A contrastive study of english and vietnamese proverbs referring to money = sự phân tích đối chiếu giữa tục ngữ tiếng anh và tục ngữ tiếng việt đề cập đến tiền

Vinh university
deparment of foreign languages

ngun thÞ thu

A contrastive study of English and
Vietnamese proverbs referring to money
(Sự phân tích đối chiếu giữa tục ngữ tiếng anh
và tục ngữ tiếng việt đề cËp ®Õn tiỊn)

Graduation thesis
Field: semantics

Vinh, May 2007
i


Vinh university
deparment of foreign languages

A contrastive study of English and
Vietnamese proverbs referring to money
(Sự phân tích đối chiếu giữa tục ngữ tiếng anh
và tục ngữ tiếng việt đề cập đến tiền)

Graduation thesis
Field: semantics

Student:

Nguyễn thị thu

Supervisor: phan thị hơng, M.A

Vinh, May 2007

ii


Acknowledgements
I could not have been able to complete my thesis without the encouragement and
help of my teachers, my parents and my friends.
First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to supervisor, Mrs Phan Thị
Hương (M.A) who gave me valuable advice, guidance and suggestions in the process of
my writing.
I am indebted to Miss Sandy and Miss Mindy for lending me useful materials and
giving me invaluable suggestions
I also wish to express my sincere thanks to all the teachers of Foreign Languages
Department for their comprehensive lessons as well as their encouragement.
Finally, I am very grateful to my parents and my friends who are always by my side
in order to help and courage me.

Vinh, may 2007

Nguyễn Thị Thu

iii


abbreviations
CA :

Contrastive analysis

e.g. :

For example

etc

:

Et cetera

No

:

Number

ii


Table of contents
page
Acknowlegements.......................................................................................................i
Abbreviations...............................................................................................................ii
Table of contents.....................................................................................................iii
Part I. Introduction..............................................................................................................1
1. Reasons for choosing the subject................................................................................1
2. Aims of the study.........................................................................................................1

3. Objects of the study.....................................................................................................2
4. Methods of the study...................................................................................................2
5. Design of the study......................................................................................................2
Part II. Development...........................................................................................................3
Chapter 1. Theoretical background...................................................................................3
1.1. An overview on contrastive analysis........................................................................3
1.2. Word..........................................................................................................................3
1.2.1. Definition...............................................................................................................3
1.2.2. Word meaning........................................................................................................4
1.3. Set expression............................................................................................................4
1.4. Metaphor...................................................................................................................5
1.4.1. Definition...............................................................................................................5
1.4.2. Distinction between metaphor and simile.............................................................5
1.4.2.1. Similarities..........................................................................................................5
1.4.2.2. Differences..........................................................................................................6
1.5. Proverbs.....................................................................................................................7
1.5.1. Definition...............................................................................................................7
1.5.1.1. Necessary and sufficient conditions of a proverb definition..............................7
1.5.1.2. Definition of English proverbs...........................................................................8
1.5.1.3. Definition of Vietnamese proverbs.....................................................................9
1.5.2. Distinction between proverbs and idioms...........................................................10
1.5.2.1. Similarities........................................................................................................10
1.5.2.2. Differences........................................................................................................10
1.5.3. Features of English and Vietnamese proverbs....................................................10
1.5.3.1. Structural features.............................................................................................10
1.5.3.2. Semantic proverbs.............................................................................................12
1.6. The relationship between proverbs and culture......................................................14

iii

Chapter 2. A contrastive study of English and Vietnamese proverbs
referring to money......................................16
2.1. What are proverbs referring to money?...........................................................16
2.2. Stylistic features of money proverbs................................................................16
2.2.1. English proverbs............................................................................................16
2.2.2. Vietnamese proverbs.....................................................................................17
2.3. Semantic features of English and Vietnamese proverbs referring to money. .17
2.3.1. Money proverbs about the power of money.................................................17
2.3.2. Money proverbs about money’s effects........................................................20
2.3.3. Money proverbs about money’s drawbacks.................................................21
2.3.4. Money proverbs about money’s relative unimportance...............................22
2.3.5. Money proverbs about savings.....................................................................23
2.3.6. Money proverbs about expense.....................................................................24
2.3.7. Money proverbs about correlation between goods and money’s value.......24
2.3.8. Money proverbs about lending and borrowing.............................................25
2.3.9. Money proverbs about the value of time......................................................25
2.3.10. Money proverbs about man’s greediness and selfishness..........................26
2.3.11. Money proverbs about exchange of goods and services............................26
2.3.12. Money proverbs about the rich...................................................................26
2.3.13. Money proverbs about unexpected benefit from little investment.............27
2.3.14. Money proverbs about money’s sources....................................................27
2.3.15. Money proverbs about the importance of good words...............................27
2.3.16. Others..........................................................................................................28
2.3.16.1. English proverbs.......................................................................................28
2.3.16.2. Vietnamese proverbs................................................................................28
2.4. Major semantic similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese
proverbs referring to money....................................................................................30
2.4.1. Differences....................................................................................................31
2.4.2. Similarities.....................................................................................................35

