FOOD EXPRESSIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS FROM a CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN VĂN TÁM FOOD EXPRESSIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS FROM A CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE (THÀNH NGỮ LIÊN QUAN ĐẾN ĐỒ ĂN VÀ CÁCH DIỄN ĐẠT TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT TỪ KHÍA CẠNH VĂN HĨA) M.A THESIS Field: English Language Code: 8220201 Ha Noi, 2018 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN VĂN TÁM FOOD EXPRESSIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS FROM A CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE (THÀNH NGỮ LIÊN QUAN ĐẾN ĐỒ ĂN VÀ CÁCH DIỄN ĐẠT TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT TỪ KHÍA CẠNH VĂN HĨA) M.A THESIS Field: English Language Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Assoc Prof, Dr Lê Văn Thanh Ha Noi, 2018 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS  At the very beginning, I would like to express my thankful to all teachers of Hanoi Open university in general and teachers of the faculty of foreign language in particular I would like to send all of you a profound gratitude and the most sincere for having taught me for the past time I especially thank you Associate Professor, Dr Le Van Thanh, who is my instructor, for your dedicated guide and support that helped me to complete this study perfectly During the period of my study, I have received generous help from quarters which I would like to put on this acknowledgement here with deep gratitude and pleasure First and foremost, I am grateful to my teacher- Associate Professor, Dr Hoang Tuyet Minh she spent her precious time on aiding me tremendously right from the beginning till the end of my internship I have no hesitation to say that I would probably fail to complete in an appropriate manner without their constant support, encouragement and ways for the meaningful ending the work in a short duration Last but not least, I would like to thank all my friends for their sincere co-operation and support TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study 1.2 Aim and objectives 1.3 Research Question 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Design of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous studies 2.2 Concepts of Idioms 12 2.3 Translation 14 2.3.1 Definitions 14 2.3.2 Types of translation 15 2.3.3 Principles of translation 16 2.3.4 Equivalence in translation 17 2.3.4.1 Definitions 17 2.3.4.2 Types of equivalence 18 2.4 Cultural Features 25 2.4.1 Cultural Features in English idioms 25 2.4.2 Cultural Features in Vietnamese idioms 25 2.4.3 Cultural Features in English and Vietnamese idioms 26 2.5 Idiomatic expressions 29 2.5.4 Definitions 29 2.5.5 Classifications 29 2.6 Summary 30 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHOLODOGY 31 3.1 Research approach 31 3.2 Research Methods 31 3.3 Data collection and data analysis 31 3.4 Summary 33 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS 34 4.1 Cultural Perspectives behind the food Expressions 34 4.1.1 To express manner of an action 34 4.1.2 To express characteristics of a person 35 4.1.3 To express a description of something or someone 37 4.1.4 The Source Meanings 51 4.2 Comparison between Vietnamese Equivalence 67 4.3 Implication of using, translating and teaching drink and food idioms 70 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 74 5.1 Summary of Findings 74 5.1.1 Findings of cultural features 74 5.1.2 Findings of semantics 75 5.1.3 The findings of problem in use 76 5.2 Summary of the chapter 77 5.3 Limitations of the study 78 Abstract Idioms are everyday words of the people that contain both the depth of thinking about production labor, social relations, human morality, aesthetic view To unscramble the miscellaneous food expressions in English for Vietnamese EFL learners, the present study aims to explore meanings and cultural aspects behind the idioms and seek possible Vietnamese equivalents With thirty-five selected food idiomatic expressions in English, retrieved from BBC World Service Learning English Forum and VOA English, the present study might shed light on this fascinating research theme into the role of translation study in practice.Descriptive qualitative research is used for this study in which Statistical and observational methods are also used to find out essential findings The introduction presents the rationale, the aims, research question, the scope, significance as well as the design of the study in which the theoretical background about the „food expression in English and Vietnamese equivalents is presented Moreover, the culture perspective from the idiomatic expressions containing the word „food‟ in English and Vietnamese is explored in the study The idioms in two languages showed people‟s thought, however they way the use language is different In addition, these idioms are analyzed to explore the literal meanings and the idiomatic meanings that show the relation between English and Vietnamese The findings are very interesting because cultural perspectives and semantic feature and source meaning behind the expressions help the teachers and learners understand languages deeply The study play an important role in helping the teacher know how to teach idioms, especially food idioms CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study Foods are elements in cultural aspects (Boniface, 2017) However, translating names of foods between languages is not an easy task (Terestyenyi, 2011) Also, in English food is used in idiomatic expressions in a very