I haven't written about Japanese saying recently.
こうかい さきに たたず(koukai sakini tatazu 後悔先に立たず)
This saying is often heard in our daily life.
It's no use crying over spilt milk.
It's too late for regrets.
こうかい means regret.
If I translate directly, you can't regret before you do something.
Japanese people use this saying when you encourage someone to do something.
When you hesitate to do something, or you are at a loss whether to do something
or not.
But is this English saying(It's no use crying over spilt milk) used
when you make a mistake?
When I look up on Internet, 後悔先に立たずis translated
"It's no use crying over spilt milk".
The translation may be slightly different. ???r(･x･｡)ｱﾚ???
2 comments:
Um, "no use of crying over spilled milk" is used when something you already did went wrong. If I understand correctly, the japanese saying is before you do something - more or less to push you to do it and see what the result will be - hopefully a good result? So, may be it is "one way to find out" what the result will be? Or in a way "no pain, no gain" attitude?
In any case, this saying sounds very appropriate for me right now - since I am in a doubt about my trip to Japan (starting to get cold feet :)
Thanks for writing about this :)
To Shantal ForSD
Well...the most biggest Japanese dictionary, called Koujien(こうじえん
広辞苑)says,"You can't undo the past".
In this sense, maybe it seems to be same as the saying, "no use of crying over spilled milk".
I guess this meaning is original meaning. Actually we say this saying after you made a big mistake.
But, I am thinking this Japanese
saying is also used "You should do your best so that you won't regret in the future."
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