A contrastive analysis on cultural features in english and vietnamese fables about philosophy in life

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS ON CULTURAL FEATURES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE FABLES ABOUT PHILOSOPHY IN LIFE PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU CÁC ĐẶC ĐIỂM VĂN HĨA TRONG CÁC TRUYỆN NGỤ NGƠN TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT NÓI VỀ TRIẾT LÝ CUỘC SỐNG LÊ THỊ THÙY LINH Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung Hanoi, 11/2020 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “a contrastive analysis on cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy in life” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2020 Le Thi Thuy Linh Approved by SUPERVISOR Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung Date: i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thesis is finished thank to the help of many people Firstly, I would like to express my deepest thank to Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung for his valuable and enthusiastic help in giving me useful ideas, materials and support to finish my thesis Secondly, I also would like to express my sincere thank to school administrators as well as other teachers at Lam Kinh high school for their contribution in doing my survey questionnaire Last but not least is the sincere support from my beloved family members and friends in the process of finishing the thesis ii TABLES OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality i Acknowledgements ii Table of contents iii Abstract vi List of abbreviations (Optional) vii List of tables and figures (Optional) vii Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study .2 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Structure of the study .5 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous studies 2.2 Review of theoretical background 2.2.1 Theory of culture 2.2.2 Fables as a type of literature 15 2.2.3 Language and culture 17 iii 2.3 Summary of the chapter 20 Chapter 3: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS ON CULTURAL FEATURES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE FABLES ABOUT PHYLOSOPHY IN LIFE 3.1 Typical cultural features of English fables about philosophy of life 22 3.1.1 Features of the settings and objects 22 3.1.2 Features of the characters 24 3.1.3 The features of the language used by the characters 28 3.1.4 Features of the ways the philosophies of life are expressed .32 3.2 The TCFs in Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life .33 3.2.1 Features of the settings and objects 33 3.2.2 Features of the characters 35 3.2.3 The features of the language used by the characters 39 3.2.4 Features of the ways the philosophies of life are expressed 42 3.3 A comparison of the TCFs in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life .44 3.3.1 In terms of settings and objects 44 3.3.2 In terms of character 45 3.3.3 In terms of the language used by the characters in the conversations 46 3.3.4 In terms of the philosophies of life expressed in the fables 46 3.4 Implication of the thesis for the teaching and learning of English 47 3.5 Summary of the chapter .48 Chapter 4: CONCLUSION 4.1 Recapitulation 50 iv 4.2 Concluding remarks………………………………………………………… 50 4.3 Limitations of the study 51 4.4 Recommendations and suggestions for further research…………………… 51 References I Appendix III v ASTRACT Natural languages offer speakers many and various linguistic devices and sources to access them effectively It can be said that learning about fables play an important part in achieving a language This thesis was carried out to study the typical cultural features of fables about philosophy of life in English and Vietnamese By analyzing and comparing material methods the author has investigated the typical cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life and contrasted the typical cultural features in the fables in two languages to find out the similarities and the differences to find the answers to the questions This research is conducted in the hope that an analysis of the cultural features of English fables and Vietnamese ones is helpful for the application of English fables to teach English to Vietnamese learners Teachers can use fables to teach the learners language skills such as reading comprehension, listening and speaking It is very much expected that the results of the research are of practical value vi ABBREVIATIONS A: Animals C: Career relation DA: Domestic animals ES: Explicitly stated FCA: Fables with characters as animals FCHA: Fables with characters as humans and animals FCH: Fables with characters as humans FR: Family-related