雁が飛べば石亀も地団駄
(Gan ga tobeba ishigame mo jidanda;
“When the goose flies, the turtle stamps”)

Definition:

To try to mimic someone else without any understanding of one’s own limitations. Like a turtle who sees a goose taking off in flight, tries to fly as well, discovers that it can’t, and stamps its feet in childish frustration. The original usage seems to have a nuance of classist contempt for those who try and fail to act above “their station” in society. But, especially given the metaphor at work, it can easily be used in a more meritocratic critique.

Breakdown:

We begin with the noun 雁 (gan), “wild goose,” marked by the particle が (ga) as the subject (doer) of the verb 飛ぶ (tobu), which appears in perfective form and is followed by the conditional suffix ば (ba). This clause is followed by another noun, 石亀 (ishigame), literally “stone turtle” but known in English as the Japanese pond turtle. This is marked by the particle も (mo) in its role as “also.” (The turtle is also grammatically a subject, but も overrides and replaces が.) And we end with another noun, 地団太 (jidanda), “foot-stamping.” This noun might normally be followed by the direct-object marker を (wo) and verb 踏む (fumu), “to step,” but these are elided.

Notes:

The saying may be contracted further to just the noun phrase 石亀の地団駄 (ishigame no jidanda). If you use this version, don’t forget the shift from も to possessive の. Some people may replace 駄 with homophone 太 without any change in meaning, although this is less common.

There are quite a few roughly synonymous sayings featuring various animal pairings – the goose and doves, frogs and the turtles, carp and loaches, etc.

This saying seems to be derived from a passage in the 『東海道名所記』 (Toukaidou meishoki), “A record of famous places on the Tōkaidō road,” a mid-17th-century CE kanazōshi.

(PS. Look up the etymology of 地団駄 some time; it’s fascinating.)

Example sentence:

「確か、子供が親の真似をしようとするのはある種の石亀の地団駄だけど、勉強にもなるからいいんじゃない？」

(“Tashika, kodomo ga oya no mane wo shiyou to suru no wa aru shu no ishigame no jidanda da kedo, benkyou ni mo naru kara iin ja nai?”)

[“Well, kids trying to copy their parents is probably some kind of failure to recognize their own limits, but it’s fine right? It’s a learning experience.”]