English vietnamese translation of idioms and proverbs relating to animals in cultural domain

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FALCULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION
FALCUTY OF LINGUISTICS AND CULTURES OF ENGLISH SPEAKING
COUNTRIES

GRADUATION PAPER

ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF
IDIOMS AND PROVERBS RELATING TO
ANIMALS IN CULTURAL DOMAIN

Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Cam Linh, MA
Student: Phi Hai Yen
Year of enrolment: QH2009.F.1.E25

HANOI - 2013


ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHOA NGƠN NGỮ VÀ VĂN HĨA CÁC NƯỚC NÓI TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

DỊCH THÀNH NGỮ, TỤC NGỮ VỀ LOÀI VẬT
TỪ TIẾNG ANH SANG TIẾNG VIỆT TRÊN KHÍA
CẠNH VĂN HĨA

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: ThS. Nguyễn Thị Cẩm Linh
Sinh viên: Phí Hải Yến
Khóa: QH2009.F.1.E25

HÀ NỘI –NĂM 2013


ACCEPTANCE
I hereby state that I: Phí Hải Yến, class QH2009.F.1.E25, being a candidate for the
degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the University relating to
the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the
library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with
the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the
paper.

Signature

Date

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost I offer my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms. Nguyen
Thi Cam Linh, who has supported me with her enthusiasm, patience and professional
knowledge for the accomplishment of my thesis. Her stimulating suggestions and critical
comments would be considerably helpful to me.
In addition to, I am much obliged to the University of Languages and International
Studies – the Faculty of English Teacher Education, which has equipped a full source of

precious reference. That would be the great support as I have virtually exploited and used
the material effectively for my thesis.
Last but not least, I owe profound indebtedness to my parents for supporting me
throughout all my studies at University and my friends, who always stand by me and
encourage me no matter what happens.
Once again, I would like to express my deepest thank to all these people. Without
their help, I would not have been able to complete this research.

ii


ABSTRACT
It cannot be denied that language and culture have a mutual interaction and close
connection with each other. The characteristics of a culture is presented via a language,
and vice versa, a language is also a vital component of a culture, especially in the
globalized world in which cross-cultural and bilingual issues become popular and the
translation becomes necessary. There exists the culture-bounded terms which are, as a
result, playing an important part in translation studies. If the culture-related issues in
translation are solved, the gap of cultural differences between countries, such as Vietnam
and the English-speaking world, would be shortened. Among such culture-bound terms,
proverbs and idioms have been considered the most attributive factor of language in a
culture. In addition, animal connotations play significant roles.
This study aims at reckoning the similarities and differences of the animal
connotations in the proverbs, idioms between the Vietnamese culture and Englishspeaking countries’ cultures. A further goal of the research is to figure out the most
appropriate procedures applied in translating such culture-bounded terms. Fulfilling the
goals of the study, there are three main steps that the researcher followed: first, cultural
correspondence of each proverb and idiom between the two cultures was defined, second,
the strategies applied in translating the proverbs and idioms were examined, and finally
the similarities and differences between the two cultures were shown for the better
understanding of the translation of cultural terms.

From the results of the study, there would be a close look at not only the
translation of proverbs and idioms but also the similar and different concepts of the two
cultures. That would be a helpful reference for next generations of researchers in both
fields of translation and culture.

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACCEPTANCE…………………………………………………………….................…i
ACKNOLEDGEMENT……………………………………………………..........…..…ii
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………..iii
LIST OF TABLES …………………………………………………….………………..vi
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Statement of the problem and the rationale of the study............................................1
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study...............................................................................2
1.3. Significance of the study............................................................................................3
1.4. Scope of the study..................................................................................................... 3
1.5 Organization of the paper: .........................................................................................4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Translation
2.1.1. Definition of translation......................................................................................5
2.1.2. Translation procedures and translation methods.................................................7
2.1.3. Cultural Equivalence......................................................................................... 10
2.2. Definition of other key terms....................................................................................11
2.2.1. Definition of proverbs and idioms.....................................................................11
2.2.2. Definition of cultural domains...........................................................................12
2.2.3. Cultural correspondence.....................................................................................13
2.2.3.1. Absolute correspondence............................................................................13
2.2.3.2. Partial correspondence................................................................................14

