A contrastive analysis on cultural features in english and vietnamese fables about philosophy in life

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “a contrastive analysis on cultural features in English and Vietnamese fab

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU CÁC ĐẶC ĐIỂM VĂN HÓA TRONG CÁC TRUYỆN NGỤ NGÔN TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT

NÓI VỀ TRIẾT LÝ CUỘC SỐNG

LÊ THỊ THÙY LINH

Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung

Hanoi, 11/2020

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “a contrastive analysis on cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy in life” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree

of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

Hanoi, 2020

Le Thi Thuy Linh

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Assoc Prof Dr

Ho Ngoc Trung Date:

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thesis is finished thank to the help of many people

Firstly, I would like to express my deepest thank to Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung for his valuable and enthusiastic help in giving me useful ideas, materials and support to finish my thesis

Secondly, I also would like to express my sincere thank to school administrators as well as other teachers at Lam Kinh high school for their contribution in doing my survey questionnaire

Last but not least is the sincere support from my beloved family members and friends in the process of finishing the thesis

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TABLES OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Methods of the study 3

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Significance of the study 4

1.7 Structure of the study 5

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous studies 6

2.2 Review of theoretical background 6

2.2.1 Theory of culture 6

2.2.2 Fables as a type of literature 15

2.2.3 Language and culture 17

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2.3 Summary of the chapter 20

Chapter 3: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS ON CULTURAL FEATURES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE FABLES ABOUT PHYLOSOPHY IN LIFE 3.1 Typical cultural features of English fables about philosophy of life 22

3.1.1 Features of the settings and objects 22

3.1.2 Features of the characters 24

3.1.3 The features of the language used by the characters 28

3.1.4 Features of the ways the philosophies of life are expressed 32

3.2 The TCFs in Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life 33

3.2.1 Features of the settings and objects 33

3.2.2 Features of the characters 35

3.2.3 The features of the language used by the characters 39

3.2.4 Features of the ways the philosophies of life are expressed 42

3.3 A comparison of the TCFs in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life 44

3.3.1 In terms of settings and objects 44

3.3.2 In terms of character 45

3.3.3 In terms of the language used by the characters in the conversations 46

3.3.4 In terms of the philosophies of life expressed in the fables 46

3.4 Implication of the thesis for the teaching and learning of English 47

3.5 Summary of the chapter 48

Chapter 4: CONCLUSION 4.1 Recapitulation 50

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4.2 Concluding remarks……… 50 4.3 Limitations of the study 51 4.4 Recommendations and suggestions for further research……… 51

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ASTRACT Natural languages offer speakers many and various linguistic devices and sources to access them effectively It can be said that learning about fables play an important part in achieving a language This thesis was carried out to study the typical cultural features of fables about philosophy of life in English and Vietnamese By analyzing and comparing material methods the author has investigated the typical cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life and contrasted the typical cultural features in the fables in two languages to find out the similarities and the differences to find the answers to the questions This research is conducted in the hope that an analysis of the cultural features of English fables and Vietnamese ones is helpful for the application of English fables to teach English to Vietnamese learners Teachers can use fables to teach the learners language skills such as reading comprehension, listening and speaking It is very much expected that the results of the research are of practical value.

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ABBREVIATIONS A: Animals

C: Career relation DA: Domestic animals ES: Explicitly stated FCA: Fables with characters as animals FCHA: Fables with characters as humans and animals FCH: Fables with characters as humans

FR: Family-related relation H: Humans

L: Language used by characters in the conversation NDA: Non-domestic animals

O: Objects IS: Implicitly stated TCF: Typical cultural features R: Rural setting

U: Urban setting S: Settings SR: Social relation

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LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS List of tables

Table 3.1: Typical cultural features of the settings and objects in English fables about philosophy of life

Table 3.2: Typical cultural features of characters in English fables

Table 3.3: Typical cultural features of the language in the conversations of English fables

Table 3.4: Typical cultural features of the ways the philosophy of life is stated in English fable

Table 3.5: Typical cultural features of the settings and objects in Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life

Table 3.6: Typical cultural features of characters in Vietnamese fables

Table 3.7: Features of the language in the conversations of Vietnamese fables

Table 3.8: Typical cultural features of the ways the philosophy of life is expressed in Vietnamese fables

List of charts

Chart 3.1: Typical cultural features of the settings and objects in English fables about philosophy of life

Chart 3.2: Typical cultural features of characters in English fables

Chart 3.3: Typical cultural features of the language in the conversations of English fables

Chart 3.4: Typical cultural features of the ways the philosophy of life is stated in English fable

Chart 3.5: Typical cultural features of the settings and objects in Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life

