4B07 Dinh Lan Khanh English and Vietnamese comparison idioms

Comparison idioms 1

Running head: COMPARISON IDIOMS

Comparison Idioms Between English And Vietnamese

Đinh Lan Khánh

Class 4B07

University of Pedagogy

Comparison idioms 2

Abstract

As a foreign student learning English, comparison idioms are

really a big problem for me as well as other learners. There are

over 3000 idioms in the dictionary, so understanding and

memorizing all of them are a hard issue. Some students, even

though, live in America or England for such a long time, they are

still unable to understand what the native people are saying. In

a circle of students, native English speakers speak to other

native speakers differently from the foreign students. And the

foreign students here is unable to follow what they are saying to

each other. More than that, comparison idioms are one of major

aspects that can easily discourage a person in conversation with

each other if he/she does not know what to imply. If somebody ask

me: Is it necessary to study an idiom like “rain like cats and

dogs”?, I will asnwer Yes because idioms are part of daily

speech. It makes our utterances smoothly and transmit the

information to listeners in a smart way. As a matter of fact, in

this essay, we will firstly find a clear view of the definition

of idioms and some structures to recognize a comparison idiom,

then will be a part related to contrastive analysis; that is

Comparison idioms 3

similarities and differences between english and Vietnamese

comparison idioms; lastly, some problems and solutions of

studying idioms may be important to learners.

Comparison idioms 4

Definition of idioms

a. Definition

Idioms have become very popular with the linguistic

learners; however; not everyone can find the complete

definition for this term. Each professor has his or her

own assumption and we, the learners, have to consider

much when we want to apply those idioms into study. For

example, the Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and

Applied Linguistics, idioms were defined as: “an expression

which function as a single unit and whose meaning cannot be worked out

from its separate parts.”. Moreover, with the Oxford Advanced

Learner’s Dictionary, the writer defines idioms

differently: “a phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the

meaning of its individual words and which must be learnt as a whole unit.”

As we have seen, definition of idioms is quite different

between the Longman Dictionary and Oxford one and maybe

different from other books as well, but on reflection,

they do not have much conflict, all of those share the

basic idea: “they are words, phrases or expressions that cannot be

Comparison idioms 5

taken literally; when used in everyday language, they have a meaning

other than the basic one you would find in the dictionary.”.

Learning them make understanding and using a language a

lot easier and more fun.

b. Structure used for comparing

Although we have worked out some definitions of idioms

above, most of learners are still confused with the

question: “How can we identify an idiom of comparison?”.

Consequently, identification should be taken into

consideration so as to have an insight into different

types of idioms of comparison. There are various ways of

identifying based on different criteria because the

exploration is quite hard and unfeasible. Here are just

two main ways that have been considered most:

Identification based on component words or phrases

Identification based on grammatical structure

c. By word and phrase

With this aspect, idioms of comparison can be divided into

three groups:

Comparison idioms 6

Comparison with adjectives

This kind of comparison can be constructed as the

following structure:

As + adjective + as + (a/an/the) Noun

It is used to describe the similarities between people,

things or places. However, in this structure, the

similarities are exposed in a clear way, explicitly rather

than other structure. The meaning as well as the

characteristics of the adjectives are conveyed

symbolically through some related things in our lives so

that people can easily think of when they come across

those adjectives. For example: as sharp as razor, as innocent as

love, as unchangeable as the past, as jolly as a sandboy. In Vietnamese

idioms, typical examples of comparison are: nhát như thỏ đế,

đen như than, đẹp như tiên…

Comparison with verbs

Unlike adjectives, comparison with verbs has a different

structure

Verbs + like +

a/the + Noun

Comparison idioms 7

This structure is used with some certain verbs that have

simple meanings, but when taking part in forming an idiom,

it can make the action mentioned clearer and more

explicable, emphasize the behaviours of the goals in each

utterance, and give the reader a deep understanding, easier

to comprehend thanks to its simplicity. We can find some

instances such as: crawl like a snail, fight like cat and dog, live like

there’s no tomorrow….. Vietnamese idioms utilise: bò như sên, đánh

nhau như chó với mèo, sống như không có ngày mai…

Miscellaneous comparison

Although many idioms follow a certain rule as being

mentioned above with adjectives and verbs as well, some

kinds of comparison do not follow any regular patterns.