relation H: Humans L: Language used by characters in the conversation NDA: Non-domestic animals O: Objects IS: Implicitly stated TCF: Typical cultural features R: Rural setting U: Urban setting S: Settings SR: Social relation vii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS List of tables Table 3.1: Typical cultural features of the settings and objects in English fables about philosophy of life Table 3.2: Typical cultural features of characters in English fables Table 3.3: Typical cultural features of the language in the conversations of English fables Table 3.4: Typical cultural features of the ways the philosophy of life is stated in English fable Table 3.5: Typical cultural features of the settings and objects in Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life Table 3.6: Typical cultural features of characters in Vietnamese fables Table 3.7: Features of the language in the conversations of Vietnamese fables Table 3.8: Typical cultural features of the ways the philosophy of life is expressed in Vietnamese fables List of charts Chart 3.1: Typical cultural features of the settings and objects in English fables about philosophy of life Chart 3.2: Typical cultural features of characters in English fables Chart 3.3: Typical cultural features of the language in the conversations of English fables Chart 3.4: Typical cultural features of the ways the philosophy of life is stated in English fable Chart 3.5: Typical cultural features of the settings and objects in Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life viii Chart 3.6: Typical cultural features of characters in Vietnamese fables Chart 3.7: Typical cultural features of the language in the conversations of Vietnamese fables Chart 3.8: Typical cultural features of the ways the philosophy of life is expressed in Vietnamese fables ix - Thôi, thôi, đừng hỏi nữa, chạy nhanh kẻo chết Có vật nhỏ ngón chân tớ mà ăn thịt tất Tên Cóc Tía Khỉ nghe thế, liền cười nói: - À! Cóc Tía sợ gì, tơi vậtmột chết Nó đâu, anh dắt lại xem nào! Cọp không tin, tưởng Khỉ định lừa Khỉ nói tiếp: - Anh khơng tin tơi lấy dây buộc chặt tơi vào lưng anh, tơi trị cho Cóc Tía phen, hai ta đến, anh sợ Cọp nghe nói bùi tai,, liền cho Khỉ ngồi lên lưng cột chặt Khỉ để Khỉ khỏi chạy trốn Hai vật liền tới hang Cóc Tía Lúc này, Cóc Tía bơi qua suối để trở nhà thích chí làm cho Cọp hết hống hách Khi thấy Cọp Khỉ trở lại, Cóc Tía nhanh trí liền quát: - Khỉ kia, mày nợ tao mười Cọp, hơm mày trả có con? Cọp nghe thấy vậy, tưởng Khỉ lừa mình, liền cắm đầu chạy miết Khỉ bị cột chặt vài lưng Cọp, đầu va vào cây, chết nhăn Cọp chạy lúc, mệt quá, liền ngồi nghỉ Khi nhìn thấy Khỉ nhăn răng, Cọp tức giận mắng: - Ngươi lừa ta, lại cịn nhăn mà cười à? (Gan cóc tía) The explicitness of the language is also shown in the conversation between the passer-by and the salesman in the fable “Thầy bói xem voi” “Năm ơng thầy bóirủ xem voi Tới chỗ voi đứng, ông thầy chen vào, sờ tận tay xem voi tới chợ, năm thầy họp bình phẩm Thầy sợ vịi voi nói: - Tưởng voi lạ lắm, té giống đỉa cực lớn Tôi sờ vào, uốn cong người lại Thầy sờ ngà bảo: - Khơng phải, chần chẫnnhư địn càn Thầy ôm phải chân vội cãi: - Voi hệt cột nhà Tôi ôm vừa tay cột Thầy nắm phải tai voi, chê: - Các bác nói mị Con voi thật ra, tự quạt to tướng 42 Thầy túm phải voi, cười khẩy: - Bốn bác nói sai Tơi túm tay, chổi xểđại (to) Không chịu ai, bốn thầy to tiếng cãi nhàu ồn góc chợ Có người qua, nghe chuyện, phân xử rằng: - Thân hình voi có nhiều phận, này: Vòidài giống đỉa Tai tựa quạt nan Bụng chứa vừa gian Chân to tày cột Mồm vại Ngà giống kiếm dài Sau đít có Cứng khác chổi xể Nếu thầy thấy hết, đâu phải cãi (Thầy bói xem voi) The dominance of direct language over indirect language manifests typical features of the culture As known, fables were created mostly by the cleverest people in societies long ago when life was very simple However, the audience mostly belonged to people of lower class, who were not very well - educated Therefore, the authors had to use easily - understood language in their fables so that the majorities of the population could understand them We can hardly find any complicated words or sentences in the fables, both in English and Vietnamese 3.2.4 Features of the way the philosophies of life are expressed TOF IS % ES % FCA 36 0 FCHA 24 16 FCH 28 12 Total 21 84 21 Table 3.8: The features of the ways the philosophies are expressed in Vietnamese fables 43 ■ IS ■% ■ ES ■% Chart 3.8: The typical cultural features of the ways the philosophies are expressed in Vietnamese fables Notes: FCA: Fables with character as animals FCHA: Fables with characters as humans and animals FCH: Fables with characters as humans IS: Implicitly stated ES: Explicitly stated The