Khóa luận A study on The images of objects in English idioms, proverbs and sayings - Vũ Thị Hiền

Nội dung text: Khóa luận A study on The images of objects in English idioms, proverbs and sayings - Vũ Thị Hiền

1. Haiphong private university Department of foreign languages Graduation paper a study on The images of objects in English idioms, proverbs and sayings. By: Vũ Thị Hiền Class: NA901 Supervisor: Hoàng Thị Bảy, M.A 1
2. Hai phong – 2009 2
3. Bộ giáo dục và đào tạo tr•ờng đại học dân lập hải phòng Nhiệm vụ đề tài tốt nghiệp Sinh viên: Mã số: Lớp: Ngành: Tên đề tài: 3
4. Nhiệm vụ đề tài 1.Nội dung và các yêu cầu cần giải quyết trong nhiệm vụ đề tài tốt nghiệp (Về lý luận, thực tiễn, các số liệu cần tớnh toỏn và cỏc bản vẽ) 2. Các tài liệu, số liệu cần thiết để thiết kế, tớnh toỏn 3. Địa điểm thực tập tốt nghiệp 4
5. Cán bộ h•ớng dẫn đề tài tốt nghiệp Ng•ời h•ớng dẫn thứ nhất: Họ và tên: Học hàm, học vị: Cơ quan công tác: Nội dung h•ớng dẫn Ng•ời h•ớng dẫn thứ hai: Họ và tên: Học hàm, học vị: Cơ quan công tác: Nội dung h•ớng dẫn: Đề tài tốt nghiệp đ•ợc giao ngày tháng năm 2009 Yêu cầu phải hoàn thành xong tr•ớc ngày tháng năm 2009 Đã nhận nhiệm vụ ĐTTN Đã giao nhiệm vụ ĐTTN Sinh viên Cỏn bộ hướng dẫn ĐTTN Hải Phòng, ngày tháng năm 2009 5
6. Hiệu tr•ởng GS.TS.NGƯT Trần Hữu Nghị Phần nhận xét tóm tắt của cán bộ h•ớng dẫn 1. Tinh thần thái độ của sinh viên trong quá trình làm đề tài tốt nghiệp: 2. Đánh giá chất l•ợng của Đ.T.T.N (So với nội dung yêu cầu đã đề ra trong nhiệm vụ Đ.T. T. N trên các mặt lý luận, thực tiễn, tính toán giỏ trị sử dụng, chất lượng cỏc bản vẽ) 3. Cho điểm của cán bộ h•ớng dẫn (ghi cả số và chữ): 6
7. Hải Phòng, ngày tháng năm 2009 Cán bộ h•ớng dẫn (Ký và ghi rõ họ tên) Nhận xét đánh giá của ng•ời chấm phản biện đề tài tốt nghiệp 1. Đánh giá chất l•ợng đề tài tốt nghiệp về các mặt thu thập và phân tích tài liệu, số liệu ban đầu; cơ sở lí luận chọn ph•ơng án tối •u, cách tính toán chất l•ợng thuyết minh bản vẽ, giá trị lí luận và thực tiễn của đề tài. 2. Cho điểm của ng•ời chấm phản biện: (Điểm ghi bằng số và chữ) 7
8. Ngày tháng năm 2009 Ng•ời chấm phản biện 8
9. Table Of Contents Table of contents 1 Acknowledgement 3 Part I: introduction 4 1. Rationale 4 2. Purpose of study 4 3. Scope of the study 5 4. Method of the study 5 5. Design of the study 5 Part II : development 7 Chapter I: General theoretical back ground . 7 I. Idioms versus Proverbs 7 1. Idiom 7 1.1. Definition of idiom 7 1.2. Some common features of idioms 9 2. Proverb 11 2.1. Definition of proverb 11 2.2. Some common features of proverbs 12 3. The distinction between idioms and proverbs 13 3.1. English idioms and proverbs 13 3.2. Vietnamese idioms and proverbs ,,,,14 4. Similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs ,,,,,15 4.1. Similarities 15 4.2. Differences ,,,,.17 9
10. II. The popularity of idioms and proverbs in daily life 19 Chapter II: English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs relating to objects 24 I. The importance of objects in life 24 1. The integral connection between objects and human being 24 2. Images and metaphorical meaning of objects in literature 26 II. Function of idioms and proverbs relating to objects 27 1. Proverb and idiom relating to objects give advice in life 27 1.1. Proverb and idiom relating to objects are valuable on educating personality 28 1.2. Proverb and idiom relating to object give advice to make friends 30 1.3. Proverb and idiom relating to objects are valuable lesson on labor 33 2. Proverb and idiom relating to objects express critical attitude 35 Chapter III: Some difficulties for learner of English when studying idioms and proverbs 39 I. Some difficulties in studying idioms and proverbs 39 II. Some advices for studying idioms and proverbs 40 Part III: CONCLUSION 41 1. Conclusion 41 2. Suggestion for further study 41 Reference 43 10
11. ACKNOLEDGMENT During the process of my fulfilling research paper, I have been fortunate to receive a great deal of assistance, guidance, and encouragement from many people. First of all, I wish to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Mrs Hoang Thi Bay, MA; for her suggestions, guidance, and all the valuable materials she has provided me. I also whole-heartedly thank all of teachers in foreign language Department of Hai Phong Private University, proving materials for this study and having taught me through four years of university. Lastly but not least, I’m really in debt to my family ad all friends for all they have done for me with the encouraging, supporting, and being variable wellspring of ideas for entries. The completion and success of my research paper would not be achieved without their help. Hai phong, June, 2009 Student Vu Thi Hien 11
12. PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Idioms and proverbs are one of the most important parts of English. It was used in all kinds formal and informal, spoken and written to “make our observation, jubment and explanations more lively and interestin"( Horby, Idiom Dictionary ). Thus, it is very important to English learner, native persons and learning English as second language persons as well. Whenever learners understand what idioms and proverbs mean, learner can understand about nation culture, use it to make sentence more concise, lissome also. As the learner knows, there are many idioms and proverbs that can be found in Vietnamese equivalent. In contrast, many of them can not be seen in our language. These differences and similarities can be best demonstrated in culture. “Each country has its custom” and it is the national character that distinguishes one nation from the others. I myself, am interested in the folklore, especially, the stock of idioms and proverbs which are utterances drawn from the real life and experience of each community. There are many resources of idioms and proverbs of which objects may become the literal subject, or vehicle for translating a metaphorical message. The image of objects are so familiar to anyone that they occupy consirable part in the stock of English and Vietnamese proverbs and idioms used to dispend wisdom and transmit moral values. It is also interesting to learn and use idioms and proverbs helping us to remember well what we have learned because they are colorful and living. Furthermore, the wise men like using idioms and proverbs about objects so that their daily communication and speech become more natural, interesting and effective. For such these reason I decided to choose objects idioms and proverbs for my study and I hope with this study, readers can apply them in communication in life. 2. Purpose of the study This study is done with the hope to reach some aim at: 12
13. - Providing the description of English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs to realize the differences and similarities between them. - Comparing and contrasting the meaning and usage of some certain English idioms and proverbs about objects with Vietnamese ones to find the similarities and differences, so that readers can understand more about culture, society, as well as people of these two countries. - Perfecting the ability of applying right words setting expression to particular context and real communication. 3. Scope of the study Idioms and proverbs are very large and difficult aspect of each language, all types of idioms and proverbs because of limited time. So I could not go through all English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs, I just focus on those relating to objects whose main themes are: - The importance of objects in life. - Valuable advice drawn from the objects idioms and proverbs. - Criticism attitude through objects idioms and proverbs. 4. Method of the study. When doing research, I myself find that there are many way to find resource, such as in this study. Reading reference books and document to find and collect needed information. Collecting specific examples for study. Then, I will analyze and compare related idioms and proverbs to find out the similarities and differences between them. 5. Design of the study. - Part 1: Introduction. - Part 2: Development. 13
