Xhosa proverb. What does it mean to you?

Question

"Umuntu ngumuntu ngomnye" is an old Xhosa proverb which means; "people are people through people" What does this mean to you?

Answer 1

I think it means that through interaction with others, we become who we are. People are people through people, that's how it works. You can't become a person without first learning how to become one. And how you do that is through other people. It's a good proverb, thanks for bringing it up.

Answer 2

People are only pictures until you associate with them. Once you meet them, they become "people" in your mind, with a personality and hundreds of little details that make them individual and significant.

Another interperetation: Many people are defined and define others by what opeople say and think about them. You can feel you know a person intimately, even if you never met them, because you hear what other people ay about them.

Answer 3

people instigate finding oneself through placing situations upon others the one has to take difinitive actions in and take stances on subjects that one does not tipically think about or know how they would react untill they are in that situation. people become people through the means of situations caused by people.

Answer 4

This means, one must interact with more and more people. There is a saying in Gujarati too, "olkhan e khan chhe" i.e. knowing people is like gold mine"
Entire economy runs because we know people.

Answer 5

without other people, you are just one. when you die, unless you happen to be able to asexually reproduce, that's it.