Consequently, the number of those kinds are just small;

they are mostly used by the native speakers in everyday

spoken language to make their verbal communication more and

more vivid. Some structures that we may come across:

(Verb) + like/as + a clause

(Verb) + like/as + a verb

phrase

Comparison idioms 8

(Verb) + like/as + a noun

phrase

Like + noun + like + noun

Here are the idioms to exemplify: (to be) like a bull in a china shop,

(to have) a memory like an elephant, to look as if one has been dragged

through a hedge backwards…. Vietnamese idioms utilise: như hạn gặp

mưa rào, tiền vào nhà khó như gió vào nhà trống….

d. By grammatical structure.

Despite lots of idioms of comparison based on grammatical

feature, it can be divided into three main popular kinds

that have a comparative meaning with Vietnamese one. Here

is the table between English and Vietnamese idioms:

Table 1

English and Vietnamese comparison idiom equivalents

English idioms Vietnamese idioms

as A as B

as good as gold

as warm as sunbeam

A như B

Quý như vàng

Nóng như đổ lửa

Comparison idioms 9

Like/ as B

Like two peas in a pod

Như B

Như hai giọt nước

A like/as B

Feel like a fish out of water

To follow like a shadow

A như B

Như cá mắc cạn

Theo như hình với bóng

Similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese

idioms of comparison through culture.

1. Similarities

Each country has its own culture and tradition; as a matter

of fact, idioms follow those rules because as we have

discussed above, the metaphor of idioms derived from the

real life, the real image. However, there are still some

coincidences between English and Vietnamese idioms of

comparison. We can find the similarities in the way people

think, observe and express ideas through different cultures.

To be more specific, here are some English idioms that have

exact Vietnamese equivalents:

Comparison idioms 10

English idioms Vietnamese

idioms

1.As black as coal Đen như than

2.As black as ink Tối đen như

mực

3.As black as midnight Tối như đêm

4.As bright as day Sáng như ban

ngày

5. As big as an elephant To như voi

6. As blind as a bat mù như dơi

7. As bold as brass Mặt dày mày

dạn

8. As brave as a lion Can đảm như sư

tử

9. As busy as a bee Bận như ong

10. As clear as day Sáng như ban

ngày

11. As clean as a whistle Sạch như chùi

12. As cold as ice Lạnh như băng

13. As cunning as a fox Gian như cáo


14. As dead as a doornail Chết đứng như

tượng

15. As dry as a bone Trơ như xương

16. As fresh as a daisy Tươi như hoa

17. As good as gold Quý như vàng

18. As hard as nails Rắn như đanh

19. As light as a feather Nhẹ như lông

20. As light as air Nhẹ như không

khí

21. As pure as snow Trong trắng

như tuyết

22. As quick as lightning Nhanh như chớp

23. As sharp as a razor Bén như dao

cạo

24. As silent as the dead Im như chết

25. As slow as a snail Chậm như sên

26. As slow as a tortoise Chậm như rùa

27. As solid as a rock Cứng như đá

28. As strong as an ox Khỏe như trâu

29. As timid as a rabbit Nhát như thỏ


30. As white as snow Trắng như

tuyết

31. To stick like glue Dính như keo

32. To cry like a baby Khóc như đứa

trẻ

33. Blood is thicker than water Một giọt máu

đào hơn ao nước lã.