14.  Chapter 1: Theory background of English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs: Some definitions of idioms and proverbs, how idioms versus proverbs, the differences and similarities between English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs, the popularity of idioms and proverbs.  Chapter 2: Objects idioms and proverbs in English and Vietnamese equivalences. In this chapter some certain idioms and proverbs are analyzed in order to see the relevance between two language in idioms and proverbs.  Chapter 3: Difficulties for learners of English when studying idioms and proverbs. -Part 3: Conclusion.  Summarization: Summarizing what have been mentioned and some personal comments given.  Suggestions for further study. 14
15. PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter I: general theoretical background I. Idioms versus proverbs Idioms and proverbs are considered as special units of each language. They reflect honesty and exactly history experience, spiritual valuable, religious options, etc of people. So what is idioms, proverb? How can we distinguish between them? And what are differences between English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs? 1. Idiom 1.1 Definition of idiom An idiom is a phrase whose meaning can not be determined by the literal definition of the phrase itself, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use. In linguistics, idioms are widely assumed to be figures of speech that contradict the principle of compositionality; however, this has shown to be a subject of debate. John Saeed defines an idiom as words collocated together happen to become fossilized, becoming fixed over time. This collocation - words commonly used in a group - changes the definition of each of the words that exist. As an expression, the word-group becomes a team, so to speak. That is, the collocated words develop a specialized meaning as a whole and an idiom is born. An idiom is a group of words in which the meaning of this group is different than what would be expected. If the actual words of an idiom were understood as they appear, the entire meaning would be changed and the group of words would make no sense in its context as if it was understood as to be an idiom. A better understanding of an idiom is that it is a phrase whose meaning can not be understood from the dictionary definitions of each word taken separately. In this case, a metaphor is not an idiom. The meaning of the saying "pay through 15
16. the nose" or "run like the wind" can be understood by looking the words up in a dictionary and using some common sense and imagination and the context of the phrase. Better examples of idioms would be: To let the cat out of the bag To reveal a secret. To chicken out Become afraid to do a planned activity, and so not actually do it. "To give up" doing something To quit. "To give up on" something. To quit believing or hoping in something or somebody. To eat like a horse Eat a lot According to online – Dictionary Wikipedia: “An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not composional that is, whose meaning does not follow from the meaning of the individual words of which it is composed”. In the English expression to kick the bucket, for example, a listener knowing only the meaning of kick and bucket would be unable to deduce the expression's actual meaning, which is to die. Although it can refer literally to the act of striking a specific bucket with a foot, native speakers rarely use it that way. We can see it more clearly by reviewing the following approaches of Vietnamese scholars on idiom. Nguyen Lan state the definition of idiom in Từ điển thành ngữ, tục ngữ Việt Nam as “Thành ngữ là những cụm từ cố định dùng để diễn đạt một khái niệm”. (Idioms are fixed expression used to express a concept) 16
17. For example: Châu chấu đá xe (David fights Goliath) Cha nào con nấy (Like father like son) This concept of idiom seems to be too general and abstract to reader, and if we follow this concept we may not make a clear distinction between idiom and other fixed expression like proverb. Duong Quang Ham has another approach to it. He said “idiom is an existing unit of language. Its function, like word, is denoting things and phenomena. But idiom differs from word in a such way that it always uses metaphoric images in its denotation” Another definition, and may be the most satisfactory one, is made by Nguyen Van Hang in “ Thành ngữ bốn yếu tố trong tiếng Việt hiện đại: “Thành ngữ là 1 cụm từ đặc biệt có cấu trúc cố định, có vần điệu và thành phần ngữ âm đặc biệt; có thể suy ra từ tổng số nghĩa của yếu tố cấu thành nó, thành ngữ có nghĩa bóng, nghĩa hình ảnh khái quát, th•ờng kèm theo giá trị biểu cảm, thành ngữ th•ờng dùng để định danh những hiện t•ợng của hiện thực và th•ờng hoạt động trong câu với tư cách là một bô phận cấu thành nó” ( Idiom is a special phrase which allows very little or no variation in form, It is formed with rhythm and special phonetic elements, Its meaning can not be deduced from its individual components; It expresses figurative and general meaning and normally comes along with emotive values; It is used to denote real phenomena and it often functions as a sentence element) 1.2. Some common features of idioms There are many different concepts of idiom; however, we still find some similarities between them. 17
18. An idiom is a multiword expression. Individual components of idiom can often inflated in the same way words in a phrase can be inflected. This inflection usually follows the same pattern of inflection as the idiom’s literal counterpart. Example: Have a bee in one’ bonnet He has bees in his bonnet. An idiom has a non-productive syntactic structure, it has an unusual grammatical structure; however, proverbs are a particularly interesting class of materials for psycholinguistic research, since most proverbs have both literal and a figurative level of meaning. Example: By and large gives meaning when everything about a situation is considered together. An idiom behaves as a simple semantic unit.  It tends to have some measure of internal cohesions such that it can often be replace by a literal counterpart that is made up of single word. Example: Kick the bucket Die  It resists interruption by other words by other words whether they are semantically compatible or not. Example: pull one’s leg o Pull hard on one’ leg o Pull on one’s left leg  It resist rearing of its component parts. Example: Let the cat o The cat got left out of the bag 18
19. 2. Proverb 2.1. Definition of proverb Proverbs are popular sayings which contain advice or state a generally tradition, they are general worded in such a way as to be remember easily and tend to change little from generation to generating, so much so that sometimes their specific meaning is no longer relevant. For example: “ Penne wise, pound foolish” is holdover from when America was a British colony and used the pound as currency. Proverbs function as “folk wisdom”, general advice about how to act and live. And because they are folk wisdom, they are often strongly reflect the cultural values and physical environment from which they arise. For instance, island cultures such as Hawaii have proverbs about the sea, Eastern cultures have proverbs about elephants, and American proverbs, many collected and published by Benjamin Franklin, are about hard work bringing success. Proverbs are used to support arguments, to provide lessons and instruction, and to stress shared values. According to the Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary “proverb is a short well- known sentence or phrase that states a general truth about life or gives advices” For example: Good can never grow out of evil (Gần mực thỡ đen, gần đốn thỡ sỏng) All cat are grey in the dark (Tắt đốn nhà ngúi cũng như nhà tranh) Paul Hermadi and Steen make it more clearly by considering proverbs: “brief, memorable, and intuitively conceiving formulations of socially sanctioned advice”. 19
