Running head: IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
1
tránh nêu học vị, giới tính và tên sách của tác giả > bị coi là racist
chỉ nêu tên, họ, năm xuất bản
Tiêu đề có vấn đề: giữa khái niệm và tên gọi
Trong TV ko có chữ EAT
Idioms Starting with “ Eat” in English and Vietnamese
khảo sát giữa khái niệm ăn trong TA và TV
A Contrastive Analysis
sửa:
idioms starting with word denoting "eating" in E and V
with concept of the word "eating" in E and V
IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
2
là cái viết cuối cùng, nó là tóm tắt bài, nót để đầu bài
Abstract
bị lộn giữa intro và finallize
Having been learning English for more than 10 years, I deem it indispensable to learn a
second language in such industrialized society. These days, using English in communication
and other forms seems to be a common ground in every place in the world. From developing
countries to developed ones, it is undeniable that this language helps people not only acquire
lots of opportunities in their career but also prevail life’s obstacles in terms of relationships,
communication, etc., Moreover, people also hold a great affection in English owing to its
variety of idioms. English is like a gargantuan tapestry entwined with many illustrative
idioms. However, dealing with idioms can be a conundrum to learners or even teachers. So as
cái này
to perceive more knowledge relating to idioms, I decide to write this contrastive paper. This là intro
research study particularly focuses on idioms starting with “eat” and is constructed on the
analyzing and contrasting method. Hopefully, this paper will help readers have a different
view on idioms so that they are no longer afraid of using them in daily life.
.
nót
abstract
IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
thiếu câu hỏi
Introduction
Idioms are very interesting metaphorical demonstrations that a certain language have.
They are used at any time, in any where with a purpose. Amazingly, those idioms are used to
create a diverse communicative environment among people. However, it is argued that
although sharing the same idea to an event, idioms in different languages will have its own
way to be extracted. As a result, many research studies have been completed in order to draw
such dissimilarities to make the best out of using idioms. This paper is not an exception
Though there are thousands of idioms, the work will mainly emphasize on idioms
beginning with “ eat” in English and Vietnamese. The whole process will go through some
background viewpoints of relating topics and the contrastive scrutiny so that it can drive
readers to new experiences: explore the true beauty of idioms.
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IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
xây dựng nền tảng kiến thức
Literature Review
bài về idiom lại hỏi về culture
What is culture?
It is understandable that every person living in different area will be influenced by
different cultural backgrounds. Therefore, giving a gratifying and precise explanation to the
term “culture” seems to be like a flying pig. In daily life, culture is possibly considered as
beauty of literature, poetry, arts, etc., or as the lifestyles in which people pay attention to how
to eat, what to wear and how to behave towards others. There are lots of ways used to
delineate culture’s meaning. When talking about “culture”, Kroeber & Kluckhohn (1952, p.
181) claimed that it includes obvious and tacit thoughts and patterns that are diffused by
symbols. On one side, culture systems can be seen as products of action while others believe
they are further action’s conditioning elements.
In addition, Linton, an anthropologist from America, notes in his book “ The Cultural
Background of Personality” (1945), a culture is a shape of trained behaviors and behavior’s
results whose component elements are handed by a certain society’s members (p. 32).
Briefly, culture which descends to next generation from the previous generation is what
human beings perceive from the surroundings in order to shape people’s mental development
in the moral form.
What is language ?
Generally speaking, language is something that people can hear or write. Each ethnic
group features a unique language playing a strong impact on both verbal and written
communication. Many comprehensive statements have been released so as to value the
beauty of language. Syntactically, Chomsky stated that a particular set of sentences can be
seen as definition of language (1957, p. 13). According to Cambridge dictionary, language is
defined as a system of communication which includes sounds, words and grammar used by
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IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
5
residents of a country. We utilize language as a indispensable tool to convey our message to
one another, which is absolutely different from other creatures such as plants or animals.
It is noticeable that two types of language, spoken and written, share not only some
similarities but also many distinct viewpoints.
When it comes to speech communication ( also called as spoken language), it shows
more of incomplete sentences delivered by different utterances. This kind of language does
not concentrate on formality and correctness, more than that, people can state their own
typical characteristics reflected by the way they deal with language.
By contrast, written language focuses more on academic perspectives. It is more
complicated and intricately requires users a wide range of knowledge if they want to
successfully pass on information to others.
However, whatever verbal or written language, human beings had better follow some
language rules so as not to avoid misleading in conversation.
To sum up, language belongs to human representing a particular group. The identities
of one person can be highlighted by the language they use.
The relationship between culture and language ai khẳng định những cái này, bẳng chứng đâu, từ nghiên
cứu nào
The gap between culture and language is very slight, which means culture is
không có
mối quan
hệ giữa
2 phần
demonstrated by language, and language reflects one’s cultural basis. From years to years,
language is supposed to be a vital role for speakers or writers to understand the way others
have been formed.