different way from Vietnamese, leading to EFL learners‟ inability to understand their meanings easily without any reference some cultural dimensions It is because L2 idiomatic expressions are “one of the most difficult aspects due to the fact they are conventionalized expressions peculiar to a language community and they are usually frozen in form and often unpredictable in meaning.” (Liu, 2017) Idioms have a variety of philosophical perspectives that are diverse and rich, with views that bear the spirit of human life, not only linguistic but also cultural as stated in Newmark (1988) & Munday (2016) When analyzing idioms from the source language (SL) into the target language (TL), the learners needs various techniques and skills, as well as take into consideration many principles to achieve the goal such as retaining source meaning and get readers closer to the exact understanding of the texts Understanding the linguistic patterns and cultural meanings of the dioms in the SL to translate into the TL has been an interesting, but difficult job, which normally requires much linguistic and cultural experience (Terestyenyi, 2011) In addition, many authors also studied and proposed some methods to improve the use of idioms for foreign language learners, (Thuy, 1996) methods of teaching idioms to foreign learners, (Ngan, 1996) The above results are significant for teaching - learning foreign languages All of this motivated the researcher to conduct this small-scale descriptive qualitative research to open highlights of translating English food idiomatic expressions which usually causes troubles to EFL teachers and learners The analysis and comparison of equivalence of the idioms in the two languages to find the cultural perspective and semantics of literal and figurative meaning It helps identify the similarities and differences of the two languages and using cultural characteristics in two or more cultures to analyze the meaning of idioms in English and Vietnamese languages Because of different cultural perspectives between language communities, Vietnamese EFL learners might find it difficult to express idiomatic expressions denoting the word food in English Understanding these idioms could facilitate not only the communication but also teaching and learning idiomatic expressions There are two cultures in the world that make up the great differences of EastWest culture However, in the end, each people has its own characteristics of geography, history, material life, spirit, customs That is a particular culture and are reflected clearly in language, especially in the vocabulary of each people When idioms are understood by reflecting those cultures into foreign languages, there are many difficulties and troubles for the learners because the target language is not available Such cultural features not have the corresponding words Only in Vietnam, the articles, research works on this topic, with the opposite direction has a lot However, the comparison of language has only received much attention in recent times The practice has brought to urgent requirements, requiring researchers to focus on solving The present study hence might throw a light on this research theme by stating and supplying possible Vietnamese equivalence of idomatic expressions denoting the word food However, the meaning of these idioms are studied and analysis in context of cultures and use There are some research relating idioms are carried out in Vietnam, especially, there are few food idioms studied Thus the studying and learning idioms in English classes face some troubles Therefore, it is very reasonable to explore food idioms 1.2 Aim and objectives The aim of the study is to investigate the cultural semantic features of English food expressions and their Vietnamese equivalents in order to help the Vietnamese learners use and translate these expressions in English effectively The objectives of the study are To discribe the cultural semantic features of English food expressions To make a comparison between English food expressions and their Vietnamese equivalents To give implications for using and translating English food expressions into Vietnamese effectively 1.3 Research Question (1) What are the cultural semantic features of English food expressions (2) What are the similarities and differences between English food expressions and their Vietnamese equivalents (3) What are implications for using and translating English food expressions into Vietnamese effectively 1.4 Scope of the study The study was done in 2018, Researcher chooses 35 idioms of food by chance This study examines how English food expression is translated into Vietnamese in terms of product rather than process That is, this study focuses on the equivalents rather than what the translator thought and how she made decisions when translating an English idioms into Vietnamese 1.5 Significance of the study Theoretically, the study has presented roles of idioms in general and food idioms in particular that help learners and other researchers understand the way people use their language to express their ideas, thought and feeling Practically, the findings of this research are able to strengthen understanding of food expression in English with reference in Vietnamese for the learners Some pedagogical solutions are suggested, introducing translation issues in the idiomatic expression Those suggestions will help to develop better translation of idioms so that they can use English more effectively in their personal and career life The researcher hopes that from the findings of the study, many teachers of English