20. The concept of proverb is, however, a bit difference in Vietnamese. Từ điển tiếng Việt defines proverbs as “ short statements, often expressed which sum up knowledge, life experience and moral lesson of people.” In “Từ điển thành ngữ tục ngữ Việt Nam” Nguyễn Lõn states “Tục ngữ là những cõu núi hoàn chỉnh, cú ý nghĩa trọn vẹn, núi lờn hoặc nhận xột về tõm lý, hoặc một lời phờ phỏn, khen hay chờ, hoặc một cõu khuyờn nhủ hoặc một kinh nghiệm về nhận thức tự nhiờn hay xó hội.” For example: Đi với bụt mặc ỏo cà sa, đi với ma mặc ỏo giấy (Pay a man back in the same coin) Lấy vợ xem tụng, lấy chồng xem giống (Choose a wife by your ear rather than your eyes) According to Pham Van Binh “A proverb is complete expressing an idea of comment, of experience, of morality, of justice or of criticism draw from the human life” 2.2. Some common features of Proverbs • Proverbs are passed down through time with little change in form. •Proverbs are often used metaphorically and it is in understanding their metaphorical nature that we can unravel their meaning. While “a stitch in time saves nine”, “don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched,” and “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” are common proverbs, few of us stitch clothes, count chickens, or throw out bathwater. • Proverbs often make use of grammatical and rhetorical devices that help make them memorable, including alliteration, rhyme, parallel structure, repetition of key words or phrases, and strong imagery. 20
21. 3. The distinction between idioms an proverbs Proverb and idioms tell much about a people’s traditional ways of experiencing reality, about the proper or excepted ways of doing things, about values and warning, and rules and wisdoms the elders want to express on the minds of their young. The punch line character of proverbs - the shorter the better- make it easy to commit them to memory for ready recall when he occasion calls for serious or humorous comment or admonition. Created by people in high and low station, humble folk and great authors, borrowed from ancient or neighboring cultures, proverbs have been accumulating over many centuries. Some are only locally known, many are shared around the world. ( 3.1. English idioms and proverbs - Proverbs represent a complete piece of information, because they can work as a sentence. They are meaningful by themselves, and, in consequence, can work independently, as it can be seen from all grief’s with bread are less. In contrast, idioms are not so syntactically-independent because they cannot always work as a full sentence, but as a part of it, as it can be seen from the expression as like as two peas - Unlike idiom the meaning of proverb can somehow deduced from the meaning of the word which constitutes it. Eg: “Don’t teach fish to swim” Vs “Out of the frying pan and in to the fire” - Very often the meaning of proverbs cannot be decoded from decomposing each of their constituents. This implies that the meaning may be obscure even for native speakers. Our belief is that the reason for this semantic darkness is that proverbs get their origin from personal anecdotes which become applied to a lot of cases. Idioms can also be very obscure in relation to meaning, because, the same as proverbs, they may be based on personal experiences or anecdotes which have become fixed as a linguistic clichộ. As both proverbs and idioms are useful ways of expression, they appear across different languages. But universality in proverbs and idioms does not necessarily 21
22. imply that these language bits or chunks are always perfectly coupled or symmetrical. 3.2. Vietnamese idioms and proverbs From Pham Van Binh’s point of view, proverbs are section of folklore, that is, they are a “complete work of literature”. Therefore, proverbs have all the fundamental functions of literature such as the apprehension, aesthetic, and education and so on. On contrary, idioms are only section of language and an idiom alone can not express an idea completely, so it equal to word only. Hence, they do not have functions as proverbs do and often used to replace words so that the expression effect of the sentient can be strengthened. Nguyen Dinh Hung, another Vietnamese scholar, has approached a more detailed distinction between the through the following table: 22
23. Distinctive features Idiom Proverb Grammatical structure A fixed phrase equivalent Complete sentence to a word Literal function The aesthetic only The apprehension The aesthetic The education Logical though form Expressing concept and Expressing judgment, generalizing individual affirming attributive phenomena. phenomena. Function of language Noun denotation function Information function forms through words under consciousness Language attribute Social, cultural and phenomena spiritual consciousness phenomena of humans 4. Similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs 4.1. Similarities. Although, English and Vietnamese are two different countries from language, geography, natural condition, traditional customs, belief society as well as daily habits and unlike development, there are some similarities in awareness and the same expressions through idioms and proverbs. 23
24. The first commonality is that both idioms and proverbs are implicit, humorous, serious, refined and particular. They are not only compendious, but also vivid. They can give somebody a kind of beautiful enjoyment. Because of the geography, history, religious belief, living custom, etc. The difference of English – Vietnamese idioms is not bearing the weight of the people’s nation culture characteristic and culture information. They are linked to cultural tradition closely so they are inalienable. Secondly, we also find that many English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs have the same meaning, awareness as well as method presenting although they still remain national specific characteristics. Because of people being the emotion, there is similarity in respect of going through in the impression of objective things and the society, etc., These literal meanings of idioms and proverbs in English – Vietnamese ones and the image meaning are the same or approximate. It is the same to imply the meaning, that is to say, the cultural information that the literal meaning of this kind of idioms and image meaning express is the same, can translate each other. For example: -Cùng hội cùng thuyền (In the same boat) -Đen nh• than ( As black as coal) -Vuốt mặt cũng phải nể mũi (Spite the face, spare the nose) -Yêu cho roi cho vọt, ghét cho ngọt cho bùi ( Spare the rod, spoil the child) -Của rẻ là của ôi ( Cheapest is the dearest) 24
25. Two idiom literal meanings and image meaning approximate, difference slightly, imply meaning to be the same, the image meaning is mutually translated. Thirdly, an English and Vietnamese proverbs can consist of an idioms. For instant, Vietnamese idiom “ Chồng yêu, xỏ chân lỗ mũi” consists of idiom “xỏ chân lỗ mũi”, or idiom “Bình chân nh• vại” in proverb “Cháy nhà hàng xóm, bình chân nh• vại”. We also see the same phenomena in English proverb. English proverb “ Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” on the proverb “put all your eggs in one basket”, or the proverb “ Birds of a feather” includes idiom ““ Birds of the feather” Another Similarity is that both English and Vietnamese people can break structure of given proverb or slightly change it to express effectively their purpose in communication. For example: Vietnamese had changed proverbs “ Ăn nên đọi nói lên lời” and “ Cái khó ló cái khôn” into “Ăn không nên đọi nói lên lời” and “ Cái khó bó cái khôn”. It is the same in English, people break the structure of proverb “ Clothes make a man” turns into “Clothes do not make a man”. This change creates a new proverb which is suitable for their mentioned topics. Or replacing the verb “do” in “ Never put off until tomorrow what we can do today” by the verb “eat” or “buy” to make their words more humorous and effective. 4.2. Differences Firstly, due to cross – culture differences as well as natural and social condition, language in general and idiom in particular we have clear distinction. The English say “Van Gogh’s ear for music” to show “stone deaf”. It is an ironic reference to Van Gogh’s well-known shortage of auditory equipment. So if we do not know who Van Gogh is, we can not understand what that idiom is really meant. In contrast, it is hard for the English to understand the Vietnamese idiom “ Dạ lang tự đại”. They can understand each word separately but do not know what it means. Because this idiom originates from an utterance of “Dạ Lang”- The head 25