The differences between English and Vietnamese Culture
There is no doubt that each culture of each country is affected by the culture of a
whole area including the listed country. In other words, English culture proceeded from
features of Western culture and Vietnamese culture originated in Eastern one. Hence, the
IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
dissimilarities in terms of traditions and customs between such two regions are very
significant.
Firstly, talking about English culture, it is comprehensible that people from Europe or
North America are more open-minded and a bit self-absorbed. For instance, individualism is
highly appreciated among citizens in those countries, which means they tend to freely state
their own opinions and feelings. They don’t have the habit of hiding thoughts or emotions
towards certain problems.
The Vietnamese, on the other hand, are considered to be hospitable and friendly.
However, due to an Asian country, Vietnamese people are also affected by the Eastern
lifestyles. They are not willing to share things which are supposed to be their own properties.
Additionally, politeness is also taught at the very early stages of one’s development. This is
clearly demonstrated when children send their courteous greetings to the elders no matter
who they come across.
As a result, the language use from each country are greatly different from that of the
other. Thus, it is indispensable that learners and researchers may envisage many impressive
facets about linguistics when it comes to the discrepancy between English and Vietnamese
culture. Particularly, idioms are one the interesting ones.
IDIOMS
What is idiom?
Different words contain different meanings and different meanings can be expressed
from different words. However, sometimes words need to go with others to impart the exact
meaning. Idioms, by that, are expressions that do not mean what each part of its phrase
means.
Procter (1978) stated in his Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English that an
idiom is a group of words that has a unique meaning that share no similarity with
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IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
the denotative meaning of each element word. In addition, the writer in MacMillan dictionary
defines idioms as an expression which has different meaning from the meaning of
the independent words. For instance, the idiom “ once in a blue moon” doesn’t show the
meaning of a moon whose color is blue but an event happening regularly.
Therefore, from the above prestigious sources, we can confidently affirm that idioms are
possibly compared as a giant colorful picture which are drawn by a many patterns of
meaning. Idioms cannot be translated word by word but partly the context it is put in.
Characteristics of idioms
tại sao lại chuyển hướng sang idiom ở khúc này
Idioms have various characteristics. However, two main noticeable points people
should focus on when talking about idioms are its syntactic and semantic features.
Idioms in syntax:
According to its structure, an idiom is already fixed by the words it contains, which
means it does not allow users interpret its meaning in other contexts. We cannot
spontaneously reverse the order of words, otherwise, the transformed meaning can lead to
other sense, or even to no sense.We can take some idioms as illustrations. “ Actions speak
louder than words”, for example, means what people actually do outweighs what they just
talk about. However, if we change the object “ words” to become the subject and “Actions”
replace the position of “words”, the meaning will be misunderstood and wrongly conveyed to
listeners. Thus, the sentence has lost its sense. Furthermore, idioms also abide by the
grammatical rules. Although these metaphorical expressions does not mean what its word
means, the way they are formed are grammatically correct. For instance, “a hot potato” or
“kill two birds with one stone”, they both are common idioms with right part of speech order
and grammatically correct sentence structure. However, if you want to rewrite the idiom into
another sentence with no regard to grammar mistakes, the new sentence may not remain the
first meaning or even it creates a different point of view.
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IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
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Nevertheless, it is easier to deal with syntactic features to some idioms. They do not
require any stable formula, which means we can express that idiom in many ways with the
proviso that its core meaning will not change. The idiom “ tick all the boxes” means
successfully fulfill necessary things, however, you may use another verb like “check” in
order to represent the same meaning. This is explained by the synonymy between two verbs
“tick” and “check”. Or we can take the idiom “ beat around the bush” as another example.
American and British people usually say this idiom when they want to express the action of
not directly going straight to the point. Nonetheless, we can also say “ run around the bush”
to illustrate similar event. Although the verb “beat” does not contain any sense that the verb
“run” has, but we still remain the whole meaning of its idiom.
As far as many research papers about idioms have been conducted, we can be
overwhelmed by the variety of their forms and structures as well. We may catch an idiom as a
noun phrase like “ bad blood” or “cat-and-dog life” which mean enmity and a life full of
arguments respectively, or as a prepositional phrase such as “with flying colors” used in the
the situation of gaining something with very successful result. As we have just noticed, in
order to fully convey the meaning of an idiom, we must put it in appropriate position of a
sentence.
In short, the structural characteristics of idioms are highlighted into two prominent
headlines. Firstly, an idiom is an unchangeable word-combined phrase. If we want to ensure
that sense of the idiom is not changed, we are not able to tear the expression apart. Second of
all, idioms can exist in assorted kinds, which can encourage learners to use them flexibly in
no particular context.