2.2.3.3. No correspondence......................................................................................14
2.2.4. Connotation.........................................................................................................14
2.3. Relationship among language, culture and translation..............................................15
2.4. Previous related studies.............................................................................................16
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

iv


3.1. Qualitative approach.................................................................................................17
3.2. Sampling...................................................................................................................17
3.3. Data collection instruments......................................................................................18
3.4. Data collection procedure.........................................................................................18
3.5. Data analysis procedures...........................................................................................18
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1. Absolute correspondence..........................................................................................20
4.1.1. Findings............................................................................................................. 20
4.1.2. Discussion......................................................................................................... 24
4.2. Partial correspondence..............................................................................................26
4.2.1. Findings.............................................................................................................26
4.2.2. Discussion..........................................................................................................30
4.3. No correspondence...................................................................................................31
4.3.1. Findings.............................................................................................................31
4.3.2. Discussion.........................................................................................................35
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.1. Summary of findings............................................................................................... 36
5.2. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research..................................37
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………….…...39
APPENDICES……………………………………………………………………..…...41

v


LIST OF TABLES

Page
Table 1

Absolute correspondence

20

Table 2

Partial correspondence

42

Table 3

No correspondence

31

vi


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1.

Statement of the problem and the rationale for the study
Translation is commonly known as the bridge not only of source language and

target one but also of the two cultures in which the languages reflect to some extents.
As a result, translating is dealing with both a cover of language and the cultural
content inside. As Claire (in 1998) assumed that words are communicably uttered by
people to express facts, ideas and events as well as attitudes, beliefs, viewpoints of
the authors. These factors are component parts of culture. From this assumption, it is
referred that language of a nation is virtually in close relation with its culture; the
language is one aspect of culture and reflects the culture.
One of the most typical elements of the implication of culture in language is
the use of proverbs and idioms used frequently and enormously in everyday
conversation, writing in every context (Hien, 2006, 3). They could express the
speakers/writers' ideas in the precise but profound way. The animal is so close to the
human that it is used in proverbs and idiom with the connotative meanings to give the
truth, advices or imply the maxim of humanity. In other word, proverbs and idioms
are the typical culture-bound terms which do not have literal meanings but contain
cultural connotations. There are a great number of English and Vietnamese animalrelated proverbs and idioms. Therefore, due to the differences between the two
cultures, in translation practice, it is necessary for translators to know not only the
literal meanings but also the understanding of a culture of the language they are
dealing with. It is not, indeed, a simple task to convey a message from a language to
another as concisely, naturally and beautifully as possible.
Indeed, for those reasons above, there are certain translation difficulties
imposed to translators relating to Culture since according to Nida (in 2001):
"The meaning of culturally marked words is often difficult to grasp without
some cultural knowledge and poses translation problems, particularly when
the words are associated with cultural domains".

1

In the University of Languages and International studies, with the research
target of animal-related proverbs and idioms, nevertheless, there are many prior
studies on English into Vietnamese translation with deep analysis and further
findings. Hence, it's essential to take cultural domains into consideration and find out
the most suitable translation procedures to tackle these imposed difficulties. As an
attempt to examine this under-researched topic, the researcher has decided to conduct
a replication of Razieh's study of cultural connotations of animals in translation:
proverbs, idioms, sayings (English- Persian) in 2012. This research is to acknowledge
the findings of Razieh's to develop further and then apply in the context of EnglishVietnamese translation of animal-related proverbs and idioms concerning the cultural
domains of Vietnam and other English-speaking counties.
As proverbs and idioms are used a lot, in the translation practice, translators
might deal with them regularly. Language reflects its culture, so the understanding of
both source language (SL) and target language (TL) and finding the proper
equivalent to a given proverb or an idiom are still huge obstacles. For all reasons
above, doing a research on this area, apart from the main aim of figuring out the
translation procedures for animal- related proverbs and idioms, the researcher hopes
to define the similarities and differences in the ways of thinking between English
culture and Vietnamese culture through the analysis of animal-related proverbs and
idioms translation.
1.2.

