Comparing the cultural and linguistic analysis of the English word “meal” and words relating to it in contrast with Vietnamese equivalents.

Comparing the cultural and linguistic analysis of the English word “meal” and words relating to it in contrast with Vietnamese equivalents.

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

People’s life is changing day by day Exchange and learning each otherare essential culture demand of human beings One of the methods to satisfythis demand is studying foreign language There are thousands of differentlanguages to chose, but holding the top list is English As it appears everycorner all over the world and people adapt it as their first or second language.Thanks to English the space between people and countries become shorter andshorter

Finding the importance of English most people nowadays learn English.However, few of them deeply understand this language as well as its culturalcharacteristics through meaning of word(s) As they do not realize that behind

a word there are many things to discuss So, sometimes they are surprised bythe diversity in the meaning of the word in communication

As Vietnamese students who are learning English, we would like toresearch English culture in the light of linguistic view of word “meal” and itscontrast with Vietnamese equivalents Actually, we chose this word as wethink that behind the word there must be many interesting things, especiallycultural field Moreover, people say that to understand culture of a countrys/he should look into eating and drinking style of that country because theythemselves reflect cultural elements

We hope that after the graduation paper in print, it will help learners aswell as readers understand more clearly about English and Vietnamese culturethrough the word “meal”

2 Aims of the study

We write this graduation paper is not out of the aims to:

_ Help learners / readers understand about field of word meal “ ”

_ Help learners / readers understand about the culture and linguist of

the word “meal” in English and its Vietnamese equivalents “tên các bữa ăn ,”

đồ uống , dụng cụ ăn uống , nơi ăn uống , nghi thức

_ Compare the cultural and linguistic analysis of the English word

“meal” and words relating to it in contrast with Vietnamese equivalents

3 Scope of the study

Because of space and time, the graduation paper cannot cover the wholecultural meaning of the word “meal” in English as well as in Vietnamese equivalents Thus, we only focus on researching some aspects as follows:

_ Definitions of word and meaning

_ Some information about lexical and semantic field of word, lexical meaning, cultural meaning

_ Cultural and linguistic analysis in English word “meal and its

Vietnamese equivalents: “tên các bữa ăn , đồ uống , dụng cụ ăn uống , ” “ ” “ ”

nơi ăn uống , nghi thức

_ Comparison between the cultural and linguistic analysis of the

English word “meal” and words relating to it in contrast with Vietnamese equivalents

4 Methods of the study

To complete this study, we base on some methods as follow:

_ Definiting word and meaning

_ Introducing lexical and semantic field of word

_ Analyzing the culture and linguist of the word “meal” in English and

in Vietnamese equivalents

_ Comparing the cultural and linguistic analysis of the English word

“meal” and words relating to it in contrast with Vietnamese equivalents

5 Design of the study

The graduation paper is divided into 3 parts:

Part A Introduction

Part B Investigation

Chapter I Theoretical background

- Definition of word and meaning

- Lexical meaning

- Cultural meaning

- Lexical and semantic field of words

Chapter II Field of word “meal” in English and words relating to it(in contrast with Vietnamese equivalents)

- Definition of word “meal”

- Field of word “meal” in English and in Vietnamese equivalents

- Cultural and linguistic analysis of the English word “meal”

Chapter III Cultural and linguistic analysis of Vietnamese equivalentsrelating to the English word “meal”

Chapter IV Comparison of the English word “meal” and wordsrelating to it (in contrast with Vietnamese equivalents)

Part C: Conclusion

PART B INVESTIGATION CHAPTER I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1 What is the word?

It is said that to give out the definition of every basic notion is not easytask as each person has their own point of view about the thing they want todefinite In fact, the definition of a word is one of the most difficult onesbecause each word has many different aspects It has a sound form as it is acertain arrangement of phonemes Also, it has morphological structure.However, being used in current speech, it may appear in different word formsand signal various meanings

Many scholars have attempted to define the word as a linguisticphenomenon as well as collected the variants of definitions according to theiraims and interests

According to Tomas Hobbes (1588- 1679), one of the great Englishphilosophers, words are not mere sound but name of matter Three centurieslater, the great Russian physiologist I.P.Pavlov (1849- 1936) examined the

word in connection with his studies of the second signal system, and defined it

as a universal sign that can substitute any other signal from the environment inevoking a respond in a human organism

Another point is that in the scope of linguistic the word, structurally,possesses several characteristics basing on distinguishing between the externaland the internal structures of the word

External structure of the word means its morphological structure For

example, in the word “post- impressionists” the following morpheme can be distinguished: the prefixes “post-, im” , the root “press”, the noun-forming suffixes “-ion , -ist” “ ”, and the grammatical suffix of plurality “-s” All the morpheme constitute the external structure of the word post- impressionists“ ”

The structure of words, and also typical word-information patterns, arestudied in the section on word-building

The internal structure of the word, or its meaning, nowadays,commonly referred to the word’s semantic structure

Another structural aspect of the word is its unity The word possessedboth external (or formal) unity and semantic unity Formal unity of the word

is not, strictly speaking, indivisible Yet, its component morphemes arepermanently linked together in opposition to word-groups, both free and withcontexts, whose components possess a certain structural freedom, for example

“bright light”.

The formal unity of the word can be best illustrated by comparing aword and a word-group comprising identical constituents The difference

between “a blackbird” and “a black bird” is best explained by their

relationship with the grammatical system of the language The word

“blackbird”, which is characterized by unity, possesses a single grammatical framing: “blackbirds” The first constituent “black ” is not subject to any

grammatical changes In the word-group “a black bird”, each constituent can acquire grammatical forms of its own: “the blackest bird I ve ever seen.’ ”Other words can be inserted between the components which is impossible so

far as the word is concerned as it would violate its unity “a black night bird”.