34. Be water off a duck’s back Nước đổ đầu

vịt

35. Live from hand to mouth Tay làm hàm

nhai

36. Out of sight, out of mind Xa mặt cách

lòng

b. Differences

Although we have lots of idioms of comparison that have

share the same equivalence between English and Vietnamese,

linguistists have found some differences that are originated

from the differences among cultures as we have mentioned

above. As a result of that, it is better to have a look at


some cultural factors. Referring culture, we cannot deny its

origin from history and geography of a country. Culture does

not naturally appear in people’s lives, but exist in a good

interaction with people. It is rooted from some important

events in history or a milestone that has changed a

generation. Moreover, topography or terrain has affected

much the modification of culture through culture, for

example, the idiom: “as strong as an ox” is more popular in

the agricultural country where some strong animals like ox

or bull are used for agriculture. Below is the table that

tells the difference between two different culture that we

are discussing:

Table 2

Differences between English and Vietnamese cultures

Features Vietnamese English

Climate Has two basic

seasons: a cold,

humid winter and

a warm, wet

Changeable and

unpredictable


summer. Diverse

range of latitude

and altitude

Topology A verdant

tapestry of

mountains,

fertile deltas,

forests, rivers,

mysterious caves,

waterfalls and

beaches

There are not

many high

mountains,

rivers, plains or

forests.

Terrain Dessert terrain

with jungles and

tropical rain

forests

Highland zone in

the north and

west, lowland

zone in the south

and east

Economics Agriculture: the

main economy of

Vietnam. Some

Industry instead

of agriculture is

the main part in


products are

rice, trees,

fruits. It is

related to

aquaculture.

economy

Husbandry Pigs, buffaloes,

poultry and etc…

Cow, cattle,

sheep, horse,

poultry, etc…

Food and drink Rice is the main

food in

Vietnamese meals.

They use

chopsticks for

eating. Tea is

the traditional

drink.

Mostly, English

people serve

cereal and meat.

They use knife

and fork. Coffee

is more popular.

Population About 75 million

people in

Vietnam. 80% are

Approximately

51,807,053. Over


ethnics. 90% live in town

Religion Buddhism Christianism

a. Through lifestyles and living conditions

It can be seen very clearly that the Vietnamese idioms of

comparison are strongly influenced by the agricultural

culture and two of the most popular symbols in most

comparison are rice and buffalo. Where as, English equivalents

are based on farming and its industry. Vietnamese people

live mainly on the wet rice production. They spend most of

their lives in the field, in the sun as well as in the

rain; work with some simple tools and animals.

Consequently, when making comparison by using similes and

metaphor, they certainly think of many things in their

daily lives, the things that are familiar and friendly

with them and take those as the images in number of

idioms. It can be taken from the example above: as strong as

an ox (khỏe như trâu), live from hand to mouth (tay làm hàm

nhai).


When mentioning agriculture, we cannot forget the

contribution of buffalo in our economics. Although

nowadays we have lots of modern equipments that can

replace the buffalo in producing rice for people, buffalo

is still an unforgettable symbol in our economics. “He” is

sometimes described as farmer’s friend and it is the truth

that in many proverbs and folk songs of Vietnam, we have:

Trâu ơi ta bảo trâu này

Trâu ra ngoài ruộng trâu cày với ta

Cấy cày vôn nghiệp nông gia

Ta đây trâu đấy ai mà quản công

Bao giờ cây lúa còn bông

Thì còn ngọn cỏ ngoài đồng trâu ăn.

This song is very popular, from a child to an old person,

all can sing this song at any time. This song gives us

quite a beautiful and vivid picture of the relationship

between human and buffalo. The farmer conveys the closeness

and sentiment to his beloved animal. Not only “he” is a

friend but also a primary factor in production: “Con trâu là

đầu cơ nghiệp”. Truly, in the past, without “him”, our


country cound not exist until now. He is like a precious

thing that each farmer has to own because he can take over

from the lightest to the strongest work, which has helped

the farmers a lot. For them, buffalo is very strong and

hardworking. That is also the reason why people often image

of a buffalo when referring to people’s strength.

