INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale to the study
Research aims and research questions
This research has four main aims as the followings:
1 To investigate syntactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese idioms related to food and drink, from which explore the cultural values underlying the literal words
2 To find out the similarities and differences in the cultures of the two countries which are reflected through their idioms containing food and drink
3 To equip both those learning English and those learning Vietnamese as their foreign language with rich knowledge on both English and Vietnamese idioms in general and on food and drink in particular Moreover, to help teachers, learners and translators avoid difficulties in translating English idioms into Vietnamese and vice versa
4 To supply some suggested implications for teaching and learning method, which contribute to improve ability of using English idioms in general, idioms related to food and drink in particular
To achieve the above aims, the following research questions are put forward:
1 What syntactic and semantic features are reflected in the food and drink idioms in both English and Vietnamese?
2 What are the similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English cultures through idioms related to food and drink? What factors lead to such differences?
Objectives of the research
My study is carried out with the aim to help Vietnamese learners have a better understanding of English and Vietnamese idioms related to food and drink, which would encourage them to use idioms more confidently not only in receptive skills like listening and reading but also on productive skills like speaking and writing and avoid communication breakdown.
Scope of the research
I have found idioms such an interesting English aspect that I decide to choose them as my thesis topic However, due to the limited time and knowledge, I just focus on a small part of English idioms, “A study on idiomatic expressions containing words denoting food and drink in English and their Vietnamese equivalents from Cultural Perspective” I also call them “idioms containing food and drink” or “idioms of food and drink” for short
Food and drink play a very important role in many cultures including English culture and Vietnamese culture Idioms containing food and drink account for a considerable large portion of idioms in English as well as in Vietnamese, between which there are some outstanding similarities and differences A comparison between them can help Vietnamese teachers as well as learners deal with idioms much more easily For this reason, this paper aims at analyzing the similarities and differences of idioms containing food and drink in English and Vietnamese from cultural perspectives On this basis, it also offers some educational implications for English teachers and learners to make their teaching and learning idioms more effective.
Methods of the study
The study utilizes descriptive and comparative methods combined with the qualitative and quantitative ones
In reference with quantitative method, the study has collected data for the study including both English and Vietnamese idioms containing food and drink from various reliable sources (referent books, stories, novels, dictionaries and Internet websites)
The qualitative method is employed to describe and analyze the data of the study The steps of the study are conducted in the order as follows:
- Collect English and Vietnamese idioms containing food and drink from several sources and then categorize them
- Investigate and analyze the syntactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese idioms containing food and drink
- Analyze the cultural features of English and Vietnamese hidden behind those idioms
- Compare and find the differences and similarities between English and Vietnamese idioms containing food and drink from cultural perspective
The descriptive method is used to describe the syntactic, semantic and cultural features of idioms containing food and drink in English and Vietnamese
The comparative method is used to identify the similarities and differences in their syntactic, semantic and cultural features.
Significance of the research
(i) Theoretical significance: The study supplies Vietnamese teachers and learners with a deeper understanding of idioms in general and idioms containing food and drink in particular in term of their syntactic, semantic, and cultural features
(ii) Practical significance: The study provides Vietnamese learners with suggestions to improve their language skills when using idioms containing food and drink, particularly communicative skill and avoid culture shock.
Design of the research
This thesis consists of three main parts Part one is the Introduction, which consists of the rationale, the aims and research question, the objectives, the scope, the methods, the significance and the design of the study
Part two is the Development, which is the main part of the study dealing with English idioms containing food and drink and their equivalents in Vietnamese This part is divided into four chapters:
Chapter I: Literature Review Chapter II: Theoretical background including Overview of idioms, The Relationship of Language and Culture, Idioms and Culture
Chapter III: Methodology and procedure Chapter IV: Findings and discussion as well as some implications for teaching and learning
The last part is the Conclusion of the study and suggestions for further studies
The References and Appendixes are at the end of the thesis.
DEVELOPMENT
Possibly, owing to the difficulty and inconsistency in defining idioms, not until the 1970s have English studies regarding idiomatic expressions become more and more numerous Idioms have been looked at from various points of view
A lot of books and dictionaries have brought us with great benefits in which idioms are carefully collected and categorized into alphabetical arrangement
Moreover, their meanings and examples of usage in English are also mentioned and explained
For English idioms, there have been many books which are of much benefit to learners such as “Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms” by Cowie, Mackin &
McCaig, “Oxford Dictionary of Current idiomatic English” by A.P Cowie, R
Mackin & I.R McCaig (1983), “Collins COBUILD Dictionary of Idioms” (2002),
“Longman Dictionary of English Idioms” (1979), “Longman Dictionary of Idioms”
(1998), “CHAMBERS Dictionary of Idioms” (1996) and “Idioms for Everyday Use” by Broukal and Milada (1994)
Besides, Vietnamese researchers have also paid a lot of attention to idioms
There have been many authors carrying out studies on idioms namely “Tƣ̀ điển Thành ngữ tục ngữ Việt-Anh” (2006), “Thành ngƣ̃ Tu ̣c ngƣ̃ Tiếng Anh” (2008), “Kể chuyê ̣n thành ngƣ̃ tiếng Anh” (2006), “Tuyển tâ ̣p Thành ngƣ̃ Tu ̣c ngƣ̃ Ca dao Viê ̣t Anh thông du ̣ng” (2007)…
Literature Review
Possibly, owing to the difficulty and inconsistency in defining idioms, not until the 1970s have English studies regarding idiomatic expressions become more and more numerous Idioms have been looked at from various points of view
A lot of books and dictionaries have brought us with great benefits in which idioms are carefully collected and categorized into alphabetical arrangement
Moreover, their meanings and examples of usage in English are also mentioned and explained
For English idioms, there have been many books which are of much benefit to learners such as “Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms” by Cowie, Mackin &
McCaig, “Oxford Dictionary of Current idiomatic English” by A.P Cowie, R
Mackin & I.R McCaig (1983), “Collins COBUILD Dictionary of Idioms” (2002),
“Longman Dictionary of English Idioms” (1979), “Longman Dictionary of Idioms”
(1998), “CHAMBERS Dictionary of Idioms” (1996) and “Idioms for Everyday Use” by Broukal and Milada (1994)
Besides, Vietnamese researchers have also paid a lot of attention to idioms
There have been many authors carrying out studies on idioms namely “Tƣ̀ điển Thành ngữ tục ngữ Việt-Anh” (2006), “Thành ngƣ̃ Tu ̣c ngƣ̃ Tiếng Anh” (2008), “Kể chuyê ̣n thành ngƣ̃ tiếng Anh” (2006), “Tuyển tâ ̣p Thành ngƣ̃ Tu ̣c ngƣ̃ Ca dao Viê ̣t Anh thông du ̣ng” (2007)…
Theoretical background
Overview of Idioms
There are a lot of definitions of idioms introduced in a variety of materials as follow:
Collins COBUILD Dictionary of Idioms, 2nd ed (2002:5) Glasgow:
HarperCollins: An idiom is a special kind of phrase It is a group of words which have a different meaning when used together from the one it would have if the meaning of each word were taken individually
Felicity O’Dell and Michael McCarthy in English Idioms in Use Advanced:
Idioms are fixed combinations of words whose meaning is often difficult to guess from the meaning of each individual word (2010:6)
The Longman Dictionary of English Idioms (1979): An idiom is a group of words with a special different meaning from the meanings of the separate words
The Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics regards an idiom as “an expression which functions as a single unit and whose meaning can not be worked out from its separate parts” (2010: 270)
The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English (Oxford University Press - 1995) defines idiom as “a phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must be learnt as a whole unit.” (1995: 67)
Chambers English Dictionary of Idioms (1996:5): The term „idiom‟ is not an easily defined one – it can refer to many kinds of words and phrases The traditional definition of an idiom is „a group of words which has a different meaning from the sum of its parts‟
In short, there are different ways of defining an idiom In general, most of the linguists share the same point that an idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning can not be worked out by looking at the meaning of its individual words To put it another way, the actual meaning of an idiom is not the total of the meanings of its components Moreover, idioms may also carry a particular attitude of the person using them, so learners must use them with a lot of care
2.1.2 Typical features of idioms 2.1.2.1 Syntactic features
Mona Baker (1992) in her book titled In Other Words states that idioms are frozen patterns of language which allow little or no variation in form and often carry meanings which cannot be deduced from their individual components From that definition five conditions for idioms are introduced as follow:
1 The order of the words in an idioms cannot be changed The way the words are put together is fixed and they can not change their place
2 The words in an idiom cannot be omitted We as the users of the language are not permitted to delete some of the words of a particular element
