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猫に小判 Give a Cat a Gold Coin

Submitted by admin on Mon, 07/28/2008 - 17:45

Japanese proverbs

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 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.

 


Example Sentence


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.

 

Vocabulary image

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)

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