feature of the way the philosophy of life is expressed is shown in Table 3.8 and chart 3.8 The number of the fables with the philosophy implicitly stated far exceeds that with the philosophy explicitly stated (84% as opposed to 22%) Clearly, Vietnamese fables tend to hide their philosophies The job of finding the philosophies belongs to the readers In most of the Vietnamese fables, there are no conclusions or philosophies explicitly stated in the end They are drawn by the readers after the stories are over For example, the philosophy in the fable “ếch ngồi đáy giếng'is that one who stays in a restricted space and have no contact with the outside world always find himself the best of all Or the philosophy in the fable “Câu chuyện bó đũa”is that solidarity is the key to succeed in life However, there are some fables in which the philosophies are explicitly expressed The fable “Gieo gió gặp bão”states the philosophy in the end: “Rõ ràng “gieo gió gặp bão””,the fable “Gan cóc tía”with the philosophy “ Sự tàn đâu phải 44 sức mạnh”.Sometimes, the philosophy is directly stated by the characters themselves: “ Đúng! Như thấy chia lẻ yếu, hợp lại mạnh Vậy phải biết hợp quần đùm bọc lấy có sức mạnh (Chuyện bó đũa ) In short, the Vietnamese prefer the indirect way of conveying the message in their speech This feature is clearly shown in the fables about philosophy of life To the Vietnamese, the implicitness of language sometimes causes trouble, but it is also the beauty of the language that always needs searching further 3.3 A comparison of the typical cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life Despite being composed by different authors at different times, the fables in English and Vietnamese share some similarities in terms of culture Besides some similarities in terms of settings, characters and philosophies of life between fables in English and Vietnamese, there are several differences 3.3.1 In terms of settings and objects As is shown in Table 3.1, chart 3.1 and Table 3.5, chart 3.5, the fables in both languages share some cultural features of the settings and objects As for the settings, in most fables in both English and Vietnamese, the stories take place in the setting of the countryside The first thing to mention is the place where the work of crop cultivation is done It is the “plow-land”, the “farm” in the West and “cánh đồng”, “đồng lúa”in Vietnam The main crops grown in these places are “wheat”, “vine” in the West (including England), and “lúa”(rice) in Vietnam With reference to the other rural settings, these two cultures also have some common features They are the fundamental facilities for any society to exist such as “country lane” in English fables and “con đường”, “ven đường”in Vietnamese ones Similar to the settings, the characters in the fables in the two cultures share some typical cultural features Considering the settings of the fables in English and Vietnamese, it must be said that although most of them have rural settings, they are quite different in terms of culture In Vietnamese culture, the term “rural” is associated with agricultural production, with the settings of “cánh đồng”, “đồng lúa”, “lúa”, “làng”, “đầu làng” - the popular images of Vietnamese rural life, whereas in Western culture, they are “farm”, “field”, “plowland”, “wheat land”, “country lane” Each of the settings 45 holds the distinctive typical cultural features of each region These differences result from the differences of the natural and socio - cultural conditions between the East and the West The Eastern culture is based on agricultural production with 36 water rice cultivation in the field, while the Western one is based on farming production with their own crops and products The difference of production leads to the difference in culture 3.3.2 In terms of character With regard to the animal characters, as is shown in Table 3.2 and Table 3.6, fables in both English and Vietnamese cultures have characters as domestic and nondomestic animals There are the common stereotypes in two cultures about certain animals For example, the cruel, sly and cunning are always attributed to “fox”, “wolf” and “bear” in English, and “con ho’”, “con cọp”, “con cáo”in Vietnamese; whereas the little, timid and kind are attributed to “lamb”, “sheep”, “tortoise” in English or “châu chấu”, “nai”in Vietnamese Apart from the animal characters, those fables hat have human characters also bear some similar cultural features The character of “farmer” or “nông dâri”bears most of the similarities In both cultures, they are the persons who the job of cultivating crops on the “farm” or “cánh đồng”.The image of “farmer” or “nông dân”is very common in both cultures The cultural