말하기는 쉬워도 행동하기는 어렵다
speak-GER-TOPIC is-easy-TOO act-GER-TOPIC is-hard
Speaking is easy but acting is hard.
“Easier said than done.”
I found some translations of this proverb offering something in the vein of “A word is worth a thousand dollars,” and the spreadsheet-o-proverbs that I made and have been working from for all the proverbs, which is cut-n-pasted from various bilingual compilations found online, offers this elaboration: “If you are nice to the person you borrowed money from, maybe they`ll forget about the debt.” Frankly, this doesn’t make any sense at all.
I think the proverb just means actions are harder than words, which is almost what it says literally. I’m not sure where the other comes from – perhaps it’s some cut-n-paste error.
On the other hand, I’m not sure I agree with the proverb. If the words are in Korean, and the person speaking them is me, then I think the words are harder than the action. And if the words are in English, and the person speaking them is one of my students, I think the same. Words are only easy if you know the language. Otherwise, actions are easier. Heh.
