不撞南墙不知道墙硬,不尝酸梨不知道梨酸 不撞南牆不知道牆硬,不嘗酸梨不知道梨酸 不撞南牆不知道牆硬,不嘗酸梨不知道梨酸

until you hit the south wall you don't know it's hard; until you taste a sour pear you don't know it's sour

Saying俗语俗語

Proverb谚语諺語 · Widely known

Meaning
People only learn a lesson after running into trouble themselves. Said of the stubborn who won't listen to advice; like "learn the hard way".
Simplified
不撞南墙不知道墙硬,不尝酸梨不知道梨酸
Traditional (Taiwan)
不撞南牆不知道牆硬,不嘗酸梨不知道梨酸
Pinyin
bú zhuàng Nán qiáng bù zhīdào qiáng yìng, bù cháng suān lí bù zhīdào lí suān
Bopomofo
ㄅㄨˊ ㄓㄨㄤˋ ㄋㄢˊ ㄑㄧㄤˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄓ ㄉㄠˋ ㄑㄧㄤˊ ㄧㄥˋ,ㄅㄨˋ ㄔㄤˊ ㄙㄨㄢ ㄌㄧˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄓ ㄉㄠˋ ㄌㄧˊ ㄙㄨㄢ

Written with HSK 5 vocabulary, at CEFR level B2.

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