a picture is worth a thousand words

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• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Popularized following a 1911 speech given by Arthur Brisbane where he encouraged advertisers "Use a picture. It's worth a thousand words." By 1915, the phrase in its modern form is attested. A number of other phrases expressing the same idea are attested throughout the 1800s.

35 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Arabic: صُورَة تُسَاوِي أَلْف كَلِمَة — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Bulgarian: една картина струва колкото хиляда думи (edna kartina struva kolkoto hiljada dumi) — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Bulgarian: една картина струва колкото хиляди думи (edna kartina struva kolkoto hiljadi dumi) — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Catalan: una imatge val més que mil paraules — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Chinese Mandarin: 百聞不如一見 /百闻不如一见 (bǎi wén bùrú yī jiàn) — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Chinese Mandarin: 一幅畫能畫出千言萬語 /一幅画能画出千言万语 (yī fú huà néng huà chū qiānyánwànyǔ) — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Danish: et billede siger mere end tusind ord — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Dutch: een afbeelding zegt meer dan duizend woorden — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Finnish: yksi kuva kertoo enemmän kuin tuhat sanaa — visualisation is better than verbal description
• French: une image vaut mille mots — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Galician: unha imaxe val máis que mil palabras — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Georgian: ასჯერ გაგონილს ერთხელ ნანახი ჯობიაო (asǯer gagonils ertxel nanaxi ǯobiao) — visualisation is better than verbal description
• German: ein Bild sagt mehr als tausend Worte — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Italian: un'immagine vale più di mille parole — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Japanese: 百聞は一見に如かず (hyakubun wa ikken ni shikazu) — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Korean: 백문불여일견 (baengmun buryeo ilgyeon) — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Northern Kurdish: wêneyek bi qasî hezar peyvan e — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Macedonian: една слика вреди илјада збора (edna slika vredi iljada zbora) — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Norwegian Bokmål: et bilde sier mer enn tusen ord — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Norwegian Nynorsk: eit bilde seier meir enn tusen ord — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Polish: jeden obraz jest wart więcej niż tysiąc słów — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Portuguese: uma imagem vale mais que mil palavras — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Romanian: o pictură spune mai mult decât o mie de vorbe — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Russian: лу́чше оди́н раз уви́деть, чем сто раз услы́шать (lúčše odín raz uvídetʹ, čem sto raz uslýšatʹ) — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Slovene: slika pove več kot tisoč besed — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Spanish: una imagen vale más que mil palabras — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Swedish: en bild säger mer än tusen ord — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Turkish: bir resim bin kelimeye bedeldir — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Ukrainian: краще один раз побачити, ніж сто разів почути (krašče odyn raz pobačyty, niž sto raziv počuty) — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Vietnamese: trăm nghe không bằng mắt thấy — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Vietnamese: trăm nghe không bằng một thấy — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Vietnamese: mắt thấy tai nghe — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Vietnamese: sờ sờ — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Vietnamese: rành rành — visualisation is better than verbal description
• Zazaki: yo resım hendê hezar çekuyo — visualisation is better than verbal description