4C06-PhamAnhTuan-Cultural Affection on English and Vietnamese Animal Idioms

7/29/2019 4C06-PhamAnhTuan-Cultural Affection on English and Vietnamese Animal Idioms

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English and Vietnamese idioms about animals 1

Running head: English and Vietnamese idioms about animals

Cultural Affection on English and Vietnamese idioms about animals: a contrastiveanalysis

Pham Anh Tuan

HCMC University of Pedagogy


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Abstract:

Idioms are heavily loaded with cultural information. Although they share some

common grounds, Vietnamese idioms and English idioms differ greatly due to cultural

differences. This paper investigates the affection of culture on Vietnamese and English

idioms through examples.


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Idioms are expressions that are not understandable from the literal meanings of

individual components. Each language, English or Vietnamese has a long history with

large quantities of idioms that are characterized by such features as conciseness and

vividness. Because of the differences in many aspects such as geography, history,

religion etc, both English and Vietnamese idioms are closely connected with cultures,

and they reveal special national characteristics and are full of rich cultural information.

Language is a reflection of culture and culture shapes language. In exploration

into the unknown world, idioms reflect the transformation in conceptualization of the

universe and the relationship between human beings and the universe. Therefore,

idioms as a form of a language reflect culture in a concentrated way. Speech or writing

without them lacks meanings and is uninteresting, but overuse or improper use makes

the language sound affected and unnatural.


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English idiom

In Cambridge International Dictionary of idioms, idiom is defined as a colorful

and interesting aspect of English. They are used generally in all types of language,

informal and formal, spoken and written. Idioms regularly have a stronger meaning

than non-idiomatic phrases. For instance, look daggers at someonehas more

highlighting than look angrily at someone, but they signify the similar thing. Idioms may

also imply a particular attitude of the person using them, for example disapproval,

humor, irritation or admiration.

Words do not just come individually; they also come in expressions in-group.

Idioms are among the most common of these expressions (Wright, 2002).

Idioms itself have grammar. Some idiomatic expressions are fixed and cannot be

changed such as two head are better than one. However, in most cases, we can change

the tense and the pronoun such as I am/She is/We are all at sixes and sevens.

According to Wright, idiom is an expression with following features. Firstly,

idiom is fixed and is recognized by native speakers. We cannot make up our own

idioms. The second feature is that idiom uses language in a non-literal-metaphor-way.

Take these idioms as examples.

Tin up to my eyes in work now

At the meeting, I felt a bit out of my depth.

I was over the moonwhen I heard shed had twins.

It broke my mothers heartto see her home burnt to the ground.

If you are up to your eyes, you are very busy. When a person is out of her or his

depth, they might be in the sea but they are more likely to be in a circumstance that

they cannot comprehend for some reasons. If you are over the moon, you are


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extremely joyful about something. If something breaks your heart, you are very gloomy

about it.

In these examples, it is clear that the idiom is a whole expression. This is the

traditional view of idioms. Nevertheless, there is a lot more language, which is

idiomatic.

We are familiar with the idea of heavy rain causing a stream to overflow and

flood the surrounding area; crowds are often described as water and the same verb

flood is used. The literal meaning of a hot potato, it is not for eating; it means a

controversial issue. Idioms are very important because they are commonly used in daily

life. It is nearly I possible to speak, read or listen to English without meeting idioms. The

next reason is the metaphorical use of a word is more common today than its literal

meaning. However, it is important to know its literal meaning. It creates a picture in our

mind and this picture enables us to understand other meanings easier. The last reason

why idioms are so important is that they are fun to learn and to use. If the language

you want to learn is more colorful and interesting, there is more chance that we will

remember it clearly. Our English will sound more natural.


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Vietnamese idioms

According to Hung, in Vietnamese, idioms are frequently used fixed expression;

grammatically, they do not have a complete sentence, which mean they only equal

words or phrases. Idioms do not show any comments, experiences, ethnical lesson or

critics, so they often have figurative function, not educational function. For example, in

Vietnamese we say mt hoa da phn. This idiom only bring us a picture of a beautiful

and charming woman but not lesson about ethnics or critics.

Most of idioms are formed from incomplete meaning words; they cannot stand

alone but in a sentence. Vietnamese idioms are often used in proverbs, folk songs, or

literature works. That makes idioms meaningful only when they are in sentences. Take

this as an example, cng d trng, at least, it has to be in sentence: ng l cng d

trng or chuyn anh lm chl cng d trng. Instead of expressing an idea literally,

people tend to use idiom to make their speech more beautifully or funnier. For

example, to express the idea of a person who sometimes works, sometime does not,

we use this idiom hn ta i lm ba c ba ci.

