Contrastive analysis of idioms referring to body parts between english and vietnamese

Luận văn, khóa luận, đề tài

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Ms NguyÔn ThÞ Têng (M.A)

-my supervisor - who helped and encouraged me a lot to complete this thesis I alsowant to thank all the teachers of Foreign Languages Department for lending menecessary materials and giving me useful advice for my thesis

I am very grateful to my parents and classmates for their help andencouragement during the process of writing this graduation thesis

To everyone, I truly thank

3 Objects of the study 5

1.1.1 Points of view of English authors on idioms 6

1.1.2 Points of view of English authors on idioms 8

1.2 History of studying idioms 8

1.2.1 In England and Europe 8

1.2.2 In Vietnam 9

1.3 Criteria to distinguish idioms from free - word groups 101.3.1 Word and its meaning 101.3.2 Free - word groups and idioms 121.4 Criteria to distinguish idioms from proverbs 13

Chapter 2 English and Vietnamese idioms referring to body parts 162.1 English and Vietnamese idioms referring to body parts 162.1.1 The elements of body parts in English idioms 162.1.2 The elements os body parts in Vietnamese idioms 162.2 The meaning of English idioms referring to body parts and their

equivalents in Vietnamese 172.2.1 Some differences in cultural features of idioms referring

to body parts between English and Vietnamese 172.2.2 Some similarities in cultural features of idioms referring to

body parts between English and Vietnamese 19

Chapter 3 Some suggested exercises for using idioms referring

to body parts in teaching and learning English 26

Part III Conclusion 30

of the nation’s customs, cultural traditions, and history.

Learning English, we consider idioms the means to make the observations,judgements, and explanations more lively and interesting For example, to describe

“a kind - hearted person”, the Englishmen are likely to say “a heart of gold” Here,

“a heart of gold” is an idiom Besides, idioms are also very useful, appropriate tools

for communicating effectively a great deal of meaning in just a few words On ourresearch, we find many types of English idioms, especially idioms referring to bodyparts which cause lots of difficulties for the learners in mastering them Thatinterests us much when we realize that there is a great number of Vietnamese idiomsreferring to body parts For instance, to indicate a person who is very old, very aged,

the Vietnamese would like to say “®Çu b¹c r¨ng long” We are attracted by the

question how and why idioms differ from each other between English andVietnamese in case of idioms referring to body parts That is why we choose the

subject “A contrastive analysis of idioms referring to body parts between English and Vietnamese” to study We hope to contribute a small part of learning and

teaching idioms In this study, idioms are described in a variety of contexts andsituations However, English idioms are various and great in number So, in thissmall scale of this study, we only deal with English idioms referring to body parts incontrast with those in Vietnamese

2 Aims of the study

The first aim of this study is to help the learners to improve their knowledge ofEnglish and Vietnamese as well, especially idioms referring to body parts

The second aim of this study is to give students and learners some culturalcharacters in the two countries which are described in idioms referring to body parts The third aim is that through this study, we try to give some types of exercises toimprove the ability of using idioms referring to body parts of the learners

3 Objects of the study

a Idioms

b Idioms referring to body parts in English and Vietnamese

c The meaning of English idioms referring to body parts and their equivalents inVietnamese

4 Methods of the study

a Statistic method

b Contrastive method

c Analytic and systematic method

5 Design of the study

Part I Introduction

1 Background information

2 Aims of the study

3 Objects of the study

4 Methods of the study

5 Design of the study

Part II Investigation

Chapter 2 English and Vietnamese idioms referring to body parts

Chapter 3 Some suggested exercises for using idioms referring to body parts in

teaching and learning English

Part III Conclusion

Reference books

Appendix

Part II Investigation Chapter 1 IDIOMS 1.1 Definition of idioms 1.1.1 Points of view of English authors on idioms

According to “Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture” an idiom

is “a fixed phrase that has its own special meaning and it is impossible to guess the

meaning of separate words” The phrase “a pain in the neck” can be easily understood in the sentence “After the operation, she still has a pain in the neck”

through its literal meaning, but it also has a common figurative meaning in the

sentence “Phil always goes mad if others do not obey him He is really a pain in the

neck” (here “a pain in the neck” refers to a nuisance, or something or someone that

causes nuisance) Or the other phrase “an old head on young shoulders” in the sentences “Helen is very worried about how to protect the dolphins She in fact has

an old head on young shoulders”.

