HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE IDIOMS OF BODY PARTS AND TEACHING
APPLICATIONS
Instructor: PhD Nguyễn Ngọc Vũ
Student: Vũ Hoàng Anh
HCMC, 31/12/2011
ABSTRACTS
Learning idioms play an important part in advancing language skill. Many students
have much difficulty in describing their own ideas and feel that they can’t speak
fluently or write a complete essay. This happens because they all rely on using
separate words leading to make such “fragment” or “run-on” sentences. So, in
order to be confident in using foreign language, to understand and use idioms in
right way would be good choice for those who have strong desire to advance their
level of English. However, learning idioms could cause a lot of obstacles because
of culture differences and other afac. Idioms of body parts have high use in daily
use and be contrastively analyzied between two languages - English and
Vietnamese - as well as some guidelines for teaching in order to make idioms
easily remembered and play motivation role in learning language.
Many thanks to my teacher, PhD Nguyễn Ngọc Vũ has given a lot of essential
knowledge for the completion of this research.
A/ Contrastive Analysis of English and Vietnamese idioms of body parts
1. Preface
a. What is idiom? Idioms of body parts in two languages?
Idiom is groups of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of
the individual words.
Ex:
 Give your heart to someone = fall in love with someone
 Give someone cold shoulders = treat someone in unfriendly way
 Ném đá giấu tay = do evil things secretly
 Miệng nam mô, miệng một bồ dao găm = pretend to be kind to
someone but actually find ways to harm them.
In English, idioms of heart, head, eye, ear, hand, foot have the highest
rate of presence, while idioms of stomach, belly, spine, knee, leg, lip have
the least rate of presence (under four idioms of each).
Likewise, Vietnamese idioms of heart, head, hand and eye are mostly in
use. However, Vietnamese idioms of belly, stomach and leg are also
frequently used in real life.
Although idioms function as “describing facts in clever way” and
proverbs function as “giving advice/ experience”, there is some idioms of
body parts can also play roles as proverbs, which hardly happens in
Vietnamese.
Ex:
“Blood is thicker than water”
This idiom not only indicates the facts “one’s kins are much more favored
than those who are not” but also gives advice in some cases.
For instance: A friend complains to you that he failed in an
employment or contest although his final competitor is much worse than
him, simply because the guy who wins has his brother as examiner of that
contest. So you told him “Blood is thicker than water” showing normal
experience “family relationships are stronger than any others” in order to
solace him.
b. How are idioms of body parts used in two languages?
Idioms of body parts play a vital role in describing many important
aspects of life such as love, relationship, behavior, work... in the most
sophisticated way. Through this type of idioms, the thinking way of
people from each country is clearly displayed and many useful things
from two cultures can be discovered. Therefore, analyzing idioms helps
to building up the image connection between idioms and body parts for
easy use and remembering together as well as to prevent students from
mistakes in translation due to cognitive view.
2. Contrast:
a. In terms of structure:
 In both English and Vietnamese, idioms are fixed in three typical
structures: verb phrase, noun phrase, preposition phrase.
 Some English idioms are also in structure of whole sentence, while
those idioms of this structure are considered as “proverbs” in
Vietnamese.
Ex: “Blood is thicker than water” is considered an idiom in English but “Giọt
máu đào hơn ao nước lã” is considered a proverb in Vietnamese.
Here is the chart of similarities in structure of idioms of body parts in two
languages.
Structure of
idioms
Verb phrase
Noun phrase
Preposition phrase
Whole sentence
English idioms
Vietnamese idioms
Stab in the back
Have your hands full
Bang your head
agains a brick wall
Heart of stone
Old head on young
shoulder
Đâm lén sau lưng
Đầu tắt mặt tối
Đâm đầu vào tường
In the blink of an eye
With the naked eye
Behind one’s back
Blood is thicker than
water
Hands are tied.
Walls have ears.
Trong nháy mắt
Bằng mắt trần/ thường
Sau lưng ai
Giọt máu đào hơn ao
nước lã.
Lực bất tòng tâm.
Tai vách mạch rừng
(considered as
proverbs)
Trái tim đá
Ông cụ non
 Idioms of body parts in two languages densely appear in two main
structures: verb phrase and noun phrase; while the other two are vice
versa.
 Idioms of body parts in English can flexibly exchange between two
structures:
 Noun phrase to verb phrase
Heart of stone  have a heart of stone
Heart of gold  have a heart of gold
Heart and soul  put all one’s heart and soul in
 throw oneself heart and soul into
Sweet tooth  have a sweet tooth
Ex: Little Sue has a sweet tooth, that’s why candies or chocolate
would be nice Christmas gifts for her.
