Luận văn a study on english and vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities from cultural perspective

However, due to the limited time and knowledge, I just focus ona small part of the huge proverbial reasue “A study on English and Vietnamese proverbs sbout educating moral qualities fo

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

PHAM THI MINH

A STUDY ON ENGLISII AND VIETNAMESE PROVERBS

ABOUT EDUCATING MORAL QUALITIES FROM

CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

(Tục ngữ tiếng Anh và Tiêng Việt với ý nghĩa giáo dục phẩm chat

đao đức - Nghiên cửu dưới góc độ văn hoá)

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

PILAM TIT MINIT

A STUDY ON ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE PROVERBS

ABOUT EDUCATING MORAL QUALITIES FROM

CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

{Tục ngữ tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt với y nghĩa giáo dục phẩm chất

đao đức - Nghiên cứu dưới góc độ văn hoá)

2, Aims of the study

3 Scope of the study

4 Molhods of the study

5 Design of the study

DEVELOPMENT CIIAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

11 Proverbs

1.11 Deñnitians

1.1.2 Proverbs about educating moral qualities

1.1.3 Some features af proverbs

1.1.4 Classification of proverbs

1.1.5 Proverbs and Idioms

Some characteristics of English/ Vietnamese peuple and cullure

roe hob The relationship between language and culture

Characteristics of English people and culture

io ie Characteristics of Vietnamese people and culture

proverbs can help leamers know more about social and cultural characteristics of that language

Sccondly, praverbs ar usoit to cxpross idcas in figurative way Il brings the

vividness and richness for the spzaker’s sp:

h Anyors who much voncerns proverbs owns a very altractive manner of speaking, Especially, they can do provide users with a whole new way of expressing concepts linguistically Without Ihem, ¡L can be slated that English might lose its color and vitality,

Studying English proverbs in comparison with Vietnamese ones, we can find the

similarilies and difference

in two languages and cultures, which therefor:

Ip Iearnicrs

of English to understand and have a better use of English proverbs and Vietnamese ones

‘This can also help leamers to have better communication in the cross-cultural communication

Professor Denis Brutus (Pittsbu;

h University, Americ, 1995) stated the practical effect of learning proverbs: “Through proverbs £ know your points of view, the attitudes

of your ancestors Rach time T know a new Vietnamese proverb, I became Vietnamese a

little I believe when we know all proverbs of each other, we are brothers”

Leing interested in proverbs for a long time, | choose proverbs as my thesis topic

as both English and Victnames: are especially nich in proverbs Many of them are

comesponding in meaning or close enough to make comparison interesting and rewarding However, due to the limited time and knowledge, I just focus ona small part

of the huge proverbial (reasue “A study on English and Vietnamese proverbs sbout

educating moral qualities fom cultural perspective”

Llopefully, the study may be an interesting and helpful material for learners,

teachers of English and for people who arc intercsied im cultural palldm in

communication and cross-cultural communication

Z Aims of the study

The study aims to:

© Investigate the general syntactic, semantic and especially cultural features

of English and Viemamese proverbs about educating moral qualities

Lixplore the similarities and differences between Linglish and Vietnamese

proverbs can help leamers know more about social and cultural characteristics of that language

Sccondly, praverbs ar usoit to cxpross idcas in figurative way Il brings the

vividness and richness for the spzaker’s sp:

h Anyors who much voncerns proverbs owns a very altractive manner of speaking, Especially, they can do provide users with a whole new way of expressing concepts linguistically Without Ihem, ¡L can be slated that English might lose its color and vitality,

Studying English proverbs in comparison with Vietnamese ones, we can find the

similarilies and difference

in two languages and cultures, which therefor:

Ip Iearnicrs

of English to understand and have a better use of English proverbs and Vietnamese ones

‘This can also help leamers to have better communication in the cross-cultural communication

Professor Denis Brutus (Pittsbu;

h University, Americ, 1995) stated the practical effect of learning proverbs: “Through proverbs £ know your points of view, the attitudes

of your ancestors Rach time T know a new Vietnamese proverb, I became Vietnamese a

little I believe when we know all proverbs of each other, we are brothers”

Leing interested in proverbs for a long time, | choose proverbs as my thesis topic

as both English and Victnames: are especially nich in proverbs Many of them are

comesponding in meaning or close enough to make comparison interesting and rewarding However, due to the limited time and knowledge, I just focus ona small part

of the huge proverbial (reasue “A study on English and Vietnamese proverbs sbout

educating moral qualities fom cultural perspective”

Llopefully, the study may be an interesting and helpful material for learners,

teachers of English and for people who arc intercsied im cultural palldm in

communication and cross-cultural communication

Z Aims of the study

The study aims to:

© Investigate the general syntactic, semantic and especially cultural features

of English and Viemamese proverbs about educating moral qualities

Lixplore the similarities and differences between Linglish and Vietnamese

proverbs about educating moral qualities fiom the eultural perspective

= Provide some suggestions for the tenching/learing and translation of the English proverbs about educating moral qualities in particular