The same example may be used to illustrate what we mean by semantic

unity In the word-group “a black bird” each of the meaningful words conveys a separate concept: bird“ ”- a kind of living creature; black“ ”- a color

The word “black bird” conveys only one concept the type of bird This is one

of the main features of any word: it always conveys one concept, no matterhow many component morphemes it may have in its external structure

A further structural feature of the word is its susceptibility togrammatical employment In speech, most words can be used in differentgrammatical forms in which their interrelation is realized.

The last point of view about definition of the word is given out byS.Potter, who writes that not similar to a phoneme or a syllable, a word is not alinguistic unit at all

All the above views are basic definitions of the word However, thelinguistics have not pointed out the relationship in communication between aspeaker and a listener in which the speaker’s mental process is converted intosound groups called “words” and the listener’s brain converts the acousticphenomena into notion and ideas In other words, it is a two- way process ofcommunication

To sum up, all of different definitions and views of the word can beconclusioned as follow: the word is a speech unit used for the purposes ofhuman communication, materially representing a group of sounds, possessing

a meaning, susceptible to grammatical employment and characterized byformal and semantic unity

2 What is the meaning?

So far many linguistics have tried their best to put forward a definition

of meaning Each of them has a view about the meaning according to theirown way

According to J.Fitzgerald in “From word and meaning”, he wrote

“language is the amber in which a thousand precious and subtle thoughts

have been safely embedded and preserved” It proves that the every function

of the word as a unit of communication is made possible by its possessing ameaning And among the word’s various characteristics, meaning is certainlythe most important

In English, the philosopher Wittgenstein said in Words and their“

meaning” that “the meaning of the word is its use in the language”

Also according to B Russell “a word has a meaning, more or less

vague, but the meaning is only to be discovered by observing its use, the use come first, and the meaning is distilled out of it ”

Generally speaking, meaning can be more or less described as acomponent of the word through which a concept is communicated, in this wayendowing the word with the ability of denoting, qualities, actions and abstractnotions The complex and somewhat mysterious relationship between referent

(object, etc denoted by the word), concept and word can be explained: there

is no immediate relation between word and referent: it is established onlythrough the concept (concept is thought or referent)

On the other hand, there is a hypothesis that concepts can only findtheir realization through words It seems that thought is dormant till the wordwakens it up It is only when we hear a spoken word or read a printed wordthat the corresponding concept springs into mind

The branch of linguistics which specializes in the study of meaning iscalled “semantic” As with many terms, the term “semantic” is ambiguous for

it can stand, as well, for the expressive aspect of language in general and forthe meaning of one particular word in all its varied aspects and nuances Itmeans that the semantics of a word is not different from the meaning(s) of aword

Thus, according to M Pei puts it in “The study of language”, semantic

is “language” in its broadest, most inclusive aspect Sounds, words,grammatical forms, syntactical constructions are the tools of language.Semantic is language’s avowed purpose

3 Lexical meaning

Though people who study lexical meaning have pointed out definitionsabout it; however, they all share a common view that lexical meaning is therealization or naming of a notion, emotion or object by means of a definitelanguage system

Notion denotes the reflection in the mind of real object and phenomena

in their essential features and relation in words Each notion is characterized

by its scope and content The scope of the notion is determined by all theobjects it refers to The content of the notion is made up of all the features thatdistinguish it from other notions The distinction between the scope and thecontent of a notion lies at the basis of such terms as the identifying(demonstrative) and significative functions of the word The identifyingfunction may be interpreted as denoting the objects covered by the scope ofthe notion expressed in the word, and the significative function is the function

of expressing the content of the respective notion The function of rendering

an emotion or an attitude is termed the expressive function In other words,the emotional content of a word is itself can evoke intentional or affectiveconnotations of word

Basing on two functions above, there may be two types of denotation

meaning: significant and demonstrative meaning In the example “Now the

night has gone away (Air Supply)” significant meaning is quite clear Everyword evokes a general idea, a notion without directly referring to anyparticular element of reality, the significant meaning and that of the notioncoincide

When a word refers to name, the demonstrative meaning is the

individual existing objects of reality “There was a fine old rocking chair that

his father used to sit in, a desk where he wrote letter, a nest of small table, and a dark imposing bookcase ”

The meaning of many words is subjected to complex associationoriginating in habitual contents, verbal or situation, of which the speaker andthe listener are aware, and which form the connotational component ofmeaning In some words the realization of meaning is accompanied by thespeaker’s state of mind and his attitude to what or who he is speaking about

Within the affection connotational of a word we can distinguish itscapacity to evoke or directly express

_ Emotion: dad – father father

_ Evaluation: good – father excellent

_ Intensity: adore – father love

_ Stylistic colour (social sphere): slay – father kill

In conclusion, lexical meaning consists of denotational meaning andconnotational meaning in which denotational meaning comprises significativeand demonstrative meaning, connotational meaning includes speaker’semotion, evaluation, intensify and social sphere

realize this country from other via understanding and using cultural meaning

of words

Consider the word “xe đạp” or “bicycle” in Vietnamese and English as

an example we will know the different cultural meaning between them

Generally speaking, the Vietnamese word “xe đạp” and the English word bicycle“ ” are the same meaning which refer to a vehicle using humanstrength to move However, in the terms of culture, the words in twolanguages are not the same

First is the cultural meaning, to the Vietnamese “xe đạp”, which was

imported first from France, is a quite new vehicle So, whenever think about it,

they imagine a vehicle used by feet movements so-called “xe đạp” Meanwhile, the English name it is “bicycle” according to its feature (“bi” means “hai”, “cycle” means “bánh xe”).

