I came across the following expression
大事の前の小事
jisho.org says the following about it
don't put the trivial ahead of the important; don't sweat the small stuff; don't bother with the details (before embarking on a great enterprise)Proverb
read the fine print; be careful of the small things (before embarking on a great enterprise)Proverb
Doesn't it sound contradictory ? Could we assume that since Japanese (as i understand) relies heavily on context and this sentence is context-free (as a proverb) both interpretations are correct ?
My attempt so far to understand the 2 translations :
- First translation uses the important; serious; crucial interpretation of 大事 (as given by Jisho) and the second the great undertaking; great enterprise; great thing interpretation
- I would parse the first like 大事の / 前の小事 (the important / before the details) and the second like 大事の前 / の小事 (before the important / the details). Could we really parse it both ways ?