Learning proverbs is my favorite way to advance my language skills in a new language. Of course, you need to be at an intermediate level to start with this language skill but once you reach that stage, proverbs not only help you discover the often amusing aspects of the language but also dig deeper into the culture and people of that language. Similarly, Burmese proverbs (sa-ga-pone – စကားပုံ) are treasures of wisdom passed down through generations.
Sample this – laraung shihcaintwin raatkaann loteraan (လရောင်ရှိစဉ်တွင် ရက်ကန်းလုပ်ရန်). It translates to, “to weave while there is moonshine shine,” in English and carries the same meaning as “to make hay while the sun shines.” Wow! Doesn’t this reflect the shared wisdom in both cultures while also highlighting the difference the Sun and the Moon hold in both these cultures?
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Explore Burmese Culture With These Burmese Proverbs
For many Burmese speakers, Burmese proverbs (sa-ga-pone – စကားပုံ) are more than mere sayings—they’re golden bridges connecting generations, much like the golden umbrella that once sheltered Burmese kings in ancient Myanmar.
These timeless expressions carry the weight of civilization, morality, and destiny, offering guidance that transcends time and borders – something that holds immense value to a Burmese immigrant living far away from their homeland and craving that deep connection to their roots.
Burmese Proverbs About Daily Life Wisdom Through Myanmar Eyes
In Myanmar, proverbs about daily life often center around practical wisdom. When it comes to money and food, Myanmar’s proverbial wisdom shines through: “Save in times of plenty like ants storing for rain.” This saying, often shared during family gatherings, teaches children the value of financial prudence.
“Ten thousand birds may soar in the sky, but they all must return to their nests,” goes a familiar Burmese saying, reflecting how life, no matter how far we roam, brings us back to our roots. This proverb resonates deeply with Burmese learners seeking to reconnect with their family history.
Below are some more proverbs in Burmese.
| English | Burmese | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Though a thousand birds may fly away, they return to their nests | ငှက်တထောင် ပျံသန်းသွားလည်း အသိုက်ပြန်လာ | Nget ta-htaung pyan-thwa le a-tite pyan la | Used to express that people always return to their roots |
| A sleeping tiger is still a tiger | ကျားအိပ်နေလည်း ကျားပဲ | Kyah-ate-nay le kyah-pe | Reminds us that essential nature doesn’t change with circumstances |
| Save like an ant stores for rain | ပုရွက်ဆိတ်လို စုဆောင်းပါ | Pa-yoke-hseit-lo su-hsaung-ba | Teaches financial wisdom and planning ahead |
Family Values And Relationships In Burmese Proverbs
Family relationships form the cornerstone of Burmese culture. “Parents are like the Buddha at home,” a saying goes, emphasizing the profound respect for elders that characterizes Myanmar society. This proverb offers guidance for those seeking to understand the proper way to interact with family members.
Below are some similar words of wisdom in the form of Burmese proverbs.
| English | Burmese | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parents are the Buddha at home | အိမ်ရှိဘုရား မိဘ | Ein-shi bu-hta mi-ba | Emphasizes respect for parents and elders |
| Having a good wife is better than having a golden umbrella | မယားကောင်းရတာ ရွှေထီးရတာထက်ကောင်း | Maya-kaung ya-ta shwe-htee ya-ta-htek kaung | Reflects the value of a supportive partnership |
| Teaching children is like writing on water | ကလေးသွန်သင်တာ ရေးရေးတာနဲ့တူတယ် | Ka-lay-thun-thin-ta yay-yay-ta-ne-tu-de | Acknowledges parenting challenges while encouraging persistence |
| The tongue may be silent, but the teeth know what they’ve eaten | လျှာသည် ဆိတ်ဆိတ်နေနိုင်သော်လည်း သွားများသည် သူတို့စားပြီးသည်ကို သိသည်။ | Sharsai sate sate nayninesawlaee swarrmyarrsai suuthoet hcarrpyee saiko si sai | A clever way to discuss honesty and accountability |
| A monk needs no tattoo to prove his faith | ရဟန်းတစ်ပါးသည် မိမိယုံကြည်ချက်ကို သက်သေပြရန် တက်တူးထိုးရန် မလိုအပ်ပါ။ | rahaanntaitparrsai mimiyonekyihkyetko saatsaypyaraan taattuu htoeraan m loaaut par | Speaks to the importance of authentic character over displayed credentials |
The Buddhist Significance In Burmese Proverbs
Buddhist influences permeate many proverbs. “Suffering creates insight,” reflects the Buddhist teaching about finding wisdom through life’s challenges.