However, in England with nomadic culture, buffalo is not

important to them, but horse. Horse can carry heavy load,

pull cart, plough, transport… especially horse is much

faster than buffalo, which is very suitable for nomadic

people to serve for their moving lifestyles. As a matter

of fact, strength in English culture is compared with

horse: “as strong as a horse”. The difference is not

because the English people think that buffalo is not as

strong as horse, but it is the difference in the people’s

concept, the way they think or in another way: “the cultural

view”. The culture of each country has made people have

distinguishable thinking about their lives. Moreover,

those are also revealed through many other idioms:

As dumb as a statue Câm như hến


As gentle as a lamb hiền như cục

bột

As fat as butter Mập như lợn

Obviously, Vietnamese people do not know or are not

familiar with those things such as “statue, lamb, butter”. They

are farmers, so they are much familiar with hến

(corbicular), lợn (pig); meanwhile English get on well with

butter or lamb, which are suitable with their nomadic

culture. One more example is that

As tough as leather/ old boots dai như đĩa

In England, they often move from one place to another in

cold weather. As a result of that, leather and boots are

very necessary for them to protect them the getting cold.

Furthermore, those things must be made as thick as

possible so as to bring the best. However, in a tropical

country like Vietnam, we rarely use boots or leather but

simple shoes or thin clothes. Vietnamese people are mostly

farmers, so working in the field is unavoidable,

especially wet rice production needs farmers to work in

water during too many hours – the environment has a lot of


kinds of animal like “đĩa”. The feature of this animal is

that it sticks absolutely strongly.

Some typical examples above has clearly shown the influence

of natural and living condition on the way of using idioms

of comparison.

b. Differences with the same components

When making comparison using some idioms, it is not only

just different in the way or the image people use to

compare through cross-culture view but the difference in

the meaning or the implication in each idiom based on the

culture as well. Sometimes, with the same borrowed idea,

the same phrase but according to English people, it has

positive meaning, while Vietnamese consider it as negative

meaning, or vice versa: “Same word, different meaning”. Just

take an example:

English Vietnamese

As bright as day Rõ như ban

ngày


If we say this idiom in England, it just has the content:

“light, not dark”; on the other hand in Vietnam, it is not

that, when a person saying this, he/ she means that “there is

no suspicion here, everything is clear”

Another example:

English Vietnamese

As good as gold Tốt như vàng

English people use this idiom as a compliment on a well-

behaved child, where as Vietnamese ones take this instance

as a saying about the quality of a product, a thing in

general.

In conclusion, with some examples above, everyone can now

have a good view of another difference between English and

Vietnamese idioms of comparison: in spite of the same

components, they still have quite different implication

inside.

c. Differences with human components

Last but not least, let’s have a look at the last

component in idioms of comparison: human component. It is


not just borrowed from the animals or things in daily life

but also the human image. Certainly those are mostly the

famous characters or people in history, literature or even

real life. They are so common with some special

characteristics that everyone can remember them when

mention. For instance, as describing a person who is very

jealous, we often see the image of a woman named “Hoạn

Thư” – a character in Thuy Kieu story who had extreme and

terrible jealousy, sometimes cruel. So in Vietnamese

idioms we have; “ghen như Hoạn Thư”. On the other hand, to

English, jealousy is compared with Othello – a character

in Shakespeare’s play: “As jealous as Othello”.

Moreover, on depicting the state of being happy, English

people say “ As happy as a king” because to them King is the

one who can enjoy all the best thing in the world, from a

needle to an elephant. While in Vietnam, happiness is

compared with the fairy: “As happy as a fairy”. Although fairy

is not real, she is just a product of imagination in some

fairy tales which is used to teach children and to bring

happiness to everyone with her magic, people also trust


that a fairy can help them, evade the poverty…etc. In this

comparison, English people are quite more concrete than

Vietnamese ones.

