Hanoi, 2009


Minor thesis

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15

Supervisor : Prof. Dr. Hoàng Văn Vân

Hanoi, 2009
iv
Table of contents

Declaration
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT

Proverbs
5
1.1.1
Definitions
5
1.1.2
Proverbs about educating moral qualities
6
1.1.3
Some features of proverbs
7
1.1.4
Classification of proverbs
8
1.1.5
Proverbs and Idioms
9
1.2
Some characteristics of English/ Vietnamese people and culture
10
1.2.1
The relationship between language and culture
10
1.2.2
Characteristics of English people and culture
11
1.2.3

20
2.3
Summary
22

Chapter three: Comparison of cultural
features between English and Vietnamese
proverbs about Educating Moral Qualities
23
3.1
Universal moral qualities
23
3.2
Moral qualities in the family
27
3.2.1
Women’s moral qualities
27
3.2.2
Moral qualities in love
28
3.2.3
Moral qualities in the husband-wife relationship
29
3.2.4
The duty of the children towards their parents
30
3.3
In the society
31

For EFL Teaching and Learning
37
2.2
For Translation
39
3
Suggestions for Further Studies
41

APPENDIX REFERENCES
1

Introduction

1. Rationale
It is clear that communicators in their own native language environment find it
natural to speak in the way they normally speak and behave according to their
presupposed social norms and conventions. However, in our cross-cultural
communication, that is communication between individuals from different cultural
backgrounds, many difficulties may arise. Each nation’s language lies in itself 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
learners to communicate successfully with native speakers if they have poor
understanding of the language itself and the language in relation with culture.

communication.
Professor Denis Brutus (Pittsburgh University, America, 1995) stated the practical
effect of learning proverbs: “Through proverbs I know your points of view, the attitudes
of your ancestors. Each time I know a new Vietnamese proverb, I become Vietnamese a
little. I believe when we know all proverbs of each other, we are brothers”
Being interested in proverbs for a long time, I choose proverbs as my thesis topic
as both English and Vietnamese are especially rich in proverbs. Many of them are
corresponding in meaning or close enough to make comparison interesting and
rewarding. However, due to the limited time and knowledge, I just focus on a small part
of the huge proverbial treasure “A study on English and Vietnamese proverbs about
educating moral qualities from cultural perspective”.
Hopefully, the study may be an interesting and helpful material for learners,
teachers of English and for people who are interested in cultural pattern in
communication and cross-cultural communication.

2. Aims of the study
The study aims to:
 Investigate the general syntactic, semantic and especially cultural features
of English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities.
 Explore the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese

3
proverbs about educating moral qualities from the cultural perspective.
 Provide some suggestions for the teaching/learning 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 proverbs, so it is impossible for the author to carry out an exhaustive study
on them; just from the cultural perspective.

Chapter one, as implied by the title: “Theoretical Background”, covers a series of
proverb-related concepts ranging from definitions of proverbs, features of proverbs, types
of proverbs, proverbs in comparison with idioms. Chapters two and three make up the
more specifically focused part of the study. Chapter two is concerned with a
“Comparison of syntactic 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 EFL teaching and learning and for the translation, and suggestions for further
studies. The study ends with the “REFERENCES”.
5
Development
Chapter one: Theoretical Background
1.1. Proverbs

definitions meet at a common point that they find out some features to realize a proverb
which are a short pithy saying in common, stating a general truth or giving lessons or
advice.

1.1.2. Proverbs about educating moral qualities
According to Oxford dictionary, “moral” refers to principles of right or wrong behaviour,
based on one’s sense of what is right and just, not on legal rights and obligations.
From time to time, the definition of moral quality changes by the benevolence of
public opinion and depends also on the point of view. According to Stephen N. “Moral
quality is not just a cultural and social behaviours of acting and reacting …Moral quality
should be understood as human behaviour which holds that man should concern himself
with the welfare of all humans and never seek to destroy”. (In the Book American
Hypocrisy: American Diplomacy, American Stragedy, 2007).
Thus by “proverbs about educating moral qualities” here is meant proverbs that
may be used to express a lesson about principles of behaviour.

