As Ken Loo points out, sometimes straightforward, grammatically correct language sounds odd because people pepper their speech with idiomatic expressions and proverbs. Although, common in everyday speech such expressions are rarely covered in language textbooks. So they are confusing to language students because the sum of their parts doesn't equal their whole. Their literal meaning doesn't make sense in translation. When I say it's "raining cats and dogs" animals are not falling out of the sky. It's "just an expression"...as the saying goes.

Even Monkeys Fall from Trees is a nice introduction to Japanese proverbs. It contains a hundred proverbs written in kanji, romaji, and English translation. The back of the book associates each proverb with an English equivalent. For example, せんどう多くして船山に登る。（せんどうおおくしてふねやまにのぼる）。Too many boatmen will bring a boat up a mountain. The English equivalent: Too many cooks spoil the broth.

My personal favorite, which my son used to say to me when I drank too much sake is: First the man takes a drink. Then the drink takes a drink. Then the drink takes the man. So true!

AJM's favorite is the Japanese equivalent of "There's no use closing the barn door after the horse is gone." "屁をひって尻つぼめ." (There's no use in scrunching your buttocks after you've farted.) Is this really a Japanese saying, or is this book pulling my leg?

An even better book is 101 Japanese Idioms. The presentation is more useful because it provides context for when the saying is appropriate. Then it give a sample dialog, showing the expression in conversation. The dialog is printed three times: in standard Japanese, in romanized Japanese, and in translation.

My favorite saying from this book is "猫の手も借りたい" "willing to accept the helping hand of a cat"...that is, so desperately in need that even help from a cat (useless beasts that they are) would be welcome. In other words, "I'm swamped!"

Kiyo has also been sharing Japanese proverbs with us lately. Reading them has been a nice break from my studying for final exams. It's fun when everyone tries to come up with an equivalent from their own languages.