Furthermore, it is true that the main religion in Vietnam

is Buddhism. As a matter of fact, some idioms of

comparison are affected by some image heritage in

Buddhism. For examples: As fat as Di Lac (Béo như ông Di Lặc),

as untidy as La Han (bày như ông La Hán), as gentle as Buddha

(hiền như Bụt)

In short, comparison using human components is easier to

express or describe something or somebody. The listeners

will easily catch the ideas from the speakers in an

effective way. However, sometimes it is strange and

difficult for foreigners due to different cultures. Those

images are typical in each country.

Problems faced by learners and suggested solutions

Idioms are now common in English speaking. We can find them

easily on newspaper, in magazines, on televisions, on

radios or on some window shoppings…. Consequently, if we


want to be Engling native-like and does not sound awkward,

mastering idioms is quite necessary. English people tend to

speak differently to each other and to the others from

foreign countries. Sometimes it may be difficult for

foreign people like us to understand what an English wants

to convey or imply. In this part, there will be some

discussions about the problems that Vietnamese people may

encounter when studying idioms. Moreover, it is essential

to deal with some suggested solutions to improve the

teaching and learning idioms. To make it easier, we have

divided them into two commonplace problems: in understanding

and in memorizing.

1. Learners and idioms understanding

a. Problems

Dealing with various grammatical structures

As being mentioned above, idioms of comparison have may

kinds, maybe the borrowed image is a word, or a phrase, or

a sentence….so to understand all of them is quite a

challenge. Learners should remember that there are a lot


of different structures for that. We might have regular

structure, irregular structure or ingrammatical structure.

First of all, with regular-structure idioms, they get the

simple form so we do not have much confusion when viewing

those idioms; however, the meaning of each single

component in it has no relation with the meaning of the

whole idiom, which may make us misunderstand the

implications inside. This kind is possibly the most

chanllenging to foreign learners. For instance, not many

people can draw out the meaning of “red tape” as “bureaucratic

method”. Next, the irregular-structure idioms does not

have any difficulties because the meaning can be figured

out comprehensively through the meaning of components.

Lastly is the case of ingrammatical-structure idioms, the

structure is not in the order as we have learnt, it does

not follow the grammatical rules and does not express the

true significance by combining the meaning of each word.

Just take an example: with the idiom: “be in on the ground

floor”, it is not reliable for us to get the meaning

basing on the the structure; it is exactly explained as:


“to be involved from the beginning in something that is likely to be

successful”

Dealing with distinctive cultural features

“Cultural gap” is always the big obstacle for most foreign

learners. To be more specific, the culture of Vietnam and

England are quite distinguishing as we have done research

in the previous part. If we do not get the tradition or

the cultural value of the other country, we surely find it

a big problem to catch the meaning conveyed through some

idioms. Or else, if we can understand the meaning from

that idiom, we are still confused when looking for an

equivalent in our mother tongue. For example, “as cool as

cucumber”, we can grasp the meaning of this is to describe

a calm person especially in a tough situation”; but

translating it into Vietnamese is quite a hard work and it

will be a mistake if we translate word by word. Be aware

of those things, the right answer will be: “bình chân như

vại”. Another instance, “as alike as two peas”, it is a big

mistake if we translate it “giống nhau như hai quả mận”,


in Vietnam we just have the idiom “giống nhau như hai giọt

nước” (as alike as two drops of water).

b. Solutions

From the reasons that caused difficulties in

understanding, we would like to suggest some solutions

that may be effective for certain people:

Firstly, surely that dealing with idioms needs the careful

study in all situations.

Next, idioms of comparison should be learnt in a specific

situation, a real context in real life rather than learn

them by heart. It will be the best if we often practice

and use them in the our communicative daily life so that

the meaning will become more efficient.

Furthermore, it is crucial to try to guess the meaning of

idiom before looking it up in the dictionary. This is also

a way of learning new words that many experts have advised

to to follow. Guessing gives us an overview of the idiom

by basing on the meaning of the word or using our general


knowledge and then dictionary is just the last step to

confirm it.

