2 Comparison between English and Vietnamese proverbs and idioms viewed from cultural identities .

17

Ăn cơm cáy thì ngáy o o”

(A great fortune is a great slavery)

( Eating rice with beef worries peasants while eating rice with crabs relaxes their minds)

indicates that richness does not always mean happiness. Richness can make other people envy.

Living in the richness, they are always under pressure, being poor but honest they will feel

peaceful. The image of buffaloes are also rendered to tell people about bad man‟s

characteristics. For examples,

“Trâu chết mặc trâu, bò chết mặc bò, củ tỏi dắt lưng”

(It does not matter to me whose cows or buffaloes die, I prepare to get my shares) indicates

the selfishness;

“ Trâu lành không ai mặc cả, trâu ngã khối kẻ cầm dao”

(when the buffalo is healthy, no one dares to do anything to harm it, but when it is in bad

luck, many people are waiting to kill it)

refers to a bad person availing himself of other misfortune. In another idiom,

“Trâu chết để da, người ta chết để tiếng”

(He that had an ill name is half hanged)

(It means when a buffalo dies, it leaves its skins behind, when a man dies, he leaves his name

behind) the image of buffalo is used to advise people to behave nicely when they are alive to

leave good name after their death. The importance of a buffalo is also mentioned many times

in Vietnamese idiom as in :

“Làm ruộng phải có trâu, làm giàu phải có vợ”

(buffalo is important to agriculture like women role in one‟s family).

Even the way a man chooses his life-partner is also likened to that of a person when he

choose his buffalo:



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“Mua trâu xem vó, lấy vợ xem nòi”

(Know the breed, know the dog)

(when buying a buffalo, take close look at its legs, when choosing wife, take her family race

into consideration).

In conclusion, cow, buffalo are closely linked with Vietnamese lives, with water rice

culture.

Different from that of Vietnam, with dry and cold climate, England has a greater

proportion grassland than any other countries. And most of which is more suitable for

breeding, especially sheep farming than for rice growing. We can say that England economy

in the past depended much on sheep breeding for getting wool, milk and meat. So sheep can

be considered as the most popular cattle to the English. The image of sheep appears much in

proverb and idiom, however, the English attitudes toward this kind of animal are various.

Lamb is not the animal of high respect.

For English people, lamb is a mild animal as in :

“As mild as a lamb”

(Hiền như một chú cừu non) .

And because lamb is so mild, so naïve and a little fool, it often revokes in people‟s hearts

the feeling of pity as :

“Like a lamb to the slaughter”

(Như cừu non đến lò mổ)

This idiom is used to describe the situation when you go somewhere dangerous without

any protection probably because you do not realize that you are in danger. Its meaning can be

illustrated clearly in following sentence:

“When the war started, thousands of young men went off to fight, like lambs to the

slaughter”.



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( Khi có chiến xảy ra, hàng ngàn thanh niên lên đường nhập ngũ, như những chú cừu non

đến lò mổ)

The words „lamb‟ and „mutton‟ also acts as metaphors conveying critics to an older

person, usually a woman, who dresses like a younger person as in:

“Have you seen her? Mutton dressed up as lamb. Somebody should remind her that she is

55, not 25”

(Cậu đã gặp bà ta chưa? Cừu già ăn vận cừu non. Phải có ai đó nói cho bà ta biết là bà

ấy đã 55 chứ không phải 25 tuổi).

Sheep is also considered as the animal of healthy life as in:

“To go to bed with the lamb and rise with the lark bring me really good health”.

(Ngủ sớm và dậy sớm mang lại cho ta sức khỏe tốt)

The image “black sheep of the family” refers to a person who is considered to have done

something bad or to be a failure, by their family or by group to which they belong as in:

“Debbie is the black sheep of the family, having left home at seventeen to live with her

boyfriend”

(Debbie là một đứa con hư của gia đình, đã bỏ nhà đi lúc 17 tuổi để sống cùng bạn trai).