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Chart 3.6: Typical cultural features of characters in Vietnamese fables

Chart 3.7: Typical cultural features of the language in the conversations of

Vietnamese fables

Chart 3.8: Typical cultural features of the ways the philosophy of life is expressed in Vietnamese fables

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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the background information and states the reasons for the study It also outlines the overall purpose and objectives of the study, describes the significance of the study, poses the research questions to be answered and provides

an overview of the research design

Nowadays, in the world of integration, humans are searching for a common understanding Culture is really a bridge that brings people closer The need to discover certain cultures has become more urgent than ever before Culture itself is a broad and complicated subject matter with plenty of aspects in this field Therefore,

it is not surprising that different authors give different definitions of culture As usual, each of them is touched upon individually from different angles, depending on the interests of certain authors In addition, it is agreed that getting a deep understanding about any aspect of culture is a really hard job This is because culture

is not tangible, and it is only perceptive to human sense For different individuals, the perceptions are not the same Thus, there is a variety of presentations on the subject matter This is the first thing to mention when it comes to choosing the topic of this thesis

Besides, English is the global means of communication It is now an official language in more than 75 countries, with a total population of over 2 billion speakers Unexceptionally, in Vietnam, English is considered the key to success in modern life The number of English learners has been increasing rapidly in the last few decades A number of sources of teaching materials such as poems, short stories, drama, films, English songs, etc have been exploited now and then Among these, using fables as teaching supplementary materials has been taken into consideration Fables reflect the personality, the soul, the great diversity and different customs which exist in each country Since fables enable students to understand and appreciate other cultures and societies, it encourages personal growth and intellectual development In other words, learners become more personally involved in the process of language learning and can begin to own the language they learn more fully It also retains a good learning climate in a relaxing atmosphere English fables represent great potentials for teaching language to learners, especially learners at the

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elementary level; however, they have not been studied systematically For this reason, this research is carried out in the hope that an analysis of the cultural features

of English fables and Vietnamese ones is helpful for the application of English fables

to teach English to Vietnamese learners It is also expected that the results of the research are of practical value

Another reason that inspires the author to carry out this study is the attractiveness of fables, in this case, fables in English and Vietnamese Fables are one type of folk literature with stories containing characters as either animals or humans Stories of this type tell a variety of subject matters like the explanations of phenomena in real life or the teasing of bad habits of humans Each story is a moral lesson and through the words and behaviors of characters, we can draw certain philosophies of life The readers become thoughtful after reading such a fable Among fables of various themes, those about philosophies of life appear to be the most remarkable These are the most attractive of all types of fables The world of animals or humans - mostly in the past, speaks of the moral lessons which are still relevant in present life Apart from the moral lessons, another attraction in fables is the cultural features embedded

in each story The settings, characters, language, and the way characters treat one another reveal the cultural identities of certain nations, regions and these are the most attractive parts of fables

These above grounds have encouraged the researcher to conduct a study on “A contrastive analysis on cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy in life” The study is hoped to be a modest contribution to the field

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

The thesis is aimed at exploring the typical cultural features in a limited number of fables about philosophy of life in English and Vietnamese

The objectives of the thesis are:

(i) Investigating the typical cultural features in English and Vietnamese

fables about philosophy of life;

find out the similarities and the differences

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1.3 Research questions

The study will have to search for the answers to the following research questions:

1 What are the typical cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life?

2 What are the similarities and differences of the typical cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life?

3 What implication is drawn for teaching and learning language through English and Vietnamese fables?

1.4 Methods of the study

The study cannot reach its final page without a logical system of approaches and methods Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are applied However, the latter is exploited most of the time The methods mainly used are analyzing, synthetizing, comparing and contrasting

Twenty five fables of philosophy of life in English and twenty five fables of philosophy of life in Vietnamese were chosen from the two sources: the English fables from the collection of Aesop’s fables in the website An English- Zone.com and the Vietnamese fables taken from the book “Tổng tập văn học dân gian người Việt - Tập 10: Truyện ngụ ngôn” (The great collection of Vietnamese folk literature - Volume 10: Fables) by Social Science Publishing House, Hanoi (2003)

They were then carefully read and analyzed in terms of the following features in order to answer the research questions:

- The objects and settings: First, the setting is the situation in which the story takes place and the characters interact with each other The settings might be either rural, urban or in the mountainous area The story might take place in a room, at the market or in the field In addition, there are a large number of objects

in the fables They might be the objects used in everyday life at home or anywhere else These objects are very important for finding out the cultural features because they are obviously influenced by cultural factors

- The characters: The characters in fable are diversified They might be human: farmers, merchants, huntsmen, fathers, sons, husbands, wives, friends or children