Sweet teeth should reduce the amount of sugar in their diet and
do regular exercise in order to avoid diabetes.
 Preposition phrase to verb phrase:
By heart  learn/ know by heart
With all ears  be all ears
With all eyes  be all eyes
Ex: I’m listening to your talk with all ears.
I’m all ears to your talk, go on please!
 Whole sentence to verb phrase:
There’s more than one way to skin a cat  have/ conduct/ take more
than one way to skin a cat
 Whole sentence to preposition phrase:
One’s heart sinks  with a sinking heart
Ex: My heart sank when I saw how much work was left.
She watched him go with a sinking heart.
 There is no structural exchange in Vietnamese idioms but some
idioms can play both roles as “vị từ” or whole sentence.
Ex:
 There are a lot of Vietnamese idioms of body parts that can separate
themselves into smaller parts such as noun phrases, “vị từ”, small
sentences or even just the same words in order to make statements
more concise or impressive because we can easily understand the
idea of author based on original idioms when we meet these four
kinds of smaller parts.
Ex:
o Nhìn thì đẹp trai thật, nhưng cũng chỉ là loại dài lưng thôi.
(noun phrase from “dài lưng tốn vải”)
o Dù sao An cũng là giọt máu đào duy nhất của sếp Huy nên
cất nhắc nó vào ghế trưởng phòng cũng dễ hiểu thôi mà”
(noun phrase from “giọt máu đào hơn ao nước lã”)
o Cứ cao ngạo đi, rồi một ngày chú em sẽ gặp móng tay nhọn
(noun phrase from “vỏ quýt dày móng tay nhọn)
o Lấy nhiều đồ ăn vậy chú em, lại cái tật đói con mắt nữa. (vị từ
from: “no bụng đói con mắt)
o Ai bảo chú mày ham chơi cho lắm, giờ sắp thi rồi mới vắt giò
lên mà ôn thi nhé (vị từ from “vắt giò lên cổ)
o Này, cẩn thận với gã ấy, miệng nam mô vậy thôi chứ gã
chuyên lừa người trong khu này bán đất cho gã với giá rẻ mạt.
(small sentence from: “ miệng nam mô bụng một bồ dao găm”)
o Thằng Huy nhìn hiền lành thư sinh chứ bụng toàn bồ dao
găm mày ạ. (small sentence from: “ miệng nam mô bụng một
bồ dao găm”)
o Hai vợ chồng nó lại thượng cẳng rồi kìa, riết rồi con cái không
biết học hành ra sao. (the same words “thượng cẳng” from
“thượng cẳng chân hạ cẳng tay”)
 Many Vietnamese idioms have four words which would be divided
into two equal groups of words. In reality, especially in newspaper,
sometimes in order to make events/ facts more impressive,
persuasive and deeply moving, these two groups of words can only
exchange the order providing that they have independent relationship
of meaning. We also use this change of order so as to color our
stories much attractively and humorously.
Ex:
o Cái làng này tay bùn chân lấm suốt ngày, mặt tắt đầu tối
quanh năm mà cái nghèo vẫn đeo bám đến tận bây giờ.(from
“chân lấm tay bùn”, “đầu tối mặt tắt”)
o Cật rét bụng đói suốt thời sinh viên nhưng hắn luôn dẫn đầu
về thành tích học tập toàn trường. (from “bụng đói cật rét”)
o Gan sứa miệng hùm, hắn cũng thật to gan khi. (from “miệng
hùm gan sứa”)
 The change of order between two groups cannot take place when
there is a chronological or consequential relationship between them.
Ex:
o chronological relationship:
vuốt mũi bỏ miệng → bỏ miệng vuốt mũi
tay làm hàm nhai
ngậm máu phun người
giấu đầu hở đuôi
ném đá giấu tay
o consequential relationship:
máu chảy ruột mềm → ruột mềm máu chảy
chân cứng đá mềm
b. In terms of meaning:
 Similarities which are easy to guess meaning.
 There are so many English idioms of body parts for which we easily
find out the right equivalent Vietnamese idioms/ expressions even just
based on literal meaning because the images used in idioms are
familiarly symbolized for the same matter.