Second is the usage If the English travel by bicycle or horse, they say

“you ride (on) a bicycle” or “you ride (on) a horse” Obviously, English people take for granted that there is no difference between the action “ride on

a bicycle” and “ride on a horse” To Vietnamese on their part “xe đạp” is also

a transport means used to carry (đèo, lai) men or goods People call bicycle is

“xe đạp thồ” or “xe thồ” if it is used to carry goods And, of course, the word ride (đi or đạp) does not go with this vehicle but the word push“ ”

Third is structure The English regard bicycle as an entertainment orpractice means, so it is made for one user and light luggage In contrast,Vietnamese people pay attention to endurability than style

In conclusion, understanding the word “xe đạp” or “bicycle” in

Vietnamese and English is rather different because it bases on some words

“đạp, đi (ride); đèo, lai, thồ (carry), đẩy (push)” Through the example, it is

states that people can communicate with each other not only via literalmeaning but also hidden- intention meaning Thus, it is necessary to deeplyunderstand cultural meaning of speech, words to communicate well

5 Lexical and semantic field of words

Many linguists have given out their own definition about lexical and

semantic field of words, and J Trier is one of them He defines that “fields

are linguistic realities existing between single words and the total vocabulary; they are parts of a whole and resemble words in that they combine into some higher unit, and the vocabulary in that they resolve themselves into smaller units” However, Trier’s most important shortcoming

is his idealistic methodology He regards language as a super-individualcultural product shaping concepts and the whole knowledge of the world Hisidea about the influence of language upon thought, and the existence of an

“intermediate universe” of concepts interposed between man and the universe,

is wholly untenable

Over the time, linguists have shown that a lexical field of words orlexical and semantic field of words is the whole words can be classified intosets according to their meaning

The following set of words is a lexical field, because all the words inthe set refer to emotional states:

Angry, sad, happy, exuberant, depressed, afraid.

In a lexical field, not all lexical items necessarily have the same status.Consider the following sets, which together form the lexical field of colorterms (of course there are other terms in the same field)

(a) Blue, red, yellow, green, black, purple

(b) Indigo, saffron, royal blue, aquamarine, bisque.

The colors referred to by the words of set (a) are more usual than thosedescribed in set (b) These colors are said to be less marked than the secondset; therefore the words in set (a) are less marked members of the lexical fieldwill usually be easier to learn and remember than more marked members,

people learn the term “blue” before they learn the terms “indigo, royal blue or

aquamarine” Typically, a less marked word consists of only one morpheme,

in contrast to more marked words (contrast “blue” and “royal blue”) The less

marked member of a lexical field cannot be described by using the name ofanother member of the same field, while more marked members can be thus

described ( indigo“ ” is a kind of “purple”) Less marked terms also tend to be used more frequently than more marked terms; “blue”, for example, occurs considerably more frequently in conversation and writing than either “indigo”

or “aquamarine” Less marked terms also are often broader in meaning than more marked terms; “blue” describes a broader range of colors than “indigo”

or “aquamarine” Finally, less marked words are not the result of the

metaphorical usage of the name of another object or concept, whereas more

marked words often are (for example, “saffron” is the color of a spice that

gave its name to the color)

CHAPTER II CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC

1 Definition

In order to be analysed under the lexical or linguistic view, every word

itself has to satisfy existential condition of a word first a word is an“

independent unit of language which embodies a notion in all its forms and meaning taken as a whole” And the word “meal” is not an exception The

word “meal” is a unit of language used for the purpose of humancommunication (under the linguist and culture point), possessing a meaning

There are several definitions of the word “meal” According to OxfordWord Powder Dictionary “meal” means “a certain time when you eat or thefood that is eaten at that time”

Similar to Oxford Word Powder Dictionary, Dai Tu Dien Vietnam(Vietnamese great dictionary) defines that “meal” is the whole food is eaten inone time

In Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary, “meal” is the portion of foodtaken or provided at one time to satisfy appetite

Also, according to KP BCKA E in“5 everyday topics in English”

in Russia “we partake of food several times a day This partaking of food at acertain time is called meal”

Generally speaking, all the above definitions define quite clearly aboutthe word “meal” However, in this graduation paper, we would like to use theword “meal” in accordance with the definition in Oxford Word Powder

Dictionary and Vietnamese Great Dictionary Besides, we would like toanalyse the word “meal” and elements relating to it such as eating anddrinking in which each element has sub-elements relating to it:

(a) eating: meals, meal time, food, table ware, eating place…

(b) drinking: tea, alcohol, beer, pubs, bars …

All these elements connected with the notion of “meal” are called field ofword “meal”

In our opinion, field of word “meal” is all the words relating to itmainly including eating and drinking They are parts of the word “meal” andresemble words in that they combine together To illustrate in an easy way, wewould like to list field of word “meal” in English and Vietnamese equivalentsaccording to its meaning and function as follow:

2 Field of word meal in English and words relating to it (in“ ”

contrast with Vietnamese equivalents)

2.1 Tªn c¸c b÷a ¨n (name of meals)

2.1.1 B÷a (¨n) s¸ng, b÷a ®iÓm t©m

(morning meal)2.1.2 B÷a (¨n) tra, (b÷a) c¬m tra

(afternoon meal)2.1.3 B÷a (¨n tèi), (b÷a) c¬m tèi

2.4.2 Food and drink containers:

plates, wine-glasses

2.4.3 Ingredients: the salt-cellar,

the pepper-box,

mustard-pot

2.4.4 Cooker : pan of soup

2.4.5 Other means: table, table

cloth, napkin / serviette

2.4.2 Vật dụng đựng thức ăn đồ uống (food and drink containers):

Bát ăn cơm (bowl for rice)Bát canh (bowl for soup)Bát nớc mắm (small bowl for fishsauce)

Đĩa thức ăn (food plate)Mâm cơm (food tray)Chén (china/ porcelain cup)Cốc (glass)

