Cultural and linguistic analysis of Vietnamese equivalents relating to the english word “meal”

Finding the importance of English most people nowadays learn English. However, few of them deeply understand this language as well as its cultural characteristics through meaning of word(s). As they do not realize that behind a word there are many things to discuss. So, sometimes they are surprised by the diversity in the meaning of the word in communication. As Vietnamese students who are learning English, we would like to research English culture in the light of linguistic view of word “meal” and its contrast with Vietnamese equivalents. Actually, we chose this word as we think that behind the word there must be many interesting things, especially cultural field. Moreover, people say that to understand culture of a country s/he should look into eating and drinking style of that country because they themselves reflect cultural elements. We hope that after the graduation paper in print, it will help learners as well as readers understand more clearly about English and Vietnamese culture through the word “meal”. 2. Aims of the study We write this graduation paper is not out of the aims to: _ Help learners / readers understand about field of word “meal”. _ Help learners / readers understand about the culture and linguist of the word “meal” in English and its Vietnamese equivalents “tên các bữa ăn”, “đồ uống”, “dụng cụ ăn uống”, “nơi ăn uống”, “nghi thức” _ Compare the cultural and linguistic analysis of the English word “meal” and words relating to it in contrast with Vietnamese equivalents. 3. Scope of the study Because of space and time, the graduation paper cannot cover the whole cultural meaning of the word “meal” in English as well as in Vietnamese equivalents. Thus, we only focus on researching some aspects as follows: _ Definitions of word and meaning. _ Some information about lexical and semantic field of word, lexical meaning, cultural meaning. _ Cultural and linguistic analysis in English word “meal and its Vietnamese equivalents: “tên các bữa ăn”, “đồ uống”, “dụng cụ ăn uống”, “nơi ăn uống”, “nghi thức”. _ Comparison between the cultural and linguistic analysis of the English word “meal” and words relating to it in contrast with Vietnamese equivalents. 4. Methods of the study To complete this study, we base on some methods as follow: _ Definiting word and meaning . _ Introducing lexical and semantic field of word. _ Analyzing the culture and linguist of the word “meal” in English and in Vietnamese equivalents. _ Comparing the cultural and linguistic analysis of the English word “meal” and words relating to it in contrast with Vietnamese equivalents. 5. Design of the study The graduation paper is divided into 3 parts: Part A Introduction Part B Investigation Chapter I Theoretical background Definition of word and meaning Lexical meaning Cultural meaning Lexical and semantic field of words Chapter II Field of word “meal” in English and words relating to it (in contrast with Vietnamese equivalents) Definition of word “meal” - Field of word “meal” in English and in Vietnamese equivalents - Cultural and linguistic analysis of the English word “meal” Chapter III Cultural and linguistic analysis of Vietnamese equivalents relating to the English word “meal” Chapter IV Comparison of the English word “meal” and words relating to it (in contrast with Vietnamese equivalents) Part C: Conclusion PART B INVESTIGATION CHAPTER I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1. What is the word? It is said that to give out the definition of every basic notion is not easy task as each person has their own point of view about the thing they want to definite. In fact, the definition of a word is one of the most difficult ones because each word has many different aspects. It has a sound form as it is a certain arrangement of phonemes. Also, it has morphological structure. However, being used in current speech, it may appear in different word forms and signal various meanings. Many scholars have attempted to define the word as a linguistic phenomenon as well as collected the variants of definitions according to their aims and interests. According to Tomas Hobbes (1588- 1679), one of the great English philosophers, words are not mere sound but name of matter. Three centuries later, the great Russian physiologist I.P.Pavlov (1849- 1936) examined the word in connection with his studies of the second signal system, and defined it as a universal sign that can substitute any other signal from the environment in evoking a respond in a human organism. Another point is that in the scope of linguistic the word, structurally, possesses several characteristics basing on distinguishing between the external and the internal structures of the word. External structure of the word means its morphological structure. For example, in the word “post- impressionists” the following morpheme can be distinguished: the prefixes “post-, im” , the root “press”, the noun-forming suffixes “-ion”, “-ist”, and the grammatical suffix of plurality “-s”. All the morpheme constitute the external structure of the word “post- impressionists”. The