3 There are no extra words that might be added to an idiom
4 No words in an idiom can be replaced by another word
5 The grammatical structures of an idiom cannot be changed
Let us see a well-known phrase “spill the beans” Its meaning is to reveal something; make something known which is quite different from the literal meanings of the words in the phrase We cannot often substitute words that are close in meaning in these phrases For example, the substitution “spill the peas” will make the phrase turn to usual meaning and lose the idiomatic meaning
Furthermore, idioms are barely changed into passive voice As in this example, it would be unnatural to say “the beans are spilt”
In fact, there are some idioms which have two or more alternative forms, without any change in meaning These different forms sometimes reflect differences between British and American English: for example, banana skin and banana peel
(an embarrassing mistake made by someone in a public position) or a slice/share of the cake and a slice/share of the pie (a share of the available money or benefits that you believe you have a right to) In many cases, there are several different verbs which can be used in an idiom: for example, Go/sell like hot cakes (to be bought or taken quickly, e.g because of being very popular or cheap) or Have/put all one‟s eggs into one basket (to rely on one particular course of action for success rather than giving yourself several different possibilities) Similarly, prepositions can vary: for example, A bite at/of a cherry (an opportunity to do something) or Have egg on/all over one‟s face (to be made to look foolish)
Moreover, idioms may take a variety of forms or structures They may be noun phrases such as a piece of cake (a thing that is very easy to do), pie in the sky
(an event that sb talks about that seems very unlikely to happen), etc.; verb phrases such as know one‟s onions (to have experience), do porridge (to spend time in prison), etc There is also one more thing which should be taken into consideration that an idiom can have regular, irregular or even incorrect grammatical structure
Go bananas is an example of grammatical irregularity The idiom is formed by a verb of movement + direct object In English, this structure can normally not be accepted because a verb of movement does not usually come with an object without a preposition
Idioms are, in a very broad sense, metaphorical rather than literal Most of
English idioms share this characteristic Idioms often contain images, which result from metaphor, in themselves These hidden images can be either easy or difficult for readers to imagine Therefore, the surface structure has a little role to play in understanding the meaning of the whole expression It is the figurativeness of idioms that makes the expressions lively, impressive and deep in the meaning
In some cases it is possible to have a guess at the meaning of an idiom, because the image created is already quite obvious, e.g “as sour as vinegar” (very sour) Its equivalent in Vietmamese is “chua như giấm /chua như mẻ” However, in other cases it is nearly impossible to do so The meaning of idioms must sometimes be explained by referring to historical and cultural knowledge, which is one of the reasons that make it difficult to learn and understand idioms thoroughly
According to A.V Kunin, the meaning of an idiom is either partly or completely different from the meanings of all components “as red as beetroot” (đỏ nhƣ gấc ) or “cheap as chips” (rẻ nhƣ bèo ) are some examples of partly different ones whose meanings can be guessed while the totally different ones like “hot potato” (vấn đề nan giải , khó giải quyết ) or “from soup to nuts” (tƣ̀ đầu đến cu ối) cannot be guessed All these idioms are embodied with metaphorical expressions and they must be understood metaphorically
The relationship of Language and Culture
“Culture in its broadest sense, is what makes you a stranger when you are away from home It includes all those beliefs and expectations about how people should speak and act which have become a kind of second nature to you as a result of social learning.”(Brock, 1970)
2.2.2 The inseparable Relationship between Language and Culture
According to Claire Kramsch, concerning culture language performs 3 functions: expressing cultural reality, embodying cultural reality, symbolizing cultural reality
Professor Tran Ngoc Them in “Vietnam, the issues of language and culture” supposes that language is the origin of every culture If language, along with working, creates human being, it is language, along with working, that is the origin of every culture
In conclusion, language and culture are inseparable They interact with each other and shape each other Language is part and the carrier of culture which in turn is the content of language We can find out cultural features from language and explain language phenomena with culture
2.2.3 The Relationship between Idioms and Culture
Culture has a great influence on the origin and development of language
This is the reason why content of language is closely connected to culture Apart from words and expressions, idioms are regarded as special language units which reflect cultural characteristics of different countries
Idioms, like language in general, are strongly influenced by culture
According to Gluckberg “learning idiom provides learners with a good opportunity to acquire information about a language‟s culture” As a part of language, idioms transfer cultural values and daily life features of the people who speak that language They are the heritage of history and product of cultural evolvement
Consequently, we know much about culture through studying idioms and in turn get better understanding of idioms by learning the cultural background behind them
There are great differences between English and Vietnamese idioms as the result of respective geographic environment, national experience, cultural inheritance and formation of thinking Many English idioms connect with ocean as the result of the oceanic culture (e.g drink like a fish, neither fish nor fowl, red herring…), some with the traditions of Britain, which traditionally belongs to commercial and marine economy (bring home the bacon, cast one's bread upon the waters, the world is one‟s oyster…) while Vietnamese idioms with agricultural economy (cơm tẻ me ̣ ruột, ăn một bát cháo chạy ba quãng đồng…)
On the one hand, language reflects thought; on the other hand it has obvious effect on thought “Culture is really integral part of the interaction between language and thought Cultural patterns, customs and ways of life are expressed in language; cultural specific world views are reflected in language” (Brown, 1986:45)
Language, thoughts or culture are three separate things, but none can survive without the others Idioms belong to language and also reflect much of the thoughts and the culture In other words, they are considered a mirror reflecting thoughts and culture in the most reliable ways
In conclusion, there is a close relationship between culture and idioms
Idioms are the transfer of the cultural values and beliefs.
METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE
Research design
The research design has been made with the aim of providing guidelines for systematic data gathering and finding the diversity of idioms containing food and drink in English and Vietnamese It further helps discover the typical underlying cultural features of idioms containing food and drink.
Research methodology
The study describes and compare the syntactic, semantic and cultural features of idioms containing food and drink in English and their equivalents in Vietnamese In order to achieve the aims and objectives of the study, the descriptive and comparative methods are utilized combined with the qualitative and quantitative approaches
The descriptive method is used to describe in details the syntactic, semantic and cultural features of idioms containing food and drink collected from referent books, stories, novels, dictionaries and Internet websites
In addition, the comparative method is used to identify the similarities and differences in the syntactic, semantic and cultural features of idioms containing food and drink in English versus Vietnamese.
Data collection
A long time ago, people could eat only what they grew or what they could catch Today, most of the food is supplied by the food industry
According to Digital Journal (http://digitaljournal.com/blog/829) some of the foods we eat come from animals, including beef, veal, lamb, pork, fish and chicken
They may be produced from the flesh or internal organs of animals, such as: beef, lamb, pork and mutton (red meats), chicken and fish (white meats), heart, liver, kidneys and brains (organ meats)
Other animal foods, such as eggs and milk, are produced by animals over their lifetimes Also, cheese is made from milk, so it is an animal food too Other dairy products are butter, cream and yoghurt
Other foods come from plants, including rice, wheat, fruit, beans and vegetables
Plant and animal foods are used to make other foods, such as bread and cheese Fruit is one of the many foods we get from plants Other parts of plants we use for food include:
Leaves and stems – celery, lettuce, silver beet
Seeds – wheat, rice, legumes, ground nuts (peanuts), tree nuts (walnuts, almonds)
Most cakes are made from flour Other foods made from wheat include: bread, pastry, biscuits, pasta, and noodles
However, there are also some exceptions of foods that are neither from animal nor plant sources, such as edible fungi, especially mushrooms Additionally, inorganic substances such as salt often eaten as a flavoring or preservative, baking soda used to preserve or chemically alter an ingredient and water play an important part of human diet
One more thing, some agricultural and food products are distinguished from one another by certain characteristics, qualities or reputations resulting especially from their geographical origin This differentiation can be attributed to the unique local features of the product, its history or its distinctive character linked to natural or human factors such as soil, climate, local know-how and traditions Therefore, most traditions have a recognizable cuisine, a specific set of cooking traditions, preferences, and practices, the study of which is known as gastronomy
Many cultures have diversified their foods by means of preparation, cooking methods and manufacturing Also, in many cultures, food has been associated with many other essential human experiences, such as ideas, virtue, conduct, sexual desire, disposition, etc., due to its prominent importance in human survival and pleasure (Berrada, 2007) b What is drink?