2.4.3 Gia vị (Ingredients):

Chanh, muối, ớt, hạt tiêu, nớcmắm, dấm, mắm tôm (lemon, salt, chilipepper, fish sauce, vinegar, shrimppaste)

2.4.4 Dụng cụ nấu nớng (cookers)

Nồi cơm, nồi canh, nồi thức ăn(pan for rice/ soup/ meat/ fish)

2.4.5 Dụng cụ làm vệ sinh sau khi ăn (cleaning means after eating)

2.5 Nơi ăn uống (eating places)

2.5.1 Ăn trong nhà (in- door) 2.5.1.1 Nhà bếp (kitchen)2.5.1.2 Phòng khách (living room)

2.5.2.2 Pubs and bars

2.5.2.3 Take-away/ fast food

outlets

2.5.1.3 Hiên / hè (veranda)2.5.2 Ăn ở bên ngoài (out- door)2.5.2.1 Nhà hàng (restaurants)2.5.2.2 Trên phố (streets)2.5.2.3 Chợ (markets)2.5.2.4 Quán bar (pubs and bars)

2.6 Etiquette 2.6 Nghi thức ăn uống (etiquette)

2.6.1 Trớc khi ăn (pre-eating)2.6.1 Trong khi ăn (while-eating)2.6.3 Sau khi ăn (post-eating)

3 Cultural and linguistic analysis of the English word meal“ ”

3.1 Name of meals

Descended from nomad culture, the English life mainly attaches tomeadow and cattle And their food source is almost meat Meat is adispensable dish on eating table though it is made under any form Therefore,the English not only call “meal” food that is eaten at a certain time, but also

“meat course” We can illustrate an English meal as follow:

Meal = meat course = meat + other dishes.

3.1.1 Breakfast

Not similar to many countries, the English like drinking tea so muchthat they take tea time as a landmark to divide a day into three meals:breakfast, lunch and dinner and other sub-meals

Breakfast refers to a meal which takes place in the morning In terms ofword creation, word “breakfast” actually is a combination between twoseparated verb “break” and “fast” “Break” means “phá vỡ” or “làm gãy”

“Fast” means “nhịn ăn” or “ăn kiêng” Not knowing when these verbs werecombined into one word with the meaning “phá vỡ sự ăn kiêng” or “chặt đứt

sự ăn kiêng” or “ăn sáng”or “bữa điểm tâm”, but today this word is used tocall name of a meal in the morning

To the English, breakfast is the most important meal in a day because itprovides energy for the body to start a new day Therefore, English breakfast

is generally bigger meal than others

The breakfast is usually eaten between 7and 9 a.m Many Englishpeople eat toast with butter or butter and jam (often strawberry, raspberry,apricot or black currant jam), marmalade (a type of jam made from oranges)

Others eat a bowl of cereal; for example cornflakes or muesli with milk, orporridge (a mixture of oats, hot milk and sugar)

English people have two tendencies to breakfast: a traditional breakfastand a continental breakfast

Twenty years ago half the population still ate a cooked breakfast or a

fry-up everyday called traditional breakfast Now less than 20% does so Atraditional English breakfast may contain food such as meat, kippers (herring-

a type of fish- which has been covered in salt and smoked, potatoes, flour,

butter and eggs) "Harry s mouth fell open The dishes in front of him were’

now piled with food He had never seen so many things he likes to eat on the table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup…”(Rowling, 2003, p.121) Besides,

English people have continental breakfast which is a small meal and easy toprepare: a bread roll or croissant with cheese or ham and a cup of coffee Andthe most common drinks at this time of day are orange juice or a cup ofbreakfast tea or coffee

Most people at home do not have a full breakfast according to traditional

breakfast as well as conditional breakfast They often have cereal or porridge,

egg and bacon followed by toast and marmalade and coffee and tea or theymay just have a toast and marmalade and coffee and tea

*Elevenses - brunch

Elevenses is a slang term used for a mid- morning (around 11 o’clock)snack of coffee or tea and biscuit or perhaps a scone and butter In fact, peopledrink tea or coffee whenever they feel like it If a meal is eaten in the late

morning instead of both breakfast and lunch it is called brunch“ ” (technique

of creating new words called “portmanteau”)

3.1.2 Lunch (sometimes called more formally luncheon )“ ”

Lunch (b÷a tra) is a meal eaten in the middle of the day between 12 and2p.m Many people eat sandwiches (also known as a butty or sarine in someparts of the UK) or cakes, fruit, coffee and tea Some people have a simplemeal such as cheese and biscuits or soup and bread

In countryside, a ploughman’s lunch is a traditional lunch for farmers:

a bread roll, Cheddar cheese, Branston pickle and salad, perhaps with a porkpie It is also traditional fro people to go to pubs with some friends for a publunch and a drink

Many people who work in London have to make arrangements for theirmidday meal as they work far from home Most large companies have acanteen in which food served is plain but adequate for their employees Theworkers can find a lunch for themselves A meal in canteen is inexpensive andmay consist of soup, fish and chips or meat and two vegetables with fruit or apudding of some sort as dessert The employees can choice whatever theylike If they do not want they can have a lunch in a numerous cafes andrestaurants Depending on the restaurants and food chosen, a meal may costanything from a modest sum to quite a few pounds Furthermore, people canget a meal or a snack in a pub or in cafe In many cafes, there are no waiters

or waitress and instead the customers help themselves and pay at cash- desksbefore going to the tables