structure of words, and also typical word-information patterns, are studied in the section on word-building. The internal structure of the word, or its meaning, nowadays, commonly referred to the word’s semantic structure. Another structural aspect of the word is its unity. The word possessed both external (or formal) unity and semantic unity. Formal unity of the word is not, strictly speaking, indivisible. Yet, its component morphemes are permanently linked together in opposition to word-groups, both free and with contexts, whose components possess a certain structural freedom, for example “bright light”. The formal unity of the word can be best illustrated by comparing a word and a word-group comprising identical constituents. The difference between “a blackbird” and “a black bird” is best explained by their relationship with the grammatical system of the language. The word “blackbird”, which is characterized by unity, possesses a single grammatical framing: “blackbirds”. The first constituent “black” is not subject to any grammatical changes. In the word-group “a black bird”, each constituent can acquire grammatical forms of its own: “the blackest bird I’ve ever seen.” Other words can be inserted between the components which is impossible so far as the word is concerned as it would violate its unity “a black night bird”. The same example may be used to illustrate what we mean by semantic unity. In the word-group “a black bird” each of the meaningful words conveys a separate concept: “bird”- a kind of living creature; “black”- a color. The word “black bird” conveys only one concept the type of bird. This is one of the main features of any word: it always conveys one concept, no matter how many component morphemes it may have in its external structure. A further structural feature of the word is its susceptibility to grammatical employment. In speech, most words can be used in different grammatical forms in which their interrelation is realized. The last point of view about definition of the word is given out by S.Potter, who writes that not similar to a phoneme or a syllable, a word is not a linguistic unit at all. All the above views are basic definitions of the word. However, the linguistics have not pointed out the relationship in communication between a speaker and a listener in which the speaker’s mental process is converted into sound groups called “words” and the listener’s brain converts the acoustic phenomena into notion and ideas. In other words, it is a two- way process of communication. To sum up, all of different definitions and views of the word can be conclusioned as follow: the word is a speech unit used for the purposes of human communication, materially representing a group of sounds, possessing a meaning, susceptible to grammatical employment and characterized by formal and semantic unity. 2. What is the meaning? So far many linguistics have tried their best to put forward a definition of meaning. Each of them has a view about the meaning according to their own way. According to J.Fitzgerald in “From word and meaning”, he wrote “language is the amber in which a thousand precious and subtle thoughts have been safely embedded and preserved”. It proves that the every function of the word as a unit of communication is made possible by its possessing a meaning. And among the word’s various characteristics, meaning is certainly the most important. In English, the philosopher Wittgenstein said in “Words and their meaning” that “the meaning of the word is its use in the language” Also according to B. Russell “a word has a meaning, more or less vague, but the meaning is only to be discovered by observing its use, the use come first, and the meaning is distilled out of it”. Generally speaking, meaning can be more or less described as a component of the word through which a concept is communicated, in this way endowing the word with the ability of denoting, qualities, actions and abstract notions. The complex and somewhat mysterious relationship between referent (object, etc. denoted by the word), concept and word can be explained: there is no immediate relation between word and referent: it is established only through the concept (concept is thought or referent). On the other hand, there is a hypothesis that concepts can only find their realization through words. It seems that thought is dormant till the word wakens it up. It is only when we hear a spoken word or read a printed word that the corresponding concept springs into mind. The branch of linguistics which specializes in the study of meaning is called “semantic”. As with many terms, the term “semantic” is ambiguous for it can stand, as well, for the expressive aspect of language in general and for the meaning of one particular word in all its varied aspects and nuances. It means that the semantics of a word is not different from the meaning(s) of a word. Thus, according to M. Pei puts it in “The study of language”, semantic is “language” in its broadest, most inclusive aspect. Sounds, words, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions are the tools of language. Semantic is language’s avowed purpose. 