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They belong to different social classes at that time It is clear that cultural elements have influence on them Apart from human characters, there are many fables in which characters are animals, either wild or domestic such as tigers, lions, foxes, wolves, weasels, hares, tortoises, buffalos, cows, horses or chickens

- The language used by the characters: In fables, language is used as a means of communication The way the characters make themselves understood, or the language they use - either direct or indirect is the concern of this study It is clear that language depends on cultural elements, which are embedded in the words uttered by the characters In addition, we should bear in mind that language is itself a broad field However, this study only focuses on the directness and indirectness of the language used by the characters in the fables Other linguistic properties will not be considered

- The way the philosophies of life is expressed: Philosophies of life are the themes of the fables in this study There are a number of philosophies of life in these fables like those about human relationships or the struggle between the good and the evil The question of how these philosophies of life is expressed - whether implicitly or explicitly is taken into consideration in this study These features are clearly influenced by cultural elements

In order to answer question 2: “What are the similarities and differences of typical cultural features in English and Vietnamese fables about philosophy of life?” The TCFs of fables in English will be compared to those of fables in Vietnamese This chapter has outlined the subjects of the study as well as the procedures of data collection and data analysis The results of the study will be discussed in the next chapter in order to answer the research questions of the study

1.5 Scope of the thesis

Within the limitation of the study, this study only focuses on the typical cultural features in a limited number of fables in English and Vietnamese It is also known that fables consist of lots of themes However, this study only exploits those about philosophy of life, which are very common in the world of fables

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1.6 Significance of the thesis

The study supplies the English language teachers with the understanding of cultural features of fables in English and Vietnamese when employing them in teaching The study also suggests some ways to exploit fables successfully during all stages in teaching and learning English

This study may provide insights into the similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English fables The author would like to give some cultural explanations for these similarities and differences

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Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Fable which is defined as “a traditional short story that teaches moral lessons, especially one with animals as characters” ( Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2000: 470) is a feature of a culture Of all the great authors of fables, there have been

so far various books or studies of many world-famous linguists and researchers, such

as Aesop, William Godwin (1805), Surthar (2014) and so forth

In Vietnam, fables have also drawn much attention of many linguists, namely Nguyễn Đổng Chi (1999), Phạm Minh Hạnh (1993), Đinh Gia Khánh (2000-2002) Fables and philosophy in fables have been addressed widely in literature as a part of either discourse analysis or text analysis But most of these books and studies were directed towards the morality and features of the two separate fables in two different languages

On the subjects of culture, there are many famous authors such as Claire Kramsch (1998) with the book “Language and culture”, Heather Bowe and Kelie Martin (2007) with “Communication across cultures” and Joyce Merill V (1986) with

“Culture bound” However, there have been no research which dicusses the relationship between culture and fables

This study has been designed to discuss the typical cultural features of English fables and Vietnamese ones Then a comparison will be drawn between them aiming to find the similarities and differences in the two sources

In fact, there are many definitions of it ranging from complex and fancy to simple

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ones For some, it refers to an appreciation of good literature, music, art, and food For anthropologists and other behavioral scientists, culture is the full range of learned human behavior patterns Edward B Tylor (1871 in Heather Bowe and Kelie Martin, 2007) an anthropologist said that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society””(p2) Here the author would like to use the definition of H C Triandis cited in A Samorva, 2007:20 for the reason that this definition contains the theme under investigation in this thesis of how culture and communication are linked

Culture is a set of human-made objective and subjective elements that in the past have increased the probability of survival and resulted in satisfaction for the participants in an ecological niche, and thus become shared among those who could communicate with each other because they had a common language and they lived in the same time and place Subjective elements mentioned in this definition are values, attitudes, beliefs, orientations, and underlying assumptions prevalent among people

in a society All of them influence your interpretation of the world and interactions in

it

Culture is an abstract term which is very hard to define The meaning of the word

“culture” causes a lot of debates by anthropologists as well as many other social scientists There are up to now hundreds of definitions of “culture” and different people define it in dissimilar ways But the most general understanding of culture is that it is learnt, not inherent Culture may be understood in the sense of “high culture” as the appreciation of art, music, literature and so on, or “low culture” as normal life with daily activities of human beings According to UNESCO, culture is

an "aggregate of distinctive, spiritual, material, intellectual, and emotional traits, which characterizes a society or a social group It includes, alongside with arts and literature, ways of life, basic human rights, systems of values, customs and traditions, and faiths" This is the definition that helps to articulate the concept of cultural dimension of development Geert Hofstede (1984:22) describes culture as the “collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another” Therefore, the behavior of a person can only be understood from the knowledge of the culture that he belongs to