Some people do not bother to go out to lunch They will have a “packedlunch”- this typically consists of a packet of crips, a piece of fruit and a drinkand with which they also have a cup of tea or coffee, probably made in theoffice The “packed lunch” is kept in a plastic container This way is not onlycheap but also convenient than getting to a restaurant and queuing up there Insummer, park and public squares are popular places where people sit on bench

or on ground, eating their lunch, giving the crumbs to the sparrow andpigeons

3.1.3 Tea time

Drinking tea is English traditional custom It is said that seven cups of“

it wake you up in the morning, nine cups will put you to sleep at night ” So,the English have much time in a day to enjoy tea For instance, right waking

up, they have a cup of tea with biscuit in bed It is called early morning tea

Tea time is the time used to drink tea It often starts about 3.00

3.1.3.2 Afternoon tea

The tradition of afternoon tea goes many years to the late 1700s InEngland at that time, there were two main daily meals, breakfast and dinner.Dinner was served very late in the evening, so it was a very long time betweenmeals The Duchess of Bedford (1788-1861) complained about “sinkingfeeling” in the late afternoon Afternoon tea was her invention to keep hergoing until dinner She would invite friends to join her tea at 5p.m Otherhostess quickly copied her idea Food at tea included such things as thincrustless, sandwiches, shrimp or fish pate, toasted breads with jams andregional pasties such as scones and crumpets (Riddell, 1995, p.221).

Now afternoon tea is used broadly in England, but most British families

do not have time for afternoon tea at home They often have it on pub or bar

Actually, English people enjoy tea time as it is civilized thing to do.The tradition of afternoon tea offers a pleasant break in the day, a chance forconversation, relaxation and, of course, a good cup of tea

3.1.4 Dinner

Dinner (b÷a tèi) refers to the main meal of the day taking in the eveningabout 7-10 p.m It usually consists of soup or hors d’oeuvres, fish, meat andvegetables, dessert, cheese, biscuits and tea or coffee Sometimes, people calldinner is lunch or supper if it is the main meal that is taken place in themidday

In many homes, dinner may be the only time everyone gets togetherand shares the day’s experience It is also an occasion for inviting friends

of cognition and community, they are on the side of analysis thought andpersonality It is the reason why a meal is divided into three courses and eachperson has their own portion

Starter (mãn khai vÞ) known as soup or hors d’oeuvre is a meal that isoften severed at the beginning of a meal in order to stimulate appetite ofeaters And people enjoy it before the next courses.

Next to starter is main course (mãn chÝnh) There are dishes served one

after one English people sometimes call main course is meat course“ ” (mãn

¨n víi thÞt lµ chñ yÕu) “Meat course” itself shows that meat takes an

important role in English meal because Western countries in general andEngland in particular descended from pastoral civilizations in which meat istheir staple So, main course is named after meat A typical main course ormeat course often has some dishes as follow: roast beef, roast chicken withsausages, roast pork with apple sauce, steak and kidney peas or roast lambwith mint sauce

The last course of a meal is dessert (mãn tr¸ng miÖng) Dessert arefruit, sweet, cake, cheese, tea or coffee which are eaten to wash away food

smell As majority editable things in dessert are sweets, so it is called “sweet

course” Moreover, English country is famous for many kinds of pudding

cakes: rice pudding, bread and butter pudding, steamed pudding, suet pudding

and Christmas pudding May be it is the reason why the word pudding“ ” isreferred to dessert course

3.2 Drinks

It is natural that eating is a vital part to human beings But eatingwithout drinking will not satisfy men’s demand In this part we would like tointroduce what the English often drink

3.2.1 Tea

There is a saying that “the British like a nice cup of tea in the morning

and a nice cup of tea at night And at half past seven, their idea of heaven is a nice cup of tea They like a nice cup of tea with their dinner and a nice cup of tea with their tea, and before they go to bed” (“Weaving it together 3”, 2000).

It seems that no one likes tea quite as much as the British do

As, in fact, tea is popular in countries around the world Each countryhas its own ritual and custom for drinking tea and so do the British TheBritish like to be formal and well-mannered when they serve tea The peoplehere favor the black tea of India and Ceylon served in china cups with handlesand matching saucers In Britain, tea is made in a pot, using one teaspoonful

of tea leaves for each cup plus one extra teaspoonful for the pot Boiling water

is poured into the pot and the tea is left for about five minutes before the hostserves the guest Even there are the adages from the side of the Victorianabout making tea:

Those who love good tea

“

Must please remember me

Be sure allow the water to boil

Then the tea you will not spoil”.

Or Do not drain the pot dry and then fill it up again, fill half the cups at a“

time and replace in the teapot the water you have taken from it, always with boiling water ”

Drinking tea is an important part of daily life in England The averagenumber of cups of tea each day is 3.6, though some people drink as many as

10 cups a day (“Life in Britain”, 1990) To English drinking tea is a way torelax and entertain Sharing a cup of tea with guests provides an opportunityfor conversation and a quiet moment away from the normal hustle and bustle

3.2.2 Alcohol/wine

Both alcohol and wine are excited drinks in which alcohol (in full ethylalcohol) is a colourless volatile inflammable liquid forming the intoxicatingelement in wine, beer, spirit, and wine is a fermented drink made from otherfruits

Besides, spirit is known as a kind of intoxicated drinks but itsconcentration is very high Although alcohol, wine and spirit are littledifferent from each other, people often call them alcohol Even the words

“drink” and “drinking” also refer to alcohol For example, “She drinks too

much”, means “She drinks more alcohol than she can” Or “He has a drinkproblem”, means “that he can’t give up drinking alcohol than is good forhim”

Drinking wine is favourite in England, so the consumption increasesevery year Sometimes, the quantity produced is never likely to satisfy thegrowing British thirst Thus, most of the wine drunk in Britain is importedfrom France, Spain, Italy and Germany Although the high taxes make wineand spirits expensive, the British drink twice as much as they did Whisky isthe most favorite of the spirits in Britain It is, of course, the national drink ofScotland, and “Scotch” is exported to the rest of the world