According to The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition: drink is a liquid that is fit for drinking; a beverage
Therefore, water, tea, coffee, alcoholic drink, coca, fruit juice, etc…are drink c Choosing idioms containing food and drink
From those definitions of food and drink, I call all idioms related to any kind of food and drink “idioms containing food and drink” or “idioms of food and drink” The idioms of food and drink may contain a certain kind of food or drink as
“butter and cheese”, “bad eggs”, or food and drink in general as “food” in “food for thought”, “cỗ” (party) in “ma ăn cỗ”, “lương” (food) in “cao lương mĩ vi ̣”…
In general, the researcher collected data from dictionaries, books, and the websites on the Internet of idioms After that, the researcher read and pick out all idioms containing food and drink literally and sort them out figuratively In order to select idioms easily and quickly while doing analysis, we put all the idioms collected in alphabetical order.
Data analysis
After collecting 380 idioms including 190 English idioms and 190 Vietnamese idioms of food and drink from various sources, we categorize them into two main aspects: syntactic and semantic ones
Syntactically, the data are classified based on the different structural categories, such as noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases and prepositional phrases
Semantically, the classification is carried out on the basis of typical semantic and pragmatic features of idioms of food and drink in both languages
The steps of data analysis will be involved:
- Collecting idioms containing food and drink in both languages from a variety of sources
- Analyzing the syntactic features of idioms containing food and drink in English and Vietnamese
- Analyzing the semantic features of idioms containing food and drink in English and Vietnamese
- Identifying the similarities and differences between the two languages containing food and drink with regard to syntactic and semantic features
- Analyzing the cultural features of idioms containing food and drink in English and Vietnamese
- Suggesting some implications for teaching and learning this popular kind of idioms in English and Vietnamese as a foreign language.
Reliability and validity
The data were selected from English, American and Vietnamese books and dictionaries Most of linguistic and grammatical books are reliable.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Syntactic features of idioms containing food and drink in English and
It can be seen that idioms in both languages are lexically fixed They vary in structure form: phrase structures and sentence structures
4.1.1 Phrase Structures 4.1.1.1 English and Vietnamese Idioms containing food and drink of verb phrases patterns: o Verb + Noun/NP:
English idioms Vietnamese idioms bear fruit, chew the fat, cook one‟s goose, do porridge, go bananas, spill the beans bắt cá hai tay, nói nhát gừng o Verb + Noun/NP + Prep.P:
English idioms Vietnamese idioms can‟t do sth for toffee; cast one's bread upon the waters; have a bun in the oven, have a finger in every pie; rub salt into one‟s wounds ăn cơm gà gáy, cất binh nửa ngày; ăn muối còn hơn chuối chát ; giết gà bằng dao mổ trâu; rán sành ra mỡ o Verb + Prep.P:
English idioms Vietnamese idioms cry over spilt milk; drink like a fish; eat like a horse; go/sell like hot cakes; live off the fat of the land; pick over the bones of someone; speak with a plum in one‟s mouth bóp chết từ trong trứng nước ; cãi nhau như chém chả; chửi như chó ăn vã mắm; mọc lên như nấm ; nâng như nâng trứng ; nhịn như nhịn cơm sống; nói như đổ mẻ vào mặt; rụng như sung; thuộc như cháo chảy o Verb + Noun/NP + Noun:
English idioms Vietnamese idioms serve someone the same sauce ăn cướp cơm chim; ăn nói cà riềng cà tỏi o Verb + Noun/NP + Verb:
English idioms Vietnamese idioms have a bone to pick (with someone); have other/bigger fish to fry; keep one‟s breath to cool one‟s porridge; teach one‟s grandmother to suck eggs; use a sledgehammer to crack a nut ngậm bồ hòn làm ngọt ; thừa nước đục thả câu o Verb + (Noun/NP) + Sub.Clause:
English idioms Vietnamese idioms kill the goose that lays the golden egg; know how many beans make five; know which side one‟s bread is buttered không ưa thì dưa có giòi ; nguây nguẩy như mẹ quẩy tôm o Verb + (Noun/NP) + Verb + Noun/NP:
Ăn cá bỏ lờ ; Ăn mận trả đào ; Ăn ốc nói mò ; Bắc nước chờ gạo người ; Bánh đúc bày sàng ; Đo lọ nước mắm đếm củ dưa hành ; Giật đầu cá vá đầu tôm ; Há miệng chờ sung; Treo đầu dê, bán thịt chó; Vắt chanh bỏ vỏ…
4.1.1.2 English and Vietnamese Idioms containing food and drink of Noun phrases patterns: o (Article) + Adjective (Adj) + Noun (N):
English idioms Vietnamese idioms a big cheese; a golden goose;; hot potato; sour grapes; dead meat; easy meat; red herring; small beer; bé hạt tiêu; láu tôm láu cá; màu mỡ riêu cua; nhẵn củ tỏi o (Article) + Past Participle + Noun (N):
English idioms Vietnamese idioms forbidden fruit; a rotten apple o Noun + Noun:
English idioms Vietnamese idioms apples and oranges; bread and butter; cakes and ale; meat and potatoes; milk and honey; sugar and spice; tea and sympathy; bờ xôi ruộng mật ; bữa rau bữa cháo ; chén chú chén anh ; cơm hàng cháo chợ ; cơm sung cháo dền ; hàng tôm hàng cá ; mạt cưa mướp đắng; nem công chả phượng… o Noun/NP + Prep.P:
English idioms Vietnamese idioms a piece of cake; another / a different kettle of fish; apple of someone‟s eye; caviar to the general; cherry on the cake; cream of the crop; food for thought; the proof of the pudding; the salt of the earth; money for jam chuyện nở như ngô rang ; dây cà ra dây muống ; mặt đỏ như gấc ; mặt vàng như nghệ ; mặt tái/xám như gà cắt tiết o Noun + Adj + Noun + Adj:
áo ấ m cơm no ; chén tạc chén thù ; cơm chẳng lành canh chẳng ngọt ; cơm đen vận túng ; cơm no rượu say ; cơm thừa canh cặn; mật ít ruồi nhiều
English idioms Vietnamese idioms cheap as chips; (as) flat as a pancake;full of beans; not worth a bean; nutty as a fruitcake; (as) warm as toast; worth your salt… gắt như mắm tôm ; mạnh vì gạo bạo vì tiền ; màu mỡ riêu cua ; nát như tương ; ngọt như mía lùi; nhẵn củ tỏi; rách như xơ mướp; rối như canh hẹ; xấu từ trong trứng…
English idioms Vietnamese idioms from soup to nuts; in a pickle; in a stew (about/over sth); in apple-pie order; in the pudding club; in the soup; off one‟s nut; off one‟s oats; off one‟s onion
Apart from the above similarities, both languages also have sentence idioms
They may be simple or complex sentences:
English idioms Vietnamese idioms the world is one‟s oyster
; when the moon turns green cheese ;butter wouldn‟t melt in their mouth ai biế t đâu ma ăn cỗ ; cà cuống chết đến đít còn cay ; chuột sa chĩnh gạo ; dùi đục chấm (nước) (mắm) cáy; ăn mày đòi xôi gấc; chó già giữ xương; chuột chù nếm dấm; một nụ cười bằng mười thang thuốc bổ ;; hàng thịt nguýt hàng cá; húng mọc, tía tô cũng mọc ; kẻ ăn ốc người đổ vỏ; ông ăn chả, bà ăn nem; quýt làm cam chịu
The simile in idioms of food and drink of the two languages is another similarity Simile is an expression that describes something by comparing it with something else, using the words “as” or “like” (Longman Exam Dictionary: 1435)
Here are some common idioms of English and Vietnamese which are widely used in everyday life
