VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES PHAM THI MINH A STUDY ON ENGLISII AND VIETNAMESE PROVERBS ABOUT EDUCATING MORAL QUALITIES FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE (Tục ngữ tiếng Anh và Tiêng Việt với ý nghĩa giáo dục phẩm chat đao đức - Nghiên cửu dưới góc độ văn hoá) Minor thesis Ficld: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Tanoi, 2009 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES PILAM TIT MINIT A STUDY ON ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE PROVERBS ABOUT EDUCATING MORAL QUALITIES FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE {Tục ngữ tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt với y nghĩa giáo dục phẩm chất đao đức - Nghiên cứu dưới góc độ văn hoá) Minor thesis Ficld: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor : Prof. Hodng Van Van Hanoi, 2009 w TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale 2, Aims of the study 3. Scope of the study 4.
Molhods of the study Bow 5. Design of the study DEVELOPMENT CIIAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 11 Proverbs 1.11 Deñnitians IO “ni 1.2 Proverbs about educating moral qualities 1. Some features af proverbs 1.4 Classification of proverbs co 1.5 Proverbs and Idioms Some characteristics of English/ Vietnamese peuple and cullure 10 robe The relationship between language and culture ho 10 Characteristics of English people and culture Characteristics of Vietnamese people and culture 13 io ie vi CONCLUSION tw 4 Recapitulation 4 wee oe teu Implications a4 For EFL Teaching and Learning Boe Vor ‘Translation Suggestions for Further Studies APPENDIX REFERENCES proverbs can help leamers know more about social and cultural characteristics of that language Sccondly, praverbs ar usoit to cxpross idcas in figurative way. Il brings the vividness and richness for the spzaker’s sp: h.
Anyors who much voncerns proverbs owns a very altractive manner of speaking, Especially, they can do provide users with a whole new way of expressing concepts linguistically. Without Ihem, ¡L can be slated that English might lose its color and vitality, Studying English proverbs in comparison with Vietnamese ones, we can find the similarilies and difference in two languages and cultures, which therefor: Ip Iearnicrs of Englishto understand and have a better use of English proverbs and Vietnamese ones. ‘This can also help leamers to have better communication in the cross-cultural communication Professor Denis Brutus (Pittsbu; h University, Americ, 1995) stated the practical effect of learning proverbs: “Through proverbs £ know your points of view, the attitudes of your ancestors. Rach time T know a new Vietnamese proverb, I became Vietnamese a little.
I believe when we know all proverbs of each other, we are brothers” Leing interested in proverbs for a long time, | choose proverbs as my thesis topic as both English and Victnames: are especially nich in proverbs. Many of them are comesponding in meaning or close enough to make comparison interesting and rewarding. However, due to the limited time and knowledge, I just focus ona small part of the huge proverbial (reasue “A study on English and Vietnamese proverbs sbout educating moral qualities fom cultural perspective”. Llopefully, the study may be an interesting and helpful material for learners, teachers of English and for people who arc intercsied im cultural palldm in communication and cross-cultural communication.
Aims of the study The study aims to: © Investigate the general syntactic, semantic and especially cultural features of English and Viemamese proverbs about educating moral qualities Lixplore the similarities and differences between Linglish and Vietnamese proverbs can help leamers know more about social and cultural characteristics of that language Sccondly, praverbs ar usoit to cxpross idcas in figurative way. Il brings the vividness and richness for the spzaker’s sp: h. Anyors who much voncerns proverbs owns a very altractive manner of speaking, Especially, they can do provide users with a whole new way of expressing concepts linguistically. Without Ihem, ¡L can be slated that English might lose its color and vitality, Studying English proverbs in comparison with Vietnamese ones, we can find the similarilies and difference in two languages and cultures, which therefor: Ip Iearnicrs of Englishto understand and have a better use of English proverbs and Vietnamese ones.
‘This can also help leamers to have better communication in the cross-cultural communication Professor Denis Brutus (Pittsbu; h University, Americ, 1995) stated the practical effect of learning proverbs: “Through proverbs £ know your points of view, the attitudes of your ancestors. Rach time T know a new Vietnamese proverb, I became Vietnamese a little. I believe when we know all proverbs of each other, we are brothers” Leing interested in proverbs for a long time, | choose proverbs as my thesis topic as both English and Victnames: are especially nich in proverbs. Many of them are comesponding in meaning or close enough to make comparison interesting and rewarding.
However, due to the limited time and knowledge, I just focus ona small part of the huge proverbial (reasue “A study on English and Vietnamese proverbs sbout educating moral qualities fom cultural perspective”. Llopefully, the study may be an interesting and helpful material for learners, teachers of English and for people who arc intercsied im cultural palldm in communication and cross-cultural communication. Aims of the study The study aims to: © Investigate the general syntactic, semantic and especially cultural features of English and Viemamese proverbs about educating moral qualities Lixplore the similarities and differences between Linglish and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities fiom the eultural perspective = Provide some suggestions for the tenching/learing and translation of the English proverbs about educating moral qualities in particular 3. Scope of the study Proverbs about educating moral qualities are a large part in both English and Vietnamese proverhs, so it is impossible for the author to carry out an exhaustive study on them, just from the cultural perspective.