3 Scope of the study

Proverbs about educating moral qualities are a large part in both English and

Vietnamese proverhs, so it is impossible for the author to carry out an exhaustive study

on them, just from the cultural perspective

In this study, syntactic and semantic features of English proverbs about educating moral qualilies are discussed briefly, cultural features are extensively analyved and

discussed when English proverbs are compared with Vietnamese ones

All English and Vietnamese proverbs are collected from dictionaries and books,

so this research may not cover all proverbs about educating moral qualities; just those of

common usc

4, Methods of the study

The study uses the two methods: quantitative and qualitative By virtue of the quantitative method, the study has collected data for the study, inchiding both English and Vielmarnese proverbs about educating moral qualilies The qualitative method is employed to describe and analyze the data of the study, The steps of the study are in the order as follows:

© Collect Linglish and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities

fromm several dicticmaries and books (¢ g., English proverbs and sayings, The Oxford Dictionary of voncise Proverbs, Tit diễn Thành ngữ và lục ngữ Việt Nam by Nguyễn Lân, Tit didn Tuc ngit Vide-Anh, Anh-Viee thông đụng by Vũ THÊ Ngọc, Tục ngữ sơ sảnh (838 Tục Xgít Việt-3000 Tục ngữ Anh-Pháp- Pspanlo) by Phụm Văn VăilL, Tục ngữ Cá dao Dan ca Viet Nam by Vii Ngoc Phan and then sort them out

«Investigate and analyze the syntactic, semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities

© Compare and find the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese about educating moral qualities

5 Design of the study

The study consists of three parts The first part “INTRODUCTION” outlines the

background of the study In this part, a brief account of relevant information is provided

about the rationale, aims, scopes, method, and design of the study

‘The main part of the study comprises three chapters

Chapter one, as implicd by the fille: “Theoretical Background”, covers a series of

proverb-related concepts ranging tiom definitions of proverbs, features of proverbs, types

of proverhs, proverbs in comparison with idioms Chapters two and three make up the more specifically focused part of the study Chapter Iwo is concerned with a

“Comparison of syutactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities’ whereas chapter three deals with a

“Comparison of cultural features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities”

‘The final part is the “CONCLUSION”, which provides the recapitulation, implications

for the FFL teaching and learning and for the translation, and suggestions for farther

studies The study ends with the “REFERENCES”.

As there is a general agreement that proverbs are widely known in all human

languages, it is very ncecssary to define what proverbs arc Such English expressions as

“Many men, many minds”, “Experience is the mother of wisdem”, “Poverty ts no sin”, cle are usually described as proverbs, so “Whal is a proverb?”

According to The New Oxford Dictionary (1996), a proverb is “a short, pithy saying in

general use, stating a general truth or a piece of advice” This definition is developed in

the Oxford English Dictionary (2001, on-line) which defines a proverb as “a short, pithy

saying i common and recognized use, a concise sentence, often metaphorical or

alliterative in form, which is held to express some truth ascertained by experience or

observation and familiar ta all”

Some proverbs in themselves are people’s definitions of a proverbs, like “proverbs are

the wisdom of the street”, “proverbs are the children of experience”, “All the good sense

of the world runs into proverbs”

Wolfgang Micder defines a proverb as “a concise statement of an apparent iruth

which has currency anong the people” Mieder performed an interesting survey, asking

in the collected definitions, a proverb is “a phrase, saving, truth, morals, experience,

lessons, and advice concerning life and which has been handed from generation to

generation (Proverbs arc never ont of scason, 1993)

Vu Ngoc Phan (2000:39) considered proverbs as “a complete saying in which it expresses one idea of comment, experience, morality, justice or criticism”

Many olher scholars contimme ta find their own definitions of proverbs, Init il is

difficult to give one exact definition Archer Taylor (1931) defined a proverb in more

than 200 pages, and he conchided that it was impossible to give a meaningful definition

of it Taylor noted that “ an incommaticahle quality tells us this sentence ts proverbial

and that one is not” (1931.3).

INTRODUCTION

1, Rationale

It is clear that communicators in their own native language environment find it

natural te speak in the way they normally speak and behave according to their

presupposed social norms and conventions However, in our cross-cultural

communicalion, that is corumnanication between individuals from different cultural

backgroméds, many difficullies nay arise Fach nation’s language lies in ilsel similar and

different cultural concepts on many fields of life such as humane values, behaviour

standards, religious beliefs, etc Therefore, it would be difficult for foreign language

lcarners to commmnicate successfully with native speakers if they have poor

understanding of the Janguage itself and the language in relation with culture

Among many favorite languages sack as French, Chinase cle, English has still played its decisive role in international communication and has been Jeamed by a large mmumber of people in the world All foreign learners of Linglish desire to master inglish as the native speakers but they usually face many difficulties that prevent them ftom gaining sucecssful conversations, One of the reasons for these problems lics in the way people peroeive and use proverbs

For many yoars, English provorbs have often beon neglected in Iearning and teaching because it is a difficult area of English, but nobody can deny that proverbs are really important in communication, “a proverbs wn the hand ix often worth q thousand

words” (Horace Reynolds, 1959)

