Ho chi minh city university of education department of english

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

Instructor: PhD Nguyễn Ngọc Vũ

Student: Vũ Hoàng Anh

HCMC, 31/12/2011
ABSTRACTS
Learning idioms play an important part in advancing language skill. Many students have much difficulty in describing their own ideas and feel that they can’t speak fluently or write a complete essay. This happens because they all rely on using separate words leading to make such “fragment” or “run-on” sentences. So, in order to be confident in using foreign language, to understand and use idioms in right way would be good choice for those who have strong desire to advance their level of English. However, learning idioms could cause a lot of obstacles because of culture differences and other afac. Idioms of body parts have high use in daily use and be contrastively analyzied between two languages - English and Vietnamese - as well as some guidelines for teaching in order to make idioms easily remembered and play motivation role in learning language.
Many thanks to my teacher, PhD Nguyễn Ngọc Vũ has given a lot of essential knowledge for the completion of this research.

A/ Contrastive Analysis of English and Vietnamese idioms of body parts

1. 
   Preface
   

1. 
   What is idiom? Idioms of body parts in two languages?
   

Ex:

• 
  Give your heart to someone = fall in love with someone
  
• 
  Give someone cold shoulders = treat someone in unfriendly way
  
• 
  Ném đá giấu tay = do evil things secretly
  
• 
  Miệng nam mô, miệng một bồ dao găm = pretend to be kind to someone but actually find ways to harm them.
  

In English, idioms of heart, head, eye, ear, hand, foot have the highest rate of presence, while idioms of stomach, belly, spine, knee, leg, lip have the least rate of presence (under four idioms of each).

Likewise, Vietnamese idioms of heart, head, hand and eye are mostly in use. However, Vietnamese idioms of belly, stomach and leg are also frequently used in real life.

Although idioms function as “describing facts in clever way” and proverbs function as “giving advice/ experience”, there is some idioms of body parts can also play roles as proverbs, which hardly happens in Vietnamese.

Ex: “Blood is thicker than water”

This idiom not only indicates the facts “one’s kins are much more favored than those who are not” but also gives advice in some cases.

For instance: A friend complains to you that he failed in an employment or contest although his final competitor is much worse than him, simply because the guy who wins has his brother as examiner of that contest. So you told him “Blood is thicker than water” showing normal experience “family relationships are stronger than any others” in order to solace him.

2. 
   How are idioms of body parts used in two languages?
   

2. 
   Contrast:
   

1. 
   In terms of structure:
   

• 
  In both English and Vietnamese, idioms are fixed in three typical structures: verb phrase, noun phrase, preposition phrase.
  
• 
  Some English idioms are also in structure of whole sentence, while those idioms of this structure are considered as “proverbs” in Vietnamese.
  

Structure of idioms	English idioms	Vietnamese idioms
Verb phrase	Stab in the back Have your hands full Bang your head agains a brick wall	Đâm lén sau lưng Đầu tắt mặt tối Đâm đầu vào tường
Noun phrase	Heart of stone Old head on young shoulder	Trái tim đá Ông cụ non
Preposition phrase	In the blink of an eye With the naked eye Behind one’s back	Trong nháy mắt Bằng mắt trần/ thường Sau lưng ai
Whole sentence	Blood is thicker than water Hands are tied. Walls have ears.	Giọt máu đào hơn ao nước lã. Lực bất tòng tâm. Tai vách mạch rừng (considered as proverbs)

• 
  Idioms of body parts in two languages densely appear in two main structures: verb phrase and noun phrase; while the other two are vice versa.
  

• 
  Idioms of body parts in English can flexibly exchange between two structures:
  

• 
  Noun phrase to verb phrase
  

Heart of gold  have a heart of gold

Heart and soul  put all one’s heart and soul in

 throw oneself heart and soul into

Sweet tooth  have a sweet tooth

Ex: Little Sue has a sweet tooth, that’s why candies or chocolate would be nice Christmas gifts for her.

Sweet teeth should reduce the amount of sugar in their diet and do regular exercise in order to avoid diabetes.