Chapter 3. Some suggested exercises for using proverbs referring to money............40
Part III. Conclusion...........................................................................................................45
References...........................................................................................................................47
Appendices

iv


Part I. introduction

1. Rationale
There is a proverb about its permanence that "Time passes away, but sayings
remain". That is true because proverbs play an important role in languages and spirit life
of each nation. In both daily spoken language and literary language, we often meet the use
of many proverbs. Truly speaking, proverbs help communication more effectively in
ways of simple but sophisticated expressions. For example: "Time is money", "Money
tempts women, women tempt men", "Penny wise, pound foolish", etc…Expressions like
these have caught our attention.
Additionally, we can not deny that proverbs often reflect a country's customs,
cultural and traditional values. Therefore, it is essential that we should learn proverbs
because mastering proverbs of a country means mastering its culture.
In this study, I would like to take proverbs referring to money into account since I
think that money is considered a great care of human beings. Furthermore, in the process
of studying, I find many proverbs denoting money cause lot of difficulties for the learners
in mastering them. In order to interpret a proverb, we can not rely only on its literal
meaning, but have to consider their figurative sense. For instance: In English, "A golden
key opens all doors" means that if you have money, you can do anything. And
Vietnamese equivalent proverb is "có tiền mua tiên cũng được". That interests me much
and a query has drawn into my mind what differences and similarities between English
and Vietnamese proverbs on money are.

Last but not least, idioms have been studied a lot (idioms of animals, of human body,
of colour, etc…) meanwhile proverbs have not yet been the subject for many studies.
The above reasons have inspired me to choose the subject entitled "A contrastive
study of English and Vietnamese proverbs referring to money".

2. Aims of the study
The first aim of this study is to provide readers, especially English learners, with
fundamental understandings about words, metaphors, proverbs in general and proverbs
referring to money in particular.
The second aim is to study the meanings of money proverbs in English and
Vietnamese equivalents, and then to compare these two groups of proverbs so as to find
out similarities and differences between them in some aspects such as culture, social
1


features, structural and semantic features as well as the proportion of semantic features of
money proverbs
The third aim is that through this study, we do hope to be able to offer some
possible types of exercises to improve the learners' understanding and using proverbs
referring to money.

3. Subjects of the study
a. Proverbs
b. English and Vietnamese proverbs referring to money
c. The meanings of English and Vietnamese proverbs referring to money and
Vietnamese equivalents

4. Methods of the study
To achieve the above- mentioned aims, the author uses the following methods:
- Searching and reviewing reference documents related to the study to set up a

theoretical framework for the analysis and comparison.
- Collecting proverbs referring to money in English and n Vietnamese
- Classifying proverbs according to their semantic features using systematic
method.
- Analysing and comparing the proverbs classified
- Drawing out similarities and differences
- Suggesting a number of exercises

5. Design of the study
The study consists of three main parts:
Introduction includes nationale, aims, subjects, methods and design of the study
Development is the main part of the study. It is subdivided into three chapters
Chapter 1. Theoretical background
Chapter 2.

A contrastive study of English and Vietnamese proverbs referring
to money

Chapter 3.

Some suggested exercises for using proverbs referring to money

Conclusion provide a brief summary of the study and some suggestions for
further research
References
Appendices
2


Part II: Development

Chapter 1. Theoretical background

1.1. An overview on contrastive analysis
According to Nguyễn Văn Chiến (1992), contrastive analysis is one of important
sub ranches of comparative linguistics. It is to compare to two or more languages
regardless of whether they are related to each other and of course, to find out the
differences and similarities between them. Thus, it plays an important role in translating,
teaching and learning a foreign language.
There are 2 kinds of CA: the contrast of languages and the contrast of signs. The
contrast of languages is comparing one language to another, of which one is the base and
the other is the means of contrast. This kind aims at finding out their specific features.
The contrast of signs is the study on the inside relationships of languages such as
categories, structural systems and so on.
In practice, CA has its usages as follows:
- The ability of discovering a great number of structural features of contrasted
languages
- The ability of discovering the new interesting language phenomena which can not
be recognized if not compared
Especially, by comparing the languages, CA can point out some solutions to
pedagogical problems as follows:
- To solve difficulties in all aspects of languages that the learners often encounter
when they learn a foreign language.
- To collect and select materials for language teaching
- To establish an appropriate order of materials for learning foreign languages
- To form a system of effective methods for teaching and explaining the materials
- To edit a system of suitable exercises and textbooks on foreign languages.
1.2. Word
1.2.1. Definition
Although the term "word" appears to be a simple concept, it is one of the most
difficult one to define in linguistics. What are the reasons for this matter?