can exploit food expression in helping students to acquaint with and upgrade their English Moreover, the author want to shares understanding about this interesting and useful translation and equivalence of idioms in English and Vietnamese with colleagues who have the same enjoyment of English‟s expression 1.6 Design of the study There are four chapters in the study Chapter is the Introduction that raises the problem for the study Moreover, the aim of study is presented in which main goals and objectives are showed in details Chapter is literature review that discusses for the theoretical background of the study There are two main theories including translation and idiomatic expression In translation theories, there are definition, types of translation, principles of translation and equivalents Therefore, idiomatic expression theories raise definition and classification Chapter presents methodology of the study in which there are some main points discussed including research design, research instrument, data collection and analysis for the findings Chapter 4, in this chapter finds the results of the study by analyzing and contrasting the idioms of the two languages in terms of semantics and culture Therefore, we can find out the distinctive features of English and Vietnamese cultures about the “food” lying behind the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms containing the word “ food” The Conclusion summaries the issues discussed in the thesis 35) You cannot squeeze blood out of a turnip People are not able to extract the blood from the turnip posted by Rich Sue Woodruff on January 6, 2007 It is said that the expression come from the Bible that tells story of Cain and Abel in Genesis “Abel kept the herd (a shepherd / herder), and Cain made the land (a farmer)” During Cain brought some kind of fruit of the land as a gift to God But Abel carries fat from some of the first fry of his flock (a meat that requires blood) The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering, he did not seem to favor: “In the Old Testament, God asks for blood offering for sin Therefore, you can not take the blood out of the turnip” Then, we have the expression You cannot squeeze blood out of a turnip In other study, it is said that "blood from turnip" is used by Frederick Marryat He borrowed the expression from folklore of Japhet in Search of a Father in 1836 4.2 Comparison between Vietnamese Equivalents There is equivalents between English and Vietnamese English Idioms Vietnamese Equivalence Semantic features 1) A piece of cake Dễ ăn kẹo, dễ chơi Manner 2) A smart cookie Người thông minh Characteristics 3) A hill of beans 4) As cool as Chuyện lặt vặt, toàn chuyện lặt vặt không đáng kể a Lạnh tiền, lạnh lùng cucumber 5) Butter somebody up 6) Butter wouldn‟t melt in somebody‟s mouth 7) Buy a lemon thạch sùng Nịnh nọt thật nhiều, vuốt lưng Routine State State Hiền cục đất, hiền Characteristics Mua hàng hớ, mua hàng Routine 67 chất lượng 8) Chalk and cheese 9) Couch potato 10) Drop like a sack of potatoes 11) Eat humble pie 12) Egg someone on 13) Food for thought 14) Hoàn toàn khác biệt nhau, khác Characteristics Lười nhác, lười biếng Characteristics Rơi nhanh mạnh Manner Phải nhận lỗi, thừa nhận sai phải xin lỗi Khuyến khích Suy nghĩ điều kỹ càng, suy nghĩ thận trọng Forbidden fruit Quả táo Adam thật ngon, Routine Routine Action Action tastes the sweetest trái cấm ngon 15) Full of beans Tràn đầy lượng State 16) Go bananas Rất tức giận, giận điên người State 17) Go nuts Hóa điên, State 18) Have bigger fish to Có nhiều việc quan trọng fry 19) Have egg all over your face để làm Trở thành trò cười 20) Put all your eggs in Bỏ tất trứng vào rổ, làm việc one basket 21) When life gives you lemons, make lemonade 22) In a pickle rủi ro State State Action Nếu đời sống cho anh chanh, làm nước chanh đường; sống tốt Characteristics hồn cảnh Trong tình khó khăn 23) Like a cat that‟s got Thể vẻ đắc ý, thỏa mãn Manner State 68 the cream vừa làm điều tốt khiến người khác khó chịu 24) Meat and drink to somebody 25) Sell like hot cakes Nguồn hạnh phúc Bán đắt tôm tươi, bán đắt 26) Separate the wheat Phân biệt tốt xấu, phân State State State from the chaff biệt hay dở 27) Spill the beans Để lọt tin tức State Cướp miếng ăn người khác Action 28) Take the bread out of somebody‟s mouth 29) That‟s the way the cookie crumbles 30) The cream of the crop Bạn phải chấp nhận thật bạn khơng vừa ý; tình phải chấp nhận Thành phần ưu tú 31) The proof is in the Qua thử thách biết dở hay; pudding 32) gian nan biết người tài There‟s no use Thật vơ ích than vãn crying over spilled milk 33) To be paid peanuts 34) Like two peas in a pod Cơng việc trả tiền, việc lương thấp Giống đúc 35) You cannot squeeze Không thể kêu gọi giúp đỡ từ blood out of a turnip State người không nhân đức Characteristics Characteristics State Characteristics State State 69 The conceptual, historical, anthropological, psychological, and sociological review of cultural perspectives on drink and food The comparison of meaning of these idioms is very complex, with many different expressions However, we can also find meaningbuilding mechanisms, as well as meaning structures according to different relationships In terms of the idiomatic expressions, an idiom can only have one meaning But in reality, there are still a number of meaningless idioms It is possible to say that the meanings appear to be parallel, ie, those made in their own way, not formed on the basis of their original meaning The problem of idiomatic meaning is not only related to linguistic problems but also to problems beyond language