Furstly, proverbs as traditional wisdom are never absent tom our daily speech They are a main part of each nation’s culture, which reflects all aspects of the life People

epilomize their way of thinking and their ideas through proverbs We can use therm to

solve our daily conflicts or support our arguments Proverbs are the mizrors that reflect

Inman culture As Dr Malik lzaki (2002) states: “If we want to understand the culture in

a given society, we have to study its proverbs as any nation has its own characteristics

that reflect their lives and environmental surroundings” Hence, it can be said that

CIIAPTER TWO: COMPARISON OF SYNTACTIC AND

VIETNAMESE PROVERBS ABOUT EDUCATING MORAL

CHAPTER THREE: COMPARISON OF CULTURAL

FEATURES BETWEEN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

PROVERBS ABOUT EDUCATING MORAL QUALITIES

Universal moral qualities

Moral qualities in the family

Women’s moral qualities

Moral qualities in love

Moral qualities in the busband-wile relationship

The duty of the children towards their parents

Ins the soclety

Moral qualities in friendship and neighborhood

‘The attitudes towards the elderly people and the teachers

The altilude towards Law

The attitude towards money

About Honor

Summary

14

As there is a general agreement that proverbs are widely known in all human

languages, it is very ncecssary to define what proverbs arc Such English expressions as

“Many men, many minds”, “Experience is the mother of wisdem”, “Poverty ts no sin”, cle are usually described as proverbs, so “Whal is a proverb?”

According to The New Oxford Dictionary (1996), a proverb is “a short, pithy saying in

general use, stating a general truth or a piece of advice” This definition is developed in

the Oxford English Dictionary (2001, on-line) which defines a proverb as “a short, pithy

saying i common and recognized use, a concise sentence, often metaphorical or

alliterative in form, which is held to express some truth ascertained by experience or

observation and familiar ta all”

Some proverbs in themselves are people’s definitions of a proverbs, like “proverbs are

the wisdom of the street”, “proverbs are the children of experience”, “All the good sense

of the world runs into proverbs”

Wolfgang Micder defines a proverb as “a concise statement of an apparent iruth

which has currency anong the people” Mieder performed an interesting survey, asking

in the collected definitions, a proverb is “a phrase, saving, truth, morals, experience,

lessons, and advice concerning life and which has been handed from generation to

generation (Proverbs arc never ont of scason, 1993)

Vu Ngoc Phan (2000:39) considered proverbs as “a complete saying in which it expresses one idea of comment, experience, morality, justice or criticism”

Many olher scholars contimme ta find their own definitions of proverbs, Init il is

difficult to give one exact definition Archer Taylor (1931) defined a proverb in more

than 200 pages, and he conchided that it was impossible to give a meaningful definition

of it Taylor noted that “ an incommaticahle quality tells us this sentence ts proverbial

and that one is not” (1931.3).

INTRODUCTION

1, Rationale

It is clear that communicators in their own native language environment find it

natural te speak in the way they normally speak and behave according to their

presupposed social norms and conventions However, in our cross-cultural

communicalion, that is corumnanication between individuals from different cultural

backgroméds, many difficullies nay arise Fach nation’s language lies in ilsel similar and

different cultural concepts on many fields of life such as humane values, behaviour

standards, religious beliefs, etc Therefore, it would be difficult for foreign language

lcarners to commmnicate successfully with native speakers if they have poor

understanding of the Janguage itself and the language in relation with culture

Among many favorite languages sack as French, Chinase cle, English has still played its decisive role in international communication and has been Jeamed by a large mmumber of people in the world All foreign learners of Linglish desire to master inglish as the native speakers but they usually face many difficulties that prevent them ftom gaining sucecssful conversations, One of the reasons for these problems lics in the way people peroeive and use proverbs

For many yoars, English provorbs have often beon neglected in Iearning and teaching because it is a difficult area of English, but nobody can deny that proverbs are really important in communication, “a proverbs wn the hand ix often worth q thousand

words” (Horace Reynolds, 1959)

Furstly, proverbs as traditional wisdom are never absent tom our daily speech They are a main part of each nation’s culture, which reflects all aspects of the life People

epilomize their way of thinking and their ideas through proverbs We can use therm to

solve our daily conflicts or support our arguments Proverbs are the mizrors that reflect

Inman culture As Dr Malik lzaki (2002) states: “If we want to understand the culture in

a given society, we have to study its proverbs as any nation has its own characteristics

that reflect their lives and environmental surroundings” Hence, it can be said that