English idioms Vietnamese idioms as red as beetroot ; as brown as a berry; as different as chalk and cheese; as cool as a cucumber; as sure as eggs in eggs; as flat as a pancake; as keen as mustard; as dead as mutton; as like/alike as two peas in a pod; as easy as pie; crammed/ packed like sardines; as warm as toast dễ như ăn gỏi ; đắng như ngậm bồ hòn; đắt như tôm tươi ; hiền như củ khoai; mềm như bún ; nát như tương ; rành rành như canh nấu hẹ
Semantic features of idioms containing food and drink in English and
There is only one difference in the structure of the idioms of food and drink between the two languages that English idioms exist in prepositional phrases whereas Vietnamese ones do not have this structure
4.2 Semantic features of idioms containing food and drink in English and Vietnamese
After a collection and detail analysis, idioms containing food and drink can be organized into two categories:
+ Idioms having human implications + Idioms having non-human implications
4.2.1 Idioms having human implications 4.2.1.1 Idiom expressing honesty/dishonesty:
English idioms Vietnamese idioms butter wouldn‟t melt in ai biết đâu ma ăn cỗ ; láu tôm láu cá ; mạt cưa mướp their mouth; sour grapes đắng; mật ngọt chết ruồi; miệng thơn thớt, dạ ớt ngâm; mười voi không được bát nước xáo; thêm dấm thêm ớt; thêm mắm thêm muối; treo đầu dê, bán thịt chó
4.2.1.2 Idiom expressing hunger and poverty English idioms Vietnamese idioms not have a bean; not to have two beans to rub together ăn cháo cầm hơi ; bữa rau bữa cháo ; cơm niêu nước lọ; cơm sung cháo dền ; gạo chợ nước sông ; nghèo rớt mùng tơi
4.2.1.3 Idiom expressing advantageous / disadvantageous situations
English idioms Vietnamese idioms a bite at/of a cherry; a dead duck; a piece of cake; be toast; cherry on the cake; cut the mustard; dead meat; eat humble pie; golden goose; hot potato; in a pickle; in the soup; make mincemeat of sb; the rough end of the pineapple; the world is one‟s oyster
Cá nằm trên thớt ; cơm đen vận túng ; giao trứng cho ác; lợn lành chữa thành lợn què; mạnh vì gạo bạo vì tiền ; mật ít ruồi nhiều ; như cá gặp nước ; tránh vỏ dưa gặp vỏ dừa ; trứng chọi với đá ; trứng để đầu đẳng/gậy
4.2.1.4 Idiom expressing human physical states
English idioms Vietnamese idioms as dead as mutton; have a bun in the oven; in the pudding club; off one‟s oats; full of beans chắc như cua gạch ; mặt tái/xám như gà cắt tiết ; mặt vàng như nghê ̣ ; xấu từ trong trứng
English idioms Vietnamese idioms a bad egg; a good egg; a rotten apple; as cool as a cucumber; couch potato; milk of human kindness; mutton dressed as lamb; old trout; sugar and spice; tea and sympathy; teach one‟s grandmother ăn cháo đái bát ; ăn bơ làm biếng ; ăn mày đòi xôi gấc ; bắc nước chờ gạo người; bảo xôi ừ xôi , bảo thịt ừ thịt ; đo lọ nước mắm đếm củ dưa hành ; há miê ̣ng chờ sung ; hiền như củ khoai ; to suck eggs; the salt of the earth; tough/smart cookie; turn to jelly húng mọc, tía tô cũng mọc ; láu tôm láu cá; miệng thơn thớt , dạ ớt ngâm ; nhát như cáy; rán sành ra mỡ
4.2.1.6 Idiom expressing human moods or psychological states
English idioms Vietnamese idioms as keen as mustard; be/go nuts; do one‟s nut; go bananas; go/turn beetroot; have egg on/all over one‟s face; in a stew (about/over sth); like the cat that‟s got the cream; make no bones about; meat; off one‟s nut; off one‟s onion nguây nguẩy như mẹ quẩy tôm ; như cá gặp nước ; như mèo thấy mỡ; rối như canh hẹ
4.2.1.7 Idiom expressing human behaviours, attitude, actions and activities
English idioms Vietnamese idioms bring home the bacon; chew the fat; drink like a fish; earn/make one‟s bread; eat like a horse; kill the goose that lays the golden egg; make a meal of/out of; not care beans; not care/give a fig (for sb/sth); pick over the bones of someone; play gooseberry; put all your eggs in one basket; quarrel with bread and butter; rub salt into one‟s wounds; save one's bacon; separate/sort out the wheat from the chaff ăn bánh trả tiền ; ăn nói cà riềng cà tỏi; cãi nhau như chém chả ; giật đầu cá vá đầu tôm ; lúng búng như ngậm hột thị ; mượn gió bẻ măng ; nhường cơm sẻ áo; nói nhát gừng; nói như đổ mẻ vào mặt; nửa nạc nửa mỡ; thả con săn sắt bắt con cá rô ; theo voi ăn bã mía; thừa nước đục thả câu
4.2.1.8 Idiom indicating human social status
English idioms Vietnamese idioms a big cheese; sit above the salt; sit below the salt; small beer; small potatoes; speak with a plum in one‟s mouth; upper crust ăn mày đòi xôi gấc; cá đối bằng đầu cá mè một lứa ; cơm bưng nước rót ; cơm thừa canh cặn
4.2.1.9 Idiom implying human success and failure
English idioms Vietnamese idioms a dead duck; bear fruit; lay an egg; over- egg the pudding; the world is one‟s oyster bóp chết từ trong trứng nước ; lợn lành chữa thành lợn què; trứng chọi với đá
4.2.1.10 Idiom implying human understanding, experience or skills
English idioms Vietnamese idioms can‟t boil an egg; can‟t do sth for toffee; know one‟s onions; know which side one‟s bread is buttered; separate/sort out the wheat from the chaff; someone‟s salad days; the proof of the pudding; use one‟s loaf; wake up and smell the coffee ăn ốc nói mò ; gừng càng già càng cay ; thuộc nh ư cháo chảy
English idioms Vietnamese idioms break bread (with); play gooseberry; serve someone the same sauce; teach one‟s grandmother to suck eggs ăn bánh trả tiền ; ăn mật trả gừng ; ăn miếng trả miếng; bạn bè xôi thịt ; hàng thịt nguýt hàng cá ; kẻ ăn ốc người đổ vỏ ; không ưa thì dưa có giòi ; ông mắt chân giò , bà thò chai rượu ; vắt chanh bỏ vỏ; tiền trao cháo múc
4.2.1.12 Idiom implying endurance and adaptation to the environment
English idioms Vietnamese idioms make an omelette without breaking eggs; eat humble pie đói ăn bánh vẽ; nằm gai nếm mật; ngậm bồ hòn làm ngọt ; ngậm đắng nuốt cay ; nhịn như nhịn cơm sống ; khát nước mới đào giếng ; không có cá lấy rau má làm ngon; liê ̣u cơm gắp mắm
4.2.1.13 Idiom implying good luck and bad luck
English idioms Vietnamese idioms hard/tough cheese; icing on the cake chuột sa chĩnh gạo ; cơm đen vận túng ; mèo mù vớ cá rán
English idioms Vietnamese idioms as sure as eggs in eggs; take sth with a pinch of salt; grain of salt ăn ốc nói mò; chắc như cua gạch
English idioms Vietnamese idioms as brown as a berry; as like/alike as two peas in a pod; as red as beetroot màu mỡ riêu cua ; mặt đỏ như gấc ; mặt vàng như nghê ̣ ; nụ cà hoa mướp; xấu từ trong trứng
Similarities and differences in syntactic and semantic features of idioms
It is undeniable that idioms in general and English and Vietnamese idioms containing food and drink in particular always attract great attention of all linguists and readers as well However, each language has it profound cultural features related to its own physiology, convention, religious belief and so on From the study, we could see that both languages share similarities and differences in semantic and syntactic features What is more, basing on this comparison, we can discover underlying cultural characteristics of English and Vietnamese idioms relating to food and drink
From our study, we could see that both English and Vietnamese idioms containing food and drink share certain patterns in common in the form of Noun Phrase, Verb Phrase and Adjective Phrase
Firstly, in the form of Noun Phrase, both English and Vietnamese idioms containing food and drink are under the pattern of (Article) + Adjective (Adj) + Noun (N) ; Noun + Noun ; Noun/NP + Prep.P
Secondly, both languages share the similar patterns in the form of Verb Phrases: Verb + Noun/NP ; Verb + Noun/NP + Prep.P ; Verb + Prep.P ; Verb + Noun/NP + Noun ; Verb + Noun/NP + Verb ; Verb + (Noun/NP) + Sub.Clause
