A contrastive analysis of idioms referring to body parts between english and vietnamese

The meaning of English idioms referring to body parts and their equivalents in Vietnamese 17 2.2.1.. Some differences in cultural features of idioms referring to body parts between Engli

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Ms Nguyễn Thị Tường (M.A) -

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

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

To everyone, I truly thank

2 Aims of the study 4

3 Objects of the study 5

4 Methods of the study 5

5 Design of the study 5

PART II INVESTIG ATION 6

Chapter 1 Idioms 6

1.1 Definitions of idioms 6

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 10

1.3.1 Word and its meaning 10

1.3.2 Free - word groups and idioms 12

1.4 Criteria to distinguish idioms from proverbs 13

Chapter 2 English and Vietnamese idioms referring to body parts 16

2.1 English and Vietnamese idioms referring to body parts 16

2.1.1 The elements of body parts in English idioms 16

2.1.2 The elements os body parts in Vietnamese idioms 16

2.2 The meaning of English idioms referring to body parts and their equivalents in Vietnamese 17

2.2.1 Some differences in cultural features of idioms referring to body parts between English and Vietnamese 17

2.2.2 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

Reference books 31

Appendix

Part I Introduction

1 Background information

Nowadays, English is referred to as a global language So it is not uncommon that it is used the most widely over the world As a result, English is being taught and learned in Vietnam During the course of learning English, we have chance to deal with many aspects of English language In that ,we are really fond of English idioms since they play a very important role in reflecting the vivid, colourful picture

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 our research, we find many types of English idioms, especially idioms referring to body parts which cause lots of difficulties for the learners in mastering them That

interests us much when we realize that there is a great number of Vietnamese idioms referring to body parts For instance, to indicate a person who is very old, very aged,

the Vietnamese would like to say “đầu bạc răng long” We are attracted by the

question how and why idioms differ from each other between English and Vietnamese 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 and situations However, English idioms are various and great in number So, in this small scale of this study, we only deal with English idioms referring to body parts in contrast with those in Vietnamese

2 Aims of the study

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

The second aim of this study is to give students and learners some cultural characters 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 to improve 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 in Vietnamese

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 1 Idioms

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

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 of special kind” This means that the meaning of the words combined is obscure This meaning 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 the individual meanings of each word”

In a shorter word, an idiom can be seen as a number of words which, when taken together, 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 is generally 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 sương” (scaly skin and grey hair) means

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

“Chốc đà mười mấy năm trời

Còn ra khi đã da mồi tóc sương”

( Truyện Kiều , Nguyễn Du)

( With more than ten years gone,

If still alive, they must have old tooth, grey hair) Hoàng Văn Hành (1994) defined an idiom as “a stable word - group with a solid formation and structure, and a complete and figurative meaning, used in

everyday communication, especially in spoken language” (“Kể chuyện Thành ngữ,

Tục ngữ tiếng Việt, Nhà xuất bản Khoa học xã hội, 1994) Let’s have a look at the

example “chõ mũi vào chuyện người khác” in the sentence “Ở xóm này, ai cũng biết

mụ Hoà là kẻ chuyên chõ mũi vào chuyện người khác” (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 idioms since the very beginning of 20th century Many Western and American authors gave great 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 Englis h 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 and other countries, many Vietnamese linguists show their interests in this new, difficult subject They are:

Bùi Phụng with “Dictionary of Vietnamese - English Idioms and Proverbs

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

(published in 1995)

Đoàn Minh - Nguyễn Thị Tuyết with “English - Vietnamese Common Idioms”

(published in 1994)

Trần Tất Thắng with “Idioms for Everyday Use” (published in 1995)

Phạm Văn Bình with “English Idioms and Proverbs” (published in 1996) Lã Thành with “Dictionary of Current English - Vietnamese Idioms” ( translation

Hoàng Văn Hành, Nguyễn Như Ý, and Phan Xuân Thành with “Kể chuyện

Thành ngữ, tục ngữ” volume 1,2,3 (published in 1988 and 1991)

Vũ Dung with “Từ điển Thành ngữ và Tục ngữ Việt Nam” (published in 1993) Nguyễn Như Ý, Nguyễn Văn Khang and Phan Xuân Thành with “Từ điển Thành

ngữ Việt Nam” (published in 1993)

Việt Chương with “Từ điển Thành ngữ, Tục ngữ, Ca dao Việt Nam” (published

in 1996)

Nguyễn Lân with “Từ điển Thành ngữ và Tục ngữ Việt Nam” (published in

1997)

Vĩnh Bá with “Từ điển Thành ngữ Tiếng Việt” (published in 1999)

So, through the time, idioms have been studied widely In order to master the base 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 the purposes of communication It contains many kinds of information suc h as the information 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 syntactical functions