1.3. Some typical features of proverbs
1.3.1. Semantic features
 In terms of semantic peculiarities, a great number of proverbs are
metaphors. So each of them has one literal meaning and one or more extended meanings
in the figurative sense. For example, “Dog does not eat dog” can literally mean that even
a dog does not eat another dog; whereas, the figurative meaning refers to the loyalty
between companions: A person must not attack, try to injure, or try to make profit out of
a person of his own set. However, once a reader or hearer realizes that a given expression
is a proverb, even if they are not sure of its exact meaning, they will automatically
discard the literal meaning of the expression, and seek a figurative meaning. Furthermore,
the context in which the proverb occurs also plays an important role in the reduction of
the potential ambiguity of the proverb.
 Many proverbs from different culture correspond in meaning because they

8
All the components of a proverb are very important and interdependent. As a rule,
a proverbs does not contain long and complicated constructions, homogeneous parts,
more than one subordinate clause, and such components as might be omitted without
affecting the meaning of the proverbs. All these characteristics contribute to the brevity
of proverbs.
Proverbs are not ad hoc pieces of language, but are pre-formulated and pre-
fabricated generalized statements. They are therefore unalterable in their style and
structure. As such, they may neither need to be adapted to a given textual context nor do
they require a specific textual surrounding to be comprehensible.

1.4. Classification of proverbs
It is claimed that the exercise of categorizing the proverb genre is just difficult as
defining it. Despite the foregoing constraint, scholars have attempted to classify he
proverbs. There exists many different ways of proverb classification among linguists who
have based on different categories as origin, meaning, function….
S impson/ Speake in the Oxford Concise Dictionary of Proverbs (1998) postulate
in its introductory remarks the classification of Proverbs. They states that proverbs can be
divided into three main categories. Those of the first type take the form of abstract
statements expressing general truths, such as Absence makes the heart grow fonder….
Proverbs of the second type, which include many of the more colourful examples, use
specific observations from everyday experience to make a point which is general; for
instance, “You can take a horse to water, but you can‟t make him drink” and “Don‟t put
all your eggs in one basket”. The third type of proverb comprises sayings from particular
areas of traditional wisdom and folklore. In this category are found, for example, the
health proverbs After dinner rest a while, after supper walk a mile…In addition, there are
traditional country proverbs which relate to husbandry, the seasons, and the weather…
From my point of view, this way of classifying the proverbs is not clear and

group as both proverbs and idioms are se-expressions with stable and insubstituted
components. Apart from this, most proverbs and idioms use language in a metaphorical
and figurative meaning. So we cannot discover their meanings by looking up the
individual words in a dictionary; their meanings must be understood metaphorically.
However, proverbs and idioms also have some typical features that distinguish
one from the other. The first and most obvious difference lies in the grammar. Proverbs
are considered as complete sentences or phrases expressing the whole idea and can stand

10
alone. Meanwhile, idioms are phrases which are parts of a sentence and thus, they are
equivalent to words only. Moreover proverbs and idioms are also different in terms of
functions. Proverbs are short well-known sentences or phrases that express a judgment,
state a general truth about life or advice; they are claimed to contain three main literature
functions which are perceptive function, aesthetic function and education function.
For example, the proverb “Money is the root of all evil” demonstrates a remark as well as
a criticism about the negative side of money in the society. Its perceptive function is to
make people aware of the bad effect of money which can lead people to the evil road.
The educational function is to criticize the negative of money and urges people to be
aware of its ill effect. And its aesthetic function is to exaggerate in a picturesque way to
help readers understand the proverb easily. In contrast, idioms do not have functions of
perception and education but only the aesthetic function. For example, the idiom “a dirty
pig” merely describes somebody who is dirty in his or her personal or domestic habits in
figurative and imaginary way and does not point out any educational lesson or knowledge
of life.
To conclude, beside some common things, proverbs and idioms also have
differences in their structure and functions.