• 
  Preposition phrase to verb phrase:
  

With all ears  be all ears

With all eyes  be all eyes

Ex: I’m listening to your talk with all ears.

I’m all ears to your talk, go on please!

• 
  Whole sentence to verb phrase:
  

• 
  Whole sentence to preposition phrase:
  

Ex: My heart sank when I saw how much work was left.

• 
  There is no structural exchange in Vietnamese idioms but some idioms can play both roles as “vị từ” or whole sentence.
  

• 
  There are a lot of Vietnamese idioms of body parts that can separate themselves into smaller parts such as noun phrases, “vị từ”, small sentences or even just the same words in order to make statements more concise or impressive because we can easily understand the idea of author based on original idioms when we meet these four kinds of smaller parts.
  

• 
  Nhìn thì đẹp trai thật, nhưng cũng chỉ là loại dài lưng thôi. (noun phrase from “dài lưng tốn vải”)
  
• 
  Dù sao An cũng là giọt máu đào duy nhất của sếp Huy nên cất nhắc nó vào ghế trưởng phòng cũng dễ hiểu thôi mà” (noun phrase from “giọt máu đào hơn ao nước lã”)
  
• 
  Cứ cao ngạo đi, rồi một ngày chú em sẽ gặp móng tay nhọn (noun phrase from “vỏ quýt dày móng tay nhọn)
  
• 
  Lấy nhiều đồ ăn vậy chú em, lại cái tật đói con mắt nữa. (vị từ from: “no bụng đói con mắt)
  
• 
  Ai bảo chú mày ham chơi cho lắm, giờ sắp thi rồi mới vắt giò lên mà ôn thi nhé (vị từ from “vắt giò lên cổ)
  
• 
  Này, cẩn thận với gã ấy, miệng nam mô vậy thôi chứ gã chuyên lừa người trong khu này bán đất cho gã với giá rẻ mạt. (small sentence from: “ miệng nam mô bụng một bồ dao găm”)
  
• 
  Thằng Huy nhìn hiền lành thư sinh chứ bụng toàn bồ dao găm mày ạ. (small sentence from: “ miệng nam mô bụng một bồ dao găm”)
  
• 
  Hai vợ chồng nó lại thượng cẳng rồi kìa, riết rồi con cái không biết học hành ra sao. (the same words “thượng cẳng” from “thượng cẳng chân hạ cẳng tay”)
  

• 
  Many Vietnamese idioms have four words which would be divided into two equal groups of words. In reality, especially in newspaper, sometimes in order to make events/ facts more impressive, persuasive and deeply moving, these two groups of words can only exchange the order providing that they have independent relationship of meaning. We also use this change of order so as to color our stories much attractively and humorously.
  

• 
  Cái làng này tay bùn chân lấm suốt ngày, mặt tắt đầu tối quanh năm mà cái nghèo vẫn đeo bám đến tận bây giờ.(from “chân lấm tay bùn”, “đầu tối mặt tắt”)
  
• 
  Cật rét bụng đói suốt thời sinh viên nhưng hắn luôn dẫn đầu về thành tích học tập toàn trường. (from “bụng đói cật rét”)
  
• 
  Gan sứa miệng hùm, hắn cũng thật to gan khi. (from “miệng hùm gan sứa”)
  

• 
  The change of order between two groups cannot take place when there is a chronological or consequential relationship between them.
  

• 
  chronological relationship:
  

tay làm hàm nhai

ngậm máu phun người

giấu đầu hở đuôi

ném đá giấu tay

• 
  consequential relationship:
  

chân cứng đá mềm

2. 
   In terms of meaning:
   

• 
  Similarities which are easy to guess meaning.
  

• 
  There are so many English idioms of body parts for which we easily find out the right equivalent Vietnamese idioms/ expressions even just based on literal meaning because the images used in idioms are familiarly symbolized for the same matter.
  