Image
English idioms
(symbolized for…)
Nose
Led by nose
Poke your nose into one’s
affair
Vietnamese
idioms
Bị dắt mũi
Nhúng/ chõ mũi vào
chuyện người khác
Brain
(thinking,
intelligence)
Face
(self-pride)
Rack one’s brain
Vắt óc suy nghĩ về
Lose face
Save/ keep face
Laugh in one’s face
Mất mặt
Giữ thể diện
Cười vào mặt
Eye
(attention)
With naked eye
In the blink of an eye
Have eyes in the back of
one’s head
With your eyes shut/ closed
Not bat an eyelid
Turn a blind eye to something
Bằng mắt thường,
Trong nháy mắt
Có con mắt sau
lưng
Nhắm mắt cũng làm
được việc gì
Không chớp mắt
Nhắm mắt làm ngơ
Dựng tóc gáy
Make one’s hair stand on end
Heart
(emotion, feeling,
the most important
part of something)
Your heart misses a beat
Put all your heart and soul into
From the bottom of your heart
Heart of matter
Blood
(emotion)
Head
(intelligence/
leading
position/pride )
Make my blood boil
Be/ stand head and shoulders
above someone/ something
From head to foot/ toe
Hold your head high
Con tim lỗi nhịp
Dồn tâm huyết vào
việc gì
Thật lòng mà nói
Trọng tâm vấn đề
Làm sôi máu, điên
tiết
Hơn hẳn một cái
đầu
Từ đầu tới
chân/đuôi
Ngẩng cao đầu
 There are also pairs of idioms in two languages sending the same
messages for one matter when we must base on the figurative
meaning plus our imagination to guess meaning.
English idioms
Two heads are better than one
Four eyes see more than two
Vietnamese idioms
Ba anh thợ da hơn Gia Cát Lượng
To remain a brazen face/ have
the face to do something
Mặt dày mày dạn/ mặt trơ trán
bong
There’s no venom like that of
tongue/ The tongue is not steel
but it cuts
Lưỡi không xương nhiều đường
lắt léo
Many hands make light work
Đông tay hơn hay làm
See star before one’s eyes
Nổ đom đóm mắt/ hoa mắt
One’s eyes are bigger than his
stomach
No bụng đói con mắt
Can’t make head nor tail of
something
Không rõ đầu đuôi/ đầu cua tai
nheo thế nào
Lose your head
Mất trí
Be all eyes
Căng mắt/ chú tâm
Do something standing on your Nhắm mắt cũng làm được
head
Tay vấy máu
Have one’s blood on your hand
Mồ hôi nước mắt/ xương máu
Blood, sweat and tears
Ăn vào máu/ là máu xương
Be/ In your blood
To mồm/ nhiều chuyện
Have a big mouth
Giúp một tay
Give a hand
Chăm chú lắng nghe
Lend an ear to
Da bọc xương
Nothing but skin and bone
Da mặt dày
A thick skin
All brawn and no brain
Đầu óc bã đậu/ có lớn mà không
có khôn
Thèm chảy nước miếng
Make your mouth water
Sạch không có một cọng tóc
Not have a hair out of a place
Nhàn cư vi bất thiện
The devil make work for idle
hands
Ông cụ non
Old head on young shoulders
 Due to different culture, some pairs of idioms have close meaning with
the same values of content but different images are used reflecting
different cognitive view.
Ex:
 Vietnamese idioms use image of “bụng”, “ dạ”, “lòng” (belly) and
“ruột” (gut, bowel) to refer aspect of one’s thought, emotion,
feeling and even moral, while image of “heart” mostly refer these
human aspects in English idioms.
English idioms
Measure others’ feet by one’s own
last
Vietnamese idioms
Suy bụng ta ra bụng người
Heart is a mystery
You can never see into another
heart
Lòng người khó dò
When the blood sheds, the heart
aches
Máu chảy ruột mềm
A honey tongue, a heart of gall
Miệng nam mô, bụng một bồ
dao găm
Miệng thơn thớt, dạ ớt ngâm
Live a nasty taste in your mouth
Đắng lòng
 “miệng”, “mồm”, “lưỡi” emphasize the way to communicate with
other people in Vietnamese idioms, similarly, “tongue”, “mouth”
and are used in English idioms.
English idioms
Hold your tongue/ keep a still
tongue in your head
Vietnamese idioms
Giữ mồm giữ miệng
Be all mouth
Miệng hùm gan sứa
Watch your mouth/ tongue
Uốn lưỡi bảy lần
A fool’s tongue is long enough to
cut his own throat
Ếch chết tại miệng
 Other cases when different images are used.