3. Lexical meaning Though people who study lexical meaning have pointed out definitions about it; however, they all share a common view that lexical meaning is the realization or naming of a notion, emotion or object by means of a definite language system. Notion denotes the reflection in the mind of real object and phenomena in their essential features and relation in words. Each notion is characterized by its scope and content. The scope of the notion is determined by all the objects it refers to. The content of the notion is made up of all the features that distinguish it from other notions. The distinction between the scope and the content of a notion lies at the basis of such terms as the identifying (demonstrative) and significative functions of the word. The identifying function may be interpreted as denoting the objects covered by the scope of the notion expressed in the word, and the significative function is the function of expressing the content of the respective notion. The function of rendering an emotion or an attitude is termed the expressive function. In other words, the emotional content of a word is itself can evoke intentional or affective connotations of word. Basing on two functions above, there may be two types of denotation meaning: significant and demonstrative meaning. In the example “Now the night has gone away” (Air Supply) significant meaning is quite clear. Every word evokes a general idea, a notion without directly referring to any particular element of reality, the significant meaning and that of the notion coincide. When a word refers to name, the demonstrative meaning is the individual existing objects of reality “There was a fine old rocking chair that his father used to sit in, a desk where he wrote letter, a nest of small table, and a dark imposing bookcase”. The meaning of many words is subjected to complex association originating in habitual contents, verbal or situation, of which the speaker and the listener are aware, and which form the connotational component of meaning. In some words the realization of meaning is accompanied by the speaker’s state of mind and his attitude to what or who he is speaking about. Within the affection connotational of a word we can distinguish its capacity to evoke or directly express _ Emotion: dad – father _ Evaluation: good – excellent _ Intensity: adore – love _ Stylistic colour (social sphere): slay – kill In conclusion, lexical meaning consists of denotational meaning and connotational meaning in which denotational meaning comprises significative and demonstrative meaning, connotational meaning includes speaker’s emotion, evaluation, intensify and social sphere. 4. Cultural meaning Say language means we are saying pride, identity, roots, communication and all the things that stir the heart. According to President M. Scares of Portugal, “My country is my language”. (Lawday,1990, p.30). Each nation has its own language as long as they borrow or adapt another language as their second language. All the language (native and foreign languages), always convey cultural characteristics. It is the basic cultural factor that distinguishes this country from other. In other words, we can realize this country from other via understanding and using cultural meaning of words. Consider the word “xe đạp” or “bicycle” in Vietnamese and English as an example we will know the different cultural meaning between them. Generally speaking, the Vietnamese word “xe đạp” and the English word “bicycle” are the same meaning which refer to a vehicle using human strength to move. However, in the terms of culture, the words in two languages are not the same. First is the cultural meaning, to the Vietnamese “xe đạp”, which was imported first from France, is a quite new vehicle. So, whenever think about it, they imagine a vehicle used by feet movements so-called “xe đạp”. Meanwhile, the English name it is “bicycle” according to its feature (“bi” means “hai”, “cycle” means “bánh xe”). Second is the usage. If the English travel by bicycle or horse, they say “you ride (on) a bicycle” or “you ride (on) a horse”. Obviously, English people take for granted that there is no difference between the action “ride on a bicycle” and “ride on a horse”. To Vietnamese on their part “xe đạp” is also a transport means used to carry (đèo, lai) men or goods. People call bicycle is “xe đạp thồ” or “xe thồ” if it is used to carry goods. And, of course, the word ride (đi or đạp) does not go with this vehicle but the word “push”. Third is structure. The English regard bicycle as an entertainment or practice means, so it is made for one user and light luggage. In contrast, Vietnamese people pay attention to endurability than style. In conclusion, understanding the word “xe đạp” or “bicycle” in Vietnamese and English is rather different because it bases on some words “đạp, đi (ride); đèo, lai, thồ (carry), đẩy (push)”. Through the example, it is states that people can communicate with each other not only via literal meaning but also hidden- intention meaning. Thus, it is necessary to deeply understand cultural meaning of speech, words to communicate well. 5. Lexical