一石二鳥 Killing two Birds with one Stone

一石二鳥 Kill Two Birds with One Stone

一石二鳥

Japanese いっ　せき　に　ちょう isseki ni chou Literal One stone; two birds English Equivalent Killing two birds with one stone. Notes This is one of the few proverbs that is almost exactly the same as a famous English proverb. 一石 isseki - One stone [The ichi adds a small っ; another common pronunciation for stone is ishi] 二鳥 ni chou - Two birds [an on reading for bird is chou]

演歌を聞くと、日本の文化に触れながら日本語の勉強ができるので、一石二鳥だ。
enka o kiku to, nihon no bunka ni furenagara nihongo no benkyou ga dekiru node, isseki nichou.
Listening to enka, I learn about Japanese culture and I am able to study Japanese at the same time. I kill two birds with one stone.

 

演歌 enka - traditional Japanese popular music style
聞くと kiku to - when listening...
日本の文化 nihon no bunka - Japanese culture
触れながら furenagara - while experiencing; ながら means 'while'
日本語 nihongo - Japanese language
勉強 benkyou - study
日本語の勉強 nihongo no benkyou - studying Japanese
できる dekiru - can; able
ので node - therefore
だ da - plain form of です; copula

猫に小判 Give a Cat a Gold Coin

猫に小判 Cast Pearls to a Swine

 

猫に小判

Japanese ねこ に こばん neko ni koban Literal Give money to a cat English Equivalent To cast pearls before swine Notes 猫に neko ni (give) to a cat [に shows direction]; A 小判 koban was an oval gold coin used during the Edo period; 豚に真珠 buta ni shinju Pearls to a pig, from the Bible, is also used often and means basically the same thing.

 

宝石に興味のない人にダイヤモンドを上げても、猫に小判だ。
houseki ni kyoumi no nai hito ni daiyamondo o agetemo, neko ni koban da.
For someone who has no interest in precious stones, even giving him a diamond would be casting pearls before swine.

 

宝石 houseki—precious stones, gems
興味のない人 kyoumi no nai hito—a person not interested in...
ダイヤモンド daiyamondo—diamond
上げても agete mo—even if (you give him a diamond)

猿も木から落ちる Even Monkeys Fall from Trees

猿も木から落ちる Even Monkeys fall from Trees

猿も木から落ちる

Japanese さるも　き　から　おちる saru mo ki kara ochiru Literal Even monkeys fall from trees. English Equivalent Everyone makes mistakes. Notes One of the most famous Japanese proverbs out there! 猿も saru mo - Even a Monkey 木から ki kara - from a tree 落ちる ochiru - to fall

The example sentence (not to be taken too seriously), is more for intermediates:

猿も木から落ちるというけど、あんなに賢い国語の先生が、「一」という字を間違えたな んて信じられない。
saru mo ki kara ochiru to iu kedo, anna ni kashikoi kokugo no sensei ga, ichi to iu ji o machigaeta nante shijirarenai
As they say, "Even monkeys fall from trees," but for such a brilliant Japanese teacher to mess up such a character is hard to believe.

 

猿も saru mo - Even a Monkey
木から ki kara - from a tree
落ちる ochiru - to fall
という to iu - is like a quotation marker
けど kedo - but
あんなに annani- for such a
賢い kashikoi - wise; bright; clever
国語の先生 kokugo no sensei - teacher of Japanese
一 ichi - one; indisputedly the easiest of all kanji
という to iu - is like a quotation marker
字 ji - character; here meaning Chinese characters
間違えた machigaeta -　made a mistake
なんて nante -　such as but with a negative emphasis
信じられない shinjirarenai - I can't believe it