Research paper has analyzed the origins and common characteristics of meaning of idioms, giving the learners a general knowledge of the composition, semantics of idioms, distinguish them from other sentence units and understand more about cultures through idioms, thereby enhancing the ability to use languages between English and Vietnamese There are different ways to use languages between two languages but the meaning is the same Two languages mention cultures of people in which they use these idioms to present their thinking, feelings and experience in real life Then, the British and Vietnamese want to express their feelings, feelings through the use of English words, which are English idioms 4.3 Implication of using, translating and teaching food expressions Proverbs are considered cultural units because they are very close to human life In fact, proverbs are widely used in speech and literature However, due to the characteristics and the different definitions in each region, idioms cause barriers to English learners leading to but limited in translating English proverbs into Vietnamese and vice versa Idioms are based on experiences or phenomena that are learned over generations Through proverbs, learners not only understand the semantics of the language but also know about the culture and customs of the country Idioms in English are also used as often as Vietnamese idioms In fact, people can not translate words individually to guess the correct usage in a particular case For 70 example, the expression "cold feet" does not mean that feet are cold Here is the origin and meaning of some food related expressions in English For instance, Spill the beans - This term means disclosure of confidential information, whether accidental or intentional, which often damages the surprise or other plan It is believed that this phrase originated in ancient Greece, when people traditionally cast a secret vote by placing a white or black bean into a vial (the white particle meaning positive and the black particle meaning pole) If someone unwittingly or deliberately overturns the jar, the beans will spill out and the "secret" will be revealed sooner than expected, so we have the expression "spill the beans." A piece of cake is something that is easy to do, similar to the phrase “easy to eat candy” that Vietnamese people use It is thought that the term originated in the 1870s, when the cake is traditionally awarded in contests In some areas of the United States at this time, slaves will participate in the "cake walks", in which the pair will perform the mock tune of their own style The most graceful pair will receive the award as a cake From there, "a piece of cake" began to be used to describe something that was easily obtained Teaching and learning idioms English - Vietnamese helps learners understand the origin of these idioms, from which each person will use the idiomatic context and understand more about the history, culture, lifestyles of the country, nation In life, people often engage in many types of communication and make sure that the semantic richness of the idioms will bring about different communication effects While learning languages, it is not easy to choose the right word for the context because English and Vietnamese have many words that have the same or similar meaning but the nuance of meaning is completely different In fact, both of the teachers and students are often confused when using the word during the learning process To learn more about Vietnamese as well as English, learning English - Vietnamese idioms makes learning other languages more enjoyable There is no denying and 71 ignoring the importance of English in the current trend of globalization Among other attractive and interesting English learning methods, learning English through the English-Vietnamese idiomatic expressions will be very special, creative and effective Besides explaining the origins of the idioms, learning and learning idioms also provide simple, easy-to-understand examples of how to use idioms From there, help learners recognize language similarities On the symbolic meaning of the idiom, Bui Khac Viet writes that the things or images have some quality in common with what they represent, the symbol suggests a concept of expression As a unit with the function of identifying, idioms also have multi-meaning phenomena Thus, the translation, or to understand it clearly, must base on their figurative meaning and the context Mieder (1984) defines idioms as a short, concise, easy-to-remember phrase, popular in folklore, containing truth, morality, traditional views under metaphorical, and is passed down through generations For instance, The idiom not your cup of tea means something speaker does not like very much As in Football is not my cup of tea The speaker means that Football is not his hobby Cup of tea is used as the metaphore indicating that interest, joy or hobby The meaning of the proverb may be formed from a number of conjugation such as simile, metonymy, personification, hyperbole in which most common one is metaphor Thus, in teaching, the teachers must explain figurative meaning to their students In life, to start something is not always easy, when talking about departure, or embrace new challenges as well Indigenous people also have many ways to express the beginning with so many emotional expressions For instance, When the stock market in Wall Street unexpectedly rises and falls, economists told a daily in Washington that everything was upside down And the economist used the Go Bananas idiom to describe chaos in the market In a previous