Idioms use brief expressions based on stories, folk tales, or classic references,

which happened a long time ago, now we encounter similar situation. Hearing those

idioms, the listener knows exactly what the speaker means. Many Vietnamese idioms

are borrowed from Chinese idioms; however, Vietnamese cleverly transformed those

meanings form Chinese idioms into our Vietnamese way of talking. For example,

huynh thtc, in Vietnamese, we have this equivalence anh em nh th tay

chn.


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In this paper, I want to talk about how cultural feature affects the illustration of

animals used in English and Vietnamese idioms.

To start with, culture is a complex system of knowledge, ethical principles,

beliefs, arts, law and traditions, etc. In addition, language, as a part of culture, reflexes

the wealthy and various cultural phenomena. Idioms preserve close relationships with

people's life and the culture where they are shaped and used. As Vietnam has a long

history of cultivation and agriculture, a large number of idioms related to agriculture

have been in use. Most of the elements used in Vietnamese idioms are focus on

animals that the farmers have to deal with in their daily life as we can see in the

following examples:

n c ni m

bt cc bda

con su lm ru ni canh

chu chu xe

c chu chim lng

chy nh mi ra mt chut

cng rn cn g nh

chut sa chnh go

con giun xo lm cng qun

n gy tai tru

giao trng cho c

khe nh tru mng

lo b trng rng

nc u vt


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nui ong tay o

sy n tan ngh

vng ch nh, g mc ui tm (or: vc niu tm)

(Tuyn Tp Thnh Ng Tc Ng Ca Dao Vit Anh Thng Dng)

In the above idioms, farm animals like chicken, duck, fish, buffalo, cow.are

often used when the farmers need an image to express their ideas about something.

Take buffalo in the idiom n gy tai tru as an example. According to Vietnamese

conception, buffalo is one of the twelve zodiacs, and it represents something is bulky,

lumpish, but patient. Buffalo is considered a close buddy of the farmers, leaving an

unfathomable spot in the mind of Vietnamese. n gy tai tru uses one characteristic

of the buffalo -lumpish- to express the idea of a person who would not listen to

anything or anyone.Differently, living on an island, the English are tend to sailing and

traveling a lot, the English language flourish in idioms connected with navigation.

all at sea

any port in a storm

half sea over

in the same boat

sink or swim

take the wind out of somebody's sail

weather eye

to keep one's head above water

to clear the decks

to tide over

(Oxford Dictionary of Idioms)


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The second feature of the cultures reflex on idioms is the distinction of customs

is multi-sided, of which the most typical one is the attitude towards such animals as the

dog, the cat, etc. Take the dog for example. In Vietnam, the dog is of a lowly status.

Most of the Vietnamese idioms concerning with dogs are used in an insulting sense,

usually describing wicked persons, although the numbers of pet dogs have increased

nowadays.

ch treo mo y

ch chy cng ro

ch ch mo lm lng

ch cng dt dau

ch chy cng ro

(Tuyn Tp Thnh Ng Tc Ng Ca Dao Vit Anh Thng Dng)

Nonetheless, in the eyes of the English, Dog is a mans best friend in Western

countries. Since the dog is a lovely pet, a faithful fellow. Even though some other

languages put forth passive influences on certain English idioms concerned with dogs,

such as "a surly dog,in the doghouse they always show sympathy and tender

fondness to dogs rather than disgust and even hatred. In addition, a story said that a

couple was quarrelling. One neighbor said, Dont bit the dog. It shows that people

regard a dog to be a person love me, love my dog help a lame dog over a stile.

a lucky dog

a top dog

die like a dog

as sick as a dog

as faithful as a dog


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every dog has his day.

love me, love my dog.

(Oxford Dictionary of Idioms)

It is the outcome of different cultures forming different languages. The

knowledge of the same animal is different in the minds. Therefore, the animals can

mean different meanings.

By contrast, the dragon, as a symbol of the Vietnamese since a long time ago,

carries a positive and favorable meaning. Such idioms are often found in Vietnamese

language, since the Vietnamese is proud of being descendants of the holy dragon, con

rng chu tin

Symbolize wealth and goodness:

u rng,ui tm

rng n nh tm

v rng nn giun

Symbolize luxuriousness:

thu rng,v phng

chm rng,tr phng

Symbolize fortune:

m tng hm rng

nh c gp nc,nh rng gp my

rng my gp hi

Symbolize brilliancy:

rng bay,phng ma

n nh rng cun,ung nh rng leo


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(Ni Chuyn V Tui Rng)

Nevertheless, in Western mythologies, in this case, it is in English folk tales; the

dragon is described as a monster, a devil and cruelty. It is a common knowledge that

the Bible portrayed dragons in a very negative way, equally with Satan. In English

speaking countries when you entitle a woman a dragon, you imply that she is fierce and

horrible (Tiger).