Horse is another popular animal in English peoples‟ lives. Englishmen love horses so

much that they spend many idioms and proverbs for this kind of herbivore. Horses seem to be

worthily reliable images as :

“Straight from the horse‟s mouth” ( Theo nguồn tin đáng tin cậy)

It means you get the information from a reliable source .

Horse Guards are the cavalry brigade of British household troops, who protect British

Royal families. This big animal is also considered as a little bit hot-tempered one as “to hold

your horse” indicates some kind of aggressive manner of speaking in discussion:

“Hold your horse! We have not finished the last question yet”.



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(Hãy bình tĩnh! Chúng tôi chưa xong câu hỏi cuối cùng mà)

Horses are also admired for their strength and big size. If someone is „as strong as a

horse‟, he is really healthy and muscular man. No other animal has such extraordinary

physical power as „wild horses‟ :

“Wild horses could not drag me to that place again”

(As strong as a wild horse could not force me to go there again).

(Khỏe như những con ngựa hoang cũng không thể kéo tôi đến đó lần nữa)

Someone who has a good appetite for meals is also compared to a horse:

“Eat like a horse” .

(Ăn như mỏ khoét)

Someone who could eat as great amount of food as a horse are in a state of extreme

hunger:

“What is for dinner? I could eat a horse!” .

However, horses are seemingly a little bit stubborn:

“You can lead a horse to the water but you can not make it drink.”

(figurative meaning: You can give somebody the opportunity to do something but you can

not force them to do it if they do not want to) .

Their images are also utilized to refer to men as in :

“He is not the right kind of ambassador for Moscow. Johnson would be much better. It is

the questions of horses for courses

(It indicates the fact that people or things should only be used for the purpose for which

they are most suitable)”

or one‟s opinion or stance as in :



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“I do not believe in changing horses in midstream” he said “Give this policy a chance

before you think of changing it”.

(“Change horses in midstream” means If people change horses in midstream, they

change plans or leaders when they are in the middle of something, even though it may be very

risky to do so)

In brief, it is the weather conditions that differentiate English and Vietnamese culture

types, that is, the former is of agricultural origin while the latter belongs to the nomadic one.

This leads to differences in the images that are reflected in each country‟s stock of idiom and

proverb. To Vietnamese, some agriculture-work associated animals such as buffaloes or cow

are frequently seen in their proverb or idiom. Meanwhile, English proverb and idiom stock

seem full of such big cattle as sheep or horses. In some cases, the same ideas are expresses

differently in a way that they mirror the characteristics of each country‟s culture. The

Vietnamese idiom :

“ Cưa sừng làm nghé”

( a buffalo tries to cut its horns to look like a buffalo calf)

It shares the same meaning with that :

“Mutton dressed up as a lamb”

(Cừu già ăn vận như cừu non)

of the English. Both of them mean a critic of an older person who dresses as an younger

one. Another example is

“Trộm trâu, trôm nghé đều bẽ như nhau”

(You may be as well punished for a buffalo as for a buffalo calf)

and

“you may be as well hanged for a sheep as for a lamb” .



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These two idioms bear the coincident meanings as you are going to be punished for doing

something wrong whether it is a small or big thing. It is noticeable that such words as “trâu”

(buffalo); “nghé” (buffalo calf) are very familiar in Vietnamese idiom while they are nowhere

to be found in its English counterparts.

Similarly, “mutton”; “sheep” and “lamb” are frequently seen in English idiom but they can

hardly be found in Vietnamese idiomatic stock.

2.2.2 Based on cognitive culture

Proverb not only belongs to language but reflects much of the culture. In other words,

they are considered to be the mirror reflecting the socio-cultural traditions in the most reliable

ways. They are very traditional and specific . Understanding them helps us know more about a

nation and its people. Analyzing and comparing English-Vietnamese proverbs basing on the

cultural identities systems bring us a deeper comprehension of the two nations and their

languages. We will find not only the similarities but the interesting differences in the way

proverb reflects socio-cultural life of the communities.

For years, many ethnology researchers have confirmed that no matter in which

country, people in general tend to work hard, be patient and simple-hearted. However,

socialists have found that social environment has great effects on people‟s characteristics, the

social environment makes people change from the similarities to the differences.

