Kaeru no Ko wa Kaeru (蛙の子は蛙 - Like Father, Like Son)

Jan 8, 2018 21:07
Yesterday, I talked about an idiom related to a parent tiger and its cub.

Today, I'd like to introduce you to a Japanese proverb related to a frog parent and its child; 蛙の子は蛙 (kaeru no ko wa kaeru).

蛙 (kaeru) means "frog" and 子 (ko) means "child," so the literal meaning of this proverb is "a flog child is a frog."

Larvae of frogs, tadpoles, are not similar to their parents, but as they grow up they will finally change to look like their parents, frogs.

Because of this, "kaeru no ko wa kaeru" is used to mean that the nature/ability of a child resemble his/her parents.

However, note that this proverb often contains a bad meanings, which is something like that if parents are ordinary persons, their child will be ordinary.
蛙の子は蛙

昨日は虎の親子に関する慣用句を紹介しました。

今日は、蛙の親子に関することわざ「蛙の子は蛙」を紹介します。

「蛙」は "frog," 「子」は "child" を意味するので、このことわざの文字どおりの意味は "a flog child is a flog" となります。

蛙の幼生であるオタマジャクシは、親と全く似ていませんが、成長すればいずれ親とそっくりな姿になります。

このことから「蛙の子は蛙」は、子の性質や能力は親に似ることを意味することわざとして使われます。

ただし、親が凡人であれば子も凡人であるという悪い意味合いを含むので、使う際は注意して下さい。
No. 1　pandelion's correction
  • Kaeru no Ko wa Kaeru (蛙の子は蛙 - Like Father, Like Son)
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • Yesterday, I talked about an idiom related to a parent tiger and its cub.
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • Today, I'd like to introduce you to a Japanese proverb related to a frog parent and its child; 蛙の子は蛙 (kaeru no ko wa kaeru).
  • Today, I'd like to introduce you to a Japanese proverb related to a frog parent and its child; 蛙の子は蛙 (kaeru no ko wa kaeru).
    　I think I'd probably say "relating to" here instead of "related to". It's a very subtle difference which is quite hard to explain as its use feels quite instinctive.

    You would use "relating to" here because the proverb is directly about the frog parent and its child.

    You would use "related to" if you were saying this proverb is similar to / connected to another proverb. e.g. "Today, I'd like to introduce you to a Japanese proverb related to the idiom about the tiger and its cub that I showed you yesterday."

    Some other examples:
    "The detective looked at the evidence relating to the case."
    vs.
    "The detective told the deputy about the crime related to the one that happened last week"

    I hope that clears it up, but don't worry to much if it doesn't. It's not something that most people would worry about.
  • 蛙 (kaeru) means "frog" and 子 (ko) means "child," so the literal meaning of this proverb is "a flog child is a frog."
  • 蛙 (kaeru) means "frog" and 子 (ko) means "child," so the literal meaning of this proverb is "a frog child is a frog."
    　I'm sure this is just a typo :)
  • Larvae of frogs, tadpoles, are not similar to their parents, but as they grow up they will finally change to look like their parents, frogs.
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • Because of this, "kaeru no ko wa kaeru" is used to mean that the nature/ability of a child resemble his/her parents.
  • Because of this, "kaeru no ko wa kaeru" is used to mean that the nature/ability of a child resembles that of his/her parents.
    　Without the "that of" it sounds like the ability resembles the parent itself, not the parent's ability. It's still very clear what you mean either way.
  • However, note that this proverb often contains a bad meanings, which is something like that if parents are ordinary persons, their child will be ordinary.
  • However, note that this proverb often can have a bad meanings, which is something like that if parents are ordinary persons, their child will be ordinary.
    　"However, note that this proverb can also have negative/bad connotations, for example, if the parents are ordinary persons/people, their child will be too."

    I think this sounds more fluid.
    "persons" is correct and is used in formal settings, but in most day-to-day conversations "people" is more common.
Toru
Thank you very much for the corrections and the helpful comments!
I learned something new! (^^)
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