difference is also shown in the characters of the fables, both as animals and humans With regard to the characters as domestic animals, they are quite different in two cultures Due to the respective productions, domestic animals in the West are usually “sheep”, “goat”, “donkey”, “lamb”, while in Vietnam, they are “chó”, “gà”, “trâu”, “bò” Each kind of the animals above holds cultural identities of a country Non-domestic animals, on the other hand, also bear distinctive identities Due to the difference of natural conditions, certain animals are popular in a certain region: “Fox”, “wolf’ and “bear” are, for example, popular in the West because there are many forests in Europe “Swan”, “raven” are also popular birds there due to the specific ecological conditions By contrast, the characteristics of agricultural production in Vietnam lead to the appearance of such animals as “ếch”, “nhái”, “cua”, “đỉa” Concerning the jobs in each culture, due to the differences in climate and geographical as well as socio-cultural conditions, there are “farmer”, “hunter”, “ fishman”, “woodman”, “merchant”, “butcher”, “shearer” in Western culture, while 46 there are “nông dân”, “thợ cày”, “ơng Đồ”, “ơng Nghè”, “thầy bói” in Vietnamese culture, each of which bears certain typical cultural features 3.3.3 In terms of the language used by the characters in the conversations The similarity in the language used by the characters in the conversations is the most dominant As can be seen in Table 3.3, chart 3.3 and Table 3.7, chart 3.7, most of the conversations in the fables in 35 both English and Vietnamese use direct languages That is, the language is used with their literal meaning The reason for this is that all the fables were created long ago for people of lower class, so their language is very simple and easy to understand 3.3.4 In terms of the philosophies of life expressed in the fables Concerning the philosophies of life expressed in the fables, they are basically the same in two languages They are all the moral lessons in life which can be applied in certain situations or the attitudes towards the good and the evil They are usually accepted in all societies and cultures: “Expect no reward for serving the wicked.” (The wolf and the crane),“Do not attempt the impossible.” (The frog and the fox), “A kindness is never wasted.” (The lion and the mouse), “Small gain is worth more than a large promise.” (The fishman and the little fish), “Foolish curiosity and vanity often lead to misfortune.” (The tortoise and the fox), “ Slow but steady wins the race.” (The hare and the Tortoise) “Gieo gió gặp bão” (Gieo gió gặp bão), “Sự hãn đâu phải sức mạnh” (Gan cóc tía) “ đồn kết sức mạnh ( Câu chuyện bó đũa) The way the philosophy of life is expressed in the fables in each language also shows the difference in culture Despite being conveyed through different languages, the contents of the philosophy are almost the same However, the way they are conveyed is different between the two cultures Most of the philosophies in Aesop’s fables are explicitly stated at the end of the story (Table 3.4) whereas they are mostly hidden in Vietnamese fables (Table 3.8) This explains two different ways of thinking, namely directness, straightforwardness in the West and indirectness, hidden meaning in Vietnam In summary, there are many differences between the typical cultural features expressed in English and Vietnamese fables The most dominant differences are manifested through the features of the settings, objects, characters and the way the 47 philosophies of life are expressed 3.4 Implication of the thesis for the teaching and learning of English Firstly, it has been proved from the analysis that English fables possess a quite simple structure, wording cultural meaning On the other hand, the stories with animals as characters are of great attraction to these readers Children are excited by the fact that these animals can behave like human-beings, so the children become more involved in the development of the story Therefore, it is recommended that they can be introduced to Vietnamese learners of English of elementary level, especially smallaged children so as to achieve two-fold goals: knowledge of English and acquisition of the moral or living experience Stories with “real" characters, “real" happenings and “real" consequences prove to be considerably effective to create an interesting atmosphere for the class, which helps to improve the learners' learning motivation Teachers can use fables to teach the learners language skills such as reading comprehension, listening and speaking The results of this study will be more meaningful if they are applied into the process of teaching and