The striking conclusion of the Proverbs Project is that every proverb on our list of 53 randomly selected Spanish proverbs has an equivalent in all of the other 6 languages:
English / Russian / Chinese / Arabic / Hindi / Kiswahili (Total number of proverbs = 371)
Click here to see: Full List of Proverbs
To measure how close the seven versions of a proverb are, we have developed a system of Universality Scoring.
Let’s use the following example below to explain what we mean by universality.
Proverb #44 expresses the idea that quite often people don’t apply in their personal life things they know or do well.
Spanish: En casa del herrero, cuchillo de palo
Hindi: कबीरा ख़ार-जा, चप्पल छूर.
Swahili: Kinyozi hajinyoi.
Chinese: 卖盐老婆喝淡汤
Russian: Сапожник без сапог.
Arabic: الإسكافي حافي وباب النَجَّار مَخْلوع
Shared Wisdom: Familiarity breeds complacency.
Percentage represents common usage of key words
Professions, several - 100% coincidence (7 of 7 languages)
Shoemaker - 43% coincidence (3 of 7 languages)
UNIVERSAL PROVERB = 100% use of a key word
One will notice that every proverb uses a profession to describe this quirky human behavior.
The Universality Scoring is shown in the lower right oval.
100% coincidence in the use of professions (blacksmith / shoemaker / street vendor / barber / weaver)
43% coincidence in shoemaker (Spanish / Russian / Hindi)
Categories like professions, animals, natural phenomena, god or body parts are prevalent in the 371
proverbs.