Peter Unseth Collecting, Using, and Enjoying Proverbs 1 Even a monkey can fall from a tree (Japanese) Collecting, Using, and Enjoying Proverbs Peter Unseth * Many language groups have developed proverbs, sets of oral wisdom. Collecting these proverbs can be useful in many ways. This article presents a dozen ways that collecting local proverbs can be useful. Many of these points have already been written about at length by others. Rather than present a detailed review of the literature on these subjects, this paper present these topics in a way that is meant to share my enthusiasm. A few sources are mentioned, but they are only a few of the many that could be cited. To reinforce/present new concepts/Gospel Advocating the adoption of a new concept in some cultures is often done using proverbs. When introducing the Gospel or a biblical concept, using traditional proverbs from within the culture, proverbs that parallel or agree with the Gospel, can be a powerful tool to connect the old with the new. For example, in Ethiopia the Amharic proverb “Praying with a grudge, burglarizing with a cough,” can be used to address the need to forgive, along with supporting biblical texts such as Matthew 11:26, 18:23–35; Luke 11:4. Cotter (http://www.maryknollafrica.org/ComCotter.htm) gives a number of additional examples of matching local proverbs to biblical concepts from Oromo in Ethiopia, such as “The singer is not the song maker.” He explains “This means that a gifted composer writes the song, but many people sing it. The Gospels reveal the Word of God; we pass it on.” Cotter used this approach to prepare a whole book of Biblical passages and parallel Oromo proverbs in Ethiopia (1991). * Pete Unseth (Pete_Unseth@gial.edu) has been fascinated by proverbs since his boyhood growing up in Japan, then indulging in more proverbs when he worked in Ethiopia with the Majang translation project. He is on the faculty of GIAL. SIL Forum for Language Fieldwork 2008-002, September 2008 © Peter Unseth and SIL International. Used by permission.