These phrases “a pain in the neck” and “an old head on young shoulders” are

called idioms

The linguist F.R.Palmer (1971) claimed that idioms “involve collocation ofspecial kind” This means that the meaning of the words combined is obscure Thismeaning is not related to the meaning of individual words but is occasionally nearer

to the meaning of single words

For example, “twiddle one’s thumbs” in the sentence “It is not equal when Tim

only comes to the office and twiddles his thumbs” has the idiomatic meaning “do

nothing” This meaning is very different from the meaning of each word ( twiddle“ ”

indicates an action, thumbs“ ” are biggest fingers of hand)

Idioms in English have been defined by Jennifer Seidl - W Mc Mordie (1988) as

“a number of words which, when taken together, have a different meaning from theindividual meanings of each word”

In a shorter word, an idiom can be seen as a number of words which, when takentogether, shows the different meaning from the meanings of each word

1.1.2 Points of view of Vietnamese authors on idioms

In Vietnam, an idiom is considered to be “a set expression whose meaning isgenerally un explicable simply through the meaning of individual words it contains”

(Hoàng Phê, Từ điển tiếng Việt, Nhà xuất bản Đà Nẵng 1997).

For example, the phrase “da mồi tóc sơng” (scaly skin and grey hair) means very

old, aged, used to indicate an aged person in the following sentence:

“Chốc đà mời mấy năm trời

Còn ra khi đã da mồi tóc sơng”

( Truyện Kiều , Nguyễn Du)

if still alive, they must have old tooth, grey hair) Hoµng V¨n Hµnh (1994) defined an idiom as “a stable word - group with asolid formation and structure, and a complete and figurative meaning, used in

everyday communication, especially in spoken language” (“KÓ chuyÖn Thµnh ng÷,

Tôc ng÷ tiÕng ViÖt, Nhµ xuÊt b¶n Khoa häc x· héi, 1994) Let’s have a look at the

example “châ mòi vµo chuyÖn ngêi kh¸c” in the sentence “ë xãm nµy, ai còng biÕt

mô Hoµ lµ kÎ chuyªn châ mòi vµo chuyÖn ngêi kh¸c” (In this village, everybody

knows that Mrs Hoa always pokes her nose into other’s life)

1 2 History of studying idioms

1.2.1 In England and Europe

In England and Europe, lots of linguists started their study in English idiomssince the very beginning of 20th century Many Western and American authors gavegreat contributions to the collection of English idioms such as :

W.Mc Mordie with “English Idioms and How to Use Them” (published in 1909),

considered as the first to research carefully on the field of English idioms

V.H.Collin with “A Book of English Idioms with Explanation” (published in 1958) and “American English Idioms” (published in 1986).

Browkal M with “Idioms for Everyday Use” (published in 1994).

A.P.Cowie, R.Martin and I.R.Cairo with “Oxford Dictionary of Current

Idiomatic English” (published in 1994).

Lord Quirk, Professor Douglas Biber, Rod Bohitho and many others authors

with “Longman Idioms Dictionary” (published in 1998).

Teachers and researchers from Cambridge University with “Cambridge

International Dictionary of Idioms” (published in 1999).

1.2.2 In Vietnam

Although the study in English idioms was started much later than in Europe andother countries, many Vietnamese linguists show their interests in this new, difficultsubject They are:

Bïi Phông with “Dictionary of Vietnamese - English Idioms and Proverbs

explained” (published in 1995) and “English -Vietnamese Idioms Sayings”

Ph¹m V¨n B×nh with “English Idioms and Proverbs” (published in 1996) L· Thµnh with “Dictionary of Current English - Vietnamese Idioms” ( translation

ng÷, tôc ng÷” volume 1,2,3 (published in 1988 and 1991).

Vò Dung with “Tõ ®iÓn Thµnh ng÷ vµ Tôc ng÷ ViÖt Nam” (published in 1993) NguyÔn Nh ý, NguyÔn V¨n Khang and Phan Xu©n Thµnh with “Tõ ®iÓn Thµnh

ng÷ ViÖt Nam” (published in 1993).