INTRODUCTION

1, Rationale

It is clear that communicators in their own native language environment find it

natural te speak in the way they normally speak and behave according to their

presupposed social norms and conventions However, in our cross-cultural

communicalion, that is corumnanication between individuals from different cultural

backgroméds, many difficullies nay arise Fach nation’s language lies in ilsel similar and

different cultural concepts on many fields of life such as humane values, behaviour

standards, religious beliefs, etc Therefore, it would be difficult for foreign language

lcarners to commmnicate successfully with native speakers if they have poor

understanding of the Janguage itself and the language in relation with culture

Among many favorite languages sack as French, Chinase cle, English has still played its decisive role in international communication and has been Jeamed by a large mmumber of people in the world All foreign learners of Linglish desire to master inglish as the native speakers but they usually face many difficulties that prevent them ftom gaining sucecssful conversations, One of the reasons for these problems lics in the way people peroeive and use proverbs

For many yoars, English provorbs have often beon neglected in Iearning and teaching because it is a difficult area of English, but nobody can deny that proverbs are really important in communication, “a proverbs wn the hand ix often worth q thousand

words” (Horace Reynolds, 1959)

Furstly, proverbs as traditional wisdom are never absent tom our daily speech They are a main part of each nation’s culture, which reflects all aspects of the life People

epilomize their way of thinking and their ideas through proverbs We can use therm to

solve our daily conflicts or support our arguments Proverbs are the mizrors that reflect

Inman culture As Dr Malik lzaki (2002) states: “If we want to understand the culture in

a given society, we have to study its proverbs as any nation has its own characteristics

that reflect their lives and environmental surroundings” Hence, it can be said that

proverbs about educating moral qualities fiom the eultural perspective

= Provide some suggestions for the tenching/learing and translation of the English proverbs about educating moral qualities in particular

3 Scope of the study

Proverbs about educating moral qualities are a large part in both English and

Vietnamese proverhs, so it is impossible for the author to carry out an exhaustive study

on them, just from the cultural perspective

In this study, syntactic and semantic features of English proverbs about educating moral qualilies are discussed briefly, cultural features are extensively analyved and

discussed when English proverbs are compared with Vietnamese ones

All English and Vietnamese proverbs are collected from dictionaries and books,

so this research may not cover all proverbs about educating moral qualities; just those of

common usc

4, Methods of the study

The study uses the two methods: quantitative and qualitative By virtue of the quantitative method, the study has collected data for the study, inchiding both English and Vielmarnese proverbs about educating moral qualilies The qualitative method is employed to describe and analyze the data of the study, The steps of the study are in the order as follows:

© Collect Linglish and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities

fromm several dicticmaries and books (¢ g., English proverbs and sayings, The Oxford Dictionary of voncise Proverbs, Tit diễn Thành ngữ và lục ngữ Việt Nam by Nguyễn Lân, Tit didn Tuc ngit Vide-Anh, Anh-Viee thông đụng by Vũ THÊ Ngọc, Tục ngữ sơ sảnh (838 Tục Xgít Việt-3000 Tục ngữ Anh-Pháp- Pspanlo) by Phụm Văn VăilL, Tục ngữ Cá dao Dan ca Viet Nam by Vii Ngoc Phan and then sort them out

«Investigate and analyze the syntactic, semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities

© Compare and find the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese about educating moral qualities

INTRODUCTION

1, Rationale

It is clear that communicators in their own native language environment find it

natural te speak in the way they normally speak and behave according to their

presupposed social norms and conventions However, in our cross-cultural

communicalion, that is corumnanication between individuals from different cultural

backgroméds, many difficullies nay arise Fach nation’s language lies in ilsel similar and

different cultural concepts on many fields of life such as humane values, behaviour

standards, religious beliefs, etc Therefore, it would be difficult for foreign language

lcarners to commmnicate successfully with native speakers if they have poor

understanding of the Janguage itself and the language in relation with culture

Among many favorite languages sack as French, Chinase cle, English has still played its decisive role in international communication and has been Jeamed by a large mmumber of people in the world All foreign learners of Linglish desire to master inglish as the native speakers but they usually face many difficulties that prevent them ftom gaining sucecssful conversations, One of the reasons for these problems lics in the way people peroeive and use proverbs

For many yoars, English provorbs have often beon neglected in Iearning and teaching because it is a difficult area of English, but nobody can deny that proverbs are really important in communication, “a proverbs wn the hand ix often worth q thousand

words” (Horace Reynolds, 1959)

Furstly, proverbs as traditional wisdom are never absent tom our daily speech They are a main part of each nation’s culture, which reflects all aspects of the life People

epilomize their way of thinking and their ideas through proverbs We can use therm to

solve our daily conflicts or support our arguments Proverbs are the mizrors that reflect

Inman culture As Dr Malik lzaki (2002) states: “If we want to understand the culture in

a given society, we have to study its proverbs as any nation has its own characteristics

that reflect their lives and environmental surroundings” Hence, it can be said that

proverbs about educating moral qualities fiom the eultural perspective

= Provide some suggestions for the tenching/learing and translation of the English proverbs about educating moral qualities in particular