26. of small tribe when he meets the Emperor of China- a very large and powerful country: “Is your land as large as mine”. Hence, only when the English people know this classic reference, can they understand the idiom’s meaning” those who are full of themselves are generally the emptiest fellows. Also, the Vietnamese has idiom “Lo nh• bò thấy nhà táng”. The English will find it quite difficult to understand this one because the Vietnamese funeral is held differently from the English one. When there is a funeral, there is a catafalque – a small paper house covering the death to the field to burry and when there is a funeral, people kill cows for food. That is why cows often worry when seeing the catafalque. This idiom means being panicked into an immediate danger to them. Secondly, It is the differences in the condition and society that create particular character and culture of each nation; therefore, English and Vietnamese proverbs are quiet difference from each other. Proverbs on life experience, weather, and nature occupying a considerable part in the store of Vietnamese proverb present clearly particularity of agricultural inhabitants who connect closely to wet rice cultivation. For example : Tốt giống, tốt má, tốt mạ, tốt lúa. Muốn giàu nuôi trâu cái, muốn lụi bại nuôi bồ câu. Đầu năm s•ơng muối, cuối năm gió nồm. It is difficult to find English equivalent proverbs because English proverbs mostly reflect rather social relationship than natural one and work experience. Anti-feudalism and class struggle spirits is expressed clearly and drastically in Vietnamese proverbs through subtle, profound, bitter and daring words and images in order to denounce evils o upper class as well as reflect conflict between farmer and despotic landowner and corrupt mandarins. For example: - Quan thấy kiện nh• kiến thấy mỡ. - Muốn nói gian làm quan mà nói. 26
27. - Hay làm thì đói, hay nói thì no. - Ngồi mát ăn bát vàng. On the contrary, anti-feudalism and class struggle spirits in English proverbs are quiet slightly and not drastic. We find only a few proverbs relating to King, unfair laws such as : - A cat may look at a King ( Chú mèo nhỏ dám ngó mặt vua) - One law for the rich and another for the poor ( Luật tr•ớc cho ng•ời giàu, luật sau cho kẻ khó ) Thirdly, there are some differences in using metaphor in proverbs and idioms between two nations. In English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs, many different symbols are used to present the same idea, awareness, and criticism. For example; the Vietnamese proverb “Hàng săng chết bó chiếu” is equivalent with English proverb “ the cobbler’s wife is the worst shod” in which symbol of the cobbler’s wife who is the one wearing the worst shoes. Or another Vietnamese proverb “ Ngưu tầm ngưu, mã tầm mã” has a counterpart “ Birds of a feather flock together” in which English people use symbol is that birds having the same hair flock together. II. The popularity of idioms and proverbs in daily life Kenneth Burke saw proverbs, along with other kinds of literature, as part of our “equipment for living”. Virtually no society around today has not “ equipped” its members with a stock of memorable proverbs and well-traveled cultural channels for their circulation. Why has the quintessentially oral genre of proverbs remained popular in societies? Proverbs have been collected from a very wide variety of cultures and no past or present culture is reported to have gone without them. It is quite possible, therefore, that proverbial advice has been with us ( that is , with the human species) for much of the last two thousand or more generations of roughly thirty 27
28. years each. Indeed, the capacity to coin, remember, and share proverbs, and thus efficiently transmit accumulated experience, may well have been one of the adaptive advantages that fully developed human language bestowed on its early users. As far as speakers and writers are concerned, proverbs can thus be either used or mentioned, that is to say, either sincerely proposed or neutrally displayed ( if not indeed ironically opposed) as candidates for the status of socially sanctioned valuable advice. The social uses of proverbs are complemented by their personal uses in internal information processing. Consider, for example, the possible impact of proverbial advice on deciding just when to make a decision. Should you look a little further before you leap? Today and in any medium of communication, both the assertion “ He who hesitates is lost” and the contrary directive “ Look before you leap” can be offered and espoused as excellent advice under the proper circumstances. Since humans face a large variety of very different situations, the complete stock of proverbs circulating in any culture is likely to contain much conflicting advice without offering meta-rules as to which rule to apply and how to apply it. In short, while internalized proverbs help us articulate our choices, they respective advice ( in this case, “ Look before you leap” versus “ He who hesitate is lost” ) usually requires further consideration according to the circumstances in which we find ourselves at a particular time. The nearly universal occurrence of proverbial advice suggests that proverb-using societies have long been contributing to the reproductive fitness of at least some of their members by making them both good co-operators and self-assured individuals. Even so, as long as participants in a proverbial tradition attribute practical wisdom to it, proverbs can go a long way toward relieving individuals from the initial uncertainty, and eventual regret, often associated with the making of consequential decisions. After all, if proverbs cannot always help us make the right decision, they can at least help us think and feel that whatever decision we have made was in fact the right one. Whether you have decided to leap right away or to look ( and therefore hesitate ) a bit longer, the sense of acting or having acted in accordance with at least one kind of widely accepted 28
29. traditional advice seems to confer cultural or even supernatural blessing on what was, ultimately, a personal decision. Proverbs reveal themselves once again as user-friendly by making their sharp analogical points rather smoothly: we don’t have to labor hard in order store and retrieve the cross-domain associations evoked by them. Proverbs blending multiple domains can be particularly effective and sometimes even amusing. Just think of the easy-going and yet powerful integration pf principles of gravity, organic growth, personality traits, and kinship relations when you next hear or say ( perhaps with reference to certain behavior patterns in some members of the Kennedy clan) : “ The apple never falls far from the tree”. By lending communal approval to individual disposition toward recurrent human situations, proverbs help both to make human decisions makers who face a bewildering plurality of options can experience in view of unintended adverse consequences. People will use proverbs “ to pass judgment on events, to give advice, to rationalize their past actions, or to criticize and praise others” , as Brunvand observes about English-speaking cultures of North America. But most of us, just like the Anang, favor proverbs that can “ give point and add color to ordinary conversation” by being pithy or even amusing ( Messengers 64). Furthermore, many didactic sayings like “ Mother knows best” lend themselves readily to lightheartedly ironic use, and there seems to be wide-spread appreciation for such parodist coinages as “ Time wounds all heels” and “ where there is a will, there is are relative” . it appears that proverbs not only supply a shared repertoire of standard sayings but mange to tap into playful modes of thinking which are enjoyably efficient and promote camaraderie between speakers and listeners. The cognitive efficiency of proverbs displays itself in the natural ease with which parents and grandparents enlist brief, memorable, and intuitively convincing sayings for gently guiding the young. Indeed, proverbs are often regarded as a one-way street through which the older generation passes its cognitive and moral tenets –“ the wisdom of the tribe” – top the next ( cf. Haring 29