Image (symbolized for…)	English idioms	Vietnamese idioms
Nose	Led by nose Poke your nose into one’s affair	Bị dắt mũi Nhúng/ chõ mũi vào chuyện người khác
Brain (thinking, intelligence)	Rack one’s brain	Vắt óc suy nghĩ về
Face (self-pride)	Lose face Save/ keep face Laugh in one’s face	Mất mặt Giữ thể diện Cười vào mặt
Eye (attention)	With naked eye In the blink of an eye Have eyes in the back of one’s head With your eyes shut/ closed Not bat an eyelid Turn a blind eye to something	Bằng mắt thường, Trong nháy mắt Có con mắt sau lưng Nhắm mắt cũng làm được việc gì Không chớp mắt Nhắm mắt làm ngơ
	Make one’s hair stand on end	Dựng tóc gáy
Heart (emotion, feeling, the most important part of something)	Your heart misses a beat Put all your heart and soul into From the bottom of your heart Heart of matter	Con tim lỗi nhịp Dồn tâm huyết vào việc gì Thật lòng mà nói Trọng tâm vấn đề
Blood (emotion)	Make my blood boil	Làm sôi máu, điên tiết
Head (intelligence/ leading position/pride )	Be/ stand head and shoulders above someone/ something From head to foot/ toe Hold your head high	Hơn hẳn một cái đầu Từ đầu tới chân/đuôi Ngẩng cao đầu

• 
  There are also pairs of idioms in two languages sending the same messages for one matter when we must base on the figurative meaning plus our imagination to guess meaning.
  

English idioms

Vietnamese idioms

Two heads are better than one Four eyes see more than two To remain a brazen face/ have the face to do something There’s no venom like that of tongue/ The tongue is not steel but it cuts Many hands make light work See star before one’s eyes One’s eyes are bigger than his stomach Can’t make head nor tail of something Lose your head Be all eyes Do something standing on your head Have one’s blood on your hand Blood, sweat and tears Be/ In your blood Have a big mouth Give a hand Lend an ear to Nothing but skin and bone A thick skin All brawn and no brain Make your mouth water Not have a hair out of a place The devil make work for idle hands Old head on young shoulders

Ba anh thợ da hơn Gia Cát Lượng Mặt dày mày dạn/ mặt trơ trán bong Lưỡi không xương nhiều đường lắt léo Đông tay hơn hay làm Nổ đom đóm mắt/ hoa mắt No bụng đói con mắt Không rõ đầu đuôi/ đầu cua tai nheo thế nào Mất trí Căng mắt/ chú tâm Nhắm mắt cũng làm được Tay vấy máu Mồ hôi nước mắt/ xương máu Ăn vào máu/ là máu xương To mồm/ nhiều chuyện Giúp một tay Chăm chú lắng nghe Da bọc xương Da mặt dày Đầu óc bã đậu/ có lớn mà không có khôn Thèm chảy nước miếng Sạch không có một cọng tóc Nhàn cư vi bất thiện Ông cụ non

• 
  Due to different culture, some pairs of idioms have close meaning with the same values of content but different images are used reflecting different cognitive view.
  

• 
  Vietnamese idioms use image of “bụng”, “ dạ”, “lòng” (belly) and “ruột” (gut, bowel) to refer aspect of one’s thought, emotion, feeling and even moral, while image of “heart” mostly refer these human aspects in English idioms.
  

English idioms	Vietnamese idioms
Measure others’ feet by one’s own last	Suy bụng ta ra bụng người
Heart is a mystery You can never see into another heart	Lòng người khó dò
When the blood sheds, the heart aches	Máu chảy ruột mềm
A honey tongue, a heart of gall	Miệng nam mô, bụng một bồ dao găm Miệng thơn thớt, dạ ớt ngâm
Live a nasty taste in your mouth	Đắng lòng

• 
  “miệng”, “mồm”, “lưỡi” emphasize the way to communicate with other people in Vietnamese idioms, similarly, “tongue”, “mouth” and are used in English idioms.
  

English idioms	Vietnamese idioms
Hold your tongue/ keep a still tongue in your head	Giữ mồm giữ miệng
Be all mouth	Miệng hùm gan sứa
Watch your mouth/ tongue	Uốn lưỡi bảy lần
A fool’s tongue is long enough to cut his own throat	Ếch chết tại miệng

• 
  Other cases when different images are used.
  