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Due to the fact that all negotiations take place in a socio-cultural environment, the culture of such a place will greatly influence the way the negotiators act, behave or perceive communications, both verbal and nonverbal during negotiations Therefore, the definition: “Culture is a shared background (for example, national, ethnic, religious) resulting from a common language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes, and values” by Levine and Adelman (1993:xvi) is the most suitable one for the scope of this study Components of culture are passed down from generation to generation; therefore, the components of culture are extremely important to all aspects of a society They are necessary for members of society to competently participate in social life and interactions The actions of people can provide information on the culture they come from Sometimes, being submerged into another culture can lead to culture shock

According to Stephen Moore (1985:4), cultures are composed of six elements: beliefs, values, norms, roles, role conflict and status

- Beliefs: These are general, vague opinions held about the world and about the nature of society They vary by society and sometimes by subcultures, e.g the ancient five people were encouraged to think that the Earth was the centre of the universe and all other planets moved around us

- Values: These are vague beliefs about what is right and correct in the world They imply that there are certain appropriate forms of action which ought to be taken, e.g life is precious therefore, it is wrong to kill anybody

- Norms: these are socially expected patterns of behavior (Actions that are regarded as normal) A norm of the British society is to say “Hello!” on meeting someone, or to stand in a queue without trying to push in front

- Roles: Social roles are patterns of behavior expected of certain people according to the occupation or position they hold in society

- Role conflict: There are innumerable social roles - father, mother, child, shopkeeper etc All of us occupy a number of roles, which are generally complementary, but sometimes they may conflict

- Status: This refers to the position of a person or social role in society according to the amount of prestige received from others In different societies/cultures, status varies Myron W Lustig and Jolene Koeste (2006, 86) have the opinion that culture

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involves four components: beliefs, values, norms and social practices

- Beliefs: A belief is an idea that people assume to be true about the world Beliefs, therefore, are a set of learned interpretations that form the basis for cultural members

to decide what is and what is not logical and correct

- Values: Values involve what a culture regards as good or bad, right or wrong, fair

or unfair, just or unjust, beautiful or ugly, clean or dirty, valuable or worthless, appropriate or inappropriate, and kind of cruel Because values are the desired characteristics or goals of a culture, a culture‘s values do not necessary describe its actual behaviors and characteristics

- Norms: Norms are the socially shared expectations of appropriate behaviors When

a person‘s behaviors violate the culture‘s norms, social sanctions are usually imposed Like values, norms can vary within a culture in terms of their importance and intensity Unlike values, however, norms may change over a period of time, whereas beliefs and values tend to be much more enduring

- Social practices: Social practices are the predictable behaviors’ patterns that members of a culture typically follow Thus, social practices are the outward manifestations of beliefs, values and norms

In terms of cultural values, in the scope of this study, only the component “values” is focused among the components of culture mentioned above In the view of philosophers, value is a very common concept It relates to economy, politics, morality, art, religion, science, culture and even the common connotation and essence of gains and losses, kindness and evil, beauty and ugliness, pros and cons in every field of daily life Values are related to the norms of a culture, but they are more global and abstract than norms Norms are rules for behavior in specific situations, while values identify what should be judged as good or evil Different cultures reflect different values At the simplest level, cultural values are commonly shared concepts about what is right or wrong, possible or impossible, true or false and so on In other words, they may be seen as the commonly held standards of what

is acceptable or unacceptable, important or unimportant, right or wrong, workable or unworkable, etc., in a community or society Values determine thought patterns, standards of morality and behaviors Each culture has its own value system which may be very different from that of another culture

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Known as a once war-torn nation, Vietnam has a complex culture influenced by many foreign invaders over the centuries However, it can be said on the positive side that, this history of war has contributed to shape the Vietnamese character Long years of fighting against foreign intruders have served to unify the country, fostering

a sense of nationalism and pride In the early history, the country was dominated by Chinese for almost 1000 years Consequently, the Viet people and culture were subject to constant Chinese influence and significant attempts of assimilation Therefore, Vietnamese culture is said to have foundations in Confucian and Buddhist philosophies transmitted mainly from Chinese source

In addition, it was traditionally the agricultural society that formed the Vietnamese character, which was characterized by the village community with many of its primitive vestiges retained The thoughts of farmers absorbed deeply into the Vietnamese agricultural society and their positive aspects made up the typical features of the traditional Vietnamese The basic administrative and social unit of the society was the village with affairs run by notables and the state rarely interfered The village culture highly valued emotional ties and attachment to relatives and community as well as help extended to each other especially to the less fortunate members In this way, it fostered the sense of collectivism Despite all the complexity of the structure of the Vietnamese cultural system as such, the core distinctive values of Vietnamese culture are still recognizable

