Slovak Proverb—in Chinese

by AdamStanislav - uploaded on March 31, 2021, 12:13 am

OK, this is probably all wrong: I typed a Slovak proverb to Google Translate, then took its Chinese translation, and this is the result.

Alas when translating 因為它被稱為進入森林，所以它被森林聽到 back to Slovak, it is _almost_ correct. Unfortunately my big, complete, $95 Chinese English dictionary, which has never failed me, has vanished several years ago.

The Slovak proverb is Ako sa do lesa volá, tak sa z lesa ozýva. That is so hard to translate (proverbs tend to use a very terse language), but the substance is that whatever is yelled at the forest, the forest yells right back (because in Slovakia there are many mountains with the echo phenomenon). The lesson of the proverb is that if you are nice to others, they will be nice to you, but if you are rude to others, they will not be nice to you. Kind of like the famous Do Unto Others, but more subtle and less preachy.

Anyway, if someone can read and write Chinese better than me, please, please, correct this. And if someone is better at English expressions (that should be most of you), I would love to hear/read a nice English translation of this proverb.

Thanks!