clumsy Octoglot Senior Member Poland lang-8.com/6715Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5179 days ago 1116 posts - 1367 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin, Italian, Vietnamese Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swedish Studies: Danish, Dari, Kirundi
| Message 17 of 22 31 October 2010 at 2:24pm | IP Logged |
perł przed wieprze - pearls before hogs.
소에 경을 읊듯이
or something like that, to read mantra (?) to a cow.
I am not sure about this one. But it was something along those lines.
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Emile Triglot Newbie France lesswrong.com Joined 5098 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes Speaks: English, French*, Mandarin
| Message 18 of 22 11 December 2010 at 5:52pm | IP Logged |
The Mandarin version I learned was "对牛弹琴" (dui niu tan qin), literally "To play the harp for an Ox".
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Leurre Bilingual Pentaglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5426 days ago 219 posts - 372 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Korean, Haitian Creole, SpanishC2 Studies: Japanese
| Message 19 of 22 12 December 2010 at 1:49am | IP Logged |
The Korean one above is the right idea, I think it's closer to:
-소귀에 경 읽기- Reading the 경 to a cow
Or you can shorten it to a 사자성어 and say: 우이독경, same meaning
A similar one is 마이동풍, The eastern wind in a Horse's ear
These tend to be just for when you're saying something to someone and they either can't
appreciate or want nothing to do with it.
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jsun Groupie Joined 5086 days ago 62 posts - 129 votes
| Message 20 of 22 28 December 2010 at 10:41am | IP Logged |
Cantonese
牛噍牡丹
ngàuh jiuh máauh dāan
cow eating peony
→唔知花定草 [m4 jī fāa dihng chóu]
doesn't know it is a flower or grass
■to be undiscriminating, to lack a refined sensibility; to cast pearls before swine
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JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6123 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian
| Message 21 of 22 28 December 2010 at 4:50pm | IP Logged |
Actually, here is a site where you can find that verse, Matt 7:6, or any Bible verse in numerous languages:
http://mlbible.com/matthew/7-6.htm
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JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6123 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian
| Message 22 of 22 28 December 2010 at 5:53pm | IP Logged |
getreallanguage wrote:
Argentinian Spanish: 'margaritas a los chanchos'...As Fasulye hinted, 'margarita' is an archaic word for pearl, and a latinizing one, while nowadays it refers to a flower (daisy). |
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Margarita is interesting vis-a-vis it's etymology. I believe it came over into the Greek (μαργαρίτης (margarites)) and the Latin (margarita) as an eastern loanword:
Compare Middle Persian marvārīt (whence Persian مروارید (marvārīd)) and Sanskrit मञ्यरी (mañjarī).
Also in Greek it can mean either a pearl or a type of egyptian plant.
Latin: mittatis margaritas vestras ante porcos
Greek: (Koine) βαλητε τους μαργαριτας υμων εμπροσθεν των χοιρων
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%B3%CE%B1 %CF%81%CE%AF%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82
Edited by JW on 28 December 2010 at 5:56pm
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