- Collectivism: This cultural value means that the interests of the community or the group are considered to be more important than the interest of the individual Asian cultures place a higher value on the group and tend to see individuals in terms of their membership in and obligation to groups The Vietnamese are no exception Being a collectivist society, the needs of the group in Vietnam are placed before the needs of the individuals The concerns for family and community will almost always come before business or individual needs This is explained by Ellis C (1996) in her book "Culture shock! Vietnam”: A strong sense of community felt by all Vietnamese

is an intrinsic part of their make-up and ethnographers believe it stems from their long reliance on wet rice agriculture The people had to cooperate and work together

on intra-village irrigation systems to get the benefits of a good harvest This created a

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sense of unity An expression of this value is the Vietnamese people‘s allegiance to their family There is a fact that family is the cornerstone of the Vietnamese society Vietnamese people cherish the complete and stable family, maintain harmony and avoid confrontations They usually live in extended families which may include three (or more) generations: grandparents, parents and children By virtue of the principle

of collective and mutual responsibility, each individual strives to be the pride of his family Children are taught from early childhood to obey their parents and readily forget himself for the sake of his family’s welfare and harmony The elder generation always tells the younger generation what they should or should not do Before making a decision, the younger generation often asks for their parents’ opinions

- Harmony: Harmony is normally defined referring to the natural world as a cultural emphasis on fitting harmoniously into the environment (unity with nature, protecting the 8 environment, world of beauty) More appropriately, it may refer to non-assertiveness in social relations For Vietnamese culture, according to Hunt P.C (2002), the concept of harmony is based largely on the teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism Total harmony is achieved by creating harmony within oneself and one’s family, as well as in the outer world of humanity and nature He also states that observing moderation and avoiding extremes are some ways an individual can do to produce harmony That’s moderation and avoiding extremes in verbal communication, daily life activities, consumption of food and drink and in social interaction This helps ensure their physical safety and they can adhere to the moral imperative to keep their dignity unimpaired

- Respect: Hunt P.C (2002, 4) supposed that “respect is the foundation of Confucius’ teaching and it is the guiding principle of interpersonal relationships in Vietnamese society” Vietnamese are expected to show respect to people who are senior to them in age, status, or position At home, they should show respect to their parents, older siblings, and older relatives This is expressed by obedience in words and action Respect is part of the concept of filial piety Insults to elders or ancestors are very serious and can often lead to severed social ties Outside the family, respect should be paid to elderly people, teachers, clergymen, supervisors and employers, and people in high positions through language and demeanor Puffer (2004, 204) explained that: By giving respect, one gains respect The essential principle is: Show

Western countries, the home of a variety of immigrants from different races all over the world, are vast and diverse nations It is these immigrants that have brought along with them the peculiarity of their own culture, diversifying English native one American culture is considered as a typical one Being called “a melting-pot”, American is the place where a various racial and ethnic groups have been combined together However, it is also regarded as “a salad bowl” where those various groups have remained somewhat distinct and different from one another, making up a richly diverse America culture That’s why the nation contains many regions and subcultures that account for a wide spectrum of cultural norms Although the communal history is relatively short, many citizens inherently display values that are rooted in historical events As with any culture, The Americans have their own distinguishable values

- Individualism: Individualism is the idea that the rights and freedom of the individual are the most important in the society The interests of the individual are considered to be more important than the interests of the group Whatever it may be called: individual freedom, individualism or independence, it is the cornerstone of Western cultural values that nearly every America would agree upon as it permeates

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every aspect of western society This value shows greatly the desire and the ability of all America individuals to control their own destiny without outside interference from the government, a ruling noble class, the church, or any other organized authority Or in Gary Althen’s (1988) words, Americans have been trained since very early in their lives to consider themselves as separate individuals who are responsible for their own situations in life and their own destinies They have not been trained to see themselves as members of a close-knit, tightly interdependent family, religious group, tribe, nation, or other collectivity This is expressed mostly in the tradition and spirit of self-reliance which influence greatly the young generation It is said that the way they are raised teaches them to become independent and individualistic in their everyday lives Western children usually have their own bedrooms Even very young children are given opportunities to make their own choices and express their opinions They are taught to be financially independent at a 10 young age in order to get more freedom For the youth, making friends, marriage or other personal affairs are their own businesses, and they need not get their parents’ permission At the same time, parents do not interfere with their children‘s privacy, including marriage, work and hobby

- Self-reliance: Self-reliance is seen as the price paid for individualism Americans believe that individuals must learn to rely on themselves to keep their freedom