and semantic field of words Many linguists have given out their own definition about lexical and semantic field of words, and J. Trier is one of them. He defines that “fields are linguistic realities existing between single words and the total vocabulary; they are parts of a whole and resemble words in that they combine into some higher unit, and the vocabulary in that they resolve themselves into smaller units”. However, Trier’s most important shortcoming is his idealistic methodology. He regards language as a super-individual cultural product shaping concepts and the whole knowledge of the world. His idea about the influence of language upon thought, and the existence of an “intermediate universe” of concepts interposed between man and the universe, is wholly untenable. Over the time, linguists have shown that a lexical field of words or lexical and semantic field of words is the whole words can be classified into sets according to their meaning. The following set of words is a lexical field, because all the words in the set refer to emotional states: Angry, sad, happy, exuberant, depressed, afraid. In a lexical field, not all lexical items necessarily have the same status. Consider the following sets, which together form the lexical field of color terms (of course there are other terms in the same field) Blue, red, yellow, green, black, purple Indigo, saffron, royal blue, aquamarine, bisque. The colors referred to by the words of set (a) are more usual than those described in set (b). These colors are said to be less marked than the second set; therefore the words in set (a) are less marked members of the lexical field will usually be easier to learn and remember than more marked members, people learn the term “blue” before they learn the terms “indigo, royal blue or aquamarine”. Typically, a less marked word consists of only one morpheme, in contrast to more marked words (contrast “blue” and “royal blue”). The less marked member of a lexical field cannot be described by using the name of another member of the same field, while more marked members can be thus described ( “indigo” is a kind of “purple”). Less marked terms also tend to be used more frequently than more marked terms; “blue”, for example, occurs considerably more frequently in conversation and writing than either “indigo” or “aquamarine”. Less marked terms also are often broader in meaning than more marked terms; “blue” describes a broader range of colors than “indigo” or “aquamarine”. Finally, less marked words are not the result of the metaphorical usage of the name of another object or concept, whereas more marked words often are (for example, “saffron” is the color of a spice that gave its name to the color). CHAPTER II CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH WORD “MEAL” 1. Definition In order to be analysed under the lexical or linguistic view, every word itself has to satisfy existential condition of a word first “a word is an independent unit of language which embodies a notion in all its forms and meaning taken as a whole”. And the word “meal” is not an exception. The word “meal” is a unit of language used for the purpose of human communication (under the linguist and culture point), possessing a meaning. There are several definitions of the word “meal”. According to Oxford Word Powder Dictionary “meal” means “a certain time when you eat or the food that is eaten at that time”. Similar to Oxford Word Powder Dictionary, Dai Tu Dien Vietnam (Vietnamese great dictionary) defines that “meal” is the whole food is eaten in one time. In Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary, “meal” is the portion of food taken or provided at one time to satisfy appetite. Also, according to KP BCKA . E in“5 everyday topics in English” in Russia “we partake of food several times a day. This partaking of food at a certain time is called meal”. Generally speaking, all the above definitions define quite clearly about the word “meal”. However, in this graduation paper, we would like to use the word “meal” in accordance with the definition in Oxford Word Powder Dictionary and Vietnamese Great Dictionary. Besides, we would like to analyse the word “meal” and elements relating to it such as eating and drinking in which each element has sub-elements relating to it: eating: meals, meal time, food, table ware, eating place… drinking: tea, alcohol, beer, pubs, bars…. All these elements connected with the notion of “meal” are called field of word “meal”. In our opinion, field of word “meal” is all the words relating to it mainly including eating and drinking. They are parts of the word “meal” and resemble words in that they combine together. To illustrate in an easy way, we would like to list field of word “meal” in English and Vietnamese equivalents according to its meaning and function as follow: Field of word “meal” in English and words relating to it (in contrast with Vietnamese equivalents) English Vietnamese 2.1Name of meals 2.1.1 Breakfast Lunch / luncheon Tea time High tea Afternoon tea Dinner Supper 2.1 Tên các bữa ăn (name of meals) 2.1.1 Bữa (ăn) sáng, bữa điểm tâm (morning meal) 2.1.2 Bữa (ăn) trưa, (bữa) cơm