Aims and objectives of the study
Firstly, the study aims at defining the similarities and differences of

connotations of animal-related proverbs and idioms between the two cultures of
English and Vietnamese society. Next, there will be a close look at the type of
correspondence that each proverb or idiom belongs to. That means how much
proverbs or idioms in English and Vietnamese are similar in terms of meaning.
Finally, from the defined similarities and differences, a detailed analysis of the

2


translation procedures will be given to choose the most suitable one for each type of
proverbs and idioms about animals.
To fulfill the given aims, the research tries to answer the following questions:
1. What are similarities and differences of connotations of animal-related
proverbs and idioms between the English-speaking and Vietnamese culture?
2. What are the type of correspondences of the English - Vietnamese translation
of animal-related proverbs and idioms?
3. What are translation procedures for each type of English - Vietnamese
translation of animal-related proverbs and idioms?
1.3.

Significance of the study
This study is expected to be a reference on translation for translators as well as

for researchers who have specific interest in this topic or even some readers who
might hope to learn more about the cultural domains between English and
Vietnamese via translation analysis. There has been a pile of previous researches with
positive results which has the same research subjects. Therefore, basing on the
findings of comparison and translation procedure analysis, the researcher will see
how much the orientation and findings of those studied can be applicable for the
context of English- Vietnamese translation in culture domains. The methodology as
well as findings of this study might be a good source of reference for the next
generation of translators in which the cultural-relating issues of English- Vietnamese
translation of proverbs and idioms relating to animals will be further solved.
1.4. Scope of the study
Although cultural - related issues of translation are enormous, proverbs and

idioms translation has been chosen to be the outstanding one showing most clearly
the cultural factors. To be specific, among many metaphorical images contained in
proverbs and idioms, animals are also the most frequent used, the best reflective and

3


familiar to human life. It is clear that the translation of proverbs and idioms about
animals is the main target of this study.
1.5. Organization of the paper
The rest of the study is as following:
Chapter 2 (Literature review) constructs a theoretical background of the related
terms like translation, proverb, idiom, culture, connotation, equivalent, and
correspondence, as well as a summary of related studies on the similar research
subject: proverbs and idiom about animals.
Chapter 3 (Methodology) describes qualitative method that the study follows
including sampling, data (proverbs and idioms) collection and data (proverbs and
idioms) analysis.
Chapter 4 (Findings and discussion) answers the research questions from the
gathered data in order to draw the results: which procedures can be applied, and the
cultural comparison between the Vietnamese and English-speaking cultures.
Chapter 5 (Conclusion) summarizes discussed issues about translation of English
proverbs and idioms in cultural domain and then mentions the shortcomings of the
study as well as recommendations for the future investigations.

4


CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Chapter 2 provides a theoretical background related to the research topic

which is theoretical basic for collecting and analyzing data in the whole study. To
begin with, the key definitions of the main subjects like translation, culture, proverbs
and idioms are clarified. Besides, the translation procedures and methods are also
given. After that, there is a close look at the relationship between translation and
culture to further consolidate the significant interaction of these two research
subjects. Related studies on this field are reviewed at last in order to identify the gaps
and determine the right direction for this research.
2.1. Translation
2.1.1. Definition of translation
Translation has appeared for a so long time. Translation studies, hence, have a
long history in which a great number of definitions of translation have been given out
by many experts and researchers for the contribution to the development of this field.
There are a number of translation definitions and it is difficult to find out an
undisputed definition of translation. Each conception of an expert has its own point
belonging to different aspects of the translation study.
First and foremost, in the simplest way, according to the definition of
translation in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, "translation is a process of
changing something from written or spoken form into another language".
To be specific, in the seminal paper “On linguistic aspects of translation” of
Jakobson, the Czech structuralist (Munday, 2001), there are three distinguished
categories of translation:
1.

Intralingual translation – translation, which can involve rewording or

paraphrasing within the same language;
2.

Interlingual translation – translation from one language to another;

5


3.