Fear and ignorance often dissolve in the face of cultural knowledge. As one proverb states, “Those who fear ghosts will see them everywhere” – a metaphor for how unfamiliarity can breed unnecessary anxiety. Doesn’t this give you an accurate insight into the larger Burmese population’s worldview? It did for me, at least!
| English | Burmese | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Those who talk much make many mistakes | စကားများတဲ့သူ အမှားများတယ် | Za-ga-mya-te-thu a-mya-mya-te | Emphasizes the value of measured speech |
| Those who fear ghosts will see them everywhere | မြင်မှာကြောက် တောင်မှကြောက် | Myin-ma-kyauk taung-ma-kyauk | Warns against letting fear control our perceptions |
| A dog that chases everything catches nothing | ခွေးလိုက်ပြေးရင် ဘာမှမရ | Khway-laik-pyay-yin ba-ma-ya | Focus on priorities rather than pursuing everything |
| The tongue has no bones but can break bones | လျှာရိုးမရှိ သွားရိုးရှိ | Sha-yo-ma-shi thwa-yo-shi | Emphasizes the power of words in communication |
Modern Applications Of Traditional Burmese Proverbs
Today’s generation might laugh at old sayings about village life or supernatural beliefs, but the core wisdom remains relevant. When discussing work-life balance, young people might quote: “The dog that runs everywhere catches nothing,” (Khway-laik-pyay-yin ba-ma-ya – ခွေးလိုက်ပြေးရင် ဘာမှမရ) – a reminder about the importance of focus and dedication.
In contemporary Myanmar, proverbs adapt to modern contexts. “A blind person who sits still is safer than one who runs” (ngyaain ngyaainhtinenaytae myetmamyintaityouthar pyay nay tae suuhtaat po lonehkyuan taal – ငြိမ်ငြိမ်ထိုင်နေတဲ့ မျက်မမြင်တစ်ယောက်ဟာ ပြေးနေတဲ့သူထက် ပိုလုံခြုံတယ်။) becomes advice about careful decision-making in today’s fast-paced world.
The workplace benefits from proverbial wisdom too. “Seven days of work can break even bones” (hkunaitraatkyaaraaung loterain aaroetwaytaung kwal ninetaa – ခုနစ်ရက်ကြာအောင် လုပ်ရင် အရိုးတွေတောင် ကွဲနိုင်တယ်။) serves as a reminder about work-life balance.
Embrace Burmese Heritage Through Proverbial Wisdom
For language learners who want to learn about their roots, these proverbs in the Burmese language provide a gateway to understanding their family’s worldview. When an elderly relative says, “The human tongue has no bones,” they share age-old wisdom about the power of words and the importance of speaking mindfully.
Each proverb creates a bridge between generations, helping to endure the challenges of cultural preservation. Whether discussing teachers, debt, or the value of silence, these sayings offer practical guidance while maintaining links to Burma’s rich history.
Tips To Enhance Your Burmese Using Proverbs
Here are practical tips to learn Burmese and enhance your language skills using proverbs:
- Begin with proverbs that have simple sentence structures.
- Practice the basic subject-verb pattern.
- Notice how negation works in Burmese.
- Practice kinship terms commonly used in proverbs like mibh (မိဘ) for parents, sarr (သား) for son, and samee (သမီး) for daughter.
- Notice how words are repeated for emphasis.
- Learn the linking word shin (လျှင်) to say “if/when.”
- Practice rhythm and flow.
- Record elders speaking these proverbs to notice tone variations.
- Practice using one proverb daily in conversation.
- Create flashcards with common proverb components.
How To Create A Learning Pattern For Using Burmese Proverbs
Start with:
- Two-part proverbs
- Weather-related sayings
- Animal proverbs
- Daily life expressions
Then progress to:
- Complex moral teachings
- Buddhist-influenced sayings
- Historical references
- Metaphorical expressions
How Do You Say Proverbs In Burmese?
In Burmese, proverbs are known as sa-ga-pone (စကားပုံ).
FAQs About Burmese Proverbs
What Is The Burmese Proverb About Family?
The most popular Burmese proverb about family is Ein-shi bu-hta mi-ba (အိမ်ရှိဘုရား မိဘ) which means, “Parents are like the Buddha at home.”
What Is The Meaning Of Proverb In Myanmar?
In Myanmar, a proverb is called sa-ga-pone (စကားပုံ) and is used as a linguistic device to share and pass down traditional wisdom from one generation to another.
What Is Hello In Burmese?
Hello in Burmese is mingalaba (မင်္ဂလာပါ). It is the most popular Burmese greeting and can be used in every scenario and the time of the day.
Let’s Summarize Burmese Proverbs
These Burmese proverbs illustrate the depth of Burmese wisdom. Each saying carries a cultural context that helps Burmese language learners understand both language and values. Remember this final proverb: A-thi-pin-nya-thi u-yin-hnin-tu-i, ma-pyu-su-pak ma-yeit-thein-naing (အသိပညာသည် ဥယျာဉ်နှင့်တူ၏၊ မပြုစုပါက မရိတ်သိမ်းနိုင်). It means, “Knowledge is like a garden. Without cultivation, there can be no harvest.”
In this article, we learned how age-old wisdom is passed down from generation to generation within Burmese families in the form of these easy-to-understand Burmese proverbs. There are proverbs in Burmese about daily life scenarios, proverbs that pass down Buddhist wisdom, and proverbs that highlight family values.
By practicing these tips and learning patterns, you’ll be able to increase your pace in learning the language of your ancestors in no time. And to keep you motivated through your Burmese journey, you can spend 5 minutes daily on the Ling app! You can also read free articles like Happy Birthday in Burmese, or Burmese calendar for further help.