3 Scope of the study

Proverbs about educating moral qualities are a large part in both English and

Vietnamese proverhs, so it is impossible for the author to carry out an exhaustive study

on them, just from the cultural perspective

In this study, syntactic and semantic features of English proverbs about educating moral qualilies are discussed briefly, cultural features are extensively analyved and

discussed when English proverbs are compared with Vietnamese ones

All English and Vietnamese proverbs are collected from dictionaries and books,

so this research may not cover all proverbs about educating moral qualities; just those of

common usc

4, Methods of the study

The study uses the two methods: quantitative and qualitative By virtue of the quantitative method, the study has collected data for the study, inchiding both English and Vielmarnese proverbs about educating moral qualilies The qualitative method is employed to describe and analyze the data of the study, The steps of the study are in the order as follows:

© Collect Linglish and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities

fromm several dicticmaries and books (¢ g., English proverbs and sayings, The Oxford Dictionary of voncise Proverbs, Tit diễn Thành ngữ và lục ngữ Việt Nam by Nguyễn Lân, Tit didn Tuc ngit Vide-Anh, Anh-Viee thông đụng by Vũ THÊ Ngọc, Tục ngữ sơ sảnh (838 Tục Xgít Việt-3000 Tục ngữ Anh-Pháp- Pspanlo) by Phụm Văn VăilL, Tục ngữ Cá dao Dan ca Viet Nam by Vii Ngoc Phan and then sort them out

«Investigate and analyze the syntactic, semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities

© Compare and find the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese about educating moral qualities

CIIAPTER TWO: COMPARISON OF SYNTACTIC AND

VIETNAMESE PROVERBS ABOUT EDUCATING MORAL

CHAPTER THREE: COMPARISON OF CULTURAL

FEATURES BETWEEN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

PROVERBS ABOUT EDUCATING MORAL QUALITIES

Universal moral qualities

Moral qualities in the family

Women’s moral qualities

Moral qualities in love

Moral qualities in the busband-wile relationship

The duty of the children towards their parents

Ins the soclety

Moral qualities in friendship and neighborhood

‘The attitudes towards the elderly people and the teachers

The altilude towards Law

The attitude towards money

About Honor

Summary

14

proverbs can help leamers know more about social and cultural characteristics of that language

Sccondly, praverbs ar usoit to cxpross idcas in figurative way Il brings the

vividness and richness for the spzaker’s sp:

h Anyors who much voncerns proverbs owns a very altractive manner of speaking, Especially, they can do provide users with a whole new way of expressing concepts linguistically Without Ihem, ¡L can be slated that English might lose its color and vitality,

Studying English proverbs in comparison with Vietnamese ones, we can find the

similarilies and difference

in two languages and cultures, which therefor:

Ip Iearnicrs

of English to understand and have a better use of English proverbs and Vietnamese ones

‘This can also help leamers to have better communication in the cross-cultural communication

Professor Denis Brutus (Pittsbu;

h University, Americ, 1995) stated the practical effect of learning proverbs: “Through proverbs £ know your points of view, the attitudes

of your ancestors Rach time T know a new Vietnamese proverb, I became Vietnamese a

little I believe when we know all proverbs of each other, we are brothers”

Leing interested in proverbs for a long time, | choose proverbs as my thesis topic

as both English and Victnames: are especially nich in proverbs Many of them are

comesponding in meaning or close enough to make comparison interesting and rewarding However, due to the limited time and knowledge, I just focus ona small part

of the huge proverbial (reasue “A study on English and Vietnamese proverbs sbout

educating moral qualities fom cultural perspective”

Llopefully, the study may be an interesting and helpful material for learners,

teachers of English and for people who arc intercsied im cultural palldm in

communication and cross-cultural communication

Z Aims of the study

The study aims to:

© Investigate the general syntactic, semantic and especially cultural features

of English and Viemamese proverbs about educating moral qualities

Lixplore the similarities and differences between Linglish and Vietnamese

proverbs can help leamers know more about social and cultural characteristics of that language

Sccondly, praverbs ar usoit to cxpross idcas in figurative way Il brings the

vividness and richness for the spzaker’s sp:

h Anyors who much voncerns proverbs owns a very altractive manner of speaking, Especially, they can do provide users with a whole new way of expressing concepts linguistically Without Ihem, ¡L can be slated that English might lose its color and vitality,

Studying English proverbs in comparison with Vietnamese ones, we can find the

similarilies and difference

in two languages and cultures, which therefor:

Ip Iearnicrs

of English to understand and have a better use of English proverbs and Vietnamese ones

‘This can also help leamers to have better communication in the cross-cultural communication

Professor Denis Brutus (Pittsbu;

h University, Americ, 1995) stated the practical effect of learning proverbs: “Through proverbs £ know your points of view, the attitudes

of your ancestors Rach time T know a new Vietnamese proverb, I became Vietnamese a

little I believe when we know all proverbs of each other, we are brothers”

Leing interested in proverbs for a long time, | choose proverbs as my thesis topic

as both English and Victnames: are especially nich in proverbs Many of them are

comesponding in meaning or close enough to make comparison interesting and rewarding However, due to the limited time and knowledge, I just focus ona small part

of the huge proverbial (reasue “A study on English and Vietnamese proverbs sbout

educating moral qualities fom cultural perspective”