In this study, syntactic and semantic features of English proverbs about educating moral qualilies are discussed briefly, cultural features are extensively analyved and discussed when English proverbs are compared with Vietnamese ones. All English and Vietnamese proverbs are collected from dictionaries and books, so this research may not cover all proverbs about educating moral qualities; just those of common usc. 4, Methods of the study The study uses the two methods: quantitative and qualitative. By virtue of the quantitative method, the study has collected data for the study, inchiding both English and Vielmarnese proverbs about educating moral qualilies.
The qualitative method is employed to describe and analyze the data of the study, The steps of the study are in the order as follows: © Collect Linglish and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities fromm several dicticmaries and books (¢ g., English proverbs and sayings, The Oxford Dictionary of voncise Proverbs, Tit diễn Thành ngữ và lục ngữ Việt Nam by Nguyễn Lân, Tit didn Tuc ngit Vide-Anh, Anh-Viee thông đụng by Vũ THÊ Ngọc, Tục ngữ sơ sảnh (838 Tục Xgít Việt-3000 Tục ngữ Anh-Pháp- Pspanlo) by Phụm Văn VăilL, Tục ngữ Cá dao Dan ca Viet Nam by Vii Ngoc Phan. and then sort them out. «Investigate and analyze the syntactic, semantic and cultural features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities © Compare and find the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese about educating moral qualities vi CONCLUSION tw 4 Recapitulation 4 wee oe teu Implications a4 For EFL Teaching and Learning Boe Vor ‘Translation Suggestions for Further Studies APPENDIX REFERENCES 5. Design of the study The study consists of three parts.
The first part “INTRODUCTION” outlines the background of the study. In this part, a brief account of relevant information is provided about the rationale, aims, scopes, method, and design of the study. ‘The main part of the study comprises three chapters Chapter one, as implicd by the fille: “Theoretical Background”, covers a series of proverb-related concepts ranging tiom definitions of proverbs, features of proverbs, types of proverhs, proverbs in comparison with idioms. Chapters two and three make up the more specifically focused part of the study.
Chapter Iwo is concerned with a “Comparison of syutactic and semantic features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities’ whereas chapter three deals with a “Comparison of cultural features of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities”. ‘The final part is the “CONCLUSION”, which provides the recapitulation, implications for the FFL teaching and learning and for the translation, and suggestions for farther studies. The study ends with the “REFERENCES”. DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUN 1.1 Definitions of Proverbs As there is a general agreement that proverbs are widely known in all human languages, it is very ncecssary to define what proverbs arc.
Such English expressions as “Many men, many minds”, “Experience is the mother of wisdem”, “Poverty ts no sin”, cle. are usually described as proverbs, so “Whal is a proverb?” According to The New Oxford Dictionary (1996), a proverb is “a short, pithy saying in general use, stating a general truth or a piece of advice”. This definition is developed in the Oxford English Dictionary (2001, on-line) which defines a proverb as “a short, pithy saying i common and recognized use, a concise sentence, often metaphorical or alliterative in form, which is held to express some truth ascertained by experience or observation and familiar ta all” Some proverbs in themselves are people’s definitions ofa proverbs, like “proverbs are the wisdom of the street”, “proverbs are the children of experience”, “All the good sense of the world runs into proverbs” Wolfgang Micder defines a proverb as “a concise statement of an apparent iruth which has currency anong the people”. Mieder performed an interesting survey, asking JS non-aeademies lo writs their defirritions ofa proverb.
He found thal from 4 to 20 lines in the collected definitions, a proverb is “a phrase, saving, truth, morals, experience, lessons, and advice concerning life and which has been handed from generation to generation (Proverbs arc never ont of scason, 1993). Vu Ngoc Phan (2000:39) considered proverbs as “a complete saying in which it expresses one idea of comment, experience, morality, justice or criticism” Many olher scholars contimme ta find their own definitions of proverbs, Init il is difficult to give one exact definition Archer Taylor (1931) defined a proverb in more than 200 pages, and he conchided that it was impossible to give a meaningful definition of it. Taylor noted that “.an incommaticahle quality tells us this sentence ts proverbial and that one is not” (1931. INTRODUCTION 1, Rationale It is clear that communicators in their own native language environment find it natural te speak in the way they normally speak and behave according to their presupposed social norms and conventions.
However, in our cross-cultural communicalion, that is corumnanication between individuals from different cultural backgroméds, many difficullies nay arise. Fach nation’s language lies in ilsel similar and different cultural concepts on many fields of life such as humane values, behaviour standards, religious beliefs, etc. Therefore, it would be difficult for foreign language lcarners to commmnicate successfully with native speakers if they have poor understanding of the Janguage itself and the language in relation with culture. Among many favorite languages sack as French, Chinase cle, English has still played its decisive role in international communication and has been Jeamed by a large mmumber of people in the world.
All foreign learners of Linglish desire to master inglish as the native speakers but they usually face many difficulties that prevent them ftom gaining sucecssful conversations, One of the reasons for these problems lics in the way people peroeive and use proverbs For many yoars, English provorbs have often beon neglected in Iearning and teaching because it is a difficult area of English, but nobody can deny that proverbs are really important in communication, “a proverbs wn the hand ix often worth q thousand words” (Horace Reynolds, 1959) Furstly, proverbs as traditional wisdom are never absent tom our daily speech. They are a main part of each nation’s culture, which reflects all aspects of the life. People epilomize their way of thinking and their ideas through proverbs.
