply お手前ですが, it's like saying "I don't want to show off, but ..." - great for getting into the spirit of Japanese modesty. -
would 一期一会 be applicable in this case? It's less proverbial and more idiomatic, but ...
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[p]would 一期一会 be applicable in this case? It's less proverbial and more idiomatic, but ...[/p]Posted By: silvabriggs
Absolutely, those four kanjis are considered one word (just search for ichigoichie on jisho and you'll see it as a definite result) so it's absolutely considered a yojijukugo. -
Here are kanji Proverbs
1. 手前味噌 (hand-in front of-soybean paste, te-mae-miso)
Self-praise is no recommendation.
2. 適材適所 (right-lumber-right-place, teki-zai-teki-sho)
The right person for the right task.
3. 他山之石 (another-mountain's-rock, ta-zan-no-ishi)
Good advice from an unnoticed quarter.
4. 大器晩成 (big-skill-late-develop, tai-ki-ban-sei)
Great talents mature late.
http://www.examplesof.com/proverbs/ -
Glad to learn some more 四字熟語, it's a good topic.
My favorite one is 自業自得, which is easy to use in conversation if you like to kick people when they're down.
If you're near a Book Off, you can probably find some cheap children's books on 四字熟語. I was thinking about getting the ちびまる子ちゃん one last time I went.
Richard, thanks for the links. Maybe I'll try the latter site out. I'm not good with 四字熟語 either. The 手前味噌 reminded me of 手塩 which I just learned.
The Japanese version the Wikipedia - Japanese proverbs seems to have more than the English page, though I didn't count the 四字熟語：
http://ja.wikiquote.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E3%81%AE%E8%AB%BA
I guess if you wanted a large list of 四字熟語 in general, you could go to
http://www.sanabo.com/words/
They also have a ことわざ page but I didn't see a way to get the 四字熟語 which are ことわざ.
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