CULTURAL AFFECTION ON TRANSLATION ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE ANIMAL IDIOMS
As Wikipedia
defined “An idiom is a word or phrase which means something different from what
it says - it is usually a metaphor. Idioms are common phrases or terms whose
meanings are not literal, but are figurative and only known through their
common uses.” It means people can not understand the conversation or the text
written by the foreigners if they merely look at the literal meaning of the
text. Instead, people need to have a knowledge of idioms in order to figure out
the inside meaning of the text. In the idioms, words have lost their individual identity. The
structure of the idiom is to a large extent, fixed and unchangeable. Every
language has a set of idioms and fixed expressions of its own, which have been
created and developed throughout history. It is profoundly influenced by the
geographical position, natural and social conditions of the culture in which
the language is used. Thus, the sets of idioms and fixed expressions in
different language varies in many ways.
The
image of animal idioms its rich, unique features and its expression in the
English language ability plays an important role in the formation of readers in
mind a vivid image of the concrete. Idioms "like a cat on the hot bricks"
is a good example. According to this description the reader can well imagine
the scene at that time, translated into vietnamese is “rối như tơ vò”
There are many
kinds of idioms related to animals in both English and Vietnamese. Those idioms
are often about dogs, cats, monkeys and so on. For example, we have idioms
related to dogs like “as sick as a dog”, “like the dog with two tails” or
“dog-eat-dog”. We also have some idioms about cats like “as weak as kitten” or
“ cat gets one’s tongue”. Those are some typical examples that people use
animals as the means of transmitting the meaning. Due to the difference of
culture and context, English and Vietnamese language may have some similar and
different symbolism of animals.
Culture
is a complex system of knowledge, ethical principles, beliefs, arts, law and
traditions, etc. In addition, language, as a part of culture, reflexes the
wealthy and various cultural phenomena. Idioms preserve close relationships
with people's life and the culture where they are shaped and used. As Vietnam
has a long history of cultivation and agriculture, a large number of idioms
related to agriculture have been in use. Most of the elements used in
Vietnamese idioms are focus on animals that the farmers have to deal with in
their daily life as we can see in the following examples:
ăn ốc nói mò: to make
something out of nothing
con sâu làm rầu nồi
canh: one rotten apple spoils the barel
cháy nhà mới ra mặt chuột:
hidden thing wil be bruoght to light in due time
cõng rắn cắn gà nhà:
the snake bites the kitchen
chuột sa chĩnh gạo: to
get a windfall
con giun xéo lắm cũng
quằn: even a worm will turn
đàn gẩy tai trâu: to
cast pearls before swine
giao trứng cho ác:
opportunities makes the thief
khỏe như trâu mộng: as
strong as a horse
lo bò trắng răng
nước đổ đầu vịt: water
off a duck’s back
nuôi ong tay áo: to set
a fox to keep the geese
sẩy đàn tan nghé
vắng chủ nhà, gà mọc
đuôi tôm (or: vọc niêu tôm): when the cat is away the mouse will play.
(Tuyển Tập Thành Ngữ Tục
Ngữ Ca Dao Việt Anh Thông Dụng)
In the above idioms, farm animals like
chicken, duck, fish, buffalo, cow….are often used when the farmers need an
image to express their ideas about something. Take buffalo as an example,
Buffaloes pull ploughs, work very hard everyday to help farmers in their
farming. As a result, wanting to mention strength, people often refer to
buffaloes. In fact, to talk about someone very strong, the Vietnamese have the
idiom “khỏe như trâu” while the English have the idiom “as strong as a horse”.