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 is suggested that the meaning of a word reflects reality by being associated with the certain sound form We can see many types of word meaning according to different divisions As mentioned above, words are divided into full words and empty words Accordingly, full words show lexical meaning That is the realisation of concept or emotion When we hear or see the word “bicycle”, for example, our concept is realised and the picture of a bicycle occurs to our mind So, this realisation is called lexical meaning Empty words, in contrast, show grammatical meaning That is what unites words with different lexical meanings It divides words into groups with their own 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 go together 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 to

denote 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 out things, 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 they refer to It shows us how things, concepts, etc, are indicated For example, the following words have the same denotational meaning but different connotation :

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

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

1.3.2 Free-word groups and idioms

At the very first word, it is popularly known that it is very difficult to distinguish idioms from free-word groups Free-word group, in a simple word, is made up by different 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 a completely 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 on Harry’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 can

replace “an ox” here with another animal “a camel” or “a buffalo” for example Of course, 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 components preserves 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 to distinguish an idiom from a free-word group is about structural invariability This criterion is as following restrictions

The first restriction is in substitution It means no word can be substituted for any 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 any dangers 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 very popular

1.4 Criteria to distinguish idioms from proverbs

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

According to Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, a proverb is defined as “a short well-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 is called 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 in communication ? 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 any criteria 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 an

idiom 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 nước 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 in life In a short word, a proverb is a lesson

The second criterion is about structure or the stability of structure An idiom is a fixed group or a set phrase, this means the sequence of words in an idiom cannot be changed or shortened anyway If that sequence is changed, the meaning of the idiom will change as a consequence If any word is added to or left out, that idiom may be invalid 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 criteria are given to distinguish idioms from proverbs A perfect criterion is hardly possible since there have been many borderlines between them Up above, we only introduce two accepted criteria as a reference Due to the limitation of the subject, we do not widen this unit

Chapter 2

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 how many 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 is very long Thanks to the fact that body parts are familiar and close to everyone, the number 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 of body that are widely used in idioms

According to Longman Idioms Dictionary, body parts that are used in idioms include: 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 of course We should come to body parts in Vietnamese idioms to identify this problem more carefully

2.1.2 The elements of body parts in Vietnamese idioms

Dr Nguyễn Lân listed many kinds of body parts that appear in Vietnamese idioms They are: Mặt (face), mày (eyebrow), mắt (eye), mũi (nose), miệng (mouth), răng (tooth, teeth), lưỡi (tongue), tai (ear), má (cheek), môi (lip), mép (outer lip), trán (forehead), cổ (neck), tóc (hair), cổ họng (throat), gáy (headback), lưng (back), vai (shoulder), nách (armpit), cổ tay (fist), bàn tay (hand), ngón tay út (little finger), lòng bàn tay (palm), cẳng tay (arm), thân (body), mình (body), đầu (head), óc (brain), chân (leg), cẳng (leg), gót chân (heel), đầu gối (knee), hông (wrist), bụng (stomach), xương (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 They reflect a great deal of conceptions, thoughts, of the Vietnamese people about the world of nature, the human, and the society

As mentioned about, some kinds of body parts are present in English idioms but not in Vietnamese idioms and vice verse There are some kinds of body parts that are used 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 an overview about each nation as a certain result

England and Vietnam are two different countries They differ from each other obviously in many faces England is considered as the country of wealth, old - aged history and strong developments Meanwhile, Vietnam is still grouped in the third world, poor and backward Moreover, the development of England is based on the foundation of heavy industry but Vietnam develops much more slowly on the foundation of water - rice For these reasons, it is not strange for people in these two countries 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 and Vietnamese

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 “mưa 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 a comfortable 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 general because 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 như 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 countries through 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 the time when gallows is popular and used to punish criminals in England But in Vietnam, the different way of expressing this quality does not have less the same

meaning is “mặt người 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, it usually puts its tail between its legs becomes a figurative description On the contrary, Vietnamese people consider dogs the image of dirt, greed, cruelty, and

ignorance such as “bẩn / tham / ác / ngu như 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 of development That is why whenever, wherever we are, which race we belong to, we have 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 of idioms Some of English idioms referring to parts of body listed underneath have the Vietnamese 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 punishment put 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 “đưa

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 tường”

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 tư”

“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

Vietnamese, we say “phủi tay xong chuyện” Though these two idioms come from

different origins, they indicate the same situation and give the same figurative meaning

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 như 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 lưng

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 lưng”

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

In English: “a sharp tongue”

In Vietnamese: “giấu gươm đầu lưỡi”

Both of the above idioms indicate someone who always says unkind, unpleasant words 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,

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 trước 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