However, it is not all the cases that the attitude of English and Vietnamese are

always different. When living and working with the animals, human beings have the

same feelings towards some certain animals. Fox would be a good example for this.

Fox is supposed to be tricky by both Western and Eastern conception. Deal with a fox,

think of his tricks. Such as the English saying goes, The fox changes his skin but not his

habit. Also, Vietnamese idiom has co mn oai hm.

In short, the language only is a part of culture, and the culture is not equal to the

language, the culture is bigger than the language, alone itself is not impossible

independently to exist outside the language system, in other words, the language and

the culture are one kind of complex interrelation. Moreover, human beings are not the

only animated objects in the world. There are all kinds of animals all over the world.

Some animals live distantly from human beings, such as penguins. Since they live so far

that normal people are not familiar with them, the unfamiliar animal terms are seldom

used in languages. But some other animals live close to human beings, such as

domestic animals dog, cat, cow . People raise them as pets, keep them for food or

make them guards to protect people. As a result, human beings clearly know their

habits and characteristics. Such animal terms occur in human language more frequently

as in cats and dogs,as wise as an owl. It is apparent that people habitually relate


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certain persona with certain creatures. These qualities frequently provoke certain

reactions or emotions.


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Through the explanations above, I would like to discuss more about the

implication of how culture affects language; in this specific case is idioms. Should

students learn culture and language separately or simultaneously?

With the advance of the world, people are engaged in more intercultural

communication than before. Therefore, learning a new language takes on more tasks

and contributes more to not only its language but its culture as well. We should look at

the cultural differences reflected in English and Vietnamese idioms, and to offer a

principle for and some methods of dealing with cultural differences in learning English

through idioms.

Idioms, just like other fixed expressions in any language, Vietnamese or English,

must be memorized. Depending on the learner and the idiom type, this process can be

slightly easy or infuriatingly difficult. Children learning their native language seem to

pick up idioms quite easily. Additionally, they treat idioms as if they were simply

instances of normal language. It is accurate to treat idiom components as meaningful

that can hinder both ones original learning of an expression and ones learning how to

use that expression appropriately. For this reason, among others, idioms pose

particular problems for people learning a second language (Glucksberg, 2001).

When people begin learning a second language, they often choose to translating

utterances in the new language into their native tongue. This does not pose difficult

problems for expressions that are intended literally. However, it poses particular

difficulties for fixed expressions that cannot be translated such as idioms. Thats why,

when we study idioms, we have to study them in certain situations, in cultural context,

to fully understand their meanings.

Language is a carrier of culture and a medium used in communication. As the


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crystals of human languages, idioms mirror human wisdom in the process of

conceptualization of the world. Human life is colorful and idioms correspondently

reflect various social activities. At the same time, human beings use idioms to express

their experiences therefore idioms come from different origins. Idioms reflect the

cultural influence of that language. Therefore, when we learn English idioms, it is

necessary for us to know the cultural connotation for appropriate and successful

communication.


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Conclusion

To sum up, every person possesses her or his own unique culture, which makes

his or her way of expression unique. Therefore, idioms of one person differ from those

of another, due to cultural differences. Having discussed the cultural differences

reflected in English and Vietnamese idioms, a standard is presented, under which some

methods follow to handle cultural differences in idioms learning. In addition, a good

job in idioms learning is supposed to have a thorough understanding of cultural

differences and to comprehensively utilize the methods with flexibility.


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Works Cited

Cambrigde international Dictionary of Idioms. (1998). Cambrigde University Press.

Glucksberg, S. (2001). Understanding Figurative Language: From Metaphors to Idioms.

NewYork: Oxford University Press.

Hng, N. . Tuyn Tp Thnh NgTc NgCa Dao Vit Anh Thng Dng. Ho Ch iMinh:

Ho Chi Minh City Press.

Ni Chuyn VTui Rng. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2009, from

http://my.opera.com/maisonbk1905/blog/noi-chuyen-rong

Siefring, J. (Ed.). (2004). Oxford Dictionary of idioms. Oxford University Press.

Tiger. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2009, from Chinese Zodiac:

(http://pages.infinit.net/garrick/chinese/tiger.html)

Wright, J. (2002). Idioms Organiser. (M. L. Jimmie Hill, Ed.) Boston, MA: Christopher

Wenger.

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4C06-PhamAnhTuan-Cultural Affection on English and Vietnamese Animal Idioms