lesson, we once 72 brought you the Go Bananas idiom, but once again we will give you a chance to review it Go Bananas include the word Go, spelled G-O, and Bananas, spelled B-A-N-A-NA-S, meaning banana Westerners have no idea that any animal likes to eat bananas with monkeys So when the monkey saw the banana it touched and jumbled around This condition is also sometimes used to describe parents who are crazy about their teenagers Thus, in teaching, the teacher must make clear about cultural features used in Food and Drink idioms Idioms are fixed phrases We can not substitute or modify words Each idiom will be a complete sentence Therefore, when using the correct use of each word of the idiom to avoid misleading If Vietnamese can use the idiom of our country to talk to foreigners will be a very interesting thing This is similar to the introduction of the essence, the essence of the Vietnamese language to the world Idioms are the most concentrated expression of the use of human imagery, so some people assume the meaning of idioms as images This understanding is not correct, because the image is objective, the way in which it depends on the specific circumstances, depending on the meaning of the speaker's hidden But to understand the meaning of idioms can not escape from the image, because in idioms, images and symbolic meaning are related to each other Thus, when using Food idioms, people need to think about the context and figurative meaning that implicated in these idioms 73 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of Findings 5.1.1 Findings of cultural features Idiom is an important unit in expressing the ability to use the language of the learner In addition, idioms also carry the cultural characteristics of a people, so to use proficiency in the language, the learner must have knowledge of the culture of that country In this article, the author examines food idioms that help learners to use them properly and more effectively in their lives Food expressions are quite popular and close to human life The article also mentions some equivalent expressions, but is represented by different images of food in English, which helps learners to properly use the idioms The English idiom for food is very popular in Western countries, almost like the metaphor in Vietnamese idioms By learning the “puns” in English, the learners will communicate more naturally with native English speakers So they not overlook the English idioms about food if they want to learn a foreign language Strictly speaking, according to the idiomatic means of expression, an idiom can only have one meaning, because it is formed only on a means of making sense, ie on a way of establishing consciousness through creation of relationships between the elements that make up the idiom The existence of a certain number of idiomatic expressions is still present The number of expressions that are synonyms, though not many, but very interesting, and also interesting, because the problem itself deals with linguistics and the problems of the neighboring cultural branches, especially folk culture The path that results in a multi-meaning phenomenon in Vietnamese goes in two directions: semantic derivation and folklore 74 5.1.2 Findings of semantics In the first direction, idioms are formed into new meanings in the way of meaning This is the common way in the language unit, especially the word However, this is a less common path to idioms We can only meet the meaning derivation from the original meaning in a few idioms There is a new way of expressing the idiom, the path of source In our opinion, this is a path of particular importance in creating new meanings in English idioms As stated, an idiom, on a causal mechanism, can only form a single meaning But in fact, while using, gradually new mechanisms have emerged Here, there may be different interpretations of the symbolic value of the elements; On how to set the mind set on the relationship between the elements in idioms From the different interpretations of this, in interpretation of source in other ways, exists in parallel with the inherent meaning In fact, with this kind of idiom, it is difficult to find any meaning at the beginning, which is a new meaning We call the original meaning to distinguish it from the original meaning, ie the basis for the new meaning as in the path of meaning In the path of this popularization, between the original meaning and the new meaning, there is no dependence on one another, but between them there is only parallel relationship, formed on the basis of exploiting the different meanings These parallelisms are clearly not formed in a literal meaning Thus, in these cases the term literal meaning is more inappropriate, because what to from a figurative meaning can form two literal and figurative meaning that have a relation together with each other The meaning of idioms in the way of origin and context, though contrary to the notion of mechanics makes the meaning of idioms, but very interesting Normally, an idiom can only have a meaning-generating mechanism, corresponding to a naming convention However, units associated with use of language, it is entirely possible to 75 accept different interpretations of the symbolism of elements in the idiom, as well as different interpretations of the way of thinking, compiled between these elements 5.1.3 The findings of problem in use Accordingly, idioms have such characteristics that form different interpretations of meaning The most important problem is that these understandings are accepted by the community and are reproduced in communication