한국어 속담과 영어 속담을 비교하며 공부해요. 괄호 안에는 한국어 속담을 영어로 직역하여 어떤 느낌인지 더 알기 쉽게 했어요.

한국어속담 30개 공부하기

What goes around comes around. (If the words that go are pretty, the words that come back are pretty.)

가는 말이 고와야 오는 말이 곱다.

Don’t forget your humble beginnings. (A frog doesn’t remember when it was a tadpole.)

개구리 올챙이 적 생각 못한다.

No pain, no gain. (After hardship comes joy.)

Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs. (Writing Chinese characters in front of Confucius.)

Beggars can’t be choosers. (A chicken instead of a pheasant.)

Walls have ears. (Birds hear daytime words, mice hear nighttime words.)

낮말은 새가 듣고 밤말은 쥐가 듣는다.

There’s always a bigger fish. (Above the one who runs, there is one who flies.)

Be careful what you wish for. (Words become seeds.)

Pouring water into a bottomless pit. (Pouring water into a jar with no bottom.)

Many hands make light work. (Even a sheet of paper is better if lifted together.)

The boughs that bear the most hang lowest. (The more rice ripens, the more it bows its head.)

A soft answer turns away wrath. (You can’t spit on a smiling face.)

Even Homer nods. (Even a monkey falls from the tree.)

A frog in a well (narrow perspective). (A frog in a well.)

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog. (A small chili pepper is spicy.)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. (Glasses in one’s own eyes.)

Speak of the devil. (Even a tiger appears if you talk about it.)

You reap what you sow. (Beans grow where you plant beans, and red beans grow where you plant red beans.)

콩 심은 데 콩 나고 팥 심은 데 팥 난다.

A word to the wise is enough. (Teach one, and they know ten.)

Well begun is half done. (The beginning is half.)

Like picking stars from the sky. (Plucking stars from the sky.)

Adding insult to injury. (Giving the disease, then giving the medicine.)

Laugh and the world laughs with you. (If you laugh, fortune comes.)

Constant dripping wears away the stone. (There’s no tree that doesn’t fall after being chopped ten times.)

열 번 찍어 안 넘어가는 나무 없다.

From a small clue, you can see the bigger picture. (If you see one, you know ten.)

Out of the frying pan into the fire. (As you go, it becomes a great mountain.)

Kill two birds with one stone. (Eat the pheasant and the egg.)

Look before you leap. (Even when crossing a stone bridge, tap it first.)

Heaven helps those who help themselves. (Heaven helps those who help themselves.)

하늘은 스스로 돕는 자를 돕는다.

Acting innocent after wrongdoing. (You eat a chicken and then present a duck’s foot.)