Llopefully, the study may be an interesting and helpful material for learners,

teachers of English and for people who arc intercsied im cultural palldm in

communication and cross-cultural communication

Z Aims of the study

The study aims to:

© Investigate the general syntactic, semantic and especially cultural features

of English and Viemamese proverbs about educating moral qualities

Lixplore the similarities and differences between Linglish and Vietnamese

5 Design of the study

The study consists of three parts The first part “INTRODUCTION” outlines the

background of the study In this part, a brief account of relevant information is provided

about the rationale, aims, scopes, method, and design of the study

‘The main part of the study comprises three chapters

Chapter one, as implicd by the fille: “Theoretical Background”, covers a series of

proverb-related concepts ranging tiom definitions of proverbs, features of proverbs, types

of proverhs, proverbs in comparison with idioms Chapters two and three make up the more specifically focused part of the study Chapter Iwo is concerned with a

“Comparison of syutactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities’ whereas chapter three deals with a

“Comparison of cultural features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities”

‘The final part is the “CONCLUSION”, which provides the recapitulation, implications

for the FFL teaching and learning and for the translation, and suggestions for farther

studies The study ends with the “REFERENCES”.

INTRODUCTION

1, Rationale

It is clear that communicators in their own native language environment find it

natural te speak in the way they normally speak and behave according to their

presupposed social norms and conventions However, in our cross-cultural

communicalion, that is corumnanication between individuals from different cultural

backgroméds, many difficullies nay arise Fach nation’s language lies in ilsel similar and

different cultural concepts on many fields of life such as humane values, behaviour

standards, religious beliefs, etc Therefore, it would be difficult for foreign language

lcarners to commmnicate successfully with native speakers if they have poor

understanding of the Janguage itself and the language in relation with culture

Among many favorite languages sack as French, Chinase cle, English has still played its decisive role in international communication and has been Jeamed by a large mmumber of people in the world All foreign learners of Linglish desire to master inglish as the native speakers but they usually face many difficulties that prevent them ftom gaining sucecssful conversations, One of the reasons for these problems lics in the way people peroeive and use proverbs

For many yoars, English provorbs have often beon neglected in Iearning and teaching because it is a difficult area of English, but nobody can deny that proverbs are really important in communication, “a proverbs wn the hand ix often worth q thousand

words” (Horace Reynolds, 1959)

Furstly, proverbs as traditional wisdom are never absent tom our daily speech They are a main part of each nation’s culture, which reflects all aspects of the life People

epilomize their way of thinking and their ideas through proverbs We can use therm to

solve our daily conflicts or support our arguments Proverbs are the mizrors that reflect

Inman culture As Dr Malik lzaki (2002) states: “If we want to understand the culture in

a given society, we have to study its proverbs as any nation has its own characteristics

that reflect their lives and environmental surroundings” Hence, it can be said that

5 Design of the study

The study consists of three parts The first part “INTRODUCTION” outlines the

background of the study In this part, a brief account of relevant information is provided

about the rationale, aims, scopes, method, and design of the study

‘The main part of the study comprises three chapters

Chapter one, as implicd by the fille: “Theoretical Background”, covers a series of

proverb-related concepts ranging tiom definitions of proverbs, features of proverbs, types

of proverhs, proverbs in comparison with idioms Chapters two and three make up the more specifically focused part of the study Chapter Iwo is concerned with a

“Comparison of syutactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities’ whereas chapter three deals with a

“Comparison of cultural features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities”

‘The final part is the “CONCLUSION”, which provides the recapitulation, implications

for the FFL teaching and learning and for the translation, and suggestions for farther

studies The study ends with the “REFERENCES”.

INTRODUCTION

1, Rationale

It is clear that communicators in their own native language environment find it

natural te speak in the way they normally speak and behave according to their

presupposed social norms and conventions However, in our cross-cultural

communicalion, that is corumnanication between individuals from different cultural

backgroméds, many difficullies nay arise Fach nation’s language lies in ilsel similar and

different cultural concepts on many fields of life such as humane values, behaviour

standards, religious beliefs, etc Therefore, it would be difficult for foreign language

lcarners to commmnicate successfully with native speakers if they have poor

understanding of the Janguage itself and the language in relation with culture

Among many favorite languages sack as French, Chinase cle, English has still played its decisive role in international communication and has been Jeamed by a large mmumber of people in the world All foreign learners of Linglish desire to master inglish as the native speakers but they usually face many difficulties that prevent them ftom gaining sucecssful conversations, One of the reasons for these problems lics in the way people peroeive and use proverbs

For many yoars, English provorbs have often beon neglected in Iearning and teaching because it is a difficult area of English, but nobody can deny that proverbs are really important in communication, “a proverbs wn the hand ix often worth q thousand

words” (Horace Reynolds, 1959)

Furstly, proverbs as traditional wisdom are never absent tom our daily speech They are a main part of each nation’s culture, which reflects all aspects of the life People

epilomize their way of thinking and their ideas through proverbs We can use therm to

solve our daily conflicts or support our arguments Proverbs are the mizrors that reflect

Inman culture As Dr Malik lzaki (2002) states: “If we want to understand the culture in

a given society, we have to study its proverbs as any nation has its own characteristics

that reflect their lives and environmental surroundings” Hence, it can be said that

As there is a general agreement that proverbs are widely known in all human

languages, it is very ncecssary to define what proverbs arc Such English expressions as

“Many men, many minds”, “Experience is the mother of wisdem”, “Poverty ts no sin”, cle are usually described as proverbs, so “Whal is a proverb?”