ViÖt Ch¬ng with “Tõ ®iÓn Thµnh ng÷, Tôc ng÷, Ca dao ViÖt Nam” (published in

1996)

NguyÔn L©n with “Tõ ®iÓn Thµnh ng÷ vµ Tôc ng÷ ViÖt Nam” (published in

1997)

VÜnh B¸ with “Tõ ®iÓn Thµnh ng÷ TiÕng ViÖt” (published in 1999).

So, through the time, idioms have been studied widely In order to master thebase and the criteria to define an idiom, we will come to the next unit.

1.3 Criteria to distinguish idioms from free-word groups

1.3.1 Word and its meaning

According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, “word” is defined as

“sound or group of sounds that expresses a meaning and forms an independent unit

of language” For example :

- table, chair, bed, (furniture)

- hate, love, like, (feeling)

- car, train, motor, (vehicle)

So, it is generally accepted that word is a unit of speech which serves thepurposes of communication It contains many kinds of information such as theinformation of things, phenomena, society, culture, psychology, human, nature, etc.Those are “full” words which have the meaning that we can find in a dictionary.They contrast to “empty” words which are defined basing on their syntacticalfunctions

Dealing with the meaning of word, people have been arguing about the term

“meaning’ Up to now, none can define exactly : What is meaning ? But it issuggested that the meaning of a word reflects reality by being associated with thecertain sound form We can see many types of word meaning according to differentdivisions As mentioned above, words are divided into full words and empty words.Accordingly, full words show lexical meaning That is the realisation of concept oremotion When we hear or see the word “bicycle”, for example, our concept isrealised and the picture of a bicycle occurs to our mind So, this realisation is calledlexical meaning Empty words, in contrast, show grammatical meaning That is whatunites words with different lexical meanings It divides words into groups with theirown grammatical features In that, “house, pen, hat, word, etc” are singular nouns,

“beautiful, far, ugly, high, etc” are adjectives

Lexical and grammatical meanings do not exist separately but always gotogether to make up the meaning of a word

Relating to lexical meaning, a word comprises of two types of meaning:

connotation and denotation.

Denotation is the ability of a word to identify all the objects covered by a word.

These objects, which are diverse in reality to share certain features relevant enough

to be identified as covered by a word For example, the word “hand” is used todenote the part of the end of human arm including the fingers and thumb or “eye’refers to an organ of sight In short, the denotational meaning indicates or points outthings, concept, etc

Connotation of a word conveys certain effective or evaluative association,

arises as words become related to certain characteristics of the items to which theyrefer to It shows us how things, concepts, etc, are indicated For example, thefollowing words have the same denotational meaning but different connotation :

“Mother, Mummy, Mum, Mom” So, connotation can be seen as an additionalmeaning to denotation

But in semantics and lexicology, people only discuss about the connotation ofthe word

1.3.2 Free-word groups and idioms

At the very first word, it is popularly known that it is very difficult to distinguishidioms from free-word groups Free-word group, in a simple word, is made up bydifferent words but its meaning is easily figured out in any context or situation.Idioms, according to A.V.Kuvin (1984), “is a stable word-group characterised by acompletely or partially transfered meaning” (G.B.antrushina English

Lexicology,1985) It means the meanings of components of idioms, when taken

together, is something entirely new and far removed from individual ones

Let’s consider the following examples:

1 Harry, one of the farmers in my village, is as strong as an ox.

2 To my knowledge, a horse is as strong as an ox.

In the first case, the word-group “as strong as an ox” is not a comparision

phrase, it shows a different meaning: very strong So it is used to emphasize onHarry’s health In other word, it is an idiom

In the second case, the word-group “as strong as an ox” is used merely to

compare the two animals “a horse” and “an ox” It shows the direct meaning which

is easy to deduce from each word To clarify the use of this word-group, we canreplace “an ox” here with another animal “a camel” or “a buffalo” for example Ofcourse, the new way of using will make sense:

2’ To my knowledge, a horse is as strong as a camel or a buffalo.