learning in Vietnam Today, in Vietnam, a huge number of people learn English However, most of them ignore the importance of cultural elements in the process of learning The only thing they care is the linguistic knowledge, not the context in which the language is used This leads to the fact that they usually have difficulty in communicating with people from other cultural backgrounds The lack of cultural knowledge sometimes causes cultural shocks in certain communicative situations From the typical cultural features embedded in the fable in English and Vietnamese, it can be said that fables are a good source to increase the knowledge of culture as well as language themselves To sum up, there are many typical cultural features embedded in the fables in English and Vietnamese Being aware of them, we find that a fable is not only a work of art, but it is also a source of cultural knowledge that helps bring people all over the world closer together Secondly, to linguistic researchers, the procedure to carry out this study is hoped to be of practical value to explore the generic characteristics of other genres of discourse, such as a news article or a novel, etc 3.5 Summary of the chapter In this chapter, the results of the study have been discussed with relevant citations 48 from fables in English and Vietnamese The two research questions have also been answered clearly through the analytic of the examples, the information from the tables and the charts In conclusion, there are some similarities and differences between the typical cultural features of the fables in English and in Vietnamese They are partially shown in the features of the settings and objects, of the characters as animals and humans, of the language and particularly, of the content of the message of the philosophy It is expected that the analysis of the cultural features of English fables and Vietnamese ones is helpful for the application of English fables to teach English to Vietnamese learners Teachers can use fables to teach the learners language skills effectively 49 Chapter 4: CONCLUSION 4.1 Recapitulation The results of this study will be more meaningful if they are applied into the process of teaching and learning in Vietnam Today, in Vietnam, a huge number of people learn English However, most of them ignore the importance of cultural elements in the process of learning The only thing they care is the linguistic knowledge, not the context in which the language is used This leads to the fact that they usually have difficulty in communicating with people from other cultural backgrounds The lack of cultural knowledge sometimes causes cultural shocks in certain communicative situations From the typical cultural features embedded in the fable in English and Vietnamese, it can be said that fables are a good source to increase the knowledge of culture as well as language themselves To sum up, there are many typical cultural features embedded in the fables in English and Vietnamese Being aware of them, we find that a fable is not only a work of art, but it is also a source of cultural knowledge that helps bring people all over the world closer together 4.2 Concluding remarks Culture plays an important role in the modern world Cultural identities distinguish one group of people from the other However, it is the cultural differences that lead to misunderstanding in communication Thus, getting to know other cultures is very important today Fables are one source that holds many typical cultural features of a nation or a region This study has found out the typical cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life In the study, fifteen Aesop’s fables in English and another fifteen in Vietnamese were analyzed The findings of the study answer the research questions regarding the typical cultural features in English as well as in Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life and the similarities and differences between these typical cultural features In the study, the typical cultural features of the fables in each language are divided into four categories: the feature of the settings, of the characters, of the language used by the characters in the conversations, and of the way the philosophy of life is stated The findings show that most of the settings of the fables in both languages are rural with distinctive backgrounds of respective culture Due to specific natural and socio-cultural 50 conditions, the characters of the fables, which include both animals and humans, bear the typical features of that culture On the other hand, the language of the conversations/dialogues between the characters either in English or in Vietnamese is, in general, simple and straightforward