“They own nothing to any man, they expect nothing from any man; they acquire the habit of always considering themselves as standing alone, and they are apt to imagine that their whole destiny is in their own hands’” (De Tocquevill, 2003) That

is why Americans take credit only for what they accomplish as individuals They get

no credit for having been born into a rich family but pride themselves in having climbed the ladder of success, to whatever level, all by themselves Wanning, E (1999) in “Culture shock! USA”” also said that “In American, self-reliance is the fundamental virtue Each person is a solo operation, and independence is considered the birthright of the every child Our highest aspiration is selffulfillment, and it’s only the unencumbered person who can become his true self” What is more, an expression of American self-reliance is that children usually leave home at the age of

18 and then they will make most of their own decisions without their parents’ help Generally speaking, the youth ages from 18 to 21 tend to solve their economic and

by foreigners Similarly, their sensitivity to disparity and unfairness causes them to

be outraged when someone receives special privilege due to their family's wealth or notoriety “The idea of equality 11 makes it difficult for Americans to understand hierarchical patterns of organizations abroad.”” (Steward, E.C et al, 1991) They cannot believe the fact that “the loyalty of members of an organization may be the primary principle that explains otherwise unintelligible actions and promotion”” Noting the absence of an emphasis on both achievement and equality, American may fail to recognize the characteristics that determine who are the high - status opinion molders and decision-makers (Steward, E.C et al, 1991) Equality of opportunity receives emphasis in American culture Americans are usually individually interested

in achievement and expect rewards commensurate with their accomplishments It is clear that the cultural values predispose Americans to function most effectively on an interpersonal level of equality That‘s why the theme of equality is “running through all American social relationships'’” and “as an ideal, the value of equality of opportunity remains pervasive in the culture”(Steward, E.C et al, 1991)

- Competition: Steward, E.C et al (1991) claimed that “Competition is the primary method among Americans for motivating members of groups” Because of the emphasis on the individual, Americans can be competitive, and to be called a high achiever in the U.S is quite a compliment Besides, “Americans have a deep faith that in some fundamental way all people (at least all American people) are of equal value”” (Althen, G., 1988) This spirit of equality makes them ensure that the race

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for success is fair for everyone no matter who he is or he is rich or not This leads to the fact that competition is a typical feature of Americans They believe that competition brings out the best in any individual and in any system It almost is seen

as a race in which a person must try his best to achieve success Consequently, people who are more competitive seem to be much more successful than others and they are honored as “winners” in comparison with the “losers”” Even a child has his own pressure of competition in life such as taking part in strong programs of competitive sports provided by the public schools and community groups That is one way they learn to compete successfully

-Materialism and hard work: Materialism is simply a focus on or desire for material goods, and what Steward, E.C et al (1991) claimed to relate to “a belief in the inviolacy of private property, a value commonly asserted to be at the root of the Constitution and the American conception of 12 democracy”” Therefore, Americans suppose that “materialism is natural and proper when people criticize them for materialistic and so concerned with acquiring possessions”” (Althen, G., 1988) What‘s more, they even “consider it almost a right to be materially well off and physically comfortable”.(Steward, E.C et al, 1991) Obviously, Americans’ hard work is attached to the value of material possessions They believe that in life, one can improve their status through hard work and human endeavor Values such as thriftiness, hard work, and ingenuity resulted from the time when people first settled

in the western United States There was so much land and so many opportunities, but

it was dangerous and difficult These conditions led to an adopted mentality of "work hard or perish" that has withstood the test of time and been passed down through generations

There are many definitions for fables A fable is defined as “a traditional short story that teaches a moral lesson, especially one with animals as characters"(Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 2000) According to The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia (6th edition), a fable is “a brief allegorical narrative, in verse or prose, which illustrates a moral thesis or satirizing human beings; the characters of a fable are usually animals who talk and act like people while retaining their animal traits "

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The fables are supposed to originate in the classical period and soon became fully recognized as a genre only in the age of Neoclassicism The oldest known fables are those in the Panchattantra, a collection of fables in Sankrit, and those attributed to the Greek Aesop, who lived in the 6th century BC Aesop is regarded as the most famous

of all fabulists, whose well-known fables are The Tortoise and the Hair, The Fox and the Grapes, etc Other important fabulists are Jean de La Fontaine, whose fables are noted for their sophistication and wit, the Russian poet Ivan Krylov, the dramatist and critic Gotthold Lessing (who also wrote a critical essay on the fables) In England, the tradition of the fable was continued in the 17th and 18th century by John Dryden and John Gay The use of the fable in the 20th century can be seen in James Thurber’s “Fables of our times" (1940) and in George Orwell’s political allegory,