So the first criteria is the semantic differences of the two word-groups consisting

of the same essential constituents

The second type is represented by idiom in which one of the componentspreserves its current meaning and the other is used in transferred meaning as

follows: “look down one’s nose at somebody”

(to treat somebody haughtily)

or “have the cat got one’s tongue”

(to be speechless, to have difficulty in saying something)

According to G.B.Antrushina (1985), one of the most important criteria todistinguish an idiom from a free-word group is about structural invariability Thiscriterion is as following restrictions

The first restriction is in substitution It means no word can be substituted forany component of an idiom without destroying the meaning of that idiom For

example, the idiom “to give somebody the cold shoulder” means “to treat somebody

coldly, to ignore or cut him”, but “a warm shoulder” or “a cold elbow” makes no

sense at all At the same time, in free-word groups, substitution does not show anydangers and does not lead to any serious consequences Let’s consider those

following free-word groups: “a lion is as strong as an ox”, or “a horse is as strong

as a lion” They are comprehensible.

The second type of restrictions is in introducing any additional components into

the structure of an idiom For instances, from the idiom “music to one’s ears” (the

news that pleases the hearers) we cannot add any other word such as “popular” or

“classical” to form “popular music to one’s ears” or “classical music to one’s ears”.

Meanwhile, in a free-word group, the similar changes can be made without affecting

the general meaning that the users convey For example, this is a program of music“

in our life”, we can add jazz“ ”, popular“ ”, classical“ ”, to form this is a program“

of jazz / popular / classical music in our life”.

The third restriction is in grammatical invariability That is, words in idioms are

used in a fixed rule, we cannot change the form of them Consider the idiom “cost

an arm and a leg” (very expensive), it is impossible for us to change an arm“ ” and

a leg

“ ” into arms“ ” and legs“ ”, because the phrase “cost arms and legs” does not

make sense Whereas, in free-word group, this type of changing, generally, is verypopular

1.4 Criteria to distinguish idioms from proverbs

Before studying this matter in detail, we should have a look at the definition ofproverb and its use

According to Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, a proverb is defined as “a shortwell-known sentence or phrase that states a general truth about life or gives advice”

For example, “two heads are better than one” means “it is better to have a

discussion before making a decision” This is an advice and the phrase mentioned iscalled a proverb There are many proverbs in both English and Vietnamese

For example, in English, “many hands make light work”, “out of sight, out of

mind”, or “the face is the index of mind”, etc In Vietnamese, “đông tay thì vỗ nên kêu”, “xa mặt cách lòng”, or “khuôn mặt biểu đạt tấm lòng”, etc

It is clear that proverb is also a phenomenon of language So how is it used incommunication ? Since a proverb is a short saying which expresses popular wisdom,

a truth or a moral lesson in a concise and imaginative way, it is also figurative in

terms of meaning Let’s consider : “(so) many men, (so) many minds” which means

“everybody has their own idea” - a truth in life

It seems that idiom and proverb, to some extents, are like So, are there anycriteria to distinguish an idiom from a proverb?

In fact, the borderline between an idiom and a proverb is not very solid.However, in this study, we give two criteria which can be used to distinguish anidiom from a proverb

The first criterion is the criterion of meaning In that, idioms are not instructive,moral in nature as proverb Idioms are constructions peculiar to a language For

example, in English, the proverb “Blood is thicker than water” means “Một giọt máu

đào hơn ao nớc lã” in Vietnamese We see that these proverbs tell about a truth in

life So, a proverb is a principle which has been concluded from the experiences inlife In a short word, a proverb is a lesson

The second criterion is about structure or the stability of structure An idiom is afixed group or a set phrase, this means the sequence of words in an idiom cannot bechanged or shortened anyway If that sequence is changed, the meaning of the idiomwill change as a consequence If any word is added to or left out, that idiom may beinvalid or it will easily cause confusion In contrast, a proverb is often elliptical in

their nature For example, in English, the proverb “so many men, so many minds” can be shortened into “many men, many mind” without changing in meaning Meanwhile, an idiom such as “with a high hand” (in a haughty way) cannot be shortened in any circumstances; we cannot say “with a tall hand” although “high” and “tall” are hyponyms Or in Vietnamese we have the proverb “Bà chúa đứt tay

bằng ăn mày sổ ruột” (a very small incident to the rich, important people can be

compared to a dying situation of the poor) From this proverb, Vietnamese can draw

out some idioms such as : “bà chúa đứt tay” (an incident to the very important people), “ăn mày sổ ruột” (a state of dying of a miserable person) This is an

evidence to see that a proverb can be changed into idioms

Though there have been some studies about proverbs but no particular criteriaare given to distinguish idioms from proverbs A perfect criterion is hardly possiblesince there have been many borderlines between them Up above, we only introducetwo accepted criteria as a reference Due to the limitation of the subject, we do notwiden this unit