because the fables were composed in the ancient time and most of the audience belonged to lower class As for the way the philosophy of life is stated, most of the philosophies in English fables are stated explicitly, while in Vietnamese they are conveyed implicitly In language teaching, they represent great potentials for learners, especially learners at the elementary level Short and simple as fables are, they consequently seem to be the most suitable authentic material for students’ language proficiency at low level in rural areas For all these reasons, this research is carried out with the hope that an analysis of cultural features in fables is helpful for the application of fables in English teaching and learning in Vietnam 4.3 Limitation of the study This study has been accomplished with great effort of the researcher but it still has some certain unavoidable limitations because of many reasons With the limited relationship, the researcher was unable to directly approach the informants to have some interviews which help to make their answers in the questionnaires more explicit with more ideas or explanations If only interviews were carried out, there would be more interesting findings in this research It must also be admitted that the time constraints, the shortage of available materials and the limited knowledge and experience in doing research of the researcher has resulted in more minor mistakes in this paper Culture is itself a complicated issue with various aspects, whereas the study has touched upon only some Second, the sample of fifteen fables in each language is rather small Another limitation of the study is that it only investigates the typical cultural features of English fables by one author (Aesop) This limitation is due to the shortage of materials, especially those of English fables 4.4 Recommendation and suggestions for further research The results of the study would be more reliable if the fables by different authors 51 were taken into account For the further research, there are many other aspects that need more investigations Among those aspects, the linguistic properties of the fables in English and Vietnamese are worth studying in further research In addition, the social relations manifested through the language by the character in the fables are also an interesting topic that should be taken into account 52 REFERENCES Hoàng Phê (1998) Từ điến tiếng Việt Nhà xuất Xã hội Hồ Ngọc Trung (2013) Lectures on Discourse Analysis Vietnam Education Publisher Nguyễn Văn Độ (2004) Tìm hiếu mối liên hệ ngơn ngữ - văn hố Nxb Đại học quốc gia Hà Nội Nguyễn Xuân Kính (2003) Tổng tập văn học dân gian người Việt Tập 10 Truyện ngụ ngôn Nhà xuất khoa học xã hội Nguyễn Quang.(1998) Trực tiếp gián tiếp dụng học giao thoa văn hóa Việt Mỹ Tập san ngoại ngữ -1998 Trần Ngọc Thêm (1995) Cơ sở văn hố Việt Nam Nxb Hồ Chí Minh Trần Ngọc Thêm 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travelers The farmer and the crane The farmer and his sons The father and his sons The Fox and the Goat The Hare and the Tortoise Hercules and the wagoner The hunter and the woodman The Lioness 10 The man and his wife 11 The raven and the swan 12 The salt merchant and his donkey 13 The shepherd and the wolf 14 The widow and the sheep 15 The wolf and the lamb 16 The Fox and the Grapes 17 The Ass and the Load of Salt 18 The Two Goats 19 The Lion and the Ass 20 The Sheep and the Pig 21 The Farmer and the Stork\ 22 The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse 23 The Eagle and the Jackdaw 24 Belling the Cat 25 The Dog, the Cock, and the Fox II Vietnamese fables Cháy nhà Châu chấu đá voi Con chó chết đuối Con chó với gà Con voi trâu Con trâu ghen với chó III Chuyện bó đũa Đẽo cày đường Ẽch ngồi đáy giếng 10 Gà ông Đồ gà ơng Nghè 11 Gieo gió gặp bão 12 Hai vợ chồng người thầy bói 13 Người đường chó 14 Thầy bói xem voi 15 Trí khơn 16 Gan cóc tía 17 Con vẹt hay bắt chước 18 Khỉ cá sấu 19 Học cuốc kêu mùa hè 20 Mèo lại hoàn mèo 21 Sư tử kiến 22 Quạ mặc lông công 23 Hai dê qua cầu 24 Cô chủ quý tình bạn 25 Chị bán nồi đất IV ... English and Vietnamese By analyzing and comparing material methods the author has investigated the typical cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life and contrasted... typical cultural features of the settings and objects in English fables about philosophy of life FCA: Fables with characters as animals FCHA: Fables with characters as humans and animals FCH: Fables. .. Summary of the chapter 20 Chapter 3: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS ON CULTURAL FEATURES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE FABLES ABOUT PHYLOSOPHY IN LIFE 3.1 Typical cultural features of English fables