According to The New Oxford Dictionary (1996), a proverb is “a short, pithy saying in

general use, stating a general truth or a piece of advice” This definition is developed in

the Oxford English Dictionary (2001, on-line) which defines a proverb as “a short, pithy

saying i common and recognized use, a concise sentence, often metaphorical or

alliterative in form, which is held to express some truth ascertained by experience or

observation and familiar ta all”

Some proverbs in themselves are people’s definitions of a proverbs, like “proverbs are

the wisdom of the street”, “proverbs are the children of experience”, “All the good sense

of the world runs into proverbs”

Wolfgang Micder defines a proverb as “a concise statement of an apparent iruth

which has currency anong the people” Mieder performed an interesting survey, asking

in the collected definitions, a proverb is “a phrase, saving, truth, morals, experience,

lessons, and advice concerning life and which has been handed from generation to

generation (Proverbs arc never ont of scason, 1993)

Vu Ngoc Phan (2000:39) considered proverbs as “a complete saying in which it expresses one idea of comment, experience, morality, justice or criticism”

Many olher scholars contimme ta find their own definitions of proverbs, Init il is

difficult to give one exact definition Archer Taylor (1931) defined a proverb in more

than 200 pages, and he conchided that it was impossible to give a meaningful definition

of it Taylor noted that “ an incommaticahle quality tells us this sentence ts proverbial

and that one is not” (1931.3).

INTRODUCTION

1, Rationale

It is clear that communicators in their own native language environment find it

natural te speak in the way they normally speak and behave according to their

presupposed social norms and conventions However, in our cross-cultural

communicalion, that is corumnanication between individuals from different cultural

backgroméds, many difficullies nay arise Fach nation’s language lies in ilsel similar and

different cultural concepts on many fields of life such as humane values, behaviour

standards, religious beliefs, etc Therefore, it would be difficult for foreign language

lcarners to commmnicate successfully with native speakers if they have poor

understanding of the Janguage itself and the language in relation with culture

Among many favorite languages sack as French, Chinase cle, English has still played its decisive role in international communication and has been Jeamed by a large mmumber of people in the world All foreign learners of Linglish desire to master inglish as the native speakers but they usually face many difficulties that prevent them ftom gaining sucecssful conversations, One of the reasons for these problems lics in the way people peroeive and use proverbs

For many yoars, English provorbs have often beon neglected in Iearning and teaching because it is a difficult area of English, but nobody can deny that proverbs are really important in communication, “a proverbs wn the hand ix often worth q thousand

words” (Horace Reynolds, 1959)

Furstly, proverbs as traditional wisdom are never absent tom our daily speech They are a main part of each nation’s culture, which reflects all aspects of the life People

epilomize their way of thinking and their ideas through proverbs We can use therm to

solve our daily conflicts or support our arguments Proverbs are the mizrors that reflect

Inman culture As Dr Malik lzaki (2002) states: “If we want to understand the culture in

a given society, we have to study its proverbs as any nation has its own characteristics

that reflect their lives and environmental surroundings” Hence, it can be said that

As there is a general agreement that proverbs are widely known in all human

languages, it is very ncecssary to define what proverbs arc Such English expressions as

“Many men, many minds”, “Experience is the mother of wisdem”, “Poverty ts no sin”, cle are usually described as proverbs, so “Whal is a proverb?”

According to The New Oxford Dictionary (1996), a proverb is “a short, pithy saying in

general use, stating a general truth or a piece of advice” This definition is developed in

the Oxford English Dictionary (2001, on-line) which defines a proverb as “a short, pithy

saying i common and recognized use, a concise sentence, often metaphorical or

alliterative in form, which is held to express some truth ascertained by experience or

observation and familiar ta all”

Some proverbs in themselves are people’s definitions of a proverbs, like “proverbs are

the wisdom of the street”, “proverbs are the children of experience”, “All the good sense

of the world runs into proverbs”

Wolfgang Micder defines a proverb as “a concise statement of an apparent iruth

which has currency anong the people” Mieder performed an interesting survey, asking

in the collected definitions, a proverb is “a phrase, saving, truth, morals, experience,

lessons, and advice concerning life and which has been handed from generation to

generation (Proverbs arc never ont of scason, 1993)

Vu Ngoc Phan (2000:39) considered proverbs as “a complete saying in which it expresses one idea of comment, experience, morality, justice or criticism”