Idioms in semantics
As the above analysis in term of syntactic features, the meaning of an idiom cannot be
translated by each component it consists of but the context it is based on. Generally speaking,
IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
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the figurative meaning in this case is applied by readers or listeners as if it is the only way
writers and speakers actually imply. Let’s take “ball in your court” into consideration. If we
interpret this idiom by words, it means there is a round object which means “ ball” in your
own area. However, this explanation does not relate to the implication of user in a full
sentence like : “ The teacher told me: “the ball is on your court” when he gave the
homework”. On the contrary, “ the ball is on your court” here means it is time for the student
to work on the assignment or to do whatever he/ she wants. Interestingly, there are some
exceptional cases that idioms are not forced to rely on the setting. In Vietnamese idioms, for
instance, “ Đổ dầu vào lửa ”, it is not challenging at all to guess the literal meaning of this
saying. If we pour oil into fire, the fire will rage more formidably, which can be inferred that
one problem will become more and more serious, if someone tells more bad stories about it.
In brief, an idiom can be used in different ways. Its meaning depend on not only the
transmitter but also the receiver. Although there are some special expressions requiring no
context-based understanding, listeners or readers ought to scrutinize one idiom so as not to
get the wrong meaning.
Contrastive Analysis
Overview
It is certain to say that the number of idioms is countless to mention. However, there
are just some of them starting with the verb “ eat” in English or “ăn” in Vietnamese.
Although only starting with the one verb, which is deemed to be pretty boring, those
idiomatic phrases borrow many realistic and vivid illustrations and images to express its
insinuation. The following work will draw similarities and distinction between such idioms in
two mentioned languages.
IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
Examples of English and Vietnamese idioms starting with “Eat”
Here are some expressions which are remarkably noted:
English:
-
Eat dirt
-
Eat humple pie
-
Eat like a pig
-
Eat like a horse
-
Eat one’s word
-
Eat like a bird
-
Eat a horse
-
Eat it up
-
Eat my hat/ shirt
-
Eat out of the palm of your hand
-
Eat that
-
Eat up
-
Eat you for break fast
-
Eat you out of house and home
-
Eat your heart out
-
Eat one’s word
-
….……
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IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
Vietnamese:
-
Ăn bờ ngủ bụi
-
Ăn bữa hôm lo bữa mai
-
Ăn bớt ăn xén
-
Ăn cháo đá bát
-
Ăn đơm nói đặt
-
Ăn cơm trước kẻng
-
Ăn thùng uống vại
-
Ăn ốc nói mò
-
Ăn cây nào, rào cây nấy
-
Ăn cây táo, rào cây sung
-
Ăn chắc mặc bền
-
Ăn cá nhả xương, ăn đường nuốt chậm
-
Ăn cay nuốt đắng
-
Ăn cắp uống rượu
-
Ăn cắp quen tay, ngủ ngày quen mắt
-
Ăn cần ở kiệm
-
Ăn quả nhớ nhả hạt ra
-
Ăn quả này, trả quả sung
-
Ăn chay nằm mộng
-
Ăn chay niệm Phật
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IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
-
Ăn chưa no, lo chưa tới
-
….……
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There are a handful of idioms relating to the topic “eating”, especially ones beginning
with the verb “eat”. Those terms are utilized based on many perspectives such as : culture,
history, regular basis,… and even human’s conception. Some can be inferred from previous
events and general knowledge, therefore, the comparisons between English and Vietnamese
ones here are very interesting.
Resemblances between English and Vietnamese idioms starting with “Eat”
To begin with, it is easy to see that some idioms in English have the same or nearly
the same syntactic points with those of Vietnamese. With regard to structure, some of idioms
from both languages are conducted in the same way. For example, some idioms are made
TV ko có chữ like
with the form of comparison: “ Verb + like + Object”
tránh dùng
table
vì khi dùng
table, thì
phải phân
tích nội
dung trong
table
In English
In Vietnamese
Meaning
Eat like a horse
Ăn như ngựa
Eat a lot
Eat like a pig
Ăn như lợn
Eat a lot
Eat like a bird
Ăn như mèo
Eat food with very
chỉ nên dùng
khi đưa số
liệu
small amount
As we can see, the images of some animals are compared to correlate with the state of
eating. The meaning of the verb phrase “Eat a lot” can be conveyed by an action of horses or
pigs. Moreover, in Vietnamese, other animals such as elephants, buffaloes or even fleets are
possibly used like : “ Ăn như hạm”, “ Ăn như voi” ,… to imply that a creature can consume a
big amount of food.
So, we find it appealing to notice that both languages are in favor of using animals to
emphasize on the way how people eat.
IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
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Secondly, when it comes to senses, idioms starting with the verb “eat” or “ ăn” in
Vietnamese mostly focus on how much one can eat. Let’s take some of the following as
examples to account for a specific sense.
If one tend to consume a big number of food, some English idioms such as : “ Eat like
a horse”, “Eat like a pig”, “ Eat someone out of house and home”… are considerably similar
in meaning to some Vietnamese one such as: “ Ăn như lợn”, “ Ăn như hạm”, “ Ăn thùng
uống vại”,… Additionally, if one is so hungry that he is ready to eat everything, the idioms
“Eat a horse” and “ Ăn như chết đói” are typical examples for that meaning.
If one tend to to eat just a small number of things, those idioms are “ Eat like a bird”
or “ Ăn như mèo” in Vietnamese.
If one wants to express the status of living well and sufficiently without any worry
about money or things, they can use “ Eat high off the hog” in English or “ Ăn sung mặc
sướng” in Vietnamese.
To shortly conclude, the similarity between such phrases is noticeable. One of the
reasons leading to this is due to people’s preconception about eating. Depending on how
nature is shaped and general knowledge one may have, they can easily infer the way people
eat from a certain object.
Differences between English and Vietnamese idioms starting with “Eat”
Culture distinction is one of the major factors that results in the dissimilarities
between idioms in two areas. In Vietnam, people’s mindsets depend on Eastern traditions and
customs. They respect ancestors and really know how to live well with causal principle.
Those Vietnamese idioms are mostly expressed when talking about daily life, causality,
living condition,.. so on. Especially, Vietnamese idioms usually take clothing and drinking
activity as comparisons to point out the status of one person such as “ Ăn chắc mặc bền”, “
Ăn sung mặc sướng”, “ Ăn đói mặc rét”, “ Ăn cắp uống rượu”. In addition, Vietnamese
IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
14
idioms value habitual things to the country so as to the meaning of idioms can effortlessly
immerse people’s thoughts. For instance, “Ăn quả nhớ kẻ trồng cây”, “ Ăn cá nhã xương, ăn
đường nuốt chậm”, “ Ăn cỗ đi trước, lôi nước theo sau”,…
By contrast, English idioms are not often based on above concepts. Some idioms are
very hard to get its figurative meaning.
Implications and Discussion
For learning:
Beside gaining a big amount of grammar points and intricate words when studying a
language, it also seems very appropriate for learners to accumulate a great deal of knowledge
relating to idioms. During the process of learning, people may easily spot some idiomatic
expressions owing to the variety of language. Therefore, instead of translating a phrase by
analyzing each of its components, learners had better bend over backwards to look for
cultures and the surroundings to explore the true value of the idiom. Interestingly, learning
idioms is considered as a useful way to gain a better standing of traditions and customs of a
country and knowing cultural backgrounds also plays an crucial role on gaining new
knowledge of metaphorical phrases. Moreover, for higher study, the more idioms you have in
your mind, the easier for you to get better achievements. Some exams require you to have a
great English competence to deal with difficult writing and speaking tasks, however idioms,
in this situation, can help them nail those tests with surprisingly flying colors.
For teaching:
First and foremost, it is very important for a teacher to guide students to use
appropriate idioms in the right situations. Every child at the very young ages is perceived a
great number of idioms from their parents and the external environment. Those idioms are
quiet easy and comprehensible. But the problem here is that whether those youngster can
know true meaning of idioms to utilize in suitable context. The role of teachers will give
IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
15
students a hand to support them. The process needs to be conducted step by step in order for
students to gradually comprehend. Later on, teachers should apply the idioms they have
thought into practice. Some misunderstandings ought to be clearly pointed out for students to
avoid. Last but not least, teachers can work well on more research and projects if they have a
stable basis of idioms.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, language is significantly shaped by cultural basis. Thus, to understand
either language or culture, people are advised to improve their the knowledge of both. From
the above contrastive analysis between English and Vietnamese idioms, it is stated that
similarities and differences of idioms in both languages are shown according to their own
cultural facets. Therefore, when taking up a new language, learners and educators need to
keep in mind the significance and appropriateness of idioms in order not into encounter
awkward or even offensive situations.
IDIOMS STARTING WITH “EAT” IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
References
Cambridge international dictionary of English. (1995). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic structures. The Hague: Mouton.
Idiom [Def. 2]. (n.d.). In Macmillan dictionary, Retrieved July 9, 2018, from
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/idiom.
Kroeber, A.L., & Kluckhohn, C. (1952). Culture: A critical review of concepts and
definitions. Harvard University Peabody Museum of American Archeology and
Ethnology Papers 47.
Linton, R. (1945). The cultural background of personality. New York: Appleton-CenturyCrofts.
Procter, P. (1978). Longman dictionary of contemporary English. Harlow [England]:
Longman.
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