Thirdly, the simile in idioms of food and drink of the two languages is another similarity
It can be seen clearly that apart from the semantic field of human affairs and marriage, both English and Vietnamese idioms are employed for the same semantic fields such as honesty/dishonesty, hunger and poverty, advantageous/ disadvantageous situations, human physical states, human personality, human moods or psychological states, human behaviours, attitude, action and activities, human social status, human success and failure, human understanding, experience or skills, human relationship, love affairs and marriage, endurance and adaptation to the environment, good luck and bad luck, certainty/belief, appearance, choice and useless things
Furthermore, both languages use certain familiar images, daily events and phenomena to express the abstract sense thanks to the means of metaphor, simile
Metaphor is used in the two languages as idioms containing food and drink of our corpus namely rotten apple, play gooseberry, sour grapes…in English and cơm sung cháo dền , có cam phụ quýt , …in Vietnamese Metaphors help idioms express their figurative meanings under the consideration of similar characteristics of people or objects Let’s examine the following example to clarify the above ideas Ông ăn chả, bà ăn nem does not really mean “he has cha, she has nem”, but this idiom describes the situation when both the man and his wife commit adultery - extramarital affair between a married person and somebody who is not their husband or wife
In addition, simile as another way of meaning transfer is mainly employed in English and Vietnamese idioms containing food and drink Simile is a stylistic device which is used to make a comparison of two things based on one shared quality by using the comparative words such as as, like or than in English and như, bằng, không bằng in Vietnamese For example: as red as beetroot (đỏ như gấc), as sure as eggs in eggs (chắc như đinh đóng cột).
Among the total samples studied, there are no cases of English idioms in the pattern Verb + (Noun/NP) + Verb + Noun/NP of Verb Phrase and in the pattern Noun + Adj + Noun + Adj of Noun Phrase as well as there are no Vietnamese ones in the pattern (Article) + Past Participle + Noun (N) of Noun Phrase and in prepositional phrases form
In English, an adjective is often used to modify for a noun and it usually stands before nouns but in Vietnamese it is vice versa
Language cannot exist without culture as its component According to Tran Ngoc Them “Văn hóa bao gồm tất cả nhƣ̃ng gì làm cho dân tô ̣c này khác với dân tô ̣c khác” (Culture includes all things which make this nation different from other nations) In fact, Vietnamese and English people have different cultural tradition, cultural backgrounds, customs, religious belief and different geographical environment Therefore, the language that Vietnamese and English people use reflects their different lifestyle and thought
Firstly, the difference of geographical environment makes different cultures
The West with the dry, cold climate and vast grasslands which is suitable for animal husbandry establishes the trend of the nomadic life So, the Westerners in general and English people in particular, appreciate individualism and reasons and have ambition to conquer the nature Meanwhile, the East has the hot, humid climate and a lot of delta which are good conditions for cultivation Because of such different characteristics of the East, Vietnamese people tend to live in harmony with their environment, have the great respect for their community leading a flexible and harmonious life Therefore, in communication Vietnamese people do not want to trouble anyone They always keep their inner feelings to remain a peaceful coexistence, for example: ngậm bồ hòn làm ngọt ; ngậm đắng nuốt cay ; nhịn như nhịn cơm sống In England, they have a tendency to speak out nearly all personal problems and criticize frankly; for instance have a bone to pick (with someone) (to have reason to quarrel with); make no bones about (to hide no feelings about); settle one‟s hash (deal with someone in the way that he can cause no more trouble); Speak with a plum in one‟s mouth (to have indistinct, mannered speech)
Secondly, Vietnamese civilization is considered “plant civilization” (nền văn minh thƣ̣c vâ ̣t ) Furthermore, Vietnam, among the countries in the Southeast Asian region, is believed to be the cradle of agricultural civilization Also, natural history surrounding the society forms Vietnamese cultural characteristics For these reasons, Vietnamese idioms contain a variety of kinds of tropical agricultural products such as: bồ hòn, cà, cam (sành), chanh, chuối, dưa, dừa, đào, gấc, khế, mận, quýt, sung, táo, thị; cà, mướp, hẹ, rau, măng, muống, húng, tía tô, rau má, mướp đắng, mùng tơi; gạo, ngô, khoai, mía; tỏi, gừng, nghê ̣ , riềng … Meanwhile, the number of agricultural products is not so abundant as that in English idioms For example: apple, banana, berry, cherry, chestnut, fruit, gooseberry, grapes, nut, orange, pineapple, plum; beetroot, carrot, cucumber, onion, parsnip, potato, pumpkin; ginger; oat, wheat; bean , pea
In addition, different cultures have different viewpoints toward the same thing For example, to express the red in the face from feeling awkward or ashamed, English and Vietnamese people use different images:
English idiom: as red as beetroot Vietnamese idiom: đỏ như gấc
Another example is Sell like hot cake – Bán đắt như tôm tươi
One further different characteristic between English and Vietnamese idioms containing food and drink is their traditional religion In collected English idioms containing food and drink, apple of Sodom originates from Bible (Sodom is the name of city in the Bible which was destroyed by God to punish the people for their sexually immoral behaviour) This is just because most of English people are Christians who believe in God In Vietnam, Buddhism is considered the most common religious belief as in the idiom Ăn chay niê ̣m Phật So, the philosophies of Buddhism have affected Vietnamese people’s thought as in trồng cà được cà
English people, with the origin of nomadic culture, have individual features that give them the will of independence and the determination They are willing to face their failure and try to get another opportunity as eat humble pie (to admit fault); a bite at/of a cherry (an opportunity to do something) Nevertheless, Vietnamese people with the communal features which discourage people’s competitive spirits are usually in favour of enduring and stable life as ngậm bồ hòn làm ngọt; ngậm đắng nuốt cay; nhịn như nhịn cơm sống
In short, this part has described and analyzed the syntactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese idioms containing food and drink For each part, a comparison between English and Vietnamese idioms containing food and drink in terms above has been made to discover the similarities and differences in the syntactic and semantic features Moreover, idioms could mirror our life from every dimension Therefore, basing on these similarities and differences, we can find out that the words in idioms and their meaning can not only expose the way people speak that language in their daily life but also reveal the underlying cultural characteristics such as geographical conditions, historical background, habits, customs, religious beliefs and so on.