“Animal Farm" (1945) In the United States, the American poet Marianne Moore wrote poems quite similar to fables in their use of animals and animal traits to comment on human experience; she also published an excellent translation of “The fables of La Fontaine" (1954) And there are plenty of other well-known fabulists David Emery (2010) views a fable as a short allergic narrative making a moral point, traditionally by means of animal characters that speak and act like human beings (About.com Guide) The website Questia.com shares this point of view According

to this online journal, a fable is a short, pithy, and animal tale, most often told or written with a moral tagged in the form of a proverb Thus, to convey a moral is the aims of most fables, and the tale is the means by which this is done, providing illustration and compelling argument for the moral The author adds that “fable does not originate as a folktale, though it may make use of folk material, and can also be composed into a culture and exchanged as traditional oral folklore” (http://www.Questia.com) Similarly, according to the free encyclopedia on Wikipedia, a fable is a “succinct story, in pose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are

“anthropomorphized” (given human quality), and that illustrates a moral lesson ( a

“moral”), which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim” According to another definition on the free encyclopedia, fables can be described as

a didactic mode of literature That is, whether a fable has been handed down from generation to generation as oral literature, or constructed by a literary tale-teller, its

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purpose is to impart a lesson or value, or to give sage advice Fables also provide opportunities to laugh at human folly, when they supply examples of behaviors to be avoided rather than emulated With reference to fable characters, this author claims that the characters of a fable may be people, gods, animals or even lifeless objects When animals and objects are used in fables, they think and talk like people, even though they act like animals or objects For example, in a fable a clay pot might say that it is frightened of being broken The stories told by fables are usually very simple To understand a fable, the reader or listener does not need to know all about the characters For this reason animals are often used in fables in a way that is easily understood because it is always the same They keep the same characteristics from story to story

Fables are brief stories which take abstract ideas of good and bad, wisdom and foolishness, and make them concrete As a genre of discourse in traditional literature, they own the following characteristics:

- Characters are animals, or occasionally inanimate objects, which behave like human-beings

- Characters are flat, and stand for one human trait

- Plot is very brief, with one incident

- The story teaches a lesson, which may or may not be expressed in a proverb

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or maxim

Because of their relatively simple structure and moralizing characters, fables have gained enormous popularity They are also regarded as a means of education by entertainment and as convenient disguise for manifestations of political and social convictions

There are many different authors who give the classification of fables It can be probably summarized that fables are divided into various types based on the characters, the settings or the intention of the fables In the character aspect, there are fables about animals like wolf, dog, tiger….and fables about human like farmers, fish-man There are also fables of criticism, fables of satire, fables of moral lessons

in terms of the meaning conveyed in the fables

It is agreed that fables have a wide range of themes It can be either about human relationships expressed through animal behaviors or the explanation of a natural phenomenon, or simply it is about humans’ daily interactions However, in this study, those about philosophies of life are the major concern The question asked here is “What is philosophy of life?” As shown in Dictionary.reference.com, philosophy of life is “any philosophical view or vision of the nature or purpose of life or of the way that life should be lived” Literally, this definition is satisfactory and clear in the common sense However, in the article “The philosophy of life”” on the website http://www.swami-krishnananda.org, Swami Krishnananda thinks deeply about this definition According to this scholar “Philosophy is a well coordinated and systematized attempt at evaluating life and the universe as a whole, with reference to first principles that underlie all things as their causes and are implicit in all experience”” In addition, we see another concept of philosophy by http://www.onu.edu.com: “Philosophy is a quest for a comprehensive understanding

of human existence The objective of philosophy is to consider the rational justification of logical inferences, human values, criteria for establishing the claims

of knowledge and certainly, and interpretations of the nature of reality””

Language and culture are intertwined Language always carries meanings and references beyond itself: The meanings of a particular language represent the culture

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of a particular social group To interact with a language means to do so with the culture which is its reference point We could not understand a culture without having direct access to its language because of their intimate connection A particular language points to the culture of a particular social group Learning a language, therefore, is not only learning the alphabet, the meaning, the grammar rules and the arrangement of words, but it is also learning the behavior of the society and its cultural customs Thus; language teaching should always contain some explicit reference to the culture, the whole from which the particular language is extracted The human communication process is complex, as many of our messages are transmitted through paralanguage These auxiliary communication techniques are culture-specific, so communication with people from other societies or ethnic groups

is fraught with the danger of misunderstanding, if the larger framework of culture is ignored Growing up in a particular society, we informally learn how to use gestures, glances, slight changes in tone or voice, and other auxiliary communication devices

to alter or to emphasize what we say and do We learn these culturally specific techniques over many years, largely by observing and imitating The most obvious form of paralanguage is body language, or Kinesics, which is the language of gestures, expressions, and postures However, the meaning of words can also be altered by tone and character of voice