The Vietnamese, of whom 80% are peasants, owe their food to the weather conditions.

Only good rain and sunrise do bring about a prosperous crop that can give them bowls full of

rice and delicious food. Therefore, they consider the close link between different factors of

natural conditions very important. For them, only the harmony between things that can trigger

the sustainable developments. That may be the reason why a great number of Vietnamese

proverbs and idioms show their observations of the close connection between different

creatures and changing in weather condition:

“ Quạ tắm thì ráo, sáo tắm thì mưa”

(A craw bath is sign of dry weather while a magpie‟s is of rainy one)



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“ Gió bấc hiu hiu, sếu kêu trời rét”

(Light northern wind and cries of crane are signs of winter)

“ Chuồn chuồn bay thấp thì mưa, bay cao thì nắng bay vừa thì râm”

(when a dragon-fly is low-flying, it is going to rain, when it flies high, it is going to be

sunny and its middle flight signals cloudy weather).

Those subtle observations of very small creature‟s changes responding to that of

natural environment show the concern of Vietnamese towards environment.

It is this close link that creates the Vietnamese critical generalization mind. From other

point of view, a good harmony between different things can bring about sustainable

development. The first symbol “dragon” can be a good illustration for this point. The

Vietnamese dragon is created by different small parts of many different animals:

“Mình rắn, vẩy cá chép, mắt quỷ, song nai, tai thú, trán lạc đà, chân cá sấu, móng

chim ưng” (Dương Kỳ Đức, 2001)

(Snake body, calf scale, devil eyes, deer stark, mammal ears, camel forehead,

crocodile legs and hawk claws)

Vietnamese people considered themselves children of Father Dragon and Mother

Fairy. The appearance of the dragon is often accompanied with images of clouds which can

bring about water the most important factor for agriculture as in:

“Nhất nước, nhì phân, tam cần, tứ giống”

( Water is the most important factor, then comes fertilizer, industriousness and

breeds).

Obviously, it is reasonable for the Vietnamese to say that “dragon” is the symbol of

happiness for people living in agriculture” (Dương Kỳ Đức, 2001). That may be the reason

why they rank dragon the first place in many lists. Dragon is put at first place in list of four

worshipped animals: “dragon, lion, tortoise, phoenix”. Dragon symbolizes the king images in

the eyes of common people. King‟s throne is named dragon‟s throne (long ngai); king‟s palace



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is dragon‟s palace, likewise, king‟s bed is known as dragon‟s bed (long sàng) . Dragon image

is also associated with that of a noble, superior man which is in contrast with the common,

inferior ones:

“ Trứng rồng lại nở ra rồng,

Liu điu lại nở ra dòng liu điu”

(Like begets like.

Like parents, like children)

( It means a dragon will be hatched from a dragon‟s egg while a snake can only give

birth to a snake - Noble men are of noble origin and superior to that of common one).

“ Rồng đến nhà tôm”

(A dragon visits a shrimp‟s house- a superior man visits an inferior one‟s home) .

In Vietnamese‟s mind, dragon always has a positive image. It symbolizes the best things

namely: power, nobility. On the contrary, the image of dragon appears in English proverb and

idiom is negative one. Vietnamese dragon itself is a flying image without any wings while

English counterpart has two big wings. Vietnamese dragon brings water for agriculture,

English one breaths out fire. In Englishman‟s mind, dragon is „ a mythological monster,

usually with wings and able to breath out fire” (Little Oxford Dictionary, 2000, p145).

Another meaning of the words is „a fierce person‟ as in example “we are really frightened of

the math teacher, she was a real dragon”. The idiom “to chase the dragon” means “to take a

drugs”.

In summary, to Vietnamese people, who undeniably possess a generalization mind,

dragon is the most beautiful image which is proved by the number of proverbs and idioms

with its appearance. This seems reasonable for the Vietnamese who highly regard the harmony

among things. This can be illustrated in symbol of dragon- An imaginary animal which

crystallizes strength and beauty of other animals. However, the English, who have an

analytical mind, consider dragon a strange and wicked one partly because their analytical mind

seem to be unfamiliar to anything that is not concrete and touchable.



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2.3 Animal images in proverbs and idioms

2.3.1. Animal images in Vietnamese proverbs and idioms

To start with, culture is a complex system of knowledge, ethical principles, beliefs,

arts, law and traditions, etc. In addition, language, as a part of culture, reflects the wealthy

and various cultural phenomena. Idioms preserve close relationships with people's life and

the culture where they are shaped and used. As Vietnam has a long history of cultivation and

agriculture, a large number of idioms related to agriculture have been in use. Most of the

elements used in Vietnamese idioms are focus on animals that the farmers have to deal with

in their daily life as we can see in the following examples:

Ăn ốc nói mò .

(Speak by Guess and by God)

Con sâu làm rầu nồi canh .

( The rotten apple spoils the barrel).

Cháy nhà mới ra mặt chuột .

(Rats desert a sinking ship)

Cõng rắn cắn gà nhà.

(Set the snake on one‟s own hens)

Chuột sa chĩnh gạo.

(A rat falling into a jar of rice)

Con giun xéo lắm cũng quằn.

(Even a worm will turn)

Đàn gẩy tai trâu.

(Cast pearls before swine)

Giao trứng cho ác.

(Give the sheep in care of the wolf)

Khỏe như trâu mộng .

(Strong as an ox)

Nước đổ đầu vịt.



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(Like water off a duck‟s back)

Nuôi ong tay áo.

(Set the fox to keep the chicken)

Vắng chủ nhà, gà mọc đuôi tôm (or: vọc niêu tôm).

(The mouse lordship where the cat is not)

(Tuyển Tập Thành Ngữ Tục Ngữ Ca Dao Việt Anh Thông Dụng)

In the above idioms, farm animals like chicken, duck, fish, buffalo, cow….are often

reflected to when the farmers need an image to express their ideas about something.

Take buffalo in the idiom “đàn gẩy tai trâu” as an example. According to Vietnamese

conception, buffalo is one of the twelve zodiacs, and it represents something bulky, lumpish,

but patient. Buffalo is considered a close buddy of the farmers, leaving an unfathomable spot in

the mind of Vietnamese. “Đàn gẩy tai trâu” uses one characteristic of the buffalo -lumpish- to

express the idea of a person who would not listen to anything or anyone.

In Vietnam, the dog is of low status. Most of the Vietnamese idioms concerning with

dogs are used in an insulting sense, usually describing wicked persons, although the numbers

of pet dogs have increased nowadays as in :

Chó treo mèo đậy

Chó chạy cùng rào

(Be out on a limb)

Chó chê mèo lắm lông .

(The pot calls the cettle black)

Chó cùng rứt dậu.

(Beast at bay bites hard)

(Tuyển Tập Thành Ngữ Tục Ngữ Ca Dao Việt Anh Thông Dụng)

The dragon, as a symbol of the Vietnamese a long time ago, carries a positive and

favorable meaning. Such idioms are often found in Vietnamese language, since the

Vietnamese is proud of being descendants of the holy dragon, “con rồng cháu tiên”



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Symbolize wealth and goodness:

Đầu rồng, đuôi tôm.

Rồng đến nhà tôm

Vẽ rồng nên giun

Symbolize luxuriousness:

Thêu rồng, vẽ phượng

Chạm rồng, trổ phượng

Symbolize fortune:

Mả táng hàm rồng

Như cá gặp nước.

Như rồng gặp mây

Rồng mây gặp hội

Symbolize brilliancy:

Rồng bay, phượng múa

Ăn như rồng cuốn, nói như rồng leo, làm như mèo mửa.

(Nói Chuyện Về Tuổi Rồng)

2.3.2 Animal images in English proverbs and idioms

Differently, living on an island, the English are tend to sail and travel a lot, the

English language flourish in idioms connected with navigation as in:

all at sea

any port in a storm

half sea over

in the same boat

sink or swim

take the wind out of somebody's sail

weather eye

to keep one's head above water

to clear the decks