The equivalence of the English and Vietnamese idioms containing food
This study focuses on the equivalence of the English and Vietnamese idioms of food and drink However, since equivalence is so broad to study, the author just paid attention to idiomatic equivalence, conceptual equivalence, lexical equivalence, semantic and pragmatic equivalence between the two languages
It is sometimes possible to find a Vietnamese idiom or expression with a similar meaning to an English one, which is expressed in the same way One example is the idiom “rub salt into one‟s wounds” which is expressed using the same words in Vietnamese “xát muối vào vết thương” Another is “forbidden fruit”
It is ideal if such a match can be found, but this kind of correspondence is not common, and it is usually necessary to use other strategies in dealing with idioms and fixed expressions In many cases, the same message in one language may be expressed in quite different words in another Let’s look at some examples:
A good example is “Like two peas in a pod” which has the equivalence
“giống nhau như đúc /giống nhau như hai gio ̣t nước” in Vietnamese The meaning here is clearly the same for both idioms: - things that are like two peas in a pod are very similar or identical – but the way in which each language expresses it is bound to the culture of that language
Of 190 English idioms of food and drink, we can find some idioms which have idiomatic equivalents in Vietnamese They are:
As different as chalk and cheese khác nhau một trời một vực
As red as beetroot Forbidden fruit Have a finger in every pie Mutton dressed as lamb Use a sledgehammer to crack a nut phẳng nhƣ mă ̣t trống đỏ nhƣ gấc trái cấm/ quả cấm tuần chay nào không có nước mắt cƣa sƣ̀ng làm nghé dùng dao mổ trâu để giết gà
For Vietnamese idioms of food and drink, we can find some which have idiomatic equivalents in English They are the idioms:
Vietnamese idioms English equivalents Ăn cướp cơm chim Cay nhƣ ớt
Chắc nhƣ cua ga ̣ch Con sâu bỏ rầu nồi canh Đắt như tôm tươi
Hiền nhƣ củ khoai Mutton dressed as lamb
Take the bread out of sb’s mouth
As sure as eggs in eggs One rotten apple spoils the barrel Sell like hot cakes
As gentle as a lamp Cƣa sƣ̀ng làm nghé
It is said that people of different cultures have different ways of expressing idioms These different expressions result from what they see and what are closed to their daily lives
Although the culture of two nations is different, ways of thinking and looking at the world of English and Vietnamese is somehow similar Hence, both Vietnamese and English express ideas and concepts in the same way In form of logical thought, idioms express concepts Some concepts are culture-specific or culture-general In fact, a large number of Vietnamese idioms containing food and drink are similar with English idioms in terms of concept to express
Among 190 idioms of each language, we can find this conceptual equivalent:
As easy as pie dễ nhƣ ăn cháo
Can’t boil an egg Eat like a horse Food for thought Drink like a fish chẳng biết nấu nướng gì ăn nhƣ rồng cuốn điều đáng suy nghĩ uống rƣợu, bia rất nhiều / uống nhƣ hũ chìm
Bạn bè xôi thịt Giâ ̣t đầu cá vá đầu tôm Muối bỏ biển/bể
Ngang nhƣ cua Ngọt nhƣ mía lùi Nhát nhƣ cáy
To rob Peter to pay Paul
A drop in the bucket Utterly nonsensical
As sweet as roasted sugar cane
These idioms have the same meaning and express the same concept but not the same image One important thing is that, it is the clarity of the writer’s or speaker’s thought and his/her own cultural background that decide how well a distinction of cultural concept can be made and how well we render it in other language In general, the only way in which a culture-specific concept can be correctly comprehended is to attempt to relate it to culture-general concepts by trying to tie it into the context in which the concept might be used
At the lexicon level, many other studies show that cultural words are those that belong to a “particular language” and express “peculiar manifestations” of a culture
The lexemes denoting food and drink of the idioms collected of the two languages will follow below, classified according to the type of food or drink category represented
Fruit category apple, banana, berry, cherry, chestnut, fruit, bồ hòn , cà, cam (sành), chanh, chuối, dƣa, dƣ̀a, gooseberry, grapes, honey, jam, nut, orange, pineapple, plum đào, gấc, khế, mâ ̣n, quýt, sung, táo, thị
Meat category bacon, bone, duck, fat, fowl, goose, hash, meat, mincemeat, mutton, roast, turkey thịt, gà, trâu, lơ ̣n, mỡ, nạc, dê, thịt chó
Baked produce category biscuit, bread, bun, cake, cookie, crust, gingerbread, loaf, pancake, pie, toast bánh
Fish and other aquatic produce category caviar, fish, herring, mackerel, oyster, sardine, sprat, trout cá, cá đối, cá mè, cá diếc, cá rô , săn sắt , hến, ốc, cua, tôm, cáy
Vegetables category beetroot, carrot, cucumber, onion, parsnip, potato, pumpkin, salad khoai, cà, mướp, hẹ, rau, măng, muống, húng, tía tô, rau má , mướp đắng , mùng tơi
Beverage category ale, beer, coffee, tea, water, wine nước, trà, rượu (tửu)
Dishes category enchilada, porridge, stew cơm, cơm tẻ , cháo, oản, xôi, xôi vò , xôi gấc , gỏi, cháo lòng, chả, nem, chân giò, tương cà, bánh chưng, bánh đúc, bún, cá rán
Dairy produce category butter, cheese, cream, egg, milk trƣ́ng, bơ
Herbs and spices category ginger, mustard, salt, spice tỏi, gƣ̀ng, muối, hạt tiêu , nghê ̣ , riềng
Condiments and oil, pickle, sauce, sugar, Mắm, mắm tôm , mắm sauces category vinegar cáy, dấm, dƣa hành , dầu, mỡ, đường, ớt, mẻ, tương
Cereals category chaff, oat, wheat Gạo, ngô, nếp, tẻ, thóc, cám
Sweets category candy, icing, jelly, toffee, pudding
Mâ ̣t, mía, mía lùi, kẹo
Soups category broth, juice, soup Canh, nước xáo, riêu cua
General terms regarding food and drink food, drink , meal Ăn, cỗ, uống
I find in the selection of idioms of food and drink of both languages only a few ones translated with the name of the food and drink:
As sour as vinegar Rub salt into one’s wounds Teach one’s grandmother to suck eggs dễ nhƣ cháo chảy đỏ nhƣ gấc chua nhƣ giấm/mẻ xát muối vào vết thương trƣ́ng khôn hơn vi ̣t
Cay nhƣ ớt Câm nhƣ hến Con sâu bỏ rầu nồi canh Đắt như tôm tươi
As mute as a fish One rotten apple spoils the barrel
Sell like hot cakes Lexical equivalence is found very little in idioms translating Therefore, words which express the same concept are chosen Let’s look at some examples below:
Cơm tẻ me ̣ ruô ̣t Kế sinh nhai Rẻ nhƣ bèo
Corn is the staff of life Bread and butter Cheap as chips
In these examples , “cơm tẻ” is the main food of Vietnamese people whereas it is not the staple food in Western countries Therefore, “corn” is used to show the main cereal
Similarly, “bread and butter” is not understood as “bánh mì phết bơ” but as
“kế sinh nhai” as they show the basic things for life
Let us see other idioms below which show people’s characteristics to see another problem of lexical equivalence
A good egg Butter wouldn’t melt in their mouth Sugar and spice người xấu, không đáng tin con nhà nòi làm ra bộ đoan trang tốt bu ̣ng và thân thiê ̣n
Cultural characteristics of English and Vietnamese idioms containing
Vietnamese idioms in particular and Vietnamese language in general base on the agricultural civilization, experiences of the poverty together with the struggle for existence Therefore, Vietnamese idioms reflex the agricultural lifestyle of our nation RICE is the staple food of Vietnamese people That’s easy to understand why there are so many idioms related to rice The examples are: cơm bưng nước rót; cơm chẳng lành canh chẳng ngọt ; cơm hàng cháo chợ; cơm niêu nước lọ; cơm sung cháo dền ; cơm tẻ me ̣ ruột ; cơm thừa canh cặn ; có nếp có tẻ ; có oản phụ xôi ; cố đấm ăn xôi…
For living basing on the agriculture, Vietnamese people depend so much on the weather and crops The hunger and the poverty is one part in their life experience As a result, there are many idioms showing the difficult conditions of living We can see that in those idioms “cơm niêu nước lọ – to live on simple fare”,
“cơm thừa canh cặn – a miserable life of a servant”, “cơm đen vận túng – stroke of bad luck”
English idioms are different in this sense Though English people experienced an agricultural life a long time ago, they are affected by the industrial civilization Therefore, English idioms of food and drink do not express the poverty or the agricultural experience Though BREAD and BUTTER or SOUP… (their staple food) are mentioned in the idioms, they do not reflex the poverty so much as in Vietnamese Let’s check some examples here: Bread and butter; Quarrel with bread and butter
For the reason of different living conditions, of course, the two nations have different lifestyles While working together in the fields, Vietnamese people seem to be more solitary to win the natural disasters Hence, Vietnamese people are more sensational while English people are more rational We can see it in the following idioms:
- Vietnamese idioms: ăn mận trả đào , ăn miếng trả miếng , chén tạc chén t hù, không ưa thì dưa có giòi…
- English idioms: from soup to nut, full of beans, grain of salt …
One more thing is that idioms reflect the view point of the society but they do not belong to an individual class so people of all ages, genders can use them to express their ideas Of all the idioms selected for this study, no one shows the class struggle in both languages
From the analysis above, we see that culture is presented in idioms of both languages It is the cultural factor that decides how you will translate the idioms in the most appropriate way.