Language is culture and culture is language Language and culture have a complex, homologous relationship Language is complexly intertwined with culture (they have evolved together, influencing one another in the process, ultimately shaping what it means to be human) In this context, A.L.Krober (1923) said, “culture, then, began when speech was present, and from then on, the enrichment of either means the further development of the other.”If culture is a product of human interaction, cultural manifestations are acts of communication that are assumed by particular speech communities According to Rossi Landi (1973), “the totality of the messages

we exchange with one another while speaking a given language constitutes a speech community, that is, the whole society understood from the point of view of speaking.” He further explains that all children learn their language from their societies, and during the process of learning a language also learn their culture and develop their cognitive abilities Language communicates through culture and culture

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also communicates through language: Michael Silverstein proposed that the communicative force of culture works not only in representing aspects of reality, but also in connecting one context with another That is, communication is not only the use of symbols that “stand for” beliefs, feelings, identities, or events, it is also a way

of bringing beliefs, feelings, and identities into the present context

According to the linguistic relativity principle, the way in which we think about the world is directly influenced by the language we use to talk about it “The real world

is, to a large extent, unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group No two languages are ever so similar that they represent the same social reality The worlds in which different societies live are distinct, not merely the same with a different label attached” (Edward Sapir, 1929) Therefore, to speak is to assume a culture, and to know a culture is like knowing a language Language and culture are homologous mental realities Cultural products are representations and interpretations of the world that must be communicated in order to be lived The problem lies in what happens when cross-cultural interactions take place, i.e., when message producer and message receiver are from different cultures Contact among cultures is increasing and intercultural communication is imperative for anyone wanting to get along with and understand those whose beliefs and backgrounds may

be vastly different from their own

Language can mark the cultural identity, but it is also used to refer to other phenomena and refer beyond itself, especially when a particular speaker uses it to explain intentions A particular language points to the culture of a particular social group We can therefore presume that language learning is cultural learning, so language teaching is cultural teaching due to the interdependence of language and cultural learning Culture is a fuzzy set of attitudes, beliefs, behavioral conventions, basic assumptions, and values that are shared by a group of people and that influence each member’s behavior and each member’s interpretations of the meanings of other people’s behavior And language is the medium for expressing and embodying other phenomena It expresses the values, beliefs and meanings which members of a given society share by virtue of their socialization into it Language also refers to objects peculiar to a given culture, as evidenced by proper names which embody those objects Byran posited that “a loaf of bread” evokes a specific culture of objects in

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British usage unless a conscious effort is made to empty it of that reference and introduce a new one So, we can conclude that language is a part of culture, and through it, we can express cultural beliefs and values, and that the specific usages of

a given word are peculiar to a language and its relationship with culture

In fact, language teaching means, inevitably, language and cultural teaching According to Buttjest, “Culture learning is actually a key factor in being able to use and master a foreign linguistic system.” The Bellagio Declaration of the European Cultural Foundation and the International Council for Educational Development states, “For effective international cooperation, knowledge of other countries and their cultures is as important as proficiency in their languages and such knowledge is dependent on foreign language teaching.”Learning a language is therefore learning the behavior of a given society and its cultural customs Language is a product of the thought and behavior of a society An individual language speaker’s effectiveness in

a foreign language is directly related to his/her understanding of the culture of that language (Taylor, 1979), and it is possible to consider teaching culture through learners’ own languages, which can be used in a specific way to interpret the other culture (Ager).Finally, we can conclude that immersion teaching accelerates the acquisition of cultural knowledge: “ the integration of language and culture learning

by using the language as medium for the continuing socialization of students is a process which is not intended to imitate and replicate the socialization of native-speaker teachers but rather to develop student’s cultural competence from its existing stage, by changing it into intercultural competence” (Fengping Gao)

In this chapter, some different definitions of culture have been raised and discussed from various aspects To conclude, there is no limit in the discussion of culture This

is a multi-facet subject matter Yet, through the overview of the publications involved, we can focus our attention on some issues like the definition, concept of culture seen from different angles or the relationship between culture and anthropology

In analyzing the characteristics of fables, it can be realized that fables belong to fiction in literature A fable is a simple story with the characters as persons, animals

or even inanimate objects At the end of each story, a lesson or moral is often drawn

According to the definitions and the analysis of culture and language, it can be concluded that language and culture are intertwined A particular language usually points out to a specific group of people When you interact with another language, it means that you are also interacting with culture that speaks the language You cannot understand one’s culture without accessing its language directly.

FCA: Fables with characters as animals

FCHA: Fables with characters as humans and animals

FCH: Fables with characters as humans