1.2. Language and Culture
1.2.1. The relationship between language and culture
In any culture or region, language is much more than semantics, much more than

understand or appreciate the one without the knowledge of the other. Anyone studying a
foreign language has to be bicultural as well as bilingual to speak the new language in a
way that it is not disparaging to the culture and its origin.

1.2.2. General characteristics of Vietnamese people and culture
Vietnam boasts an age-long and special culture. Originated from the Southeast
Asian culture, the Vietnamese river-imprinted culture deeply affects the whole spiritual
as well as material life of Vietnamese people. The culture has existed and developed in
close interaction with other cultures in Asia, particularly with Chinese culture due to the
era of Chinese domination, which lasted for almost 1000 years of the country’s early
history. As a result, the Viet people and culture were subject to constant Chinese
influence and significant attempts of assimilation.

12
In fact, Vietnam has found itself entangled in wars against foreign powers (China, France
and American) more than any other country in the region. On the positive side, the
history of war has helped shape the Vietnamese characters. Long years of fighting against
foreign intruders have served to unify the country, fostering a sense of nationalism,
patriotism and pride.
The Vietnamese culture is said to be an agricultural one which was characterized
by the village community with many of its primitive vestiges retained. Farmers’ thoughts
penetrated deeply into the Vietnamese agricultural society and had many positive aspects
that made up the typical features of the traditional Vietnamese. Living mostly on farm
created democracy and hierarchy, unity, collective spirit and independent spirit in
Vietnamese people.
Vietnamese people are greatly affected by Yin and Yang philosophy, clearly
expressed in harmony tendency between people with people and with the nature. 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

Wales, Ireland and Scotland. Being an island has affected the British people’s
characteristics. British people still have an island mentally: independent, separate and on
the edge of things. British families are often criticized for the way they do things
separately, though many believe that it is good for children to learn to be independent.
According to James O’Driscoll (2000), family identity is rather week in Britain,
especially in England, in comparison with most other places in the world. In Britain, the
family unit definitely means the nuclear family. Compared to the culture value of
Vietnam, the members of a family in Britain usually do not share the same roof. There is
little sense of extended family identity, except among some racial minorities. It is unusual
for adults of different generations within the family to live together. Especially, newly
married couples rarely live with their in-laws. Elderly parents either live alone for as long
as they are able or enter a home for the aged. An adult child would oversee such an
arrangement but does not feel an obligation to take the parent into his own home.
Unlike Vietnam, Britain has a strong history of colonizing many areas of the
world. Perhaps because of the long tradition of a clear separation between individual and
the state, English people are not normally actively patriotic although many of them feel
proud to be English. When the community value is concerned, it is rare to find people

14
who have lived all their lives in one community. As a result, the British also have no the
same community value as the Vietnamese do.
It is probably true that the British, especially the English, tend to be more reserved
than the people of many other countries. It means that they don’t show their emotion very
much. They do not quickly share their deeper feelings. They find it comparatively
difficult to indicate friendship by open displays of affection. They are said to be people
who often keep certain distance to strangers, do not talk much about themselves, do not
show much emotion and seldom get excited. This fact tends to give their communicators
the impression of coldness. The English also favour individualism rather than group
orientation.
The English people specially like privacy. “An Englishman‟s house is his castle”,

educating moral qualities have features in common. Firstly, both English and Vietnamese
proverbs are usually recognized by the fixed, often short form and is therefore quite easy
to memorize and easily retrievable from memory. Moreover, rhetorical figures such as
alliteration, rhythm… frequently occur. For examples:
Alliteration: - He laughs best who laughs last.
- Nói hay hơn hay nói.
Rhythm: - Waste not, want not.
- Long absent, soon forgotten.
- Ăn đến nơi, làm đến chốn.

On the other hand, both English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral
qualities also share some typical constructions.
 Parallel construction
This kind is very popular in English and Vietnamese proverbs. About 4% of English
proverbs and more than 27% of Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities
belong to this kind. The proverbs of this kind often omit conjunctions, but there still
exists the meaningful relationship between two clauses. “And” or “But” in English
proverbs and “Thì” “Là” in Vietnamese proverbs are omitted. Instead, alliteration and
rhythm are used to make the sentences be well-proportioned. For examples:
- Harm set, harm get.