Implications for teaching and learning idioms containing food and drink39
Firstly, it’s advisable for teachers to raise students’ awareness of similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English idioms of food and drink
Secondly, idioms of food and drink as well as other idioms are taught and practiced in classroom but students rarely apply them to their daily speech That’s why teachers should encourage students to use idioms of food and drink in their daily life as frequently as possible
Another important thing should be considered is that it is often difficult to guess the meaning of its parts Hence, teachers, when introducing an English idiom, should not only use it in given contexts but also explain clearly its figurative meaning For English idioms of food and drink, learners will remember the idioms longer and use them more effectively if teachers try to find Vietnamese idioms, which are similar in meaning and explain cultural differences in the use of the image food and drink between the two languages.
CONCLUSION 1 Conclusion
There are both similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms of food and drink in terms of syntactic and semantic features Syntactically, they share the same form of verb phrase, noun phrase, adjective phrase and sentence There is no form of prepositional phrase in Vietnamese idioms collected
Semantically, idioms containing food and drink can be organized into two categories idioms having human implications and idioms having non-human implications The same or different image can bear resemblance in the meaning of English and Vietnamese idioms of food and drink Besides, there are some idioms of food and drink which have the same components but the meaning are quite different This study also focuses on the equivalence of the English and Vietnamese idioms of food and drink including idiomatic equivalence, conceptual equivalence, lexical equivalence, semantic and pragmatic equivalence The analysis of the equivalence can help the learners as well as translators have a good understanding of the surface and the deep meaning of those idioms In addition, the similarities and differences in the cultures of the two countries which are reflected through their idioms containing food and drink are synthesized and analyzed as well
Due to the limited time, the research could only be conducted with the data collection of around 190 idioms in each language This obviously does not guarantee that a full collection of idioms containing food and drink is achieved
Therefore, the result of the research may not be completely accurate, even though the researcher has tried hard to avoid any biases which may result from an insufficient data Additionally, under the constraint of ability, the researcher could only compare idioms under some criteria, which may not be totally adequate for a thorough understanding of cross-cultural similarities and differences
In brief, there are many things that need considering and investigating more thoroughly Therefore, any comments or extra contribution are warmly welcome for the completion of the research
Discovering cultural values and beliefs through an investigation on idioms of food and drink still remains a wide room for study Further research may focus on smaller categories of idioms containing food and drink and provide more detailed analysis Other researchers can also conduct a study on proverbs denoting food and drink which also occupy a large portion in the proverbs treasure of the both languages Also, there are many other types of idioms and proverbs that can appeal to researchers for carrying out in-depth study For example idioms and proverbs containing clothes, household items and tools, medicine … are among the new and very interesting to explore
The researcher hopes that the research will be a useful material for learners and teachers to learn or teach most effectively
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Idiomatic English London: Oxford UP
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Dictionary of Current Idiomatic Speech Oxford: Oxford UP,
10 Glucksberg, S (1993) Idiom Meanings and Allusional Content In C
Cacciari and P Tabossi (eds.), Idioms: Processing, Structure, and Interpretation Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 3-26
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15 Longman Exam Dictionary (2006) Pearson Education ESL
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Publications of the University of Manouba
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18 Mieder, W (1993) Proverbs are never out of season Popular Wisdom in the Modern age New York
19 O’Dell F & McCarthy M (2010) English Idioms in Use Advanced
20 Oxford Dictionary of Idioms (2000) Oxford: Oxford University Press
21 Richards, J.C.; Platt, J.; Platt, H (1993) Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics London, Longman
22 The Hutchinson Paperback Encyclopedia (2 nd edition) (1994) Helicon Publishing;
23 The Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary of Current English (1995)
24 Hoàng Văn Hành (1987), Thành ngữ trong tiếng Việt, Văn hoá dân gian, (1)
25 Hoàng Văn Hành (1994), Kể chuyện thành ngữ, tục ngữ, Nxb Khoa học xã hội, Hà Nội
26 Nguyễn Đình Hùng (2007), Tuyển tâ ̣p Thành ngƣ̃ Tu ̣c ngƣ̃ Ca dao Viê ̣t Anh thông du ̣ng, NXB Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh
27 Nguyễn Lân (1994), Tƣ̀ điển Thành ngƣ̃ và Tu ̣c ngƣ̃ Viê ̣t Nam , NXB Khoa học xã hội
28 Nguyễn Lực & Lương Văn Đang (1993), Thành ngữ Tiếng Việt Hà Nội :
29 Nguyễn Nhƣ Ý (2002), Từ điển thành ngữ tiếng Việt phổ thông, Nxb ĐHQG, Hà Nội
30 Nguyễn Văn Độ (2004), Tìm hiểu mối liên hệ Ngôn ngữ- Văn hoá, Nxb Đại học quốc gia Hà Nội, Hà Nội
31 Trần Ngọc Thêm (1993), Việt Nam – Những vấn đề ngôn ngữ và văn hoá,
Trường Đại học ngoại ngữ, Hà Nội
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Websites: http://rongmotamhon.net/mainpage/thanhngu_anhviet_0_8.html http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ http://www.ldoceonline.com/ http://tudienthanhngu.com/ http://oxforddictionaries.com/ http://e-cadao.com/ http://digitaljournal.com/blog/829
APPENDIX 1: ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE IDIOMS OF FOOD AND DRINK
English idioms Meaning Vietnamese equivalence
1 A bad egg a person or plan that has been found to be bad in some way người xấu, không đáng tin
2 A big cheese an important and powerful person, especially in an organization nhân vâ ̣t tai to mă ̣t lớn, chóp bu, nhân vâ ̣t quan trọng
3 A bite at/of a cherry an opportunity to do something một cơ hội tốt, thuận tiện để làm điều gì
4 A bone of contention a subject which causes disagreement and arguments between people vấn đề không đƣợc tán đồng, nhất là trong một thời gian dài – điểm bất đồng
5 A chicken-and-egg situation a situation in which it is difficult to tell which one of two things was the cause of the other tình huống có hai sự việc đồng thời xảy ra, rất khó phân tích đƣợc sự việc nào là nguyên nhân và sự việc nào là kết quả
6 A dead duck a plan, an event, etc that has failed or is certain to fail and that is therefore not worth discussing kế hoạch hoặc ý tưởng không dùng đƣợc hoặc có nhiều khả năng thất bại
7 A fine kettle of fish a difficult situation tình huống gây ra rắc rối
8 A good egg a person who you can rely on to behave well con nhà nòi
9 A piece of cake a thing that is very easy to do viê ̣c dễ xơi, viê ̣c dễ làm
10 A rotten apple one bad person who has a bad effect on all the others in a group kẻ dối trá, xấu bụng và làm xấu cho cả tập thể tốt hoặc điều gây ra ảnh hưởng xấu – con sâu làm rầu nồi canh