Last but not least, knowledge of cultural values is a

must, that consists of customs, belief, concepts,

behaviours, etc… This was certainly the most hard work to

do, for it will take much of our time, culture learning is

a long process, but applying this will help us benefit a

lot in grasping the implications when communicating with

foreigners.

c. Learners and idioms memorizing

If understanding is a problem to learners, memorizing is

also another big problem. How can we memorize those things

that are not of our own country? How can we use it as a tip

of tongue when communicating with foreigners? In this part,

three problems have been conducted and along with it are

some suggested solutions

a. Problems

A large quantity of English idioms


Every country has their large number of idioms which often

make the foreigners scared to study all, and so does

English. We can take the evidence from the two most

popular dictionaries nowadays: Oxford (5000 entries) and

Cambridge Idioms Dictionary (7000 entries) with lots of

idioms divided into alphabet or sometimes to the topic

(animals, flowers, comparison…). It is the large number of

idioms that discourage learners to try to memorize all of

these things. In addition, idioms have changed according

to the change of life and society so as to be more

effective for the users. As a result of that, the number

is about to increase days by days. In conclusion, such

large number is one of the causes that stop the people

from learning them.

Infrequent use

It is unavoidable that Vietnamese students have a chance

to study idioms at school and in their lessons; however,

they rarely apply what they have learnt in their daily

lives. To the people who are not English-speaking ones,

learning idioms is a hard work and using it is much


harder, so most of them intend to use the ordinary

expression instead of idiomatic expression, which will

take a lot of time for them to communicate. It is the lack

of enviroment practicing English idioms that leads to the

consequence that not many students can use idioms

efficiently.

A shortage of learning methods

Method is always the key to completing anything, it is

important to know how to go rather than the finish end.

Contrarily, Vietnamese learners as well as many other non-

English-speaking learners do not have a perfect method to

grasp those difficult idioms. Some choose to learn them as

learning new words by writing them on paper with some

examples and learn by heart; others try to listen everyday

with the hope that they can remember easily. But those

methods are not considered effectively because idioms are

related to real lives. The best way is that put those

idioms in daily life. Idioms cannot be separated from the

contexts.


b. Solutions

First, there should not be any worry for the number of

idioms. Even a native speakers cannot remember all of

them. The advice here is that try to memorize some useful

ones that is common in dialy communication. To be more

efficient, the learners should divide idioms into some

sections as we have divided above: comparison with nouns,

verbs, adjectives… so that it is easier for learners to

make connection. Furthermore, trying to use those idioms

when communicating in daily life is a must. The more we

practice them, the more quickly we become a master of

English idioms! Last but not least, it is quite essential

for Vietnamese learners to find Vietnamese equivalents if

possible. Despite the differences between two cultures, we

still have some idioms that can be easily changed into

Vietnamese without changing meaning. For example: “As

light as feather” (Nhẹ tựa lông hồng), “As fierce as

tiger” (Dữ như cọp)… thus those translation can give the

learners long time memory.


Conclusion

Idioms are present in all languages, so studying them is in

need. A person who does not know how to use an idiom and just use

individual word will not become confused when communicating. That

is one of the reasons that make non-native learners cannot get on

well with the native ones. Especially, using comparison idioms

effectively can add flavour to your writing and speaking as well

as make you become a brilliant communicator, you can understand

the underlying meaning you want to convey. Through this essay, we

hope that you can get a good overview of all kinds of comparison

idioms in English so that they can be used smartly and flexibly.

As mentioned above, ther are still some differences between

English and Vietnamese culture and people, which sometimes plays

a role as a boundary in learning idioms. Some Vietnamese students

may find it unecessary to grasp those comparison idioms, and so

do some teachers. Therefore, based on some certain problems that

we have found out of learning idioms, there will be profound

changes in the way of teaching and learning English idioms in

order to help Vietnamese students quickly integrate with other

friends the world over.


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4B07 Dinh Lan Khanh English and Vietnamese comparison idioms

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