Introduction:
- Our group worked to collect proverbs across various Asian countries and languages that relate to hard work, making an effort and inspiring effort. We wanted to see what hard work meant in different countries, how the idea of hard work differs across various cultures, and how it stays the same. Furthermore, we sought to analyze the linguistic nature of the proverbs through linguistic translation in order to relate the word choice and semantics back to the respective country of origin as well as to compare it to an English equivalent.
- Furthermore, we wanted to learn more about the influence that cultural beliefs and culture have on inspiring domestic folklore. In most of our proverbs, it is true that the created proverbs are derived from what is highly valued in their respective culture.
Items:
- Japanese Proverb: Ishi ni tatsu ya
- Japanese Proverb: Kannin no nin no ji ga hyakkan suru
- Japanese Proverb: Sara mo ki kara ochiru
- Tagalog Proverb: Ang karukhaan ay hindi hadlang sa pagtatagumpay
- Tagalog Proverb: Kung may tinanim, may aanihin
- Tagalog Proverb: Kahoy mang babad sa tubig, kapag nadarang sa apoy sapilitang magdirikit
- Chinese Proverb: Zhǒng guā dé guā zhǒng dòu dé dòu
- Chinese Proverb: Yǒuzhì zhě, shì jìng chéng
- Chinese Proverb: Qiānlǐ zhī xíng shǐ yú zúxià
- Russian Proverb: Без труда не вытащишь рыбку из пруда
- Russian Proverb: Любишь кататься люби и саночки возить
- Russian Proverb: Под лежачий камень вода не течёт
- Kannada Proverb: ಕೈ ಕೇಸರಡರೆ ಬಾಯಿ ಮೊಸರು
- Kannada Proverb: ಹಸಿದು ಹಲಸಿನ ಹಣ್ಣು ತಿನ್ನು ಉಂಡು ಮಾವಿನ ಹಣ್ಣು ತಿನ್ನು
- Kannada Proverb: ಮಾಡಿದ್ದುಣ್ಣೋ ಮಹರಾಯ
Collectors:
- Marcus Chang (Chinese Proverbs)
- Gautham Sivadasan (Japanese Proverbs)
- Jaime Chuidian (Tagalog Proverbs)
- Varun Lingadal (Kannada Proverbs)
- Jennifer Gadalov (Russian Proverbs)
Conclusion:
It is certainly fascinating to see how proverb folklores of inspiration and work are cultivated and overlap across drastically different cultures. As a group of 5, each of us has been immersed in our unique upbringing that has influenced where our interests, passions, and cultural beliefs lie. Despite this, we found that the principle of proverbs can remain the same. Using domestic, cultural beliefs in different contexts to have a larger meaning are clear indicators of how different cultures approach and create their own proverbs.
We see that our proverbs come from Indo-European and East Asian backgrounds and it is interesting to wonder how similar proverbs relating to hard work have come to exist in different cultures.
Diffusion and monogenesis could potentially explain the common backgrounds between Russian and Indian proverbs and between Tagalog, Chinese, and Japanese proverbs. Yet all 5 of these cultures seem to have similar proverbs about hard work. One theory is polygenesis and Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious. This could explain the similarities found in hard work throughout the cultures we analyzed. It could be an aspect of human psychology that is common to all of us, a drive to work hard to achieve our goals and attain success.
Tags/Keywords
- Proverbs
- Hard Work
- Asia
- India
- China
- Russia
- Japan
- Philippines