Chapter 2

ENGLISH AND VIETNAME se IDIOMS REFERRING TO

BODY PARTS

2.1 English and Vietnamese idioms referring to body parts

2.1.1 The elements of body parts in English idioms

Up to now, there has not been any study that has enough data to calculate howmany English idioms there are in general and English idioms referring to body parts

in particular But it cannot be denied that the list of idioms referring to body parts isvery long Thanks to the fact that body parts are familiar and close to everyone, thenumber of idioms referring to body parts is increasing through the time However,the number of body parts are unchangable so in this study, we list all the parts ofbody that are widely used in idioms

According to Longman Idioms Dictionary, body parts that are used in idiomsinclude: arm, back, head, ear, jowl, neck, shoulder, elbow, fist, leg, foot (feet), toe,heel, nail, knee, hand, finger, thumb, little finger, palm, stomach, chest, throat, chin,mouth, heart, face, forehead, cheek, nose, tongue, lip, eye, eyebrow, eyelash, brain,blood, bone, flesh, tooth (teeth), hair, wrist, belly,

Though the parts of body are constant, some parts are not described in idioms ofcourse We should come to body parts in Vietnamese idioms to identify this problemmore carefully

2.1.2 The elements of body parts in Vietnamese idioms

Dr NguyÔn L©n listed many kinds of body parts that appear in Vietnameseidioms They are: MÆt (face), mµy (eyebrow), m¾t (eye), mòi (nose), miÖng (mouth),r¨ng (tooth, teeth), lìi (tongue), tai (ear), m¸ (cheek), m«i (lip), mÐp (outer lip), tr¸n(forehead), cæ (neck), tãc (hair), cæ häng (throat), g¸y (headback), lng (back), vai(shoulder), n¸ch (armpit), cæ tay (fist), bµn tay (hand), ngãn tay ót (little finger),lßng bµn tay (palm), c¼ng tay (arm), th©n (body), m×nh (body), ®Çu (head), ãc(brain), ch©n (leg), c¼ng (leg), gãt ch©n (heel), ®Çu gèi (knee), h«ng (wrist), bông

(stomach), xơng (bone), máu (blood), lòng (heart), thịt (flesh), ruột (flesh), gan(liver), tim (heart), da (skin), phổi (lung), khu (bottom),

They appear the most frequently in the collection of Vietnamese idioms Theyreflect a great deal of conceptions, thoughts, of the Vietnamese people about theworld of nature, the human, and the society

As mentioned about, some kinds of body parts are present in English idioms butnot in Vietnamese idioms and vice verse There are some kinds of body parts that areused both in English and Vietnamese They are : arm, blood, bone, brain, cheek,chin, ear, eye, face, foot (feet), finger, fist, hair, hand, head, heart, heel, knee, leg,lip, mouth, neck, nose, shoulder, throat, tongue, tooth (teeth), We had a collection

of about 710 idioms referring to them in the table 1 (see Appendix)

2.2 The meanings of English idioms referring to body parts and their equivalents in Vietnamese

2.2.1 Some differences in cultural features of idioms referring to body parts between English and Vietnamese

Since idioms are the recollection of all the aspects including natural conditions,social developments, personal feelings, etc, they show all typical characters relating

to the language and culture of a country Through idioms, the learners can have anoverview about each nation as a certain result

England and Vietnam are two different countries They differ from each otherobviously in many faces England is considered as the country of wealth, old - agedhistory and strong developments Meanwhile, Vietnam is still grouped in the thirdworld, poor and backward Moreover, the development of England is based on thefoundation of heavy industry but Vietnam develops much more slowly on thefoundation of water - rice For these reasons, it is not strange for people in these twocountries to have different ways of showing life - styles, considering things in life, Those very interesting ways of thinking are reflected in idioms both in English andVietnamese