11 A slice/share of the cake a share of the available money or benefits that you believe you have a right to mếng bánh chia phần
(to crack) person or thing that is very difficult to deal with; a difficult problem mô ̣t vấn đề khó giải quyết, mô ̣t người khó chơi
13 An old chestnut an old joke or story that has been told so many times that it is no longer amusing or interesting một câu chuyện vui không còn làm cho ai cười được nữa vì nó đã đƣợc nhắc đi nhắc lại quá nhiều lần
14 Another / A different kettle of fish to be completely different from something or someone else that has been talked about dùng khi muốn so sánh hai tình huống là hoàn toàn khác nhau
15 Apple of Sodom a fruit described by ancient writers as externally of fair appearance but dissolving into smoke and ashes when plucked; quả táo trông mã ngoài thì đẹp nhƣng trong đã thối - (nghĩa bóng) thành tích bề ngoài, thành tích giả tạo
16 Apple of someone’s eye a person or thing that is loved more than any other người hoă ̣c vâ ̣t rất được yêu thích
17 Apples and oranges used to describe a situation in which two people or things are completely different from each other so sánh không đúng cách / so sánh khập khiễng
18 As brown as a berry having skin that is naturally brown or has been made brown by the sun có nước da nâu tự nhiên hoă ̣c do rám nắng
19 As cool as a cucumber very calm and controlled, especially in a difficult situation bình tĩnh, không hề nao núng
20 As dead as mutton completely dead điếc đă ̣c
21 As different as chalk and cheese completely different from each other khác nhau hoàn toàn, khác nhau một trời một vƣ̣c
22 As easy as pie very easy or very easily dễ nhƣ ăn cháo
23 As flat as a pancake completely flat phẳng nhƣ mă ̣t trống
24 As keen as mustard wanting very much to do well at sth; enthusiastic hăng say, hớn hở
25 As like/alike as two peas in a pod very or exactly alike giống nhau nhƣ đúc/ như hai gio ̣t nước
26 As nice as pie very kind and friendly, especially when you are not expecting it ngọt nhƣ mía lùi
27 As red as beetroot red in the face from feeling awkward or ashamed đỏ nhƣ gấc
28 As sour as vinegar Very sour chua nhƣ giấm/mẻ
29 As sure as eggs in eggs definitely true chắc nhƣ đinh đóng cô ̣t
30 As warm as toast very warm, esp as compared to the cold outside ấm áp dễ chịu
31 Banana peel/skin an embarrassing mistake made by someone in a public position lỗi lầm gây ra sƣ̣ bối rối trước mă ̣t mo ̣i người
32 Be toast be likely to die or be destroyed dễ chết hay dễ bi ̣ phá hủy
33 Be/go nuts If someone goes nuts , they get excited over something hào hứng, phấn khởi về viê ̣c gì
34 Bear fruit to have a successful result mang lại kết quả tốt đẹp nhƣ mong đợi
35 Beer and skittles amusement or enjoyment vui chơi giải trí
36 Bread and butter a person’s or company’s main source of income miếng ăn, kế sinh nhai / thu nhập chính
37 Bread and circuses mass entertainment produced to amuse the population of a country, esp to prevent them from causing trouble phương pháp cai trị bằng cách cung cấp đồ ăn thƣ́c uống và các trò giải trí cho dân chúng để giữ quyền lực
38 Break bread (with) to take food or have a meal
(with someone) dùng chung một bữa ăn với ai để bày tỏ sự thân mật
39 Bring home the bacon to be successful at sth; to earn money for your family to live on làm ra đủ tiền nuôi sống gia đình
40 Butter wouldn’t melt in their mouth
Used to say that sb seems to be innocent, kind, etc when they are not really làm ra bộ đoan trang
41 Cakes and ale lively enjoyment ăn uống tiê ̣c tùng
42 Can’t boil an egg If someone can’t boil an egg , they aren’t able to cook chẳng biết nấu nướng gì
43 Can’t do sth for toffee to be very bad at doing sth không có kỹ năng làm viê ̣c gì đó
44 Cast one's bread upon the waters do good without expecting gratitude or reward hoài thóc nuôi cò rừng
45 Caviar to the general something considered to be good or valuable for ordinary people to like or understand đàn gảy tai trâu
46 Cheap as chips very inexpensive rẻ nhƣ bèo
47 Cherry on the cake a desirable feature perceived as the finishing touch to something that is already very good điều có đƣợc nhiều hơn những gì mong đợi
48 Chew the fat to have a long friendly talk with sb about sth nói chuyện phiếm, tán dóc
49 Cook one’s goose to ruin sb’s chances of success đẩy ai vào chỗ khó khăn hoặc ngăn trở sự thành công của họ
50 Couch potato a person who spends a lot of time sitting and watching television người nghiê ̣n xem tivi
51 Crammed/packed like sardines pressed tightly together in a way that is uncomfortable or unpleasant châ ̣t nhƣ nêm cối, lèn nhƣ cá hộp
52 Cream of the crop the best of a group of similar things or people tinh hoa, tinh tuý
53 Cry over spilt milk to waste time worrying about sth that has happened that you cannot do anything about lãng phí thời gian vào viê ̣c đã rồi
54 Curate’s egg a thing that is partly good and partly bad cái có cả hai mặt tốt và xấu
55 Cut the mustard to be as good as expected or required có đủ phẩm chất tốt đẹp cần thiết cho một hoạt động cụ thể nào đó, nhất là khi phải cạnh tranh, so sánh với người khác
56 Dead meat in serious trouble rơi vào tình huống rắc rối nghiêm trọng, thường là vì đã chọc giận ai / chết chắc
57 Do one’s nut to become very angry trở nên rất tƣ́c giâ ̣n
58 Do porridge to spend time in prison ngồi tù
59 Drink like a fish To drink a lot of alcohol regularly uống rƣợu, bia rất nhiều và thường xuyên / uống nhƣ hũ chìm
60 Drop something like a hot potato to get rid of sth as quickly as possible nhanh chóng vƣ́t bỏ
61 Earn/make one’s bread Earn one’s living kiếm sống
62 Easy meat someone or sth that may easily be taken advantage of người hay vâ ̣t dễ bi ̣ lợi dụng
63 Eat humble pie to admit that one is wrong or say that one is sorry for something that one has done or said phải xin lỗi, phải nhận lỗi, phải chịu nhục
64 Eat like a horse to eat a lot ăn như rồng cuốn, ăn rất khỏe
65 Eat someone’s salt to be someone’s guest, esp at a meal làm khách đến dùng bữa
66 Fine words butter no parsnips
It is easy to talk, but talk is not action lời nói không ăn thua gì, có thực mới vực đƣợc đa ̣o
67 First fruit the first result of sb’s work or effort thành quả đầu tiên
68 Fish and fowl/neither fish nor fowl neither one thing nor another môn chẳng ra môn, khoai chẳng ra khoai
69 Food for thought an idea that makes you thing seriously and carefully điều đáng suy nghĩ
70 Forbidden fruit a thing that is not allowed and that therefore seems very attractive thứ được ước ao vì nó bi ̣ cấm hoă ̣c không cho phép; trái cấm/ quả cấm
71 From soup to nuts from beginning to end đủ mo ̣i thƣ́
72 Full of beans having a lot of energy đầy năng lƣ̣c, hăng hái, sôi nổi/ tràn đầy năng lƣợng
73 Go bananas to become angry, crazy or silly rất tƣ́c giâ ̣n
74 Go fry an egg Used to tell somebody to go away and leave you alone đi chỗ khác, đƣ̀ng có quấy rầy nƣ̃a
75 Go pear-shaped if things go pear-shaped , they go wrong hỏng hóc, không chính xác, gă ̣p rắc rối
76 Go/sell like hot cakes to be bought or taken quickly, e.g because of being very popular or cheap bán đắt như tôm tươi
You go, or turn, beetroot when your face gets extremely red because you are embarrassed or hot đỏ mă ̣t tía tai
78 Golden goose something which gives you an advantage, especially a financial advantage điều mang la ̣i lợi ích, đă ̣c biê ̣t là lợi ích kinh tế
If you should take something with a grain of salt, you shouldn’t necessarily believe it all
Nƣ̉a tin nƣ̉a ngờ, bán tín bán nghi
A situation where people seem to be making a lot of money without much effort cách kiếm tiền bất chính, món lợi bất chính
81 Hard/tough cheese used when the speaker does not really care about another person’s misfortune sƣ̣ không may, sƣ̣ thất bại; hoàn toàn đáng buồn