Many olher scholars contimme ta find their own definitions of proverbs, Init il is

difficult to give one exact definition Archer Taylor (1931) defined a proverb in more

than 200 pages, and he conchided that it was impossible to give a meaningful definition

of it Taylor noted that “ an incommaticahle quality tells us this sentence ts proverbial

and that one is not” (1931.3).

proverbs about educating moral qualities fiom the eultural perspective

= Provide some suggestions for the tenching/learing and translation of the English proverbs about educating moral qualities in particular

3 Scope of the study

Proverbs about educating moral qualities are a large part in both English and

Vietnamese proverhs, so it is impossible for the author to carry out an exhaustive study

on them, just from the cultural perspective

In this study, syntactic and semantic features of English proverbs about educating moral qualilies are discussed briefly, cultural features are extensively analyved and

discussed when English proverbs are compared with Vietnamese ones

All English and Vietnamese proverbs are collected from dictionaries and books,

so this research may not cover all proverbs about educating moral qualities; just those of

common usc

4, Methods of the study

The study uses the two methods: quantitative and qualitative By virtue of the quantitative method, the study has collected data for the study, inchiding both English and Vielmarnese proverbs about educating moral qualilies The qualitative method is employed to describe and analyze the data of the study, The steps of the study are in the order as follows:

© Collect Linglish and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities

fromm several dicticmaries and books (¢ g., English proverbs and sayings, The Oxford Dictionary of voncise Proverbs, Tit diễn Thành ngữ và lục ngữ Việt Nam by Nguyễn Lân, Tit didn Tuc ngit Vide-Anh, Anh-Viee thông đụng by Vũ THÊ Ngọc, Tục ngữ sơ sảnh (838 Tục Xgít Việt-3000 Tục ngữ Anh-Pháp- Pspanlo) by Phụm Văn VăilL, Tục ngữ Cá dao Dan ca Viet Nam by Vii Ngoc Phan and then sort them out

«Investigate and analyze the syntactic, semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities

© Compare and find the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese about educating moral qualities

CIIAPTER TWO: COMPARISON OF SYNTACTIC AND

VIETNAMESE PROVERBS ABOUT EDUCATING MORAL

CHAPTER THREE: COMPARISON OF CULTURAL

FEATURES BETWEEN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

PROVERBS ABOUT EDUCATING MORAL QUALITIES

Universal moral qualities

Moral qualities in the family

Women’s moral qualities

Moral qualities in love

Moral qualities in the busband-wile relationship

The duty of the children towards their parents

Ins the soclety

Moral qualities in friendship and neighborhood

‘The attitudes towards the elderly people and the teachers

The altilude towards Law

The attitude towards money

About Honor

Summary

14

5 Design of the study

The study consists of three parts The first part “INTRODUCTION” outlines the

background of the study In this part, a brief account of relevant information is provided

about the rationale, aims, scopes, method, and design of the study

‘The main part of the study comprises three chapters

Chapter one, as implicd by the fille: “Theoretical Background”, covers a series of

proverb-related concepts ranging tiom definitions of proverbs, features of proverbs, types

of proverhs, proverbs in comparison with idioms Chapters two and three make up the more specifically focused part of the study Chapter Iwo is concerned with a

“Comparison of syutactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities’ whereas chapter three deals with a

“Comparison of cultural features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities”

‘The final part is the “CONCLUSION”, which provides the recapitulation, implications

for the FFL teaching and learning and for the translation, and suggestions for farther

studies The study ends with the “REFERENCES”.

proverbs about educating moral qualities fiom the eultural perspective

= Provide some suggestions for the tenching/learing and translation of the English proverbs about educating moral qualities in particular

3 Scope of the study

Proverbs about educating moral qualities are a large part in both English and

Vietnamese proverhs, so it is impossible for the author to carry out an exhaustive study

on them, just from the cultural perspective

In this study, syntactic and semantic features of English proverbs about educating moral qualilies are discussed briefly, cultural features are extensively analyved and

discussed when English proverbs are compared with Vietnamese ones

All English and Vietnamese proverbs are collected from dictionaries and books,

so this research may not cover all proverbs about educating moral qualities; just those of

common usc

4, Methods of the study

The study uses the two methods: quantitative and qualitative By virtue of the quantitative method, the study has collected data for the study, inchiding both English and Vielmarnese proverbs about educating moral qualilies The qualitative method is employed to describe and analyze the data of the study, The steps of the study are in the order as follows:

© Collect Linglish and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities

fromm several dicticmaries and books (¢ g., English proverbs and sayings, The Oxford Dictionary of voncise Proverbs, Tit diễn Thành ngữ và lục ngữ Việt Nam by Nguyễn Lân, Tit didn Tuc ngit Vide-Anh, Anh-Viee thông đụng by Vũ THÊ Ngọc, Tục ngữ sơ sảnh (838 Tục Xgít Việt-3000 Tục ngữ Anh-Pháp- Pspanlo) by Phụm Văn VăilL, Tục ngữ Cá dao Dan ca Viet Nam by Vii Ngoc Phan and then sort them out

«Investigate and analyze the syntactic, semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities

© Compare and find the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese about educating moral qualities