30. 123). After all, it is easy to believe and make others believe that “ eggs can’t teach the hen”, as a generationally biased Russian proverb puts it ( Mertvago 369 ). But proverbs convey life experience gathered in, and applicable to, specific situations, and what is good for the old gander may not always be good for the young geese. The figurative use of words so typical of proverbial discourse should also be seen as parsimoniously persuasive rather than uselessly extravagant in terms of mental effort. After all, it is grammatically simpler and rhetorically more effective to deploy the ancient hiking metaphor of “ way” than to say literally what we mean : “ Where there’s a will, there’s an effective modus operandi for realization of our objective”. Likewise, the double metonymy“ Money talks” packs a great deal of social experience into a memorably concrete phrase whose effortless unpacking according to the appropriate context may well bring such abstractions as wealth (rather than actual currency) and influence ( rather than actual speech ) to the listener’s or reader’s mind. Much more will need to be said about the figurative use of language when we turn to considering just how proverb are. What makes proverbs so eminently storable in the brain and so readily retrievable from it? Many other figures of speech and thought tend to join metaphors, metonymies, and the various phonemic and syntactical devices of memoir ability already mentioned in facilitating the mental storage and retrieval of proverbs. There are some certain prosodic devices such as phonemic ( like the alliteration between “ will” and “way”); others are syntactic ( like the parallelism between “ there’s a” and “ there’s a” in “ When there’s a will, there’s a way”). Those two kinds of recurrence are characteristic of nursery rhymes of the alliterative and rhyming babble of infants and of the repetitive syntax of young children and some mentally impaired or disturbed individuals. Could it be that even the most pragmatically minded users of proverbs subconsciously favor, and for that reason can easily recall, verbal utterances produced along the line of least physiological resistance? If so, the typical 30
31. process of subordinating the acoustic patterns of our speech to meaning would clearly emerge as mentally more cumbersome, and therefore less memorable, than the process of organizing them according to some pre-lingual routine of quasi-musical repetition. Needless to say, the repetitive phonetics and syntax of “ Man proposes, God disposes” or “ Like father, like son” highlight rather than conceal or neutralize the striking semantic oppositions involved/ the frequent individual recall and wide social distribution of such proverbs may thus be due to their cognitive aptness and continued practical relevance even more than to their being produced by the speech organs with the repetitive efficiency of an industrial assembly line. While phonetic and syntactic regularity makes the vocal production of proverbs enjoyably economical, it is semantic energy and pragmatic potential that makes their mental reception enjoyably invigorating. 31
32. Chapter II. english and vietnamese idioms and proverbs relating to objects People like to use proverbs and idioms to dispense wisdom and transmit moral values. Objects may become the literal subject of a proverb, or the vehicle for transmitting a metaphorical message. Idioms and proverbs relating objects can be divided into some following subcategories and here are just a few examples with culinary themes. I. The importance of objects in life 1. The integral connection between objects and human – being Since the dawn of human- being, although life was very difficult, people have also had a good relationship with objects. Almost objects are available in natural environment such as: axe made of stone, bayonet made of branches of tree, or some knives made of animal bones. All of them are in rough shape but they are necessary things in this time because human’s life will be affected very much if there are no objects. Besides, people also know the way to make simple clothes from animal’s feather which is very suitable for woman. Or, when people understand that they need to eat something ripen, they use stone to make fire Later, together with the evolution of people, objects also develop. People do not only know the way to take advantage of the available objects in nature to serve their life but also combine them to create a new objects with more effectiveness. In that period, in stead of rough objects, people use bronze to cast some new objects such as: axe, knife. The appearance of bronze is a new turning- point, it 32
33. makes a change in human’s life. People do not rely on available objects any more. They can create essential things they need initiatively without being worried about quality. Recently, along with the development of science and technology, objects are created more and more various both of quantity and quality. They satisfy to higher and higher demand of people. Some modern equipments and machines serve capably for production. For example: A simple wood plough is no longer needed, there are many tractors pulled ploughs that are more convenient and efficient. Or, in stead of telephone using wire, we have wireless telephone or mobile phone which can transmit information faster and easier to bring with us. Especially, with the appearance of internet, each person has only a computer or laptop, we can update a great deal of useful information of all over the world without going out. It is really fast and effective. So, all mentioned help us affirm that objects play an important role in our life. From the dawn of human- being to now, they always go along with us. Objects and people have a dialectical relationship and mutual influence on each other. The 33
34. evolution of people will make efficient multi- functional and modern objects. And, modern objects will serve more effective for higher demand of people in modern society. 2. Images and metaphorical meaning of objects in literature Objects do not only have good relationship with people in daily life but also play an important role in literature. Many writers, poets use objects as illustrate image to express their feelings, thinking and give message that the writer want to say with readers. In many periods, objects are principal symbols in famous works. For example: The story “ The gift of the magi” by O’henry written about great love, scarify and devotion of poor young couple- Jim and Della. The Christmas’s day was coming, they wanted to buy a meaningful gift for each other but they were too poor so they had sold two their possession that they took a mighty pride. Della had sold her beautiful hair to buy a platinum fob chain for Jim while he had sold a gold watch to buy a beautiful and expensive set comb for Della. So the writer use the image of watch and comb to give a message: “Love conquers all”. An other example in the Vietnamese story: “ Gió lạnh đầu mùa” written by Thạch Lam, the writer uses the image of a coat of Son’s sister – a dead person to show that people should open our heart with anyone in need of help, give them the life to overcome difficulties. It will bring to them the optimism, the belief and the love in life. And, we can see that in confrontation with each obstacle we will smile and respect whatever we have. In addition to famous works of famous writers, long tine ago, when people were illiterate, they only knew to use their language that is passed down orally. They also use objects to make this language more plentiful and more interesting. So there are many idioms and proverbs relating to objects, such as: - Clothes do not make a man ( Tốt gỗ hơn tốt n•ớc sơn) 34
35. This proverb means that people should not attach too much importance to appearance, they should pay attention to content. Or, in complex relation of life the good and the bad always make us confused. It is very difficult to distinguish them. So they state: - A good anvil does not fear the hammer ( Cây ngay không sợ chết đứng) It means that in spite of difficulties, if you are really a good person, there is nothing make you fail. You will be a winner. With people working inefficiently, although they try their best, their result is still zero. So, there is a idiom: - A grain of wheat in a bushes of chaff ( Dã tràng xe cát biển đông) All mentioned issues proving that the great importance and influence of objects in cultural life and daily life. There are no distinction between the Northern and the Western, color or voice. Object will exist and develop whenever people live. II. Functions of idioms and proverbs relating to objects. 1. Proverbs and idioms relating to objects give advice in life. Proverbs and idioms are experience drawn from real life. As we know, proverbial advices play a very important part in life. They help us to distinguish between the good and the bad, to act and behave properly, and to avoid repeatable mistakes and so on. Without them, we should confront more difficulties and challenges. It quite possible, therefore, that proverbial advice has been with us (that is, with the human species) for much of the last two thousand or more generations of roughly thirty years each. Indeed, the capacity to coin, remember, and share proverbs, and thus efficiently transmit accumulated experience, may well have been one of the adaptive advantages that fully developed human language bestowed on its early users. After all, if proverbs can 35