Intersemiotic translation – translation from the verbal sign to a non-verbal

sign, for example music, film or painting.
In terms of the translation concept given by Munday (in 2001), translation,
from the aspect as the process of producing the translation, between two different
languages means changing the original written text (source text or ST) in the original
language (source language or SL) into the target text (TT) in the target language
(TL). This depiction of the translation process corresponds to “Interlingual
translation”, one of three types described above. In correspondence with the research
subjects – translation of proverb and idioms relating to animals, this type would
occur which is especially focused by the researcher. The process is also presented in
the Nida’s three-stage system of translation (Munday, 2001)

However, it might be insufficient without mentioning the product of the
translation, the afterward result of translating process. According to Munday in 2001,
there are several meanings of the term “translation”, not only the process (the act of
producing the translation) but also the product of translation. The main purpose of
translating any kind of ST is to produce the high quality of TT in which the three
basic requirements for a good translation are fulfilled- naturalness, accuracy, and
beauty. In Hatim and Munday (2004:3), “the first of these two senses relates to
translation as process, the second to the product” (Sari, 2009); that means the term
translation can be understood in two distinct perspectives: process and product.

6

2.1.2. Translation procedures and translation methods
Like every other human action, translation process requires the suitable
methods or procedures for each text of any type. Basing on the text types (poems,
songs, political articles, etc.) or translator’s special aims, choosing the most
appropriate translation methods may significantly contribute to the high quality of
the TT compared to the ST. The purposes of methods/ procedures should meet the
typical features of the text types. For example, Faithful translation can be used for
translating authoritative texts; Semantic translation for religious or legal texts; and
Adaptation – the freest form of translation for poems or songs and so on. In the
“Basics of translation” in 2010 of the Aalborg University, it is stated that “The
purpose of translation methods and procedures – and of translating itself – is to
achieve the maximal equivalence or equivalent effect”. Equivalent effect, as same
as maximal equivalence, is also explained to refer to the target text having the same
effect on the target text reader as the source text has on the source text reader. Here
are the translation methods that Peter Newmark puts it in the form of a flattened V
diagram:
SL emphasis

TL emphasis

Word-for-word translation

Adaptation

Literal translation

Free translation

Faithful translation

Idiomatic translation

Semantic translation

Communicative translation

Below are some definite translation methods which stand out for a translator’s
choice and an easy adaptability to his task, achieving the optimum effects and
influence on the translation in accordance to its purposes.

7




Word-for-word translation: This is also called inter-linear translation

with the TL immediately below the SL words. The SL word-order is preserved and
words are translated by their most common meaning.


Literal translation: The SL grammatical constructions are converted to

their nearest TL equivalents but the lexical words are again translated singly out of
context.


Faithful translation: This attempts to reproduce the precise contextual

meaning of the original within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures and it
tries to be faithful to the author’s intentions.


Semantic translation: It may translate less important cultural words and

small concessions to the readership and allows the translator to easily render the TL
naturally and adaptably.


Adaption: This is mainly used for plays (comedies), regarded as the freest

form of translation and poetry, the themes, characters are often preserved and the text
is rewritten, the SL culture is converted to TL culture.


Free translation: It reproduces the matter without the manner, or the

content without the form of the original.


Idiomatic translation: It reproduces the messages of the original but tends

to distort nuances of meaning by preferring colloquialism and idiom where this do not
exist in the original.


Communicative translation: It attempts to render the exact contextual

meaning of the original in a way that both content and language are readily acceptable

and comprehensible to the readership.
In spite of sharing the same purpose in the translation process, the translation
methods and translation procedures are distinguished noticeably by Newmark (1988b
that “While translation methods relate to whole texts, translation procedures are used
for sentences and the smaller units of language”. Corresponding with the research

8


subjects of this topic – the proverbs and idioms, the translation procedures are
specially focused and employed to analyze the research participants in the data
analysis section. In the Ordudari’s study on Translation procedures, strategies and
methods, he mentioned the two procedures, the Technical procedures and the
Organizational procedures as depicted by Nida (1964)
I. Technical procedures:
A. Analysis of the source and target languages;
B. A thorough study of the source language text before making attempts translate it;
C. Making judgments of the semantic and syntactic approximations. (pp. 241-45)
II. Organizational procedures:
Constant reevaluation of the attempt made; contrasting it with the existing available
translations of the same text done by other translators, and checking the text's
communicative effectiveness by asking the target language readers to evaluate its
accuracy and effectiveness and studying their reactions (pp. 246-47).
And Graedler (2000:3) quoted forth procedures of translating culture-specific concepts:
1. Making up a new word.
2. Explaining the meaning of the SL expression in lieu of translating it.
3. Preserving the SL term intact.
4. Opting for a word in the TL which seems similar to or has the same "relevance" as
the SL term.
Differently, here are the basic procedures among a huge bunch of Newmark’s