3.2.3 Other drinks

As well as large amounts of hot drinks such as tea, coffee and cola, British people especially children drink squash (a sweeter fruitconcentrate that has to be diluted with water) and brand- name soft (non-alcoholic) drinks They also expect to be able to drink water straight from thetap

coca-Beer has been the favorite drink of the British since the early 1600s.Most beer is done in pubs Traditionally, beer is drawn from the cellar up tothe bar of the pub to be served to the customer as draught beer Draught beer

is “still”, which means that it is fizzy

A sweeter, darker version of bitter is “mild” These beers have a

comparatively low alcohol content This is one reason why people are able todrink so much of them In most pubs, several kinds of bottled beer, usually

known as ales“ ” are also available

Beer which has gas in it and is closer to continental varieties is known

as “lager” During the 1980s strong lager became common among young

people Because these people were used to drink weaker traditional beer, theysometimes drank too much of it and became aggressive and even violent

They thus became known as “lager louts” (O’dricoll, 1985, p 187)

In some pubs, cider is available on draught and in some parts of Britain.Shandy is half beer and half fizzy lemonade It has the reputation of beingvery good for quenching the thirst

3.3 Table ware

In the dawn of time, people used fingers to transport food to mouth.This action must not have changed if people had not invented devices eatingso-called table ware (dông cô ¨n uèng) including knife, fork and spoon

Knife (dao) is a hand tool for cutting things into pieces or scorting insomething without actually cutting through it

Fork (nÜa) is also a hand tool used for transporting things Small forksare used to move other things, to break-up clods of soil or to rake weed Here,

I would like to deal mostly with the small, food-moving kind

Spoon is a utensil consisting of an oval or round bowl and a handle forconveying food to the mouth and for stirring

Actually, English people use knife during their meals as majority foodlike meat, potatoes… are often cooked in big pieces So, they have to cut them are often cooked in big pieces So, they have to cut theminto small pieces while eating A long with knife is fork which is an imitativeform of a working tool called “bå cµo” or rake And spoon is used to spoonsoup or transport food to the mouth

It is not clear to predict in what year or where this table ware wasinvented But people say that the first Northern of Italy used it to eat theirfamous noodle Then this set was brought to France and was quick introduced

to English No matter what where it was from, these utensils are estimated as

a product of analytical mind, a represent of the nomad culture in which peopleare inclined to invention, analysis and role of personality May be it is thereason why each term has its own separated function

3.4 Out- door eating

For English people ultimate in easy eating is eating out and the English

do that everyday

3.4.1 Restaurants

Though it is not common than it used to be, going to a restaurant is not

a usual habit of most people here As majority English original restaurants arevery expensive; especially, food is a real problem there However, the Englishlike going to restaurants owned by Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian or Frenchimmigrants because there are strange dishes that they are never served Theserestaurants range from inexpensive fast-food places, to exotic ethicrestaurants, to expensive, formal places that serve elegant food in elegantsetting Thus, for many English, ethic dinning means fun since these placesserve immigrants who want their own native cuisine, but they also serveEnglish looking for a dining adventure

3.4.2 Pubs and bars

Pubs and bars are common places for English people They come there

to drink, to talk and to relax

The word pub“ ” is an abbreviation of public house“ ” It is the onlyindoor place where any stranger can come in and chat to a few local friends

As with so many other aspects of English life, pubs have become a bitless distinctive in the last quarter of the twentieth century They used to servealmost nothing but beer and spirit These days, people can get wine, coffeeand some hot food at most of them as well This has helped to widen theirappeal At one time, it was unusually for women to go to pubs Now a fewpubs exit where it is surprising for a woman to walk in

There are some features of pubs are time and the difference betweenpubs and bars The first is that pubs have strictly limited hours of opening,

which vary in length in different areas, each local government authorityhaving power to fix its own “licensing hours” as they are called Roughly oneperson may expect to find a pub open between 11.30 a.m and 2.30 p.m andagain from 5.30 p.m until 10.30 p.m Thus, it is impossible to get strong drink

in English in the early morning, in the middle of the afternoon or at midnight

or later The second is that most pubs are divided into at least two separatedbars: public bar and the saloon bar The English like showing off when they

go out for a drink and whereas the poorest customers go into the public bar,they go into the saloon bar The differences between the two are that thesaloon bar is less uncomfortable, it has chairs and linoleum, in contrast thepublic bar has wooden benches and perhaps a floor sprinkled with sawdustand the beer costs a penny or two more in the saloon bar than the public bars

3.4.3 Take-away / fast food outlet

Apart from pubs and bars, there are two types which are quite cheap.One is used during the day, most typically by manual workers, and therefore

sometimes is described as a workman s cafes“ ’ ” But it is used by anybodywho wants a filling meal, likes the informal atmosphere and is not over-worried about cleanliness It offers chiefly fried food of the “English

breakfast” and it is called humorously as a “greasy spoon” Majority of them are “transport cafes” at the sides of main roads The other type is “take-

away” (with ready made- foods) as well as fast food outlets The most

common take- away foods are fish, chips, hamburgers and some other lightdishes People often buy hot food from take- away to eat at home, at rightthere or in the street

3.5 Etiquette of eating

Etiquette is the conventional rules of social behaviour which requires

everybody to obey In the terms of history, the word “etiquette” was not

original word in English language, it came into this language via that “grandmonarque” Louis XVI During his reign three centuries ago the functions held

at the French Court were so extremely elaborate that each of the King’s guest

had to be issued with an “etiquette ,” or ticket, on which all the details of theCourt’s various ceremonies were written (Kirillova, 1980) Since thenetiquette rigid rules have been adhered to

Being conventional rules, it is used in many fields including eating InBritain, even today, people are judged by their eating etiquette or eating

manners There is a popular saying in the UK is manners make the man “ ”

At the dining time, diners usually sit round a table with an individualplate, a knife and a spoon on the right hand side and a fork on the left placedbefore each them Besides, the wine glasses are on the right, the salt cellar, thepepper box and mustard pot are in the middle of the table

