Hello and welcome to Bet.ID Podcast. The
podcast where I talk about Indonesian language and things related to it so that
you can improve your listenining comprehension and get to know more about
Indonesian and its cultures. I’m Jeff
It’s the podcast episode 21 and
basically this podcast is the English version of podcast episode 13. In this
podcast I’m gonna 4 common Indonesian proverbs, so you can use these proverbs
when you are talking in Indonesian or perhaps you will hear these proverbs when
you are talking with an Indonesian. Again if you’d like to read the transcript
for this episode, you can click the link down below. So let’s start
1. Nasi sudah menjadi bubur
So nasi means cooked rice and bubur
means porridge. So its literal meaning is rice has become porridge. Does it sound weird in
English? So if the rice has become or has turned into porridge what could you
possibly do to reverse the process? Yes, nothing. And actually that is the
meaning of this proverb. So you can use this proverb for someone who has made
mistake but trying to fix their mistake but they can’t since it has happened
and they cannot take a step back. So for example, suppose I invest all my money
in online trading but instead of gaining much profit, I lose the money that
I’ve invested. My money is gone and I can’t go back to the past, to the time
when I haven’t invested my money. So someone could say to me, ‘nasi sudah
menjadi bubur’.
2. Gali lubang, tutup lubang
Its
literal meaning is dig a hole, close a hole. It’s not related to construction
in any way. So what does it mean? So this proverb is basically about the debt.
Suppose you loan money from a bank or from a friend. But you can’t pay back the
money, so you get another loan from another place in order to pay back the
first loan. But now you have to get yet another loan from another place in
order to pay back the second loan and it happens over and over again with the
same pattern. So you dig a hole and close a hole
3. Ada udang di balik batu
The
direct translation is there is a shrimp beneath the stone. Usually the shrimp
would hide in a stone and you can’t really it until you lift the stone up. So
you can use this proverb for an ulterior motive. Because just as you can’t see
the shrimp until you really check for it, it’s the same with the ulterior
motive, you really need to discern someone’s act to know whether they have an
ulterior motive.
4. Habis manis sepah dibuang
So
it means exhausted sweet, dregs is thrown away. So what does it mean? So
suppose you are eating sweets what would you do with the sweet wrappers? Would
you keep it with you? I don’t think so. You will throw it away because you
don’t need them, do you? Still if sweet wrappers don’t exist then you can’t eat
your sweets. It plays an important role in keeping the sweets good. But once
the goal of this sweet wrappers achieved then you don’t need them anymore. Poor
sweet wrappers. So you can use this proverb for example when someone has used
you but then they don’t need you anymore and they just don’t to see you so you
are habis manis sepah dibuang to them.
So those are the 4 common Indonesian proverbs. What do you think? Let me know your opinion by leaving a commen down below wherever you are listening to this podcast. If you’d like to learn Indonesian online one on one with me. You can click the link down below! Sampai jumpa
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