as an identity unit The different meanings and interpretations in the English idiom are an ordinary story, because one of the most prominent features of cultural phenomena is variants, polysyllables with many other interpretations together Semantic analysis of idioms is carried out in relation to associations, which are both subjective and subjective Objectivity is that things can have similarities, from which things relate to other things based on one or more attributes This makes a cognitive value comparable Subjectivity is associated with each individual, reflecting the cognitive abilities, thinking abilities, attitudes, emotions, habits of each person's language Things bear many characteristics, attributes, besides the common characteristics, each thing has different characteristics What features to choose, images are by the speaker that make people confusing in use When people use the idiom of communication, their words will become more natural, more diverse, more vivid and real Words of speech can easily impress the opposite person If people use these expressions well, the listeners will admire because their English is so fluent and natural as native speakers However, it is difficult for nonnative speakers to understand these expressions because their limit of idioms and barrier of use of English Idioms are a colloquial way of expressing a thought or explaining a situation, or expressing emotion or feeling without using words directly related to the will to speak Idioms not express themselves literally Idioms are often used in spoken language, and they can include only a phrase, which can be a long sentence Idioms are used in 76 everyday life, but not so common Idioms usually contain a short, concise meaning Idioms not always speak directly to the problem People often describe the idiom as an aphorism, an expression, or a colloquial sentence Foods in objective reality have different attributes and relationships, when they are reflected in thought, they form in the human consciousness a rather complex symbol, it creates a lot of knowledge about the phenomenon Every understanding of an object's attributes gives the human being a link, the more familiar the phenomena are, the more it conjures up the many associations This is the basis for the symbolism of an image as it is used in various idioms denoting the words Food 5.2 Summary of the chapter In every language, as a unit of language, idioms are the means of expressing unique values that in ordinary words cannot be obtained Expressions of idiomatic expressions are visual or descriptive, concise, condensed, allowing the creation of speech or speech, lively, attractive, persuasive speech It can be said that idioms are a means of reflecting the use of artistic style and political style, and also express the intelligence, talents, the openness of the conversation style in everyday life Every thing, through its name, often evokes in the native speaker a certain association, attached to a characteristic, attribute of things The process of association leads to the emergence of figurative, derivative meaning by means of metaphorical transformation, metonymy It is also the process of forming symbolic meaning Transliterations are used to express symbolically, conventionally for an abstract element that is symbolic To refer to idiom is to refer to meaning, this symbolic meaning Therefore, understanding correctly and knowing how to use the idiom is a natural need of the human person Therefore, to fully understand the semantics and cultural characteristics latent in the idiom is more urgent, meaningful and practical Thus, in the context of this article, I have studied to a small extent, that is the meaning and cultures of the Idioms denoting the words Food 77 We have discussed one of the semantic features of the English idiom denoting the words Food The unifying and meaningful subject of the idioms are very complex, diverse, rich, with many different expressions However, the meaning of the idioms as a factor of identity, shading, descriptive, also has certain rules, whereby we can also find the means of creating meaning or multi-meaning, as well as the source of meaning in different relationships In particular, the problem of meaning of idioms is not only related to linguistic factors but also to other factors beyond language such as culture, history, customs and national thinking The results of research, certainly this is a very interesting issue, there are many promises 5.3 Limitations of the study It can be seen that the research topic on idioms is very broad, requiring researchers to have good research methods However, due to the limited knowledge of the study, the content of the article may contain many shortcomings Because the idiom is glossy, difficult to understand from the literal meaning, the student still has a vague and abstract view in analyzing the idioms Therefore, this can also be considered as a major barrier to 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English In a nutshell, translation requires a translator to be skilled in text analysis, and to have specialized knowledge, and cultural understanding of the source language and target language communities... acknowledged as inappropriate, sometimes incorrectly grammatical and not easy to find and resist translation to language learners and their contribution to cultural and cognitive abilities are acknowledged... translation in which a single pattern in a source language is directly translated into a target language +Literal translation: the SL grammatical pattern is converted into an equivalent form in