Family eating etiquette is not too much difficult The oldest or thehusband of the family sits at the head of the table and others sit in descendingorder according to age or wherever they like The meal starts when everyonehas their own portion However, if there are guests or in formal occasions,then everything around the eating table is different Guests’ seating order is away to show the host(ess)’s respect Normally, the male guest of honor sits onthe hostess’s right The next most important man sits on her left Likewise, thefemale guest of honor sits on the host’s right and the second most importantwoman sits on the host’s left There is no discrimination between men andwomen, so they are alternately seated If there are couples, they will be parted

as their close probably affect to people around In addition, an action is highlyappreciated is that males seat and rise when females leave and return to thetable

Actually, knowing how to use table ware and understand and whatshould be avoided is a way to show respect to the host(ess) Napkin orserviette (a piece of material or paper) helps diners clean up any mess thatmight occur during the course of the meal Of course, this is its original use,and at an informal occasion such as a barbeque, it still performs this service.But the more formal the event, the more vestigial the presence of the napkin

is, because the purpose of table manners is to preserve cleanliness and properappearance As soon as the meal is served, the diners remove the napkin fromtheir place setting, unfold it and put it in their laps When the diners leave thetable at the end of the meal, they place napkin loosely next to their plates Itshould not be crumpled or twisted, which would reveal untidiness ornervousness, nor should it be folded, because it might be seen as animplication that the diners think the host(ess) might reuse it without washing.The napkin also must not be left on the chair It is say that a diner who leavesthe napkin on his chair will never sit at that table again, but other, it mightseem as if the diner has dirty napkin to hide or that the diners are trying to runoff with the table linens

During the eating process, the English are little word ones In otherwords, they do not talk much while eating So, making noise is not goodbehavior Eaters should chew with their mouth close and eat fairly slowly.Also, bowling hot food, shoveling food into mouth and making noise fromfork, spoon, knife is regarded as impoliteness

Because each table ware has its own function; thus, do not use a spoonfor what can be eaten with a fork or no use a knife to cut bread… are often cooked in big pieces So, they have to cut them Besides,using fingers to eat is forbidden except some dishes are allowed such as pizza,chicken… are often cooked in big pieces So, they have to cut them Bread is common on eating table The diners can take it by fingers,but they cannot use fork to haspoon At the end of the meal, fork and knifeshould put side by side in the middle of the plate Soup spoons, coffee spoonsand dessert spoons should be placed on the side plate or saucer, never leavethem in the bowl, cup, etc The diners also should not push their plates away

or stack their dishes; however, the host(ess)’s friends can do

All in all dinning etiquette or eating manner is regarded as strict rulefor diner Without it, people are in trouble to contact and communicate witheach other on the eating table So are the English

Furthermore, the posture and word around eating table should becareful To stretch over the table for something is considered as a discourteous

action The diners should politely ask the neighbour to help “pass me the salt,

please” or “I ll trouble your passing bread-plate’ ”.The neighbour alsoresponds courteously “certainly” Before leaving eating table the diner always

shows his laud to the cooker or the host or hostess “it s an outstanding meal’ ”

or “you ve dined me handsomely ’ ”

“dessert” is “sweet course”/ “pudding” Based on the analysis we realize thatthe original words and their meaning more or less have shown features of theland and people here Moreover, in this chapter we have given out some ways

to approach English culture and people through eating and drinking

CHAPTER III CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS

OF VIETNAMESE equivalents relating to the

English word “meal”

1 name of meals

Descended from wet rice agriculture, Vietnam as well as otherneighbouring countries takes rice as the staple product And “cơm” (cookedrice) is always the main dish in during meals

On the way of calling, Vietnamese people have several ways to expressthe word “meal” It may be “bữa cơm” or “cơm” (which is named after thestaple dish), “(bữa ăn” (the time of eating and food) Even though “bữa rau” or

“bữa cháo” is used to express “meal” (“bữa rau”, “bữa cháo” mean verysimple meals) For convenient the word “cơm” is almost used to replace

“meal”(bữa ăn):

Meal = cơm = cơm +other dishes

However, in daily life the word “com” is understood not only as real

“cơm” (cooked rice) but also other dishes In other words, “cơm” is used torefer completely to other dishes though someone does not eat “cơm”

1.1 Breakfast

The Vietnamese attach the utmost importance eating, so there is a

saying that “Có thực mới vực đợc đạo ” It literally means that before doingsomething a person needs food to eat because eating will provide energy tohim In other words, the belly is not filled fair words Hence, people will start

a new day by a breakfast and next ones are lunch and dinner

Breakfast means a small/ light meal that a person eats in the morning It

is called “bữa sáng” or “bữa điểm tâm”

In previous years, there was no definition of breakfast as a light meal inVietnam because breakfast was regarded as one of the main meal

In rural areas, labour productivity is very important so many peoplehave main meal at 4 or 5 a.m to go to field When the sun goes down,darkness covers the air, they just have the second meal and then go home andhave an early sleep without eating Some people have afternoon meal (lunch)

at 2 or 3 p.m and their dinner are sweet potatoes or cassava or nothing.Recently, in several rural areas, breakfast has been thought as sub-meal.Breakfast food is quite simple just a little cold rice (left over yesterday) or

some boiling sweet potatoes or corns All these things go with fish sauce (nícm¾m) salt or pickle.