According to Arnold (1986), it is because "the word has many different aspects. It has a
sound form because it is a certain arrangement of phonemes; it has its orphological
3


structure, being also a certain arrangement of morphemes; when used in actual speech, it
may occur in different word forms, different syntactic functions and signal various
meanings". Thus, so far have there been many definitions about words from different
aspects. Among them, the most common one is that word is the smallest independent and
meaningful unit of a language.
1.2.2. Word meaning
Every word combines lexical and grammatical meanings. The grammatical
meaning reflects the ways in which the lexical meaning operates. The same grammatical
meaning may be shared by different words. For instance, words such as development,
progress are the abstract nouns.
The lexical meaning is the realizations of concept or emotion. Similarly, the same
lexical meaning is shared by different grammatical forms of a word: warm, warmer,
warmest. Lexical meaning is classified into denotative and connotative meaning.
•

Denotative meaning is the explicit, literal meaning. It involves a broader

consensus. That is, the denotative meaning of a sign would be broadly agreed upon by
members of the same culture and by different cultures. For example, "dog" denotes a
common animal with four legs, are often kept by human beings as pets or trained for
work, hunting, guarding, etc…
•

Connotative meaning conveys values, judgments, evaluative implications

behind the literal meaning. It is determined by the cultural codes to which the interpreter
has access, and the connotative meaning of a word can have strong emotional content.
For example, the word "dog" has different connotative meanings in different cultures. In
Arabic culture, it has negative connotation: dirty and inferiority but in British culture, it
has positive one: friendship and loyalty gay.
1.3. Set expression
Hoàng Tất Trường (1993,p.92) states that “the set expressions studied by
phraseology may be completely or partially fixed. In other words, they are either
unchangeable or changeable expressions". The grammatical structure and lexical
components of a set expression are stable. For example, we can not replace the
components of “to keep an eye on sb”. However, in semi-fixed expressions or for a
stylistic effect, substitution is, of course, possible. For example: instead of “earned” in the

4


proverb “Money saved is money earned”, we may say “Money saved is money gained”.
The set expressions may be idioms, proverbs, quotations, clichés, etc...
1.4. Metaphor
1.4.1. What is a metaphor?
Metaphors can be found popularly in languages. They are regarded as one of the
most effective devices to make your speech or writing more vivid, alive, and convincing.
In fact, linguists have paid a great deal of attention to the matter of metaphors.
Accordingly, there appear a lot of different theories of metaphors.Linguists have their
own ways of defining this item; however, they share some same senses of meanings.
According to Richard (1936), "Metaphor consists of a tenor and a vehicle. The tenor is
the subject to which attributes are ascribed. The vehicle is the subject from which
attributes are borrowed". For example: "Money is a passport to everything". In this
example, "money" is the tenor and "a passport to everything" is the vehicle.
In "An introduction to functional grammar", Halliday (1994, p.340) states that "A

word is used for something resembling which usually refers to called a metaphor".
And in Arnold's point of view (1986, p.64) "A metaphor is a transfer of names
based on the association of similarity and thus is actually a hidden comparison. It presents
a method of description which likens one thing to another by referring to as if it were
some other one".
I also wish to mention the definition in Oxford Advanced Learners
Dictionary(1995,p.734), "A metaphor is the imaginative use of a word or phrases to
describe somebody or something as another object in order to show that they have the
same qualities and to make the description more forceful".
In general, metaphors are defined in different ways. But in this paper, I will follow
the view by many linguistics and researchers that metaphor is the transference from one
thing to another based on the similarity between these two things.
1.4.2. Distinction between metaphor and simile.
1.4.2.1. Similarities
Metaphor and simile are two of the best known trobes and are often mentioned
together as examples of rhetorical figures. Metaphor and simile are both terms that
describe a comparison.
For example: you are my sunshine (1)
5


Your eyes are like the sun (2)
Both metaphor (1) and simile (2) draw a comparison between two things (you and
my sunshine); your eyes and the sun)
Usually, simile and metaphor could easily be interchanged. For instance, remove
the word "like" from William Shakespeare's simile "Death lies on her, like an untimely
frost", which retains exactly the same meaning.
1.4.2.2. Differences
The difference between metaphor and simile is that a simile makes the comparison
explicit by using "like" or "as" meanwhile a metaphor does not use either. A simile states

that A is like B and a metaphor states that A is B or substitutes B for A.
For example: As a simile: she is like an angle
As a metaphor: She is an angle
Although in practice, their use is often anonymous in a rigorous sense; their
meanings can be understood quite differently. A simile explicitly describes a comparison
whereas a metaphor asserts an identity. A simile always expresses a something trivially true
whereas a metaphor always expresses something patently false. In other words, one could
argue that when listening to an active metaphor, the listeners always visualizes something
false before analyzing the phrase metaphorically. On the other hand, a simile requires a
different kind of analysis. The listener is explicitly asked to compare two subjects rather
than being forced to when confronted with nonsensical phase.
There are also cases where the use of a simile rather than a metaphor, makes clear
difference in meaning. Using a simile rather than a metaphor can add meaning by calling
attention to the process of comparison as in "A woman without a man like a fish without a
bicycle". The point is not to compare a person to a fish but to ask the reader to consider
how the woman is like the fish.