(1988b) that the researcher chose to apply in the data analysis section:
 Transference or Borrowing: it is the process of transferring an SL word to a TL
text. It includes transliteration.
 Naturalization: it adapts the SL word first to the normal pronunciation, then to the
normal morphology of the TL. (Newmark, 1988b:82)
 Cultural equivalent: it means replacing a cultural word in the SL with a TL one.
however, "they are not accurate" (Newmark, 1988b:83)

9


 Functional equivalent: it requires the use of a culture-neutral word. (Newmark,
1988b:83)
 Descriptive equivalent: in this procedure the meaning of the cultural-bound terms is
explained in several words. (Newmark, 1988b:83)
 Through-translation or Calque: it is the literal translation of common collocations,
names of organizations and components of compounds. (Newmark, 1988b:84)
 Shifts or transpositions: it involves a change in the grammar from SL to TL, for
instance, (i) change from singular to plural, (ii) the change required when a
specific SL structure does not exist in the TL, (iii) change of an SL verb to a TL
word, change of an SL noun group to a TL noun and so forth. (Newmark,
1988b:86)
 Modulation: it occurs when the translator reproduces the message of the original
text in the TL text in conformity with the current norms of the TL, since the SL
and the TL may appear dissimilar in terms of perspective. (Newmark, 1988b:88)
 Couplets: it occurs when the translator combines two different procedures.
(Newmark, 1988b:91)
2.1.3. Cultural Equivalence
Besides translation methods, in the translation studies, the term
Equivalence plays the vital role in the translation practice. Especially, in the

globalization world, the cross-cultural communication leads to the cultural factor’s
imposition on the language, and also the translation afterward. There are also much
attempts which have been made to define equivalence; however, but there still exist
controversies and debates around the issue. Generally, in the simple way,
equivalence can be understood as the relationship between a source text and a target
text to determine one text is the translation of another. Without considering the
equivalence in use, the translation cannot be successful.

10


It is clear above that the Newmark’s procedures are perfectly and popularly
applied for all types of text in translation, including whatever culture-bound terms or
proverbs or idioms. Nevertheless, culture-bound terms are not like the other normal
words because it contains not only the information which can be read from the
language cover, but also the cultural traits implied via images used in each proverb
and idiom. Therefore, for the sake of having a deep and sound analysis and
conclusion about translation methods used for culture-specific proverbs and idioms,
there should be an additional translation concept. That is equivalence which is
defined as an equal in meaning of a word in the Oxford Advanced Learner's
Dictionary. In translation generally and in translation of proverbs and idioms
particularly, regarded as the cultural attributors, culture-bound term itself contains the
specific conception about values, beliefs, habits or stories in a certain area or country
which might be unfamiliar to others’. As a result, there might be the number of
English proverbs and idioms having no absolute identification/ exact meaning in
Vietnamese. That means an equivalence of translation can be unidentified from SL to
TL as Jakobson points out (1959/2000) that “there is ordinary no full equivalence
between code-units”, given by Munday (2001).
Referred from the nature of an equivalence, there should be a rule for dealing
that issues. In the study of Leonardi, it is stated that according to Vinay and

Darbelnet, equivalence-oriented translation as a procedure which “replicates the same
situation as in the original, whilst using completely different wording”. To be clearer,
equivalence is to express the same idea in a different way.
2.2. Definition of other key terms
2.2.1. Definition of proverbs and idioms
Proverbs and idioms which considerably reflect the culture are both the
frequent-used in almost languages, including English and Vietnamese culture. They
are common, however, not simple in terms of structures and usages due to their own

