Lên non mới biết non cao, lội sông mới biết lạch nào cạn sâu

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

You only truly understand something after experiencing it

Literally: Go to the mountain to know the mountain's height, wade the river to know which stream is deep or shallow

Examples

Tôi không nghĩ công việc này khó đến thế, nhưng lên non mới biết non cao, lội sông mới biết lạch nào cạn sâu.I didn't think this job was that hard, but you only know when you try it.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Headword listed in the vdict.com proverb dictionary index (discovery source; headword only — no source content copied). Entered as candidate 2026-08-05; definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-06; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “Lên non mới biết non cao, lội sông mới biết lạch nào cạn sâu” mean?

You only truly understand something after experiencing it Literally: Go to the mountain to know the mountain's height, wade the river to know which stream is deep or shallow

Is “Lên non mới biết non cao, lội sông mới biết lạch nào cạn sâu” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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