Moreover, similes are often more convient than

metaphors when analyzing actions" wide sleeves fluttering like wings" does not translate
easily from simile to metaphor.
A final difference is that in practice, often used metaphors can turn into dead
metaphors as listeners come to learn metaphorical meanings by rote rather than making
sense of seemingly nonsensical assertions, whereas a simile,

for it explicitly calls

attention to the loss of metaphors. Thus, similes can retain their metaphorical nature more
consistently than metaphors.
(Retrieved February 23, 2007, from />6

1.5. Proverbs
1.5.1. Definition.
1.5.1.1. Necessary and sufficient conditions of a proverb definition.
The conditions are pointed out as follows:
Firstly, considering proverbs, any definition should distinguish them from other
similar items like idioms, quotations and aphorism. If we do not clearly understand
proverbs, it is easy to mistake them with others.
Secondly, any definition must contain the necessary characteristics of proverbs:
- Appearing in the form of short sentences. E.g. "love is blind"
- Having the standard text. E.g. "All women are good"
- Allowing sometimes some standard variants, that is, the order of words may be
changed or some of words may be replaced by others that can be considered synonyms in
a particular context. E.g. "Love is without reason", "love is with no reason".
- Sometimes additions and omissions also appear. E.g. "(The love of) money is the
root of all evils".
Thirdly, proverbs often have no known authors or literal sources. They are
transferred from generation to generation without knowing who their authors are. And
sometimes in slightly changed form- the quotations become genuine proverbs.
Fourthly, proverbs have currency, that is, there are known and quoted in a small or
large region, in one or several linguistic communities or in a part of such a community.
Therefore, proverbs can be distinguished as universal, regional or local ones.
For example: "Time is money". This proverb is quite popular in languages. It is
known not only by English but also by Vietnamese ( Thời gian là vàng bạc) and by other
nationalities. However, the proverb like "Có tiền vợ vợ chồng chồng, khơng tiền chồng
Đơng, vợ Đồi" (one may think more of money than of love) is a typical Vietnamese
proverb.
Fifthly, proverbs have a history. Because proverbs are created during the process
of living and labour of human beings. Thus it relates to a particular historical period of

time. E.g. "Money has no smell". This proverb is founded upon a rumor of Titus,
Vespasian's son who criticized a tax on public lavatories. When Vespasian held a coin
from the first payment to his son's nose and asked him whether the smell was offensive.
Titus said no. Vespasian replied "And yet it comes from urine". Similarly, the Vietnamese
proverb "Hung chi hơn gạo, bạo chi hơn tiền" or "Ngồi đống thóc, móc ra tiền" appeared

7


in the period of feudalism. It reflects the luxurious living condition of landowners'
meanwhile peasants are awfully oppressed.
Next, proverbs represent abstract meanings or abstract ideas. In the case of
metaphoric proverbs, these are implied. For example: "A penny saved is a penny gained".
It means money that you save is more valuable than money that you spend right way. Or
it is good to save money. In case of maxim- types proverbs, the abstract idea is identical
with the text of the proverb like "A light purse makes a heavy heart" or "it takes money to
make money". However, due to the ignorance of the implied meaning, those who know
the text only may misunderstand a proverb. An English proverb like "A penny for your
thoughts" may make readers confused. It comes as surprise to know that its meaning is:
what are you thinking about?
Last but not least, a proverb may refer to some general or typical fields of human
conditions, attitudes or actions. E.g. "As you make your bed so you must lie on it" or
special fields: arts, trades, agriculture, weather, etc…For example, as for weather, English
has the proverb "Red sky at night, shepherd's delight, red sky in the morning, shepherds'
warming" and Vietnamese proverb: "Cơn đằng đông vừa trông vừa chạy, cơn đằng nam
vừa làm vừa chơi"
(Retrieved February, 15, 2007,
from />By studying these necessary and sufficient conditions, linguistics have found out
different ways to define proverbs which will be mentioned in the below part.
1.5.1.2. Definition of English proverbs

In the 12th century, Mathieu de Vendome (1984) states that "A proverb is a popular
phrase, accredited by custom, accepted by the general opinion, expressing the truth that
has been proved genuine". Later on, Bartlett Jere Whiting (1932, p.302) gives a quite full
description of proverbs as follows:
A proverb is an expression which testifies its origin in form and phrase. It expresses what
is apparently a fundamental truth with alliteration and rhyme. A proverb has both a literal and a
figurative meaning, and is defined as a popular set phrase having no author, known mostly in
different languages, expressing in one sentence a principle, an advice, a genuine or assumed
truth in a general concise form

