Зарбулмасал. Proverbs.

I have my Tajik lessons twice a week at 9 am. I am often running late from finishing my homework after waking up in the morning, but I really like my teacher. She is a Fulbright FLTA alumna, and after her year teaching in the U.S. has returned in the summers to teach at one of few universities where Americans can learn Tajik. 

She has mostly given me short fables to read (some titles to pique your interest: "Father's Treasure," "The Most Important Riches," "The Monkey Teaches the Cats a Lesson"). My homework is usually to write sentences with the new words I have learned, as well as a paragraph summarizing the tale, or discussing the traits of the characters. In class I must come up with Tajik clues to new vocabulary so that she can guess which word I am defining - and vice versa. I have even had two quizzes. 

One day early on she decided I  would learn some Tajik proverbs. It was a good exercise for me to understand the literal meaning, then the 'aha' moment of the message of the proverb, and then wonder how it compares to proverbs I heard growing up. I liked them enough to share: each one in Tajik, Latin transliteration, and simple translation.

A page from my Tajik notebook, with the proverbs and other vocab on the left and my homework listed on the right.
(On the bottom right I was showing Sarah what "zabon doni jahon doni" looks like in Farsi.)

Олими беамал - занбури беасал

Olimi be-amal  - zanburi be-asal

A scientist without action is a bee without honey

Аббал андиша баьд гуфтор

Avval andisha ba'd guftor

First think then talk

Забон дони - ҷаҳон дони

Zabon doni - jahon doni

To know a language is to know the world

[I hear this one all the time]

Офтобро бо доман пушида намешавад

Oftob-ro bo doman pushida nameshavad

The sun cannot be covered with a skirt

Бо моҳ шини моҳ шави

Бо дег шини сиeҳ шави

Bo moh shini - moh shavi

Bo deg shini - siyoh shavi

If you sit with the moon you become the moon

If you sit in a deg* you become black

*Deg is the pot/wok/cauldron they use to cook plov, the national dish.