Your semi-hemi weekly Vietnamese proverb

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“Trời sinh voi, trời sinh cỏ.”
Literally (I think, the translation is mine, and I’m not at “can understand effortlessly” stage): “Heaven made the elephant, [and] Heaven made grass”. I think it’s “God will provide”, but I could be wrong (translating a proverb word for word not giving me much about its actual meaning).

And a less-lovely one: “Trọng nam khinh nữ”, which means “hold men in high esteem, despise women”. No prizes for the interpretation, it’s pure Confucian (though Vietnam itself was always more equalitarian than China, and fairer to women–used to be a matriarchy before the Chinese arrived, and some of it stayed).

On the plus side, see how my vocabulary is growing? 😀

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