36. not always help us to make the right decision, they can at least help us to think and feel that whatever decision we have made was in fact the right one. 1.1. Proverbs and idioms relating to objects are valuable lesson on educating personality. To advice people who do not know the way to educate their children, We have a proverb: “ Spare the rod, spoil the child” ( Để dành chiếc roi làm hoi đứa trẻ) A device called, “The Rod,” is manufactured for the sole purpose of whipping babies and children when they have bad behavior. The device is sold along with specific and explicit manuals such as: "To Train Up a Child" and "Shepherding a Child's Heart" that recommend whipping infants one year of age or younger. So this proverb means that you should educate a small child very toughly because you can control over him so you can in some way know that he will behave well and that he will learn to respect for his parents and for the other persons. Also it would be easier to teach him good manners that is an every- father dream, so they find that this way of educating him is the perfect one. With this treatment, the child also starts creating a tough personality and character. This can be very useful in the future because he can confront difficulties and problems without being afraid or doubtfully. For example, when you see a kid at school which you know has been very loved when small and that passes all day long beside his mother kissing her and all that, you can almost be 36
37. sure that he will be very shy and no one will respect for him. All this is because people that were educated by this way have a weak personality, which can be very bad and painful to a grown up kid. We can see the Vietnamese counterpart “Yêu cho roi cho vọt, ghét cho ngọt cho bùi” Beside this proverb manifesting the education , the English also have proverb: “Strike while the iron is hot” (Sắt đang đỏ, búa đã gõ ngay) The proverb originated from the image of Black smith in the workshop. He can only make the shape of iron by striking the iron bar with his hammer when it is red hot. So, we can learn from this proverb is that we have to take an action at the right time. We should educate our children when they are young. It is the best time to teach them about the way of thinking or living. Because in that time, they always live with us and we also take care of them and give advices to them directly. Addition to this, they have not communicated to others yet. If you do not teach them early, they could acquire bad habits or social evils from bad friends. So it is easy for us to educate them well in our way early. Or, when our children go to school we should advice them that they have to learn at the first time, listen to the teacher carefully to get better result. It is best possible time to take advantages to get benefits before it ends and leaves them. We may be difficult to get other opportunity like this so let: “Strike while the iron is hot” Vietnamese also have the proverb with the same meaning: “ Tre non dễ uốn” 37
38. It means that children have to be educated early or choose the best time to make an action. People use the metaphor of “ tre non” to express the children or their opportunity and “dễ uốn” to say the result they will achieve. Thanks to the aesthetic function of this proverb people can understand and feel clearly this universal truth. Another advice the folk have given to us is that: “Sweep before your own house” (Hãy quét t•ớc tr•ớc cửa nhà mình) “Door” is an important part of the house. It is the first thing that people usually observe when going through. When we see them, we can appreciate of the house and it’s boss because it is represented to the house or the owner. So proverb advices us that we should makes ourselves more perfectly before criticizing others. Unless we were a good example, you should not teach others. We can see a Vietnamese counterpart: “Tiên trách kỷ, hậu trách nhân” People use the antonym “Tiên” and “hậu”, “kỷ” and “nhân” to express the meaning of this proverb perfectly. It means that when there is a fault in work or in life, the first thing we have to do is examining ourselves whether we are right or wrong, then we just consider other’s fault. It is very bad to give a blame to the others without thinking seriously about everything. “Tiên trách kỷ, hậu trách nhân” give us a valuable lesson, helping us to harden the characteristic, the way of thinking and the behavior, teaching us to analyze, appreciate and solve the conflicts in life. Especially, it is also an useful drug for self – conceited person who always consider themselves the best. 1.2. Proverbs and idioms relating to objects give advice to making friends. Every one needs friends, but sometimes people make poor choices in selecting their friends. Whenever parents see their children associating with delinquent youths, they usually remind them of the proverb: 38
39. “Before you make a friend, eat a bushel of salt with him” (Muốn kết bạn với ai, hãy cùng nhau ăn hết vài đấu muối) This proverb says that it takes you a long time to know thoroughly who good friends are. We shall show real friends when we are in need. The image of “a bushel of salt” makes a strong impression on me. All of us know that it is not easy for anyone to eat only a spoon of salt but a bushel of it. A true friend will “eat a bushel of salt”, stand by us in our trials and tribulation. He will be a great source of consolation and comfort in our trouble. It is very nice of a friend to help us to overcome difficulties in life, to criticize for our mistakes and help correct faults. So, we must be careful in choosing our friends. It is difficult to choose a sincere friend overnight, it takes years for us to find a sincere friend. We have a counterpart of proverb in Vietnam: “ Thức lâu mới biết đêm dài ở lâu mới biết lòng người dở hay” “ The same knife cuts bread and finger”( một lưỡi dao này cắt cả tay lẫn bánh) is also an useful advice. 39
40. Everything has two sides: positive and negative ones. Knife is very familiar to anyone; it is used to cut many things such as bread. However, if people are not careful, their finger will be cut. So side of cutting bread is useful, but cutting finger is harmful. To human behavior it is also true. People can come back to harm each other. “the same knife” here means a friend we meet and the image of cutting “bread” and “finger” is to say what the friend will do, that is good or bad. This proverb is a good advice to make friends in particularly, and to take care when communicating to others in generally. In Vietnam, this proverb means: “Đòn xóc hai đầu, đòn càn hai lưỡi” Making friend is the demand of anyone in society. How lonely and sad we are, if having not any friends standing us. However, beside a good friend, there are always bad friend surrounding us, therefore, the English have following proverb to advice us in choosing friend: “ Book and friend should be few but good” Books and friends are very important things. Books make us interested in everything. They teach us how to tell good from bad, how to get along well with others. Books can make the stupid wise, the coward brave and the bright wiser. Book is always good, but making full use of it just depends on our serious thinking. Gathering one book is the first step to know the valuable knowledge. Like books, A life without a friend is a life without sun. we would rather lose most things, if not anything, than friends. However, friends should be few but good. Books like friends, should be few and well chosen as well. We can find a Vietnamese counterpart: “Quý hồ tinh bất quý hồ đa” It means that quality is appreciated higher than quantity. People are very clever when using the words “ tinh” and “đa” . “Tinh” express the things that we have to consider to chose carefully – quality and “đa” is many things we can get without finding and selecting hard – quantity. The proverb advices us that when we make friend, we need a true friend who can share with us everything in life 40