English idioms
Sweat, blood and tears
Sweat one’s guts out
Work one’s fingers to the bone
Vietnamese idioms
Đổ mồ hôi, sôi nước mắt
Làm cật lực
Turn back on someone
Trở mặt
Not harm/ touch a hair of one’s
head
Không đụng tới ngón chân
của ai
Make my blood run cold
Lạnh sống lưng
It’s not brain surgery
Dễ như trở bàn tay
Turn your head of your success
Vểnh mặt tự đắc
 Although we often face up some idioms that contain universal images such
as “heart”, “hand”, “leg”, we are usually misled to guess meaning simply
because we assimilate image used in idioms and how idioms draw different
connection in our mind. It’s advisable to take into consider the context before
giving the right meaning.
Ex:
o “pull somebody’s leg” : misunderstand as making somebody relaxed,
while it correct meaning is “to play a joke on someone, usually by
making them believe something that is not true”
o “get your hands dirty” , the word “dirty” misleads us to think “do
everything evil or illegal in order to achieve what someone wants by
any cost”, while its actual meaning is “do hard physical work without
complaining”.
o “change of heart” misunderstand as one’s betrayal “thay lòng đổi dạ”, a
negative meaning but it means “change opinions/attitudes/feelings
towards greater friendliness or cooperation”.
 Differences from cognitive view that leads to different attitudes.
Ex:
o “throw somebody a bone” = praise somebody (misunderstood as consider
somebody as a dog and give him what he wants)
o “pay lip service” = strongly approve/ support to do something but show no
action to complete that job (misunderstood as pay money to go to bed
with someone).
B/ Application to teaching and translation:
1. Application to teaching
All students desire to get more and more progress in learning English.
However, they usually tend to form “fragment” or “run-on” sentences, which
sometimes let them down. That’s the reason why idioms plays an essential role
in polishing writing and reading skills. Students should learn idioms not only for
effective reading and listening but reproduce them to express their own ideas
lively in right context and gradually, they will get more confidence in learning
English as well as any other foreign language. That’s why, how to make idioms
more easily is a vital teaching skill, which requires teachers to:
prepare suitable context and prevent student from culture difference. That
could be done by creating impressive image describing idioms of body
parts or connect them with the equivalent Vietnamese idioms on both
literal and figurative meaning.
use these kind of idioms in giving lesson or discussing with students.
try to help students to use idioms of body parts in daily life and review
them regularly.
encourage students who use the right idioms of body parts in right context
as well as check their meaning in dictionary.
Ex: when expressing honesty: “from the bottom of my heart”
when asking for help: “ give a hand”, “many hands make light work”
when giving advice: “hold your tongue”, “don’t measure her feet by
you own last”
give clear and brief explanation of some difficult idioms that are due to
different thinking process, culture and lifestyle. This can be solved by two
ways:
- translate into another equivalent idioms without using image of body
parts:
“put your hands no further more than your sleeve” = khéo ăn thì no,
khéo co thì ấm
“like getting blood out of stone” = khó như vắt chày ra nước
“give someone cold shoulders” = thờ ơ, dửng dưng, lãnh đạm
- use another image of body parts which refer the same reflective value.
“laugh your head off” = cười ra nước mắt
“not turn a hair” = không chớp mắt
“cost an arm and a leg” =đắt cắt cổ
“have your hands full” = bận tối mắt tối mũi
“wet behinds the ears” = miệng còn hôi sữa
“have/ with one’s head in one’s mouth” = sợ líu lưỡi, cứng họng
“let him put in his finger and he will put on his whole hand” = được
đằng chân lân đằng đầu.
The devil makes work for idle hands: nhàn cư vi bất thiện
motivate students to make a small contrastive analysis of idioms during
the course
If the teachers are keen on these guidelines, idioms of body parts would play
an interesting partsin learning English and make students feel more progress in
learning language.
Reference
1. Hung, N.D. “Tuyển tập thành ngữ-tục ngữ-ca dao Việt Anh thông dụng”.
2. Vu, N.N. “Conceptual metaphor analysis of English and Vietnamese body
part idioms”.
3. Erich. A Berendt & Keiko Tanita. “The ‘Heart’ of things: A conceptual
metaphoric analysis of heart and other related body parts in Thai, Japanese
and English”. Assumption University and Seisen University.
4. TE editors from British council. (July 14th,2010) . “Proverbs and idioms”
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/teaching-tips/proverbs-idioms
5. “Vài nét về thành ngữ tiếng Việt và dịch thuật thành ngữ”
http://www.dthoi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9753