Learn Chinese Words: duì niú tán qín（对牛弹琴）
Have you ever heard the story about Play the Harp to a Cow？It is a Chinese proverb used to describe speaking to the wrong person or object, with no meaning or effect. Let's delve into it further!
Meaning
“对”的意思是面向 duì
“duì ”means to face.
“牛”的意思是家畜牛 niú
“niú”means cow.
“弹”的意思是弹奏 tán
“tán ”means to play.
“琴”的意思是乐器琴 qín
“qín”means harp.
Story
There was a musician named Gong Mingyi who was skilled in playing the harp. One day, when the weather was fine, Gong Mingyi took his harp and went to the countryside, where a yellow cow was eating grass in the distance. Gong Mingyi was inspired and set up his harp, plucking the strings, and began to play music to the cow. Despite the beautiful melodies, the old yellow cow showed no reaction and continued to graze. Gong Mingyi thought that the cow didn't like the piece he was playing, so he changed it. However, the old yellow cow still ignored him and continued to graze. Gong Mingyi changed the piece again and again, but the old yellow cow still didn't respond. Finally, the cow finished eating and slowly walked away. Gong Mingyi felt disappointed, but people comforted him, saying, "It's not that the music you played was bad, it's just that the music you played was beyond the understanding of an cow."
Revelation
Metaphor is to reason with unreasonable people, to be elegant with people who don't understand beauty, and also to ridicule people who don't look at the object when they speak. This idiom tells us that it is not advisable to speak without looking at the object, and that education should look at the object, and should be based on teaching. We should treat people at different levels differently, and we can't use the same method for everyone.
Sentences
- Playing the harp to a person who likes music is like playing the harp to a cow.
对一个不喜欢音乐的人弹琴，对他来说无异于对牛弹琴。
duì yī gè bù xǐ huān yīn yuè de rén tán qín ， duì tā lái shuō wú yì yú duì niú tán qín。 - His speech was like casting harp before cow to most of the audience.
他的演讲对于大部分听众来说如同对牛弹琴。
tā de yǎn jiǎng duì yú dà bù fèn tīng zhòng lái shuō rú tóng duì niú tán qín 。 - We can't play the harp to a cow and ignore the role of art.
我们不能像对牛弹琴，不重视艺术的作用。
wǒ men bù néng xiàng duì niú tán qín ， bù zhòng shì yì shù de zuò yòng。