In the city, due to the Westernization process, Vietnamese meals havesome changes Breakfast is legitimated and becomes official sub-meal (except

in remote areas) It is usually eaten between 6 or 7 a.m It may consist ofsticky rice called “x«i” or rice gruel called “ch¸o” French baguettes arebaked early and these are filled with Vietnamese sausage salad, onion, spicyand pork fat One of the favourite dishes for breakfast is rice noodle with pork,chicken or beef called “phë” “Phë” is usually eaten as a kind of soup ratherthan “dry” like spaghetti

Generally, to Vietnamese breakfast is a snack if not they will feeluncomfortable with a full stomach early in the morning

at the canteen or eat a nearby street cafe Some prepare lunch from home andpack it or buy it from a street vendor The meal may comprise noodle soup orbabercused meat and some pickled vegetables eaten with rice In fact, lunchdishes are not too complicated as people do not want to spend a greatproportion of their time cooking They need relaxation; thus, they often buyready-made food On going home, they only cook rice and soup and lunch isready

1.3 Dinner

Dinner is the first time all the members of the family reunite and eattogether Dinner is flexible, around 6-8 p.m even more late because eachfamily has different schedule Basically, the meal is the same proportion andcomposition as lunch, comprising three parts: vegetables soup plus picking-brine (canh), a dish of fish, eggs, or meat and rice Besides, the house wivescreate appetite for all the family members by changing dishes in accordancewith everyone’s taste and season; for example, crab plus onion and pickling-brine soup (canh cua) In summer, there is fish soup (canh c¸) as well as inwinter Wealthier families will have additional dishes to compliment these

Besides, there is supper (ăn đêm) in the late day Although it isVietnamese original meal, people; especially dwellers in city, adapt itnowadays The favourite dishes for supper are sticky rice, “phở” which arebought buy food stalls by night.

All in all, like so many neighbouring countries, the Vietnamese havetwo main meals and one sub-meal: lunch, dinner and breakfast Meal time isnot specific for everyone as well as every family

1.4 Parts of meal

Unlike in Western countries a meal often consists of three courses:starter, main course and dessert, in Vietnamese only main course called “bữacơm”

A typical Vietnamese meal illustrates the tradition of a wet rice culture,

so agricultural imprint is very strong There are many scholars in side and outside research for Vietnamese meal and they describe it in “Hanoi’gift” byNguyen Thi Bay in Hanoi publisher as following:

According to professor Tu Giay: Vietnamese meal consists of thingsfrom V-A-C (vờn-ao-chuồng: Vờn is a place where vegetables are planted

Ao means pond in which people breed fish Chuồng is a place where cattleand poultry are kept)

Also according to Japanese professor Fukui Hayao: a Indochina meal isCơm-Rau-Mắm-Muối-Ot (rice, vegetables, sauce fish, chilli pepper)

No matter what a Vietnamese meal includes, it usually comprises rice,vegetables, aqua-products and meat

For agricultural countries like Vietnamese, rice is the top list of food

There are some old Vietnamese proverbs that say: Ng“ ời sống về gạo, cá bạo

về nớc ” (a man lives thanks to rice, a fish thanks to water) or Đói thì thèm“

thịt thèm xôi, hễ no cơm tẻ thì thôi mọi bề ” (being hungry you need meat andsticky rice but being full with rice you ignore everything)

Second to rice in Vietnam is vegetables For the Vietnamese Đói ăn“

rau, đau uống thuốc” (eat vegetables if you are hungry, take medicine if you

are ill) is an all time truth Fresh aquatic plants are among the commonest in a

meal, and of them, water morning glory (rau muống) may be the most popular vegetable in Vietnam In an anthology uniting all kinds of folk literature, “rau

muống” appears as an evidence for what I have just said Trời còn đây đất“

còn đây, còn ao rau muống còn đầy chum tơng” (as long as heaven and earth

still last, there still is a pond of water morning glory and a full of soy sauce)

(Huard & Durand, 1999) In addition, “rau muống” expresses a longing for home Anh đi anh nhớ quê nhà Nhớ canh rau muống nhớ cà dầm t“ ơng ” (Faraway, I miss my homeland Water morning glory soup and egg-plants steeped

in soy sauce) (“Heritage”, January /February 2002)

Third in Vietnamese meal and ranking first among foods of animalorigin are aqua-products (fish) since Vietnam is near sea and has a lot ofrivers A second to “rice with vegetable”, “rice with fish” is the most

commonest Có cá đổ vạ cho cơm Con cá đánh ngã bát cơm“ ” (a person caneat a lot of rice if there is fish)

From the aqua-products, the Vietnamese extracts an exclusivelyparticular condiments for their meal “nớc mắm” (fish sauce) and “mắm”(paste) On the eating table, every dish will fail its delicacy if it is servedwithout fish sauce So, there is always a bowl of fish sauce in the centre offood tray (mâm cơm) Together with “áo dài” (traditional Vietnamese longdress), fish sauce which is known as an international word has become thesymbol of Vietnam

Besides, meat is very popular in Vietnamese: chicken, pork, beefespecially dog meat (thịt chó) Dog meat is a very common dish forVietnamese (except vegetarians) but it is considered an excremental food byforeign visitor, so they never touched whenever form

Dessert (món tráng miệng) actually, is not an official course inVietnam as people do not take it as a strict thing They are very easy-goingabout fruit or sweets after a meal Over the time, due to the changes in life,being affected by Western style, Vietnamese people gradually adapt it as acourse of a meal In fact, it is not necessary to have dessert after each meal.This depends on everyone’s needs Dessert may be fresh fruits, cakes, sweetporridge event boiling roots All these things are planted or made byVietnamese themselves

Sometimes the order (main course, dessert) can be changed if a meal isserved at a restaurant or wedding party The number of courses will increase

to three: starter (a small a mount of food you eat before the main, calledsoup), main course, dessert Nobody knows the reason why, perhaps it iscultural interference In other words, eating habit is such as integral part ofculture, which travels with people wherever they go

Finally, each course conveys Vietnamese cultural characteristics: maincourse (rice, vegetables, aqua-products and meat) expresses rather specificallywet rice agricultural culture tradition While Western civilization accession is