Luận Văn A contrastive analysis of english and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs relating to insects' names

Khóa luận tốt nghiệp năm 2012
Đề tài: A contrastive analysis of english and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs relating to insects' names


TABLE OF CONTENT
Acknowledgements
PART I: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Scope of the study .2
3. Aims of the study .2
4. Method of the study .2
5. Design of the study 3
PART II: DEVELOPMENT .4
Chapter 1: Theoretical background
1. Language and culture .4
1.1. What is language? 4
1.2. What is culture? . 6
1.3. Language and culture .9
2. An overview of idioms 9
2.1. What is an idiom? 9
2.2. Some common features of idioms .11
3. An overview of proverbs .12
3.1. What is a proverb? 12
3.2. Some common features of proverbs 13
4. The distinction between idioms and proverbs 13
4.1. English idioms and proverbs .13
4.2. Vietnamese idioms and proverbs . 14
Chapter 2: Some idioms and proverbs relating t o names of insect species
1. Idioms and proverbs relating to bees 15
2. Idioms and proverbs relating to fleas .17
3. Idioms and proverbs relating to butterflies .19
4. Idioms and proverbs relating to ants 22
5. Idioms and proverbs relating to flies 24
6. Idioms and proverbs relating to bugs .26
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7. Idioms and proverbs relating to worms .28
8. Idioms and proverbs relating to mosquitos .31
9. Idioms and proverbs relating to grasshoppers .33
10. Idioms and proverbs relating to beetles .35
11. Idioms and proverbs relating to cockroaches 36
11. Idioms and proverbs relating to crickets .37
Chapter 3: Related problems faced by English learners and suggested solution
1. Some difficulties in studying idioms and proverbs 41
2. Suggested solutions 41
PART III: CONCLUSION 43
References


Part 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Each nation has its own particular culture and the cultural identity of ethnic groups has
decided the differences between customary practices, personality, and history of every
country in the world. Among them, folklore is the most precious treasure for any
country. As a result of a long process, proverbs and idioms have become important
parts constituting that culture. In both Vietnamese and English there are many
different idioms and proverbs that are really close to human life such as: nature, plants,
people and even to the small animals like insects. I chose to research on insects for the
following reasons:
- Firstly, Vietnam is an agricultural country, so insects of both beneficial and
harmful species are close to and necessary for agriculture. It is obvious that people
with considerable experience in agriculture are able to speak and understand the
language better. The vivid picture, as it is expressed by idioms and proverbs is the best
method to learn it.
- Secondly, In Britain, although industry has become the most important aspect
of the modern state, the people still consider agriculture to have a significant impact on
their culture, especially on the language. This is the reason why there are still lo ts of
proverbs and idioms referring to nature. Each category has specific insects. Utility,
different effects and people often lend their image to one or more of the general nature
of man. They are mostly constituted out of rhymes so that they can easily be
remembered. Through the country's history, these idioms and proverbs were given
from one generation to another and are still relevant nowadays.
- Thirdly, idioms and proverbs are very common in spoken English and informal
written English as well as Vietnamese, thus it is important and fun to learn some of
them. In spoken English, they are used in most situations, from friendly conversations
to business meetings. In written English, they are especially common in newspaper
because the writers want to make the headlines and articles interesting and lively.
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This interesting topic has attracted a large number of scientific researchers as well as
numerous students. Even little children are interested in learning idioms, as they teach
them a lot about life and the way some people behave. I learned so many interesting
and useful things from this topic: understanding profound aspects of culture of both
English and Vietnamese nation and gaining experience for my future life.
2. Scope of the study
Idioms and proverbs are so large and difficult aspect of each language, that my
graduating paper cannot cover all insect idioms and proverbs; it only focuses on
typical insects such as bees, fleas, bugs, butterflies, ants, flies, worms, beetles, gnats,
crickets and grasshoppers.
3. Aims of the study
Idioms and proverbs are an extremely difficult topic, which is hardly understood by
foreign English learners, and even native speakers, who learn the idioms and proverbs
and do not know how to use them. Being aware of this fact, I appreciate the idioms
and proverbs associated to attitude and behavior of the speakers. Sometimes we can
ignore the spelling mistakes because we still understand, but if someone uses the
wrong idioms or proverbs, we cannot understand. Therefore, my research is aimed at:
- Collecting and classifying some idioms and proverbs which are usually used in
Vietnamese and English language.
- Finding out some similarities and differences between these two cultures.
- Helping the learners or someone interested in idioms and proverbs to use them
in a correct way.
4. Methods of the study
In order to learn English and Vietnamese idioms and proverbs relating to some
common insects' name better and to make learners recognize the important roles of
idioms and proverbs in life, the following methods are used in the studying process:
- Material analysis: reading reference books to find and collect needed
information. Other hand, collecting the specific examples for study.
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- Consultations: having discussion with the supervisor, experts and friends.
- Comparison and contrast: selecting, comparing and contrasting examples in
English idioms and proverbs and Vietnamese ones in order to find the most similarities
and differences.
5. Design of the study
This paper provides a clear organization consisting three main parts, which are very
easy to explore and learn. Part I- Introduction, consists of five small parts namely:
Rationale, Scope of the study, Aims of the study, Methods of the study and Design of
the study. Three other chapters are presented in the Part II. "Language and Culture",
"An overview of idioms" and "An overview of proverbs" are belonging to Chapter 1,
Theoretical background. In these sub-divisions I present some knowledge about
language and culture, idioms, proverbs definition and their some common features.
Chapter 2, Idioms and proverbs relating to insects' names in English and Vietnamese.
Due to the limitation of time and knowledge, I just do research on ten typical insects'
names: Bees, Fleas, Butterflies, Ants, Flies, Bugs, Worms, Beetles, Gnats, Crickets
and the Grasshoppers. Chapter 3 is "Related problems faced by English learners and
suggested solutions". And the last part is Part III, Conclusion.