According to Mieder (1996,p.597), "Proverbs are short, generally known sentences
of the folk that contain wisdom, truths, morals and traditional views in a metaphorical
8


fixed and memorable form and that are handed down from generation to generation". For
example: "Courtesy costs nothing" implies that you should be careful with your words,
otherwise it will cause you some problems. The proverb itself conveys an advice on
human behaviors in ways of metaphors as Mieder has already defined.
In Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary(1995), it is said that "A proverb is a short
well-known sentence or phrase that states a general truth about life or gives advice".
From all above definitions, we can draw out some common features of proverbs
that proverbs are short standard statements having mostly metaphorical meaning, which
express truths, advice, wisdoms, etc…In common knowledge, they have no known
authors or literary sources.
1.5.1.3. Definition of Vietnamese proverbs
Like English proverbs, Vietnamese proverbs have also been taken into
consideration for ages.
According to Dương Quảng Hàm (1951), he claims that a proverb itself contains a
full sense either an advice or a wisdom, etc…For example: "Cho vay mất bạn" indicates

an advice that you should not lend money to your friends, if you do so, either you will
have to bother them to repay the loan which makes your friends resent you or they will
not repay the loan which makes you resent them.
Vũ Ngọc Phan (1998,p.50) states that proverbs are the sentences modified many
times, used in many regions and handed down from generation to generation. They are
short, parallel and rhythmic. Eg: "Giàu bỏ bạn, sang bỏ vợ" (Riches and reputation may
take a man forget his old relationship).
Nguyễn Đức Dân (1996,p.358) also studies proverbs and comes to conclusion that
proverbs are stable sayings in case of structure which reflect experience, opininions,
attitudes of human beings towards nature and society. Most of proverbs hold figurative
meanings. For example: "Đi một ngày đàng học một sàng khôn” - The proverb reflects an
experience of picking up more knowledge.
In short, Vietnamese proverbs are also defined with features similar to English
proverbs. They are short, rhythmic, memorable; metaphoric meanings; conveying advice,
wisdoms, truths, etc…and transferred from generation to another.

1.5.2. Distinction between proverbs and idioms
9


1.5.2.1. Similarities
Both proverbs and idioms are set expressions. Their components are often stable
and constant.
Besides, most proverbs and idioms are understood in non- literal way. Their
meanings are mostly figurative. Therefore, we can not usually master their meanings
through separated words. For instance:
She is out of work now (1)
Money talks (2)
The idiom "Out of work" in (1) means unemployed. The proverb (2) refers to the
power of money, that is, if you have money, you can do everything.

To some extent, proverbs and idioms can be overlapped. The phrase "cry all the
way to the bank" can be an idiom as well as a proverb which means "to pretend to be
sorry for something you did that made a lot of money".
1.5.2.2. Differences
Firstly, proverbs and idioms differ in terms of grammar. An idiom is not a perfect
sentence but a fixed group of words and a set phrase such as "break one's promise", "pull
one's legs". Whereas, a proverb is a complete sentence expressing a whole idea. E.g.:
"sleep is better than medicine" (The importance of good sleep).
Secondly, proverbs are not similar to idioms with regard to their functions.
Proverbs express an idea of comment, experience, morality, justice or criticism drawn
from the human life meanwhile idioms never contain any comments, experiences, lessons
and never hint at any criticism either.
1.5.3. Features of English and Vietnamese proverbs
1.5.3.1. Stylistic feature.
a, English proverbs
Most English proverbs have stylistic features such as alliteration, rhyme, ellipsis
and parallelism.
Firstly, English proverbs often contain successive words beginning with the same
consonant sound or letter. This phenomenon is called alliteration. For example: “Seldom
seen, soon forgotten”, “Penny wise, pound foolish”.

10


Secondly, English proverbs can be rhymed, that is, identical or similar terminal
sounds are repeated in two or more different words. For example: “When the cat away,
the mice will play”, “Save your pennies for a rainy day”.
Thirdly, ellipsis is one of the characteristics of proverbs. It happens that the
omission of a word or words but the senses do not change. Their meanings can be implied
by the context. For examples:

Once bitten, twice shy (Ellipsis of to be)
So many men, so many opinions (Ellipsis of to be)
Fourthly, the parallel phenomenon frequently appears in English proverbs. For
examples:
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
No pain, no cure
When the poverty comes in at the door, loves flies out of the window
b, Vietnamese proverbs.
Like English proverbs, one of the most typical features of Vietnamese proverbs is
rhyme. Nguyễn Thái Hoà (1997) states that there are about 4900 out of 5000 Vietnamese
proverbs holding rhymes, accounting for 98%. The means of making rhymes in them are
plentiful.
- The rhymes are likely close to each other such as in the following proverbs:
Bút sa, gà chết (Nothing can be changed after a written agreement has
been made)
Có tật, giật mình (A hidden fault is a constant worry)
- The rhymes may stand far from each other. There is likely a word between them
such as: “Lấy vợ xem tông, lấy chồng xem giống”( one should learn his or her lover’s
family to know him or her thoroughly before marriage). Or there are likely two words
between them such as: “Một miếng khi đói, bằng một gói khi no”( A little help in
misfortune is as good as a big one in fortune). Or there are likely three words between
them such as: “Việc người thì sáng, việc mình thì quáng” (One is often wise in another’s
affairs but unwise in his).
Morover, Vietnamese proverbs take rhythm as a main characteristic. In fact, there
are only 2% proverbs having no rhythm (Nguyễn Thái Hoà (1997)). For examples:
No nên bụt, đói ra ma (Man’s virtue may change according to
circumstances)

11

Nói đi thì nhẹ, nói lại thì nặng (Words spoken repeatedly often hurt one’s
feelings)
Nhất mẹ, nhì cha, thứ ba bà ngoại (Besides their parents, children love their
maternal grandmothers than anyone else)
The third characteristic of Vietnamese proverbs is parallel structure, that is, two
components of a sentence are parallel with each other in the way of contrasting or adding
ideas. For examples:
Hay khen, hèn chê.(It is natural that one praises the good and blames the
bad)
Đồng một của người, đồng mười của ta (One always want much for him/her
and little for others)
To sum up, Vietnamese proverbs have three main structural features: rhyme,
rhythm, parallel structure. All of them play their important role in making proverbs
rhythmic, easy to remember.
1.5.3.2. Semantic features
a, English proverbs.
Fergunsson (1983) states that the meanings of proverbs are very complicated. It
comes no surprise when one does not understand or misunderstand the meaning of a
proverb because most of proverbs have figurative meanings, not literal ones. For
examples: “Stretch your arm no further your sleeve with reach”. Surprisingly, this
proverb means that one should not spend more money than he/she has. On the whole,
most of proverbs are embodied with metaphorical expressions.
In terms of contents, Fergunsson (1983) also claims that English proverbs may
reflect the aspects as follows:
 The natural phenomenon (E.g. “So many mists in March, so many frosts in May”)
 The social phenonmenon (E.g. “Big fish eats little fish”)
 The English national color also becomes a specific trait in English proverbs.
Many of them refer to:


The characteristics of the Englishmen. E.g. “The English are the

swearing nation” (Most of Englishman are Christians),“The English never know when
they are beaten”(Englishmen are honest),etc...


Its religions or counties. E.g. “What Lancashire thinks today, all

England will think tomorrow”(This proverb was coined in the days of the Anti-Corn Law
12


League, a political movement which originated in Lancashire in 1839), “Give a
Yorkshireman a halter and he will find a horse”(The Yorkshireman’s love of riding),
etc...


Its villages or towns. E.g. “Northampton stands on other men’s

legs”(Northampton was a center of shoemaking trade)


English names. E.g. “The people of Clent are all Hills, Waldrons”

(Clent is near Birmingham, Hill and Waldron are common surnames in this area)


Its rivers and mountains. E.g." Kent and Keer have parted many a

good man and his mare”( The dangers of fording the rivers Kent and Keer, which flow
into Morecambe Bay)
 Advice on human behaviour, wisdoms, truths. For example, "The younger
should respect the older”(respect for one’s superiors), “Blood is thicker than water”(Your
relatives are the best people to you).
As mentioned above, the meanings of proverbs are very complicated and very
plentiful, which makes us have difficulties in interpreting them. Therefore, it is necessary
to note that proverbs are often embodied with metaphoric meanings.
b, Vietnamese proverbs
The common semantic feature of Vietnamese proverbs, like other proverbs, is the
complexity in terms of their meanings. It is because proverbs depend on lots of factors,
most important of all is cultural traditions of a nation. Thus, like English proverbs, to
master a Vietnamese proverb, you should take its figurative meaning into account.
Considering the content, Phạm Văn Bình (2001) states that Vietnamese proverbs
hold semantic meaning as follows:
At first, a typical feature of Vietnamese proverbs is that they often fiercely attack
feudalism. The Vietnamese proverbs – together with other forms of folklore- strongly
attack oppressing class’s bad manners and defect such as their greed, cruelty, falsity and
mincing manners,etc...For examples:
Của vào quan, như than vào lò (Mandarins take all bribes given to them)
Quan thấy kiện như kiến thấy mỡ (Men of authority always make use of
common people’s discords to extort their money).
Secondly, they are full of humour and satire. Whereas, English proverbs are known
of their seriousness and reasonableness, Vietnamese proverbs are well- known by their
humour and satire. For examples:

13


Chẳng phải dạy đĩ vén váy (It is no need to advise a skillful working man in

his work)
Tiền buộc giải yếm bo bo, trao cho thầy bói mua lo vào mình(One should
not believe in superstition)
Thirdly, Vietnamese proverbs show clearly Vietnamese’s humanness. The virtues
like gentleness, kind- heartedness, faithfulness, love of peace, and mercy on one another
in misfortune – all are obviously described in Vietnamese proverb treasure. For examples:
Anh em như thể tay chân (Brothers should take care and help each other)
Bán anh em xa mua láng giềng gần (One should make good relations with
his neigbours)
Last but not least, Vietnamese national color is clearly expressed by a great of
proverbs dealing with labour experiences.For examples:
Sai con toán, bán con trâu (One may pay great cost for a small fault)
Gà què ăn quẩn cối xay (A man of no ability dare not leave the place where
he can earn an easy living).
Some Vietnamese proverbs are remarks and comments on the area’s specialties and
products or local inhabitants. For example: “Chè Vân Thái, gái Tiên Lữ”(Tea in Van Thai
is good, women in Tien Lu are beautiful).
All the above features prove that proverbs (both English and Vietnamese
proverbs) closely relate to their cultures, customs and traditions.
1.6. The relationship between proverbs and culture.
After a lot of research, linguists come to conclusion that language and culture have
close relationship which is not separable. Culture is regarded as all material and spiritual
values which human beings create in the process of dealing with nature and society. And
language is a means to communicate and to reflect these values. Proverbs are the
language phenomenon which have been formed and developed during human beings'
living process; therefore it is linked with culture.
It is true that we have difficulties in interpreting a proverb if we do not know the
history and culture tying with it. For example, a proverb "pride goes before a fall" (one
should not be conceited, otherwise, he will fall). To understand more thoroughly this
proverb, let us consider the culture underlying it. In some western countries, say Britain,

being honest about one's ability and good qualities, but never conceited, is a valued trait.
In a job interview, the interviewer may ask "what are your good points?", the English
14


interviewee may answer that " I am responsible and reliable, I come early and stay late. I
am self- motivated and well- qualified". This type of response may be considered rude in
some cultures in which the applicants must lower their eyes, bow their head and act very
humble. In contrast, such response does not mean that the English boast about
themselves. They just state the facts about themselves.
Also, to understand clearly the proverb "An Englishman's house is his castle", we
need to know that the Englishman prefers his own house to an apartment in a block of
flats because he does not wish his doing to be overlooked by his neighbors.
Similarly, the Vietnamese proverbs like "Ngồi đống thóc, móc ra tiền", "Của vào
quan như than vào lò” reflect the luxurious life of oppressing class in feudalism. Only
when do we understand their cruelty and really sympathize with the situation of the
peasants, we totally master the full sense of these proverbs.
In short, it is reasonable to say that proverbs and culture are like two pages of a
sheet of paper, and they are not separable under any circumstances.

15


CHAPTER II: A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
PROVERBS REFERRING TO MONEY
2.1. What are proverbs referring to money?
First of all, proverbs referring to money (henceforth referred to as money proverbs)
have enough criteria of a proverb, viz, short, generally known sentences that contain
wisdoms, truth, morals and traditional views in a metaphorical fixed and memorable form
and that are handed from generation to generation. Considering the following examples:

Money is the best passport (money can do anything)
Time is money (Time is as precious as money)
Penny wise, pound foolish (Thrifty with small sums and foolish with
large sums)
These proverbs are different in terms of grammatical forms and meanings,
however, they share the same feature: all of them relate to monetary. Therefore, money
proverbs are the ones that contain the word “money” or the meanings of which are linked
to monetary.
2.2. Stylistic features of money proverbs
2.2.1. English proverbs
As we know, English proverbs consist of the stylistic features such as: alliteration,
parallelism, ellipsis and rhyme. Money proverbs do carry these features.
First, alliteration is a stylistic device which appears a lot in money proverbs.
Among the 210 proverbs collected, there are 30 items in which the same consonant sound
or letter is repeated. For examples: “Money makes the man”, "Muck and money go
together”.
Second, the phenomenon that the clauses in one proverb are parallel is quite
popular. 19 items (19/210) are selected into this feature.
For examples: “Love does much, money does everything”
“Beauty is potent but money is omnipotent”
Third, some words may be omitted without changing the meaning of proverbs.
This stylistic feature is called ellipsis. 15 items (15/210) found have this feature. For
examples: “Penny wise, pound foolish”, “Much coin, much care”.

16


Fourth, identical sounds are repeated in two or more different words in English
money proverbs. There appear 17 items following the phenomenon- rhyme. E.g. “Health
is better than wealth”, “A penny saved is a penny gained”.

2.2.2. Vietnamese proverbs
Like English proverbs, Vietnamese proverbs contain rhyme and parallelism.
Another typical feature is rhythm
As for rhyme, among the 226 proverbs collected, there are 157 items rhymed. The
rhymes may stand together or far from each other.
For examples:

- Khơn từng xu, ngu bạc vạn
- Ki ca ki cóp cho cọp nó xơi
- Của người bồ tát,của mình lạt buộc
- Có của thêm vào, chẳng có của thì bào ra

Besides, most of Vietnamese money proverbs have rhythm. The rhythm is not the
same in different proverbs. They may be 2/2 (Hết tiền/ hết tình), 3/3 (Một đồng cháo/ba
đồng đường), 4/4 (Đồng một của người/ đồng mười của ta), 5/5 (Tiền tài như phấn thổ/
nhân nghĩa tựa thiên kim), 6/6 (Quan tiền nặng quan tiền chìm/ bù nhìn nhẹ bù nhìn nổi),
etc…
The last feature is parallelism, 107 items found in money proverbs are parallel. For
examples: “Tiền bạc đi trước, mực thước theo sau”, “Hết tiền tài, nhân nghĩa tận”,etc...
2.3. Semantic features of English and Vietnamese proverbs referring to money
Money proverbs in English as well as in Vietnamese convey plentiful semantic
features. They may be the power of money, money’s effects, money’s drawbacks,
money’s relative unimportance, savings, expense,

correlation between goods and

money’s value, lending and borrowing, the value of time, greediness and selfishness,
exchange of goods and service, the rich, the unexpected benefit from little investment,
money’s sources, the importance of good words and others. All of them are analyzed
below:

2.3.1. Money proverbs about the power of money
It appears most frequently in English money proverbs. Among the 210 English
money proverbs collected, the proverbs denoting the power of money hold 50 items
(23.81%) and there are 37 words "Money” contained. As a matter of fact, everyone is
17


aware of the importance of money. To some extent, if you have money, you can do a lot
of things. This is reflected very clearly in proverbs.
English use many ways to express this meaning. There may be in literal meanings
such as “He that has money has what he wants”. Or there may be in figurative meanings.
Of them, the second case has a majority over the first. For example: “A golden key opens
all doors”, "Money makes the mare to go”.
First, a passport is an important thing to travel abroad. You can not go to any
country without owing a passport. In English proverbs, money is compared with a
passport as in “money is a passport to everything”, “Money is the best passport”. In these
proverbs, the metaphorical transference of meaning is based on the similarity of function.
Second, the Queen represents for the supreme power in England. It is noticeable
that money is considered to be a Queen. It means that money is extremely powerful, too.
E.g. "Money, like a Queen, gives rank and beauty". Similarly, it can not be denied that the
monarch, the lord’s letter, the members of the parliament gather a lot of might in England.
Thus, English praise the value of money in comparison with them. E.g. “Money is the
only monarch”, “Money will do more than my lord’s letter”, “Money is more eloquent
than a dozen members of the parliament”.
Third, it is surprised that the image “A donkey” is mentioned twice in money
proverbs in order to indicate the power of money. E.g. “Money makes the mare to go”,
“An ass laden with gold climbs to the top of the castle”. A mass or an ass means a donkey
which is well- known to be slow but with money as a motivation, it can go or climb to the
top of the castle. That is, if someone is offered money for his doings, he will do anything
to achieve it.

In English money proverbs, the word “The world” is mentioned a lot. Among the
50 proverbs referring to the power of money, “The world” appears the most (5 times).
Usually, the world is enormous and it seems that no one can rule it, whereas money can
do anything, even govern the world. E.g. “Money make the world go around”, “Money
rules the world”.
“Gold” also appears a lot. Among the 50 money proverbs, the proverbs containing
this word account for 8 items. For examples: “What can not gold do?”, “Gold can open
any doors”, etc...
“All things”, “Everything”, "Anything” is repeated many times in money proverbs.
They are used to directly denote the power of money. For examples:
- Money answers all things
18


- Patience, time and money accommodate all things
- Money will do anything
- All things are obedient to money
- Money is the measure of all things
- Love does much, money does everything
In Vietnamese, money proverbs denoting the power of money also make up a big
proportion in comparison with others (27/227). Among the 27 proverbs, 23 words “Tiền”
are used. Unlike English, the Vietnamese ones resort “Tiên”(A fairy) to emphasize the
importance of money. Among the 11 proverbs containing the word “Tiên”, there is up to
6 proverbs lying in this part. Here is the list:
- Có tiền tiên hay múa, khơng tiền ơng táo chúa ra sân
- Có tiền mua tiên cũng được
- Đồng tiền là tiên là phật
- Nhất chơi tiên, nhì giỡn tiền
- Nhiều tiền nhiều bạc là tiên trên đời
- Có tiền mua tiên cũng được, không tiền mua lược không xong

When talking about the power of money, Vietnamese choose the word “Bạo”
which is a very effective expression.“Bạo” is mentioned in 4 proverbs as follows:
- Hung chi hơn gạo, bạo chi hơn tiền
- Mạnh gạo bạo tiền, khôn ngoan rùa mốc
- Mạnh vì gạo, bạo vì tiền
- Kẻ có tiền chẳng mạnh thì bạo
One more typical feature is that “Gạo”(rice) is also used a lot in these proverbs.
Vietnam is a water- rice agriculture country. It is certain that rice plays an important role
in people’s life. Accordingly, money proverbs refer to rice as a means to emphasize the
importance of money.
Meanwhile the English proverb “Money talks” express the power of money, we can
see Vietnamese equivalents: “Miệng kẻ sang có gang có thép” or “Miệng nhà giàu nói
đâu ra đấy”. Both have the metaphorical meaning that those who are rich are in power.
2.3.2. Money proverbs about money’s effects
It is obvious that money has both positive and negative effects. If someone has
much money, he may become a gentleman, or have freedom, friends, even love.
However, it opens to a question whether he is happy with what he has achieved or not.
19