11


traits. Although sharing the same status in language, proverbs and idioms are
comparatively distinguished.
An idiom is a combination of words that has a meaning that is different from
the meanings of the individual words themselves. It can have a literal meaning in one
situation and a different idiomatic meaning in another situation. It is a phrase which
does not always follow the normal rules of meaning and grammar. However, most
idioms are fixed in their grammatical structure. The expression to sit on the fence
cannot become to sit on a fence or to sit on the fences.
A proverb is a short saying or sentence that is generally known by many
people. The saying usually contains words of wisdom, truth or morality that are
based on common sense or practical experience. It is often a description of a basic
rule of conduct that all people generally follow or should follow. Proverbs can be
found in all languages.
2.2.2. Definition of cultural domains
Culture is the system of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of
people. It refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values,
attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations,
concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of

people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.
There are several ways to define a cultural domain (Lounsbury, 1964;
Spradley 1979; Weller & Romney, 1988). A good starting point is: a set of items that
are all of the same type. For example, "animals" is a domain. The members of the
domain of animals are all the animals people are aware of, such as dogs, cats, horses,
lions, tigers, etc. Implicit in the notion, however, is also the idea that membership in
the domain is not solely determined by the individual respondent, but that it exists
"out there" either in the language, in the culture or in reality. Hence, the set of colors
that a given respondent likes to wear is not what we mean by a cultural domain.

12


A cultural domain is a collection of items that in some sense go together or are
the same kind of things. It covers any sort of things relating to culture within a
culture.
2.2.3. Cultural correspondence
The cultural correspondence is "the absolute identification of an SL cultural
term with another in the TL, both in function and description"(p.1) defined by
Ghazala (2001) and quoted by Razieh in his study of cultural connotations of animals
in translation. According to Nida (1964), in general sense, the total impact of a
translation may be reasonably close to the original text, but the identity of a
corresponding symbol cannot be matched. Particularly, in the context of this study,
the same animal may have the same, partly similar or even different attribute and
connotative meaning in two cultures of English and Vietnamese. As a replication of
Razieh's study, the researcher is also subject to divide the cultural correspondence of
animal proverbs and idioms between the English and Vietnamese into the three main
categorizations which will act as a criteria for analyzing and classifying the collected
data:

absolute

correspondence,

the

partial

correspondence,

and

no

correspondence. The sub-categories will help to determine how much the
Vietnamese equivalent is similar or close to the English proverbs and idioms.
2.2.3.1. Absolute correspondence
The animal images used in the proverbs, and idioms of SL are identical in that
of TL no matter how much different the cultures are. That means at that time the
connotation of animal is widely understood and perceived by the people in both
cultures or even all over the world. In more simple way, both the SL and TL use one
single animal concept in a particular proverb, idiom, and saying. Indeed that animal
word has the same connotative meaning in both cultures, as the result, the English
proverbs and idioms containing these identical animals can be transferred completely
in terms of content or form.

13


2.2.3.2. Partial correspondence

It is clear that the cultural gap between two countries has exposed the
inequivalence of the connotative meaning of an animal word between SL and TL.
However, a certain animal word in SL can be corresponding to a different one in TL.
In other word, the animal word used in the SL is different from the animal word used
in the TL although they have the same connotative meaning.
2.2.3.3. No correspondence
Nevertheless, the difference between the cultures sometimes even leads to not
only the inequivalent connotation of an animal word but also the absence of the
animal- relating concept of SL in the TL and vice versa. Therefore, the same animal
words used in a proverb or idiom with its meaning in each language may be unknown
or even meaningless in the other.
According to Razieh, this difference arises from the different cultural
environment and different impressions English and Persian, English and Vietnamese
in this context, people get from animals in each culture. In general, the cultural
connotation of one animal in one language might be completely different from the
same animal in another language.
2.2.4.

Connotation

According to the Dictionary.com, “connotation” means the secondary meaning
of a word beside the explicit meaning, for example “home” is defined connotatively
as “a place of warmth, comfort and affection.” Applying this term into this study’s
research subject, connotation of an animal word is the link between habits, particular
features of such animal and the people’s mind which carries the associative meaning.
This is the key terms in the analysis of the English proverbs and idioms.