English idioms	Vietnamese idioms
Sweat, blood and tears Sweat one’s guts out Work one’s fingers to the bone	Đổ mồ hôi, sôi nước mắt Làm cật lực
Turn back on someone	Trở mặt
Not harm/ touch a hair of one’s head	Không đụng tới ngón chân của ai
Make my blood run cold	Lạnh sống lưng
It’s not brain surgery	Dễ như trở bàn tay
Turn your head of your success	Vểnh mặt tự đắc

• 
  Although we often face up some idioms that contain universal images such as “heart”, “hand”, “leg”, we are usually misled to guess meaning simply because we assimilate image used in idioms and how idioms draw different connection in our mind. It’s advisable to take into consider the context before giving the right meaning.
  

• 
  “pull somebody’s leg” : misunderstand as making somebody relaxed, while it correct meaning is “to play a joke on someone, usually by making them believe something that is not true”
  
• 
  “get your hands dirty” , the word “dirty” misleads us to think “do everything evil or illegal in order to achieve what someone wants by any cost”, while its actual meaning is “do hard physical work without complaining”.
  
• 
  “change of heart” misunderstand as one’s betrayal “thay lòng đổi dạ”, a negative meaning but it means “change opinions/attitudes/feelings towards greater friendliness or cooperation”.
  

• 
  Differences from cognitive view that leads to different attitudes.
  

• 
  “throw somebody a bone” = praise somebody (misunderstood as consider somebody as a dog and give him what he wants)
  
• 
  “pay lip service” = strongly approve/ support to do something but show no action to complete that job (misunderstood as pay money to go to bed with someone).
  

1. 
   Application to teaching
   

• 
  prepare suitable context and prevent student from culture difference. That could be done by creating impressive image describing idioms of body parts or connect them with the equivalent Vietnamese idioms on both literal and figurative meaning.
  
• 
  use these kind of idioms in giving lesson or discussing with students.
  
• 
  try to help students to use idioms of body parts in daily life and review them regularly.
  
• 
  encourage students who use the right idioms of body parts in right context as well as check their meaning in dictionary.
  

when asking for help: “ give a hand”, “many hands make light work”

when giving advice: “hold your tongue”, “don’t measure her feet by you own last”

• 
  give clear and brief explanation of some difficult idioms that are due to different thinking process, culture and lifestyle. This can be solved by two ways:
  

• 
  translate into another equivalent idioms without using image of body parts:
  

“like getting blood out of stone” = khó như vắt chày ra nước

“give someone cold shoulders” = thờ ơ, dửng dưng, lãnh đạm

• 
  use another image of body parts which refer the same reflective value.
  

“not turn a hair” = không chớp mắt

“cost an arm and a leg” =đắt cắt cổ

“have your hands full” = bận tối mắt tối mũi

“wet behinds the ears” = miệng còn hôi sữa

“have/ with one’s head in one’s mouth” = sợ líu lưỡi, cứng họng

“let him put in his finger and he will put on his whole hand” = được đằng chân lân đằng đầu.
The devil makes work for idle hands: nhàn cư vi bất thiện

• 
  motivate students to make a small contrastive analysis of idioms during the course
  

If the teachers are keen on these guidelines, idioms of body parts would play an interesting partsin learning English and make students feel more progress in learning language.

1. 
   Hung, N.D. “Tuyển tập thành ngữ-tục ngữ-ca dao Việt Anh thông dụng”.
   
2. 
   Vu, N.N. “Conceptual metaphor analysis of English and Vietnamese body part idioms”.
   
3. 
   Erich. A Berendt & Keiko Tanita. “The ‘Heart’ of things: A conceptual metaphoric analysis of heart and other related body parts in Thai, Japanese and English”. Assumption University and Seisen University.
   
4. 
   TE editors from British council. (July 14^th,2010) . “Proverbs and idioms” http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/teaching-tips/proverbs-idioms
   
5. 
   “Vài nét về thành ngữ tiếng Việt và dịch thuật thành ngữ” http://www.dthoi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9753