trưa (afternoon meal) 2.1.3 Bữa (ăn tối), (bữa) cơm tối (evening meal) Parts of meal Starter Main course Dessert 2.2 Các phần bữa ăn (parts of meal) món chính (main dish) Drinks Tea Alcohol Beer Coffee Soft drink 2.3 Đồ uống, thức uống (drinks) 2.3.1 Chè / trà (tea) 2.3.2 Rượu (alcohol) 2.3.3 Bia (beer) 2.3.4 Cà phê (coffee) 2.3.5 Đồ uống nhẹ (soft drink) Eating means Table ware: spoon, knife, fork Food and drink containers: plates, wine-glasses Ingredients: the salt-cellar, the pepper-box, mustard-pot Cooker : pan of soup Other means: table, table cloth, napkin / serviette Phương tiện ăn uống (eating means) Dụng cụ vận chuyển đưa thức ăn (table ware): Đũa cả (đũa cái) (biggest chopsticks) Đũa cá nhân (small chopsticks) Muôi múc canh (spoon for taking soup) Vật dụng đựng thức ăn đồ uống (food and drink containers): Bát ăn cơm (bowl for rice) Bát canh (bowl for soup) Bát nước mắm (small bowl for fish sauce) Đĩa thức ăn (food plate) Mâm cơm (food tray) Chén (china/ porcelain cup) Cốc (glass) 2.4.3 Gia vị (Ingredients): Chanh, muối, ớt, hạt tiêu, nước mắm, dấm, mắm tôm (lemon, salt, chili pepper, fish sauce, vinegar, shrimp paste) Dụng cụ nấu nướng (cookers) Nồi cơm, nồi canh, nồi thức ăn (pan for rice/ soup/ meat/ fish) 2.4.5 Dụng cụ làm vệ sinh sau khi ăn (cleaning means after eating) Tăm (tooth-pick) 2.4.6 Các phương tiện khác (other means): Chiếu hoa (adornment mat) Phản (trestle-bed) Rế (cooking-pot holder) Eating places 2.5.1 In- door: living room 2.5.2 Out- door 2.5.2.1 Restaurants 2.5.2.2 Pubs and bars 2.5.2.3 Take-away/ fast food outlets 2.5 Nơi ăn uống (eating places) 2.5.1 Ăn trong nhà (in- door) 2.5.1.1 Nhà bếp (kitchen) 2.5.1.2 Phòng khách (living room) 2.5.1.3 Hiên / hè (veranda) 2.5.2 Ăn ở bên ngoài (out- door) 2.5.2.1 Nhà hàng (restaurants) 2.5.2.2 Trên phố (streets) 2.5.2.3 Chợ (markets) 2.5.2.4 Quán bar (pubs and bars) 2.6 Etiquette 2.6 Nghi thức ăn uống (etiquette) 2.6.1 Trước khi ăn (pre-eating) 2.6.1 Trong khi ăn (while-eating) 2.6.3 Sau khi ăn (post-eating) 3. Cultural and linguistic analysis of the English word “meal” 3.1. Name of meals Descended from nomad culture, the English life mainly attaches to meadow and cattle. And their food source is almost meat. Meat is a dispensable dish on eating table though it is made under any form. Therefore, the English not only call “meal” food that is eaten at a certain time, but also “meat course”. We can illustrate an English meal as follow: Meal = meat course = meat + other dishes. 3.1.1. Breakfast Not similar to many countries, the English like drinking tea so much that they take tea time as a landmark to divide a day into three meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner and other sub-meals. Breakfast refers to a meal which takes place in the morning. In terms of word creation, word “breakfast” actually is a combination between two separated verb “break” and “fast”. “Break” means “phá vỡ” or “làm gãy”. “Fast” means “nhịn ăn” or “ăn kiêng”. Not knowing when these verbs were combined into one word with the meaning “phá vỡ sự ăn kiêng” or “chặt đứt sự ăn kiêng” or “ăn sáng”or “bữa điểm tâm”, but today this word is used to call name of a meal in the morning. To the English, breakfast is the most important meal in a day because it provides energy for the body to start a new day. Therefore, English breakfast is generally bigger meal than others. The breakfast is usually eaten between 7and 9 a.m. Many English people eat toast with butter or butter and jam (often strawberry, raspberry, apricot or black currant jam), marmalade (a type of jam made from oranges). Others eat a bowl of cereal; for example cornflakes or muesli with milk, or porridge (a mixture of oats, hot milk and sugar). English people have two tendencies to breakfast: a traditional breakfast and a continental breakfast. Twenty years ago half the population still ate a cooked breakfast or a fry-up everyday called traditional breakfast. Now less than 20% does so. A traditional English breakfast may contain food such as meat, kippers (herring- a type of fish- which has been covered in salt and smoked, potatoes, flour, butter and eggs). "Harry’s mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he likes to eat on the table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup…”(Rowling, 2003, p.121). Besides, English people have continental breakfast which is a small meal and easy to prepare: a bread roll or croissant with cheese or ham and a cup of coffee. And the most common drinks at this time of day are orange juice or a cup of breakfast tea or coffee. Most people at home do not have a full breakfast according to traditional breakfast as well as conditional breakfast. They often have cereal or porridge, egg and bacon followed by toast and marmalade and coffee and tea or they may just have a toast and marmalade and coffee and tea. *Elevenses - brunch Elevenses is a slang term used for a mid- morning (around 11 o’clock) snack of coffee or tea and biscuit or perhaps a scone and butter. In fact, people drink tea or coffee whenever they feel like it. If a meal is eaten in the late morning instead of both breakfast and lunch it is called “brunch” