Portuguese proverbs by Lina Stakauskaitė

There are literally thousands of proverbs in the multitude of cultures and languages of the world. they have been collected and studied for centuries as informative and useful linguistic signs of cultural values and thoughts. A proverb is a simple concrete saying popularly known repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical.

*Antes tarde do que nunca.
Geriau vėliau, nei niekada.
Better late than never. Meaning, that it is better to finish work later than not finish at all. Or meet, congradulate with birthday person later, than never. You show that you remember, that you care.

*As paredes tem ouvidos.
Ir sienos turi ausis.
The walls have ears. Meaning, that you have to be very careful either saying truth to someone, either laying- someone can hear you and turn it against you.

*Сom tempo tudo se cura.
Laikas gydo žaizdas.
With time everything gets cured. Meaning, that after brake-ups, divorces, deaths even if your heart is broken, you feel lonely, depressed after some time you will feel better. You will forget a bit, you will face up and live further, feel happiness and love again.

Tu sum up, as we can see from these examples, we can say that Portugal and Lithuania has cultural similarities. It can be explained because proverbs are often borrowed from similar languages and cultures and sometimes come down to the present through more than one language. Even though almost every culture has examples of it's own proverb there are a lot having same meanings in different cultures and languages.

By Lina Stakauskaitė