For example, if an Englishman is rich, plentiful ,high regarded in society, he is

seen as “born with a silver spoon in his mouth” That is, to the most of English people, “silver spoon” has been the symbol of luxurious and affluent life Any

family who uses silver spoons in meals, they are considered very rich But in the

same situation, the Vietnamese people are likely to use such idioms “chân giày chân

dép” (there are shoes over feet), or “ma không đến mặt, nắng chẳng đến đầu” (do not

have to contact with the rain or the sunlight) In the mind of Vietnamese people, the

freedom in doing housework or the appearance of clothing or health may show acomfortable life as well.

Another typical example is that, to a great number of Englishmen, God is the

Supreme Being, the ruler of the Universe, that is the reason why the idiom “the hand

of God” refers to the good luck or a rare chance of getting advantage especially in

games That thought does not often occur in the mind of Vietnamese in generalbecause most Vietnamese people are not worshippers They give a more realistic and

meaningful observation as “cờ đã đến tay” (the flag has come to hand) This idiom

comes from the experience that in some folklore games, if the flag comes to

someone, that one will be able to become the winner Flag (“cờ” in Vietnamese) is

symbolized to be the sign of festivals, ceremonies, and it appears very often in life as

a symbol of pleasure Another idiom shows clearly this thought of Vietnamese is

“vui nh mở cờ trong bụng” (as pleased as there is a ceremony) which means to be

very pleased and excited

In England, the country of football, football is considered as one of religions So

in order to say: to have a good chance to be successful, the Englishmen would like to

say “to have the ball at one’s feet” To Vietnamese people, the same situation is described as “cờ đến tay ai nấy phất” (if the flag comes to anyone, that one has the right to wave) or “cá đến tay ai nấy bắt” (if the fish is in anyone’s hand, that one has

the right to catch) We can see many more about social life of the two countriesthrough idioms in such a way

Another typical example can be shown here is the English idiom “to have the

gallows in the face” The literal meaning of it in Vietnamese is “có giá treo cổ trên mặt” This English idiom denotes a very cruel, unkind and barbarous person Since

“gallows” is seen as the symbol of death, this idiom bears a strong meaning at thetime when gallows is popular and used to punish criminals in England But inVietnam, the different way of expressing this quality does not have less the same

meaning is “mặt ngời dạ thú” (the appearance is human’s but the soul is animal’s) It

means a person without human characters but with animals’ evil intensions

Being European in common, they have a special feeling for dog - a kind of pets.They consider dogs their friends, their partners That is why dogs appear in idioms to

express one’s feelings as in the following example “with one’s tail between one’s

legs” It means “being upset or unhappy” Human beings have no tail of course but

in the eyes of Englishmen, the real observation that when a dog is upset or afraid, itusually puts its tail between its legs becomes a figurative description On thecontrary, Vietnamese people consider dogs the image of dirt, greed, cruelty, and

ignorance such as “bẩn / tham / ác / ngu nh chó” (as dirty / greedy / cruel / stupid as dogs) In order to indicate one’s sadness or unhappiness, they are likely to say “thúi

gan thúi ruột” or “mặt ủ mày chau”, etc

2.2.2 Some similarities in cultural features of idioms referring to body parts between english and vietnamese

As we know, human races have been passing through many periods ofdevelopment That is why whenever, wherever we are, which race we belong to, wehave the same cognition and outlook to the nature, the people and the society.Regardless of different bloods, different colours of skin, different locations of living,our minds, to some extents, are similar, which are expressed in a great number ofidioms Some of English idioms referring to parts of body listed underneath have theVietnamese equivalents without changing in meaning

Generally speaking, “head” is considered as the most important part of a person.

It is the centre of controlling both actions and feelings In English as well as in

Vietnamese, “head” is used in a wide range of idioms.

In the past, it was popular that criminals who were to be killed as a punishmentput their heads on a block of wood before they were cut out Witnessing this scene,

the idiomatic phrase “to put one’s head in a noose” in English is used to indicate a risk action that can harm you or lead you to the death In Vietnamese we say “đa

đầu vào tròng”.