41. both happiness and sadness. A true friend would remain with us whether we are rich or poor. Some people befriend the rich, simply to the sake of getting benefits from them. It is useless to have insincere friends because these friends remain with us as long as we are rich or powerful. It is better to have one or two good friends rather than having hundreds of insincere ones. 1.3. Proverbs and idioms relating to objects are valuable lesson on labor. In manufacturing, production relation between working and receiving in accordance with the amount of work, objects and works have been attached closely for a long time. It was also thought for a long time that there were many people wanting to come in for a share of society’s product and eat delicious food without working hard or even little effort by themselves. To against the negative attitude, English laborers affirm the principle of labor through the proverb: “ A cat in gloves catches no mice” ( Chú mèo đi găng hết mong bắt chuột) According to Oxford dictionary “gloves” is a covering for the hand made of wool, leather, etc with separate part for each finger and a thumb. In this proverb the image “ A cat in gloves” like that is a lazy cat. And this image is used to show that we can not achieve success in anything without effort and sacrifice. At first sight, this seem to be not quite true for we can think of examples of people who have been born the son of millionaire will get great wealth on the death of his father, without any trouble on his part, and people sometimes win a large sum of money in a lottery without the slightest effort. But such cases of luck are exceptional and can not be counted on. For most people it remains true that 41
42. success can be won only at the cost of hard work. It is certainly true in education and scholarship. As a student can never become a scholar unless he works hard, denies himself, ease and pleasure, and devotes himself to books. No idle ever achieved fame as a scholar. It is true, too, in a more important matter in character building. Few men are naturally good, and a fire, noble character is a result of effort and struggle. It requires ceaseless moral effort to form good habit, to break bad habits, to resist temptation good develop virtues. No one becomes success in his sleep. We have also a Vietnamese counterpart: “Muốn ăn hét phải đào giun” It means that people have to work lots and make great effort by themselves to reach the sweet. People use the metaphor of “ chim hét” to express happiness they want to have and “ đào giun” to say the work people have to do with their attempts. Thanks to the aesthetic function of this proverb, people can understand and feel clearly this universal truth. Beside proverb “ A cat in gloves catches no mice” we can have a proverb having the same meaning: “ He loves bacon well that licks the swinesty door” In Vietnamese proverb, we have “ Có làm thì mới có ăn Không dưng ai dễ mang phần đến cho” Material and spiritual property are not available in nature, therefore, if one wants to have materials, food and live and come in for a share of society’s products, one must have done one’s bit. Only when working hard, people will help themselves and their families better and better. Farmer, for instance, toiling moiling in the fields in order to have rice for society, their families and themselves. The principle that is “ work provides plenty” (Có làm thì mới có ăn) will impulse the development of society and encourage people to be utterly dedicated to their works. Labors in the old society, lived in poverty although they worked very much while upper class had been very rich without any effort. That is because the old society was unjust, some people occupied factors, mine, 42
43. lands and exploited hired labor. Payment which hired workers and farmers for despotic landowners and capitals received was too small for them to keep alive. But any thing has changed in modern society, we have performed the principle of socialism “ much work much reception, little work little reception, no work no reception”. It is the equal society that we are striving for mastery. In addition, the Vietnamese also advise us: “ Tay làm hàm nhai, tay quai miệng trễ” This proverb has two sides in which each one expresses different attitude toward labor. The image of hands presents for people, thus, “Tay làm”( working hands) is a metaphor of hardworking persons in the contrast with the image of “ Tay quai”( idle hand) saying lazy persons. Reading proverb, we also catch “Hàm”(jaw) and “Miệng”(mouth) having function of eating and drinking, that is symbols of life. People must work hard and try their best to ensure their life. Lazy man has nothing to eat and has a little deprivation and misery. For example, a hard-working worker with his professional skill will receive high payment because of his much productivity and live in comfort. This proverb advise people to work assiduously and make derogative remarks on idle men. 2. Proverbs and idioms relating to objects express critical attitude. The ancients have bequeathed many invaluable admonishments for younger generation so that the seed will become good citizens with both talented and virtuous aspect in the future. In society, we have met many people who show off their knowledge, ability; although they are not worth considering. The proverb :“Empty vessels make greatest sound”( Thùng rỗng kêu to) is talked about this person. 43
44. Literally “Empty vessel” is a container with nothing inside, when we knock on it will make great sound. This image is used to express unknowledgeable person. They do nothing but always want to prove themselves and teach others. In Vietnamese we also have proverb with the same meaning: “Dốt hay nói chữ” The proverb impresses me with the combination of two words : “dốt” and “nói chữ” . the word “dốt” is used to imply the person know nothing. And “nói chữ” is the word that talent or knowledgeable person often use to say. It creates the contradiction between them, but when we analyze this proverb we can understand its meaning very clearly. It criticize person who consider them the best, they want to show-off themselves but it becomes laughing-stock. To some extent, I agree that anyone can express himself to other. But our life is multiform, can people cover all things perfectly or not? Therefore, each of us has to be modest in order to make ourselves better. To provide further proof to this theme, I also mention to proverb: “ A bad work man quarrels with his tool” (Thợ tồi đôi co với dụng cụ) A bad workman quarrels with his tool, not because his tools are poor, but because he himself is off - balance inside, and has become quarrelsome by nature. It is seldom the case that shoddy workmanship is due to inadequate equipment or difficult working conditions. It results, for the most part, from the fact that the workman himself is shoddy and indifferent in his attitude. Have we not observed that complaints usually come from individuals who are accustomed to complaining, who have acquired the habit through the years of whining and remonstrating on every slight occasion? The constant complainer needs no particular tragedy about which to be upset. He creates his own tragedies out of the illusionary imaginings of lower mind. Why is it that so few individuals have the courage to look within themselves for the source of their complaints? Why is it that so few are willing to admit that perhaps the real demon of discontent is 44
45. some secret ambition or personal desire rooted in their own hearts, and that the cause of their unhappiness, and even their lack of skill, is an unbalanced attitude of mind? Perhaps because it is easier to blame something outside. We have Vietnamese counterpart: “Vụng múa chê đất lệch”. The proverb “The pot calls the kettle black”( Nồi chê ấm rằng đen) also have the same meaning. In the olden time, because Britain used charcoal to cook, of courses, both “pot” and “kettle” are two kitchen utensils which are full of black soot. By using metaphor of “pot” and “kettle”, the British want to talk about person who only sees other’s mistakes but never admit his one. We can find Vietnamese equivalent proverbs which are “Chó chê mèo lắm lông”, “Lươn ngắn lai chê trạch dài”. People never avoid going wrong in life, consequently, before making derogative remarks on other, people have to look round well first and make personal search or inspection. The folk often despises the one who is selfish as in the following proverb: “A public hall is never swept” (Nhà công không ai quét) “A public hall” is a public property, it do not belong to anyone. So no one pay attention to make clean – never swept. So this proverb criticizes people who only 45