16
- Ill gotten, ill spent.
- Cáo chết để da, người (ta) chết để tiếng.
- Chú cũng như cha, dì cũng như mẹ.
 Sentence structures omitted the subject
Both English and Vietnamese proverbs in general and English-Vietnamese proverbs
about educating moral qualities in particular use this form of sentence structure to express
the general aspects or qualities that can belong to a general person or anyone. Doing so,
the proverbs seem to stress common sense and wisdom, which have some permanent

chẳng ra gì với tôi đâu.”
Ừ đấy, cứ đặt thế đấy, nghĩa là sinh sự thì sự sinh, chứ bụt trên toà gà nào dám mổ
mắt”.(Nguyễn Công Hoan, Bước đường cùng)
- Thôi ông cứ yên tâm… Một người lấy tây cả họ được nhờ” (Vũ Trọng Phụng, Kỹ
nghệ lấy Tây)
In those examples, four proverbs were structurally broken:
- Leopard cannot change his spot.
- Sinh sự thì sự sinh.
- Bụt trên toà, gà nào mổ mắt.
- Một người làm quan cả họ được nhờ.

2.1.2. Differences
There are also a great deal differences between the English and Vietnamese proverbs
about educating moral qualities in syntactic features.
Firstly, in terms of pun, the ways of expression in English and Vietnamese proverbs
reflect the specific characteristics of English and Vietnamese language: polysyllabic and
monosyllabic. English proverbs often use alliteration in accordance with the polysyllabic
language, such as:
- Diamond cut diamond.
- He laughs best who laughs last.
However, Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities have the pun of
inversion, changing from active to passive voice, for examples:
- Hại nhân nhân hại.
- Chê chồng chẳng bõ chồng chê.
- Khôn ăn người, dại người ăn.

18
Another difference between English and Vietnamese proverbs about educating
moral qualities in terms of syntactic features is that rhyme is more popularly used in
Vietnamese proverbs than in English ones as Vietnamese is of monosyllabic language

are expressed in different ways, the meanings still are the same because they advise the
same moral qualities. For examples:
- A honeyed tongue, a heart of gall. (Khẩu Phật, tâm xà).
Both proverbs refer to someone who is warm and accommodating in speech but harsh
and ruthless in action. These proverbs also criticize this kind of characteristics.
- Harm set, harm get (Ác giả ác báo).
The proverbs warn the people who start wrong or violent actions will suffer the same
violent consequence of their actions.
 Paradox proverbs
Through this study, it is found that English-Vietnamese proverbs in general and
English- Vietnamese proverbs about educating moral qualities in particular appear some
proverbs which advised people to behave quite contrastively. For examples:
“Look before you leap” and “He who hesitates is lost”.
(“Trâu chậm uống nước đục” and “Cẩn tắc vô ưu”).
-“Silence is the best policy” and “Outspoken is the best policy”.
As the proverbs are often so pithy and short, some proverbs only states or imply one side
of the issue. The contrastive proverbs about educating moral qualities are considered as
the exception for the general or normal moral lessons. From my point of view, there is
another explanation for this phenomenon in proverbs. Because life is so various,
complicated, it also has paradoxes, good points and bad points. Thus, in each specific
situation people must have the suitable behavior. We cannot follow only one model of
behavior. Vietnamese proverbs also taught people about this way of behavior: “Ăn theo
thuả, ở theo thời” or “Đáo giang tuỳ khúc”.

 Using words denoting general people
English proverbs about educating moral qualities often have the general
determiners and predeterminers (such as: Every, each, every one, everything), the
pronounce One, and the relative pronounce Who to make the general meaning:
Everything comes to him who waits. (Ai chờ người ấy được).
Everyone must bear his own cross. (Trồng cây chua ăn quả chua, trồng

- Chẳng phải dạy đĩ vén váy (Don‟t teach fishes to swim).
- Chồng người vì nước xông pha, chồng em ở nhà gà đá gãy chân.
- Được voi, đòi tiên (Give him an inch and he‟ll take an ell).