In order to express the truth that someone is trying his best to achieve something

without success, the English people say “be banging one’s head against the brick

wall” The literal meaning of this idiom is “cannot get forward” In Vietnamese, the

similar meaning is “đâm đầu vào tờng”.

When talking about all of one’s body, the appearance only, the Englishmen use

the idiom “from head to toe”, and the Vietnamese people use “từ đầu đến chân”

To indicate a feeling that someone is worried about or afraid of something

because they know it will soon happen, the English idiom is “be hanging over one’s

head”, and the Vietnamese idiom is “lơ lửng trên đầu”.

A hair, to everybody in the world, is seen as the smallest part of the body So,

talking about small, unimportant differences between things in English idiom is “to

split hairs” and in Vietnamese “chẻ sợi tóc làm t”.

“Hand” is usually referred to in any work of people So if someone “washes his

hands off something”, he wants to refuse all responsibilities relating to him In

different origins, they indicate the same situation and give the same figurativemeaning.

Relating to “hand” as well, “hand” is always one of the most familiar parts of body That is the reason why Englishmen would say “know something like the palm

of one’s hand” and Vietnamese people would say “biết rõ nh lòng bàn tay” to show

the meaning of knowing something very clearly, thoroughly

In English, “work hand in hand” indicates the state of working together to achieve something In Vietnamese, the equivalent is “chung tay góp sức”.

To describe the action that can easily cause problem for the doer, in English they

say “to make a rod for one’s back”, and in Vietnamese we say “gậy ông đập lng

ông” or “đẽo đòn gánh đè vai”.

Or the English idiom “be at the back of someone” shows the meaning of

supporting someone by way of praising or approving him In Vietnamese, the

equivalent is “đứng sau lng”.

The tongue is one of the symbols of communication So it is common to seesome similarities in using it in both English and Vietnamese For example:

In English: “a sharp tongue”.

In Vietnamese: “giấu gơm đầu lỡi”.

Both of the above idioms indicate someone who always says unkind, unpleasantwords in order to hurt other people

In both languages, “eye” is used in a lot of idioms since it is the most lively,

expressed part of the body It can show any kind of one’s feelings truthfully and

quickly For example, in English, there are “an eagle eye”, “an evil eye”, “a roving

eye”, “a jaundiced eye”, etc Similarly, in Vietnamese we have “Mắt tròn mắt dẹt”,

“mắt diều hâu”, “mắt cú vọ”, “con mắt hằn học”, etc Let’s consider the following

examples:

The accident happened before you could blink an eye.

or It happened in the twinkle of an eye.

The Vietnamese meaning of these sentences is “Tai nạn xảy ra trong chớp mắt”.

So, “before you could blink an eye” or “in the twinkle of an eye” in English has the same meaning with the Vietnamese idiom “trong chớp mắt” to denote a fast,

surprising action

Another example with “eye”:

In English : “keep one’s eyes glued to”

In Vietnamese : “dán mắt vào”.

These idioms refer to the action of someone that is attentively looking at

someone or something and not looking away from it Or in English, they say “shut

one’s eyes to the fact” and in Vietnamese, we say “nhắm mắt làm ngơ”, both of them

indicate the acception the harsh truth and unability to be against it

About “nose”, it is easily recognizable on the face The Englishmen indicate something “be under one’s very nose”, it means “to be directly in front of one” In Vietnamese, we have the idiom with the similar meaning “ngay trớc mũi”.

To describe the action of controlling other in an easy way by making them

stupid, in English “to lead someone by the nose”, in Vietnamese “dắt ai đằng mũi”.

They both come from the observation of animals being led by people (horses,buffalos, cows, )

“Face” is widely used in idioms as well It is the part that shows one’s feelings most truthfully and directly So if something “is staring in the face” without

recognizing immediately, it is easy and clear to recognize The Vietnamese is likely

to say “sờ sờ trớc mặt” in the same situation.

And there are many other English idioms with their equivalents in Vietnameseshown in the table below

Table The meaning of English idioms referring to body parts and their

equivalents in Vietnamese