46. think for themselves and ignore the community’s work. They pass the buck to another, no one scarify for society. They only want to get benefit for themselves. “A public hall is never swept” also advice us that we should not be selfish – only do when getting benefit. We should act out of a sense of responsibility. Mentioning to this theme in Vietnamese, we also have proverb: “ Cha chung không ai khóc” To sump, the folk express critical attitude through objects proverbs and idioms profoundly and subtly. Thanks to these useful idioms and proverbs, people have drawn many moral lessons and make themselves better. 46
47. Chapter III. Some difficulties for learners of english when studying idioms and proverbs. I. Some difficulties in studying idioms and proverbs. In fact, idioms and proverbs are the most difficult of each language to understand and translate into others one. And it does not exclude English. It is not always easy to identify idioms and proverbs. For example, there were many idioms and proverbs, I have never seen, like: “Nothing must be done hasty but the killing of fleas”(more haste, less speed), or “constant dropping wear away a stone”(everything come to him who wait). Certainly, the process to find the same meaning in Vietnamese is difficult, too. Besides, guessing the meaning and translation of the idioms and proverbs are the big problem which learners have to counter. Take an example on idiom: “To be cut dried” as an example of a difficult in guessing the meaning which means: if something is cut and dried, then everything has already been decided and, in the case of an opinion, might be a little stale and predictable (Using English.com) we can guess the meaning the meaning even though we may have never heard it before because most of words in phrase are easy to understand. However, it is too difficult to guess the meaning correctly because they have association with the ordinary meaning of individual words. They can be guessed if they were heard in particular context, that is, when we know they are used in particular situation. Like: Ex: My plans for the future are cut died. So that, we can more understand the meaning of this idiom. Translating English similes into Vietnamese and vice versa is hard problem to Vietnamese learners. Because of the differences in cultures, system of language, geographical circumstance, national and social condition as well as the development lever of society. Firstly, England is the developed country, modern science and technology economy, while Vietnam is the developing country, agricultural economy. That 47
48. is the reason why having many differences in English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs. You can find the differences in each sentence, for example: In English “ A penny soul never came to two pence”, you can see that, they are used the exactly things like “pence” to point out the thing which need too much money and time to do. But Vietnamese, we use the word very general “Việc to”(big work) in “Việc to đừng lo tốn” Secondly, the different in habits and daily life of English and Vietnamese people that makes the features of imagine in two cultures. For example; in English, they say “Hope is poor man’s bread”. They used the reality of life Vietnamese: we also used the nearest work (Còn n•ớc còn tát) in daily life to express the experience. But the difference is that, while the English used the word “bread” the thing related to their material life), our proverb sentence lead to spirit work “Tát n•ớc”. II. Some advices for studying idioms and proverbs. It is impossible to know and understand all of idioms and proverbs because of its large number. I myself have ever faced to many troubles in studying English idioms and proverbs. As far as I experienced, the best way to study as many as possible idioms and proverbs is learning by heart and applying them in suitable context. We should memorize them whenever we meet and try to study their grammar to use them correctly. One of good habit that is highly appreciated is to look up the idioms and proverbs in good dictionaries to know its meaning exactly. We also find an interesting way to learn English idioms and proverbs through reading books, newspapers, and magazines in odder to understand more about English culture, people and society. For example, we can learn it through picture stories in newspaper. Making up sentences or stories with idioms and proverbs we have is a good way to remember them. Or we have a handbook to write down any idioms/proverbs in with their meaning and usage. This will help to remember these idioms and proverbs especially difficult ones. It is necessary to practice these idioms and proverbs we have learnt or known with our friends, teachers in daily life so that we can remember them easily. When writing compositions., try to apply them to if they are reasonable. I have made progress these methods. 48
49. PART III: CONCLUSION 1. Conclusion. To sum up, there are a lot of idioms and proverbs relating to objects. Thanks to idioms and proverbs people can express their thought, feeling flexibly exactly and vividly. It is necessary to understand them well to guess their meanings and get information correctly. However, due to my limitation of time as well as my knowledge I have just mentioned some certain aspects of theory of idiom and proverb presented in the background part (the chapter I), with the hope that readers can have basic knowledge of them and identify them better. There are many sources of idioms and proverbs that in this paper I only focus on some those about culinary theme mentioned in the chapter II. I find this topic is very interesting and we not only know more idioms and proverbs from its usage, culture and life in each. Some English idioms and proverbs relating to objects are represented in the paper in comparison with Vietnamese equivalences to find the similarities and difficulties in the way of using metaphor but each of them express one meaning, sometimes two idioms or proverbs have the same meaning and this brings learners interesting things. Learning idioms and proverbs is not an easy task, so students often get confusing in defining, memorizing and using them. To overcome these, some solutions are introduced in chapter III such as learning by heart, reading books, magazine, stories pictures and studying culture of each country. My paper is very small part of English idioms and proverbs but I hope that it can contribute partly to learners in process of studying English. All advice, contributions, coming from teacher will make my paper better and better. I sincerely desire for teachers’ comments readers’ ideas. 2. Suggestion for further study. Due to the limitation of my knowledge and time, this paper could not go though all aspects of English idioms and proverbs as well as Vietnamese equivalences. Here are just a few examples with culinary themes. So in odder to get more 49
50. comprehensive understanding of this subjects, I strongly recommend further researchers. I hope that in the future I would like to continue studying this interesting subject but in the practical content. And I would like to take factors relating this theme such as history, society into account to get a more object view in the study. 50
51. REFERNCE 1. Nguyễn Đình Hùng.(2007) Từ điển thành ngữ tục ngữ.Ca dao Việt Nam thông dụng. NXB Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh. 2. Nguyễn Lân.(1999) Từ điển thành ngữ Việt Nam. NXB Giáo Dục. 3. Nguyễn Quốc Tăng. Tục ngữ ca dao Việt Nam. NXB Thuận Hoá. 4. Phạm Văn Bình.(1999). Tục ngữ n•ớc anh va thành ngữ tiếng Anh giàu hình ảnh. NXB Hải Phòng. 5.Trần Văn Điền.(1996). Learn English by idioms. NXB Giáo Dục. 6. Xuân Bá, Trần Thành Sơn(2002). Tục ngữ, Thành ngữ n•ớc Anh. NXB Thế giới. 7. English – Vietnamese Saying. online 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. http:// www.usingenglish.com 15. 16. 17. 51