That’s because English people prefer horses to buffaloes. Horses can not only
pull ploughs but also transport and entertain. They are really energetic and
strong enough to help people in life. Take buffalo in the other idiom “đàn gẩy
tai trâu”. According to Vietnamese conception, buffalo is one of the twelve
zodiacs, and it represents something is bulky, lumpish, but patient. Buffalo is
considered a close buddy of the farmers, leaving an unfathomable spot in the
mind of Vietnamese. Đàn gẩy tai trâu uses one characteristic of the buffalo
-lumpish- to express the idea of a person who would not listen to anything or
anyone. Or buffalo in the idiom “khỏe như trâu” Differently, living on an island,
the English are tend to sailing and traveling a lot, the English language
flourish in idioms connected with navigation.
all at sea
any port in a storm
half sea over
in the same boat
sink or swim
take the wind out of
somebody's sail
weather eye
to keep one's head
above water
to clear the decks
to tide over
(Oxford Dictionary of
Idioms)
The second feature of the culture’s
reflex on idioms is the distinction of customs is multi-sided, of which the
most typical one is the attitude towards such animals as the dog, the cat, etc.
Take the dog for example. In Vietnam, the dog is of a lowly status. Most of the
Vietnamese idioms concerning with dogs are used in an insulting sense, usually
describing wicked persons, although the numbers of pet dogs have increased
nowadays.
chó treo mèo đậy
chó chạy cùng rào
chó chê mèo lắm lông
chó cùng dứt dậu: beast
at bay bites hard or a wounded animal at bay
chó cắn áo rách:
misfortune never come alone to a poor man
khổ như chó or nhục như
chó: lead a dog life
(Tuyển Tập Thành Ngữ Tục Ngữ Ca Dao Việt Anh
Thông Dụng)
Nonetheless, in the eyes of the English,
“Dog” is a man’s best friend in Western countries. Since the dog is a lovely
pet, a faithful fellow. Even though some other languages put forth passive
influences on certain English idioms concerned with dogs, such as "a surly
dog”, “in the doghouse” they always show sympathy and tender fondness to dogs
rather than disgust and even hatred. In addition, a story said that a couple
was quarrelling. One neighbor said, “Don’t bit the dog”. It shows that people
regard a dog to be a person “love me, love my dog” “help a lame dog over a
stile”.
a lucky dog
a top dog
die like a dog
as sick as a dog
as faithful as a dog
It is the outcome of
different cultures forming different languages. The knowledge of the same
animal is different in the minds. Therefore, the animals can mean different
meanings.
By contrast, the dragon,
as a symbol of the Vietnamese since a long time ago, carries a positive and
favorable meaning. Such idioms are often found in Vietnamese language, since
the Vietnamese is proud of being descendants of the holy dragon, “con rồng cháu
tiên”
Symbolize wealth and goodness: đầu rồng đuôi
tôm, rồng đến nhà tôm, vẽ rồng nên giun
Symbolize luxuriousness:
thêu rồng vẽ phượng; chạm rồng trổ phượng
Symbolize fortune:
mả táng hàm rồng như cá gặp nước,như rồng gặp
mây rồng mây gặp hội
Symbolize brilliancy:
rồng bay phượng múa, ăn như rồng cuốn, uống như
rồng leo
Nevertheless, in Western mythologies, in
this case, it is in English folk tales; the dragon is described as a monster, a
devil and cruelty. It is a common knowledge that the Bible portrayed dragons in
a very negative way, equally with Satan. In English speaking countries when you
entitle a woman a dragon, you imply that she is fierce and horrible” (Tiger).
However, it is not all the cases that the
attitude of English and Vietnamese are always different. When living and
working with the animals, human beings have the same feelings towards some
certain animals. “Fox” would be a good example for this. Fox is supposed to be
tricky by both Western and Eastern conception. “Deal with a fox, think of his
tricks”. Such as the English saying goes, “The fox changes his skin but not his
habit”. Also, Vietnamese idiom has “cáo mượn oai hùm”.
In short, the language
only is a part of culture, and the culture is not equal to the language, the
culture is bigger than the language, alone itself is not impossible
independently to exist outside the language system, in other words, the
language and the culture are one kind of complex interrelation. Moreover, human
beings are not the only animated objects in the world. There are all kinds of
animals all over the world. Some animals live distantly from human beings, such
as penguins. Since they live so far that normal people are not familiar with
them, the unfamiliar animal terms are seldom used in languages. But some other
animals live close to human beings, such as domestic animals dog, cat, cow… .
People raise them as pets, keep them for food or make them guards to protect
people. As a result, human beings clearly know their habits and
characteristics. Such animal terms occur in human language more frequently as
in “cats and dogs”, “as wise as an owl”. It is apparent that people habitually
relate certain persona with certain creatures. These qualities frequently
provoke certain reactions or emotions.
According to these above things,how
can we transmit these idiom into another languages.Translation of animal idioms
have some basic strategies such as literal translation, free translation, and
sets of translation can be better
translation.
Literal translation: When the two cultures with the same kind of
animal to express the same or similar image, to use the literal translation,
for example, are used "pig" to show that the "obese", with
"sheep" to mean "docile." Literal translation has many
advantages, it maintains the original form, not in the sense of confusion and
misunderstanding, such as "as fat as pig"( Mập như heo) can be
translated as "with the same fat pig." "As gentle as a
lamb" is "as gentle with the sheep ( Hiền như cừu)." “As black as crow” is “Đen như quạ”.
“As cheerful as a lark” is translated “Vui như sáo”. “ As fierce as a
tiger” is “ Dữ như cọp”. Literal translation can be accurate and
effective expression of the original culture, narrowing the gap between the two
languages. The reader
can easily understand the rich cultural connotation and metaphor translation.
And it maintains the original charm, image and expressive. To "as proud as
apeacock"( Đẹp như tiên sa) as an example, imagine the peacock look like:
beautiful, elegant. If someone has been likened to "as proud as a
peacock", we can through this clever and vivid metaphor to imagine how
proud he was in the end.
However there are many idioms which we
can not find the equivelence exactly in other languages, we should consider
another translation. It is free translation: when there are differences between
English and Vietnamese concept, you can consider free translation. Such as the
"white elephant" should be translated as "waste, something big
elephant" instead of "white elephant." Able to accurately
paraphrase the original meaning of the expression of an effective, such as
"do the donkey work" meaning do menial work, the reader familiar with
these translations can easily understand them. But the disadvantage is that it
lays down the image of the original animal, reducing the expression of force,
such as "my old servant never left me, he was as faithful as a dog"
can be translated "my old servant, never leave me, he told me very loyal.
"
Another strategy when we can find out the
equivelance in the target language we can use an idiom of
similar meaning but dissimilar form.
It is also
possible, and usually easier to find an English idiom with a similar meaning to
a Vietnamese idiom, but which is expressed differently. For example, in
Vietnamese idiom" Trâu chậm uống nước đục" translated into English as
"The early bird catches the worm". The meaning both two idioms is success comes to those who prepare well
and put in effort. Or take another example “dog eats dog” can translate into vietnamese
“ nồi da nấu thịt”, because “ nồi da nấu thịt” is familiar with vietnamese
people. It origin from a tale that there was three siblings went together.
After many day in the hunger, the oldest brother eventually decided kill his
youngest brother and cook. And then he still can afford to find the food and he
killed the other man. Although difference in form but both of them refer to the
fighting between the member who live together in a family.
In conclusion, idioms have meanings that can not be
figured out by looking up the word in the dictionary. They have meanings that
are understood by people who speak that language. Especially in animal idioms, because there are many kind of animals
appearing among many countries, however the concept and the attitude toward
these animal in this country is not always similar to others. Because of
cultural gap between English and Vietnamese, it cause many dificulties in
convey the animal idioms from english to vietnamese and in contrast. So we need
to apply the proper strategy to translate them. We use literal translation when
the two culture with the same kind of animal to express the same or similar
images. When there are diference between vietnamese and english concept, view
toward the same or other difference
kinds of animal we can approach free translation or using an idioms that has
the same meaning but dissimilar form. Idioms reflect the cultural influence of
that language. Therefore, when we learn English and Vietnamese idioms, it is
necessary for us to know the cultural connotation for appropriate and
successful communication.