14

2.3. Relationship among language, culture and translation
The relationship among the three familiar factors: language, culture and
translation has been a popular issue throughout the ages which attracts a large
numbers of experts to study on. Salehi, in 2012, took the Lambert sayings to prove
for his statement about the relation of language and culture that “The heavy stress on
language as an aspect of cultural identity is of course not new at all”. After all
attempts to define such a close relationship, it is generally believed that culture has
been reflected completely via language within the same speaking community and it is
the translation that transfer all traits of culture to another languages for the whole
world community. Especially, the relationship among those three is increasingly
obvious nowadays in the era of blooming globalization. Nothing can, therefore, deny
the existence of their invisible intimate link.
Language, along with human’s history, has admitted to be the most powerful tool
for people not only to communicate or express their feelings, attitudes, ideas, beliefs,
but also, importantly, to pass the traditions and customs of a certain area to the next
generation orally in the past. This was also admitted by Hongwei (1999) that
“Language is as a portrait of culture. Language mirrors other parts of culture,
supports them, spreads them, and helps them to develop others” as mentioned by
Salehi (2012). All these factors that the language carries belong to culture. As a
result, it can be seen clearly a close and converse connection between the language
and the culture.
Translation has developed for a long time which fulfills the human’s needs of
globalization. This means thanks to this useful tool, people worldwide can access to
the culture of each other which contained in the cover of language. Indeed, that is the
mutual link among language, culture and translation in which both language and
translation together reflect the culture but in different contexts.

15

2.4. Previous related studies
Considered the significant topic of interest like animal-related proverbs and
idioms, there have been a good source of prior studies conducted that could be
further exploited. In this research, the researcher would like to acknowledge the
orientation and findings of those previous studies in order to develop and adjust to be
applicable for this research's target: English- Vietnamese translation of proverbs and
idioms relating to animals. In the Razieh's study, a number of English proverbs and
idioms relating to animals have been given out together with the corresponding
translation in Persian. All of them have been analyzed in terms of meaning and then
compared in each culture (English culture and Persian culture) in which the
similarities and differences of each proverb and idiom have also been figured out
clearly. As a result, basing on the analysis of given proverbs and idioms, Razieh
presents the appropriate translation procedure for each type of English- Persian
correspondence. After analyzing carefully the theoretical background of research
problems (translation and culture domains as well as proverbs and idioms about
animals), the researcher was led to a comprehensive and thorough study conducted
by Razieh on the translation of cultural connotation of animal-related proverbs and
idioms in English and Persian. It is realized that if the findings of this study are
applied in English-Vietnamese translation, there would be a good contribution to a
translation job in Vietnam. Therefore, the researcher would like to replicate this study
with the cultural domains of English and Vietnamese and the selected samples as the
English proverbs and idioms as well as their equivalences in Vietnamese.

16


CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the methodology will be presented which includes the
qualitative approach, the sampling, the data (English proverbs and idioms)
collection and the analysis of those collected proverbs and idioms including the

analysis of the cultural difference.
3.1.

Qualitative approach
This study follows the qualitative approach in which the analysis content of

the subjects: English proverbs and idioms about animals has been investigated.
Besides, this research has been developed on the base of Razieh's study on cultural
connotations of animals in translation: proverbs, idioms, sayings (English- Persian)
which also use the qualitative method but it is adjusted to be adapted in the context of
English- Vietnamese translation.
As the target of the study is the translation of proverbs and idioms about
animals, the population will be the English animal-related proverbs and idioms with
their corresponding equivalences. For the sake of analyzing the cultural features of
the samples (including distinguishing similarities and differences in cultural
connotations of proverbs and idioms), the research is intended to divide the
population into three groups: absolute correspondence (group 1), the partial
correspondence (group 2), and no correspondence (group 3).
3.2. Sampling
Simple Random sampling will be employed in which 60 English proverbs and
idioms about animals will be chosen on purpose to be samples. These 60 samples
would not be chose freely as the researcher intends to give the considerably overall
analysis on various connotation of different kinds of animals contained in the
proverbs and idioms. They are classified into three groups of the population: the
absolute correspondence, the partial correspondence, and no correspondence. All are

17