DA NANG FOREIGN UNIVERSITY

ENGLISH LINGUISTICS K36

ASSIGNMENT
TRANSLATING ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE

IN TERMS OF CULTURE

Name : Châu Bách Nhã

Subject : Theory of Translation

Lecturer Le Thi Giao Chi

Daklak, 30/11/2018
 ABSTRACT
Talking about translating comparisons between English and Vietnamese, we always
mention about comparisons of idioms . Language is a system of communication of a nation.
Every nation has their own historical, civilized, cultural, climatic characteristics, so every nation
has their own language. However, different nations have similarities and differences in
expressing their ideas. Studying similarities and differences between idioms of comparison in
English and Vietnamese is liable to help the researcher to affirm that. Moreover, making some
comparisons is a good way to memorize English idioms of comparison effectively and
enjoyably. Hence, translation skill can be improved thanks to more knowledge about idioms. In
addition, making comparisons between English and Vietnamese idioms can help the researcher
to understand. There are over 3000 idioms in the dictionary, so it’s extremely hard to understand
and memorize all of idioms. Some students, even though, live in America or England for such a
long time, they are still unable to understand what the native people are saying. What the native
speakers make a conversation with each other in daily speech is different from what the native
speakers talk to the students who use English as the second language . And the foreign students
here is unable to follow what they are saying to each other. More than that, comparison idioms
are one of major aspects that can easily discourage a person in conversation with each other if
he/she does not know what to imply. It makes our utterances smoothly and transmit the
information to listeners in a smart way. As a matter of fact, in this essay, we will firstly find a
clear view of the definition of idioms and some structures to recognize a comparison idiom, then
will be a part related to contrastive analysis; that is similarities and differences between English
and Vietnamese comparison idioms; lastly, some problems and solutions of studying idioms may
be important to learners.
 DEFINITION OF IDIOMS
I.Definition
Idioms of comparison are applied frequently in literature and in daily life. It serves as a
tool to make the language more graphic. However, every language has differences in ways of
expressing the same idea using idioms of comparison. The goal of the study is to discover some
common types of comparison used in English and Vietnamese idioms. In addition, the study
chiefly aims at finding out some similarities and differences between comparison idioms in both
English and Vietnamese. Idioms have become very popular with the linguistic learners; however;
not everyone can find the complete definition for this term.

II. Structure used for comparing

Although we have worked out some definitions of idioms above, most of learners are still
confused with the question: “How can we identify an idiom of comparison?”. Consequently,
identification should be taken into consideration so as to have an insight into different types of
idioms of comparison. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines idioms as: “A group
of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of the individual words” (Hornby, 2006,
p.740). The viewpoint is supported in A Dictionary of Linguistics & Phonetics. The author
regards an idiom as “a term used in grammar and lexicography to refer to a sequence of words
which us semantically and often syntactically restricted, so that they function as a single unit”
(Crystal, 1985, p.225). When mentioning semantic features of idioms, we had better focus on
the figurative meaning of idioms. It is the most important characteristic of idioms to know
whether an expression is an idiom or not. According to Collins Cobuild English Language
Dictionary: A idiom is a group of words which, when they are used together in a particular
combination, has a different meaning from the one they would have if you took the meaning of
the individual words in the group. (Sinclair, 1987, p.718). Smiley & Goldtein (1998) also suggest
that “idioms are certainly more than the sums of their parts” (p.76). That means the meaning of
components of an idiom is different from the meaning of the whole idiom. That we can guess the
meaning of an idiom or not depends on open or closed classes. As Yong and Peng (2007)
suggest: In open class combinations, individual components are freely recombination and are
used in a common literal sense. As co-occurrence of individual components is expected of this
class of combinations, both their meaning and structures are predictable amenable to analysis.
There are various ways of identifying based on different criteria because the exploration is quite
hard and unfeasible. Here are just two main ways that have been considered most:

 Identification based on component words or phrases

 Identification based on grammatical structure

a. By word and phrase

With this aspect, idioms of comparison can be divided into three groups:
 Comparison with adjectives
This kind of comparison can be constructed as the following structure:
As + adjective + as + (a/an/the) Noun

For example: as sharp as razor, as innocent as love, as unchangeable as the past, as jolly as a
sandboy. In Vietnamese idioms, typical examples of comparison are: nhát như thỏ đế, đen như
than, đẹp như tiên…

 Comparison with verbs

Unlike adjectives, comparison with verbs has a different structure
Verbs + like + a/the + Noun

We can find some instances such as: crawl like a snail, fight like cat and dog, live like there’s no
tomorrow….. Vietnamese idioms utilise: bò như sên, đánh nhau như chó với mèo, sống như
không có ngày mai…

 Miscellaneous comparison

Although many idioms follow a certain rule as being mentioned above with adjectives and verbs
as well, some kinds of comparison do not follow any regular patterns

(Verb) + like/as + a clause

(Verb) + like/as + a verb phrase
(Verb) + like/as + a noun phrase
Like + noun + like + noun

Here are the idioms to exemplify: (to be) like a bull in a china shop, (to have) a memory like an
elephant, to look as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards…. Vietnamese idioms
utilise: như hạn gặp mưa rào, tiền vào nhà khó như gió vào nhà trống….
 b. By grammatical structure.

Despite lots of idioms of comparison based on grammatical feature, it can be divided into three
main popular kinds that have a comparative meaning with Vietnamese one. Here is the table
between English and Vietnamese idioms:

Table 1

English and Vietnamese comparison idiom equivalents

Vietnamese idioms
English idioms
A như B
as A as B
Quý như vàng
as good as gold
Nóng như đổ lửa
as warm as sunbeam
Như B
Like/ as B
Như hai giọt nước
Like two peas in a pod
A như B
A like/as B
Như cá mắc cạn
Feel like a fish out of water
Theo như hình với bóng
To follow like a shadow

III. Similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms of comparison
through culture.

1. Similarities

Each country has its own culture and tradition; as a matter of fact, idioms follow those rules
because as we have discussed above, the metaphor of idioms derived from the real life, the real
image. However, there are still some coincidences between English and Vietnamese idioms of
comparison. We can find the similarities in the way people think, observe and express ideas
through different cultures. To be more specific, here are some English idioms that have exact
Vietnamese equivalents:

English idioms Vietnamese idioms

1.As black as coal Đen như than
 2.As black as ink Tối đen như mực
3.As black as midnight Tối như đêm
4.As bright as day Sáng như ban ngày
5. As big as an elephant To như voi
6. As blind as a bat mù như dơi
7. As bold as brass Mặt dày mày dạn
8. As brave as a lion Can đảm như sư tử
9. As busy as a bee Bận như ong
10. As clear as day Sáng như ban ngày
11. As clean as a whistle Sạch như chùi
12. As cold as ice Lạnh như băng
13. As cunning as a fox Gian như cáo
14. As dead as a doornail Chết đứng như tượng
15. As dry as a bone Trơ như xương

2. Differences

Although we have lots of idioms of comparison that have share the same equivalence between
English and Vietnamese, linguistists have found some differences that are originated from the
differences among cultures as we have mentioned above. As a result of that, it is better to have a
look at some cultural factors. Referring culture, we cannot deny its origin from history and
geography of a country. Culture does not naturally appear in people’s lives, but exist in a good
interaction with people. It is rooted from some important events in history or a milestone that has
changed a generation. Moreover, topography or terrain has affected much the modification of
culture through culture, for example, the idiom: “as strong as an ox” is more popular in the
agricultural country where some strong animals like ox or bull are used for agriculture. Below is
the table that tells the difference between two different culture that we are discussing:

Table 2

Differences between English and Vietnamese cultures

Vietnamese English
Features
Has two basic seasons: a Changeable and
Climate
 cold, humid winter and a unpredictable
warm, wet summer.
Diverse range of latitude
and altitude
A verdant tapestry of There are not many high
Topology
mountains, fertile deltas, mountains, rivers, plains
forests, rivers, or forests.
mysterious caves,
waterfalls and beaches
Dessert terrain with Highland zone in the north
Terrain
jungles and tropical rain and west, lowland zone in
forests the south and east

Agriculture: the main Industry instead of

Economics
economy of Vietnam. agriculture is the main part
Some products are rice, in economy
trees, fruits. It is related
to aquaculture.
Pigs, buffaloes, poultry Cow, cattle, sheep, horse,
Husbandry
and etc… poultry, etc…

Rice is the main food in Mostly, English people

Food and drink
Vietnamese meals. They serve cereal and meat.
use chopsticks for eating. They use knife and fork.
Tea is the traditional Coffee is more popular.
drink.
About 75 million people Approximately
Population
in Vietnam. 80% are 51,807,053. Over 90%
ethnics. live in town

Buddhism Christianism
Religion
 a. Through lifestyles and living conditions

It can be seen very clearly that the Vietnamese idioms of comparison are strongly influenced by
the agricultural culture and two of the most popular symbols in most comparison are rice and
buffalo. Images of idiomatic comparisons in two nations are different result from differences in
culture. Vietnam has the cultural tradition of the wet rice production. Therefore, animals have a
strong attachment to Vietnamese daily life. That’s why Vietnamese idioms of comparison consist
of images related to buffaloes which are an animal familiar with rice production agriculture.
Buffaloes pull ploughs, work very hard everyday to help farmers in their farming. As a result,
wanting to mention strength, people often refer to buffaloes. In fact, to talk about someone very
strong, the Vietnamese have the idiom “khỏe như trâu” while the English have the idiom “as
strong as a horse”. That’s because English people prefer horses to buffaloes. Horses can not only
pull ploughs but also transport and entertain. They are really energetic and strong enough to help
people in life. In spite of that, it doesn’t mean that English people don’t consider buffaloes
strong animals or Vietnamese people don’t regard horses as strong animals. That results just
from the difference in culture.

Also, dragons are a kind of animal which is very close in fertile imagination of
Vietnamese people. Because of that, the image as a dragon appear in the Vietnamese idiom of
comparison “ăn như rồng cuốn” to talk about eating large quantities of food while the image of a
horse is used in the idiom “to eat like a horse”.

However, in England with nomadic culture, buffalo is not important to them, but horse. Horse
can carry heavy load, pull cart, plough, transport… especially horse is much faster than buffalo,
which is very suitable for nomadic people to serve for their moving lifestyles. As a matter of
fact, strength in English culture is compared with horse: “as strong as a horse”. The difference is
not because the English people think that buffalo is not as strong as horse, but it is the difference
in the people’s concept, the way they think or in another way: “the cultural view”. The culture of
each country has made people have distinguishable thinking about their lives. Moreover, those
are also revealed through many other idioms:

As dumb as a statue Câm như hến

As gentle as a lamb hiền như cục bột
As fat as butter Mập như lợn
Obviously, Vietnamese people do not know or are not familiar with those things such as “statue,
lamb, butter”. They are farmers, so they are much familiar with hến (corbicular), lợn (pig);
meanwhile English get on well with butter or lamb, which are suitable with their nomadic
culture. One more example is that

As tough as leather/ old boots dai như đĩa

In England, they often move from one place to another in cold weather. As a result of that,
leather and boots are very necessary for them to protect them the getting cold. Furthermore,
those things must be made as thick as possible so as to bring the best. However, in a tropical
country like Vietnam, we rarely use boots or leather but simple shoes or thin clothes. Vietnamese
people are mostly farmers, so working in the field is unavoidable, especially wet rice production
needs farmers to work in water during too many hours – the environment has a lot of kinds of
animal like “đĩa”. The feature of this animal is that it sticks absolutely strongly.

Some typical examples above has clearly shown the influence of natural and living condition on
the way of using idioms of comparison.

b. Differences with the same components

Every so often, some images of comparison can appear in both Vietnamese and English idioms
but the meaning of the two whole idioms are quite different. That’s because the meaning of
components differs in culture.Indeed, using the idiom “rõ như ban ngày”, the Vietnamese want
to indicate a event which has nothing fishy. Meanwhile English people use the idiom “as bright
as day” to describe a light room. Besides, when the weather is fine and sunny with good natural
light, English people say: “It’s as bright as day”. Besides, wanting to compliment someone on his
or her beauty of eyes, Vietnamese people say: “Mắt cô sắc như dao cạo”. Still, English people
use the idiom “as sharp as a razor” to refer to one’s brainpower. What is more, whilst
Vietnamese people apply the idiom “chắc như đinh đóng cột” to something steady, “as hard as
nails” in English idiom means a person who is quite strict. Also, when Vietnamese people say:
“Nó tốt như vàng”, they mean it’s worth buying the object because of its good quality. In
contrast, “as good as gold” cannot be used to compliment an object. In other words, English
people never say: “It’s as good as gold” but “The person is as good as gold”. The person can be
an assiduous and submissive child or a well-behaved adult.
 c. .Differences with human components

Last but not least, let’s have a look at the last component in idioms of comparison: human
component. It is not just borrowed from the animals or things in daily life but also the human
image. Certainly those are mostly the famous characters or people in history, literature or even
real life. They are so common with some special characteristics that everyone can remember
them when mention. For instance, as describing a person who is very jealous, we often see the
image of a woman named “Hoạn Thư” – a character in Thuy Kieu story who had extreme and
terrible jealousy, sometimes cruel. So in Vietnamese idioms we have; “ghen như Hoạn Thư”. On
the other hand, to English, jealousy is compared with Othello – a character in Shakespeare’s
play: “As jealous as Othello”.

Moreover, on depicting the state of being happy, English people say “ As happy as a king”
because to them King is the one who can enjoy all the best thing in the world, from a needle to
an elephant. While in Vietnam, happiness is compared with the fairy: “As happy as a fairy”.
Although fairy is not real, she is just a product of imagination in some fairy tales which is used to
teach children and to bring happiness to everyone with her magic, people also trust that a fairy
can help them, evade the poverty…etc. In this comparison, English people are quite more
concrete than Vietnamese ones.

Furthermore, it is true that the main religion in Vietnam is Buddhism. As a matter of fact, some
idioms of comparison are affected by some image heritage in Buddhism. For examples: As fat as
Di Lac (Béo như ông Di Lặc), as untidy as La Han (bày như ông La Hán), as gentle as Buddha
(hiền như Bụt)

IV. Problems faced by learners and suggested solutions

Idioms are now common in English speaking. We can find them easily on newspaper, in
magazines, on televisions, on radios or on some window shopping…. Consequently, if we want
to be English native-like and does not sound awkward, mastering idioms is quite necessary.
English people tend to speak differently to each other and to the others from foreign countries.
Sometimes it may be difficult for foreign people like us to understand what an English wants to
convey or imply. In this part, there will be some discussions about the problems that Vietnamese
people may encounter when studying idioms.
 a. Problems

Dealing with various grammatical structures

First of all, with regular-structure idioms, they get the simple form so we do not have much
confusion when viewing those idioms; however, the meaning of each single component in it has
no relation with the meaning of the whole idiom, which may make us misunderstand the
implications inside. This kind is possibly the most challenging to foreign learners. For instance,
not many people can draw out the meaning of “red tape” as “bureaucratic method”. Next, the
irregular-structure idioms does not have any difficulties because the meaning can be figured out
comprehensively through the meaning of components. Lastly is the case of ingrammatical-
structure idioms, the structure is not in the order as we have learnt, it does not follow the
grammatical rules and does not express the true significance by combining the meaning of each
word. Just take an example: with the idiom: “be in on the ground floor”, it is not reliable for us to
get the meaning basing on the the structure; it is exactly explained as: “to be involved from the
beginning in something that is likely to be successful”

Dealing with distinctive cultural features

“Cultural gap” is always the big obstacle for most foreign learners. To be more specific, the
culture of Vietnam and England are quite distinguishing as we have done research in the
previous part. If we do not get the tradition or the cultural value of the other country, we surely
find it a big problem to catch the meaning conveyed through some idioms. Or else, if we can
understand the meaning from that idiom, we are still confused when looking for an equivalent in
our mother tongue. For example, “as cool as cucumber”, we can grasp the meaning of this is to
describe a calm person especially in a tough situation”; but translating it into Vietnamese is quite
a hard work and it will be a mistake if we translate word by word. Be aware of those things, the
right answer will be: “bình chân như vại”. Another instance, “as alike as two peas”, it is a big
mistake if we translate it “giống nhau như hai quả mận”, in Vietnam we just have the idiom
“giống nhau như hai giọt nước” (as alike as two drops of water).

b. Solutions

From the reasons that caused difficulties in understanding, we would like to suggest some
solutions that may be effective for certain people:
Firstly, surely that dealing with idioms needs the careful study in all situations.

Next, idioms of comparison should be learnt in a specific situation, a real context in real life
rather than learn them by heart. It will be the best if we often practice and use them in the our
communicative daily life so that the meaning will become more efficient.

Furthermore, it is crucial to try to guess the meaning of idiom before looking it up in the
dictionary. This is also a way of learning new words that many experts have advised to to follow.
Guessing gives us an overview of the idiom by basing on the meaning of the word or using our
general knowledge and then dictionary is just the last step to confirm it.

Last but not least, knowledge of cultural values is a must, that consists of customs, belief,
concepts, behaviours, etc… This was certainly the most hard work to do, for it will take much of
our time, culture learning is a long process, but applying this will help us benefit a lot in grasping
the implications when communicating with foreigners.

Learners and idioms memorizing

If understanding is a problem to learners, memorizing is also another big problem. How can we
memorize those things that are not of our own country? How can we use it as a tip of tongue
when communicating with foreigners? In this part, three problems have been conducted and
along with it are some suggested solutions

a. Problems

 A large quantity of English idioms

Every country has their large number of idioms which often make the foreigners scared to study
all, and so does English. We can take the evidence from the two most popular dictionaries
nowadays: Oxford (5000 entries) and Cambridge Idioms Dictionary (7000 entries) with lots of
idioms divided into alphabet or sometimes to the topic (animals, flowers, comparison…). It is the
large number of idioms that discourage learners to try to memorize all of these things. In
addition, idioms have changed according to the change of life and society so as to be more
effective for the users. As a result of that, the number is about to increase days by days. In
conclusion, such large number is one of the causes that stop the people from learning them.

 Infrequent use
It is unavoidable that Vietnamese students have a chance to study idioms at school and in their
lessons; however, they rarely apply what they have learnt in their daily lives. To the people who
are not English-speaking ones, learning idioms is a hard work and using it is much harder, so
most of them intend to use the ordinary expression instead of idiomatic expression, which will
take a lot of time for them to communicate. It is the lack of environment practicing English
idioms that leads to the consequence that not many students can use idioms efficiently.

 A shortage of learning methods

Method is always the key to completing anything, it is important to know how to go rather than
the finish end. Contrarily, Vietnamese learners as well as many other non-English-speaking
learners do not have a perfect method to grasp those difficult idioms. Some choose to learn them
as learning new words by writing them on paper with some examples and learn by heart; others
try to listen everyday with the hope that they can remember easily. But those methods are not
considered effectively because idioms are related to real lives. The best way is that put those
idioms in daily life. Idioms cannot be separated from the contexts.

b. Solutions

First, there should not be any worry for the number of idioms. Even a native speakers cannot
remember all of them. The advice here is that try to memorize some useful ones that is common
in dialy communication. To be more efficient, the learners should divide idioms into some
sections as we have divided above: comparison with nouns, verbs, adjectives… so that it is easier
for learners to make connection. Furthermore, trying to use those idioms when communicating in
daily life is a must. The more we practice them, the more quickly we become a master of English
idioms! Last but not least, it is quite essential for Vietnamese learners to find Vietnamese
equivalents if possible. Despite the differences between two cultures, we still have some idioms
that can be easily changed into Vietnamese without changing meaning. For example: “As light as
feather” (Nhẹ tựa lông hồng), “As fierce as tiger” (Dữ như cọp)… thus those translation can give
the learners long time memory.
 CONCLUSION
There are both similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms of
comparison. The same or different image can bear resemblance in the meaning of English and
Vietnamese idioms of comparison. In addition, there are some idioms of comparison which have
the same components but the meaning are quite different. Great as have the researcher made an
attempt to do the research, there are some restrictions on the research out of the limited time and
other unexpected factors. The researcher hopes that the research will a useful material for
learners and teachers to learn or teach most effectively.
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