Famous Vietnamese Proverbs and Sayings You Should Know

Lesson Transcript

Want to speak real Vietnamese from your first lesson?

Hey guys, it's Linh. Welcome back to vietnamespod101.com.

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I know I repeat all the time, but it's just fun.

So I'm not wasting your time anymore.

Today, we're going to be talking about the culture of Vietnamese language.

It's not about what you should say or what you should not say.

It's about the proverbs, which in Vietnamese we call tục ngữ.

So basically, there are some short sentences or expressions

that our parents or our grandparents use them to teach us some lessons

or some, something in life.

They are not really from modern life.

They're from the old time where our grandparents

are even older, used to learn language, used to learn Vietnamese.

And it would be very nice if you can use them in the suitable situations.

So that means you really understand the language

and to really understand the culture of Vietnam.

So let's get right into it.

First one.

Im lặng là vàng.

That means “Silence is gold.”

Here you will see im lặng means “silence.”

Both adjectives and nouns, you can use both im lặng, là: “to be” verb.

Don't tell me that you forgot.

Vàng means gold.

Very easy, right? Very simple.

Im lặng là vàng.

Subject + verb + object.

Im lặng là vàng.

So this one you can use when you don't want to say anything

or you just want to be quiet, to be safe.

In some sensitive situations, you don't have to say anything

but just try to keep quiet to avoid conflicts or avoid risks.

So in these situations, you can say im lặng là vàng.

Next one.

Mưa như trút nước.

Mưa means “raining”.

Như means “like.”

And here you will see that we don't use to be verb

but instead we can use directly như.

Instead of saying “raining is like”, you can say “raining like”.

Mưa như trút nước means” like pouring water.”

So Mưa như trút nước.

I think it's similar to “raining cats and dogs.”

That means raining heavily or raining for so long and...

Mưa như trút nước. Tôi không thể ra ngoài.

Means “it's raining cats and dogs. I can't go out.”

Next one.

Nhập gia tùy tục.

Nhập gia means “to enter in a house” or “to enter in a home.”

Tùy tục means “depends on the rules” or “depends on the traditions of somewhere or something.”

So basically it's similar to “In Rome, do as Romans do”, something like that.

That means when you enter a country or when you enter a city or just a family,

you should follow their habits or their traditions.

Thời gian là tiền bạc.

Thời gian is “time”, là is là, là is “to be verb” and tiền bạc is “money”.

Subject + verb + object.

Thời gian là tiền bạc.

And it's so clear, right?

Time is money and we should respect time, we should value time, we should save time.

This one you can use anytime, anywhere with anyone and it's very common.

It's not really hard to use.

If you, for example, you feel like you're spending too much time on something

or your friend is wasting a lot of time of yours,

then you can say,

Thời gian là tiền bạc.

Xa mặt cách lòng.

Xa mặt cách lòng means something like “far from eye, far from heart”.

Something like if you are in a distant relationship,

then it's highly likely that you will feel the distance in your heart

or in your mind or in your relationship.

So this one is not only for relationships.

I mean boyfriend-girlfriend relationships, okay?

It can be for friendships, it can be for colleagues,

it can be for family, it can be for anyone.

For example, when you study abroad and then your girlfriend is staying in the country

and slowly you don't talk to each other anymore,

then you can say,

Xa mặt cách lòng, tôi với cô ấy không nói chuyện với nhau nhiều nữa.

That's sad, right?

So Đừng xa mặt cách lòng nhé.

Bán anh em xa mua láng giềng gần.

That means “A stranger nearby is better than a far away relative.”

It's funny, right? They are similar, okay?

But it literally means to sell far away brothers and to buy close neighbors

rather than to have a lot of siblings or relatives but they are far away from you.

So sometimes when you need them, they are not there for you.

But if you have some close neighbors or some close friends, it's very very good for you.

So Bán anh em xa mua láng giềng gần.

Càng đông càng vui.

And it literally means “The more, the merrier.”

So you will see this structure, càng and càng.

In English, we use something like the more something and the more something.

In Vietnamese, we say càng-càng.

And after càng, you use adjectives, okay?

Càng đông, càng vui.

Đông here means “crowded” and vui here means “happy” or “glad”.

So càng đông, càng vui. “The more the merrier”. Easy, right?

Next one

Có chí thì nên.

Có chí thì nên means something like “no pain, no gain.”

So có here means “to have”, chỉ here means “spirit” or “grit” or “will”.

If you have spirit, thì means “to be” verb.

So we have thì and là, that is Vietnamese of “to be”.

And nên means “to become” or “to be something”, okay?

So Có chí thì nên, “no pain, no gain.”

“If you don't try, then you will never become” or “you will never get what you want.”

Có chí thì nên.

So this one is very common when you have to encourage or when you want to motivate someone or some children to try to get what they want.

So you can just say

Có chí thì nên, cố lên con.

You already have something but you still want something else or you think like the other thing is better than yours.

So can you guess what it is?

You can type a comment below.

Okay, so this one in Vietnamese we say

Đứng núi này trông núi nọ.

Đứng here means “to stand” or “to be here”.

Núi này means “this mountain” and trông means “to look” or “to watch” or “to see”.

Núi nọ means “the other mountain” or “that mountain.”

And this one I find it very similar to “The grass are always green on the other side of the fence.”

You think so?

Okay, so those are something that are very common in Vietnamese and you can actually use them when it comes to the suitable time.

Don't worry if some idioms in English are not very practical or not very natural to use.

But these ones that I introduced to you, they are very practical.

Be confident, be natural and when it comes to the right time, just say it and show how good you are in Vietnamese.

So that's all for today.

I hope you enjoy it and I hope they are helpful for you.

Don't forget to like this video, subscribe the channel and visit the website VietnamesePod101.com for more Vietnamese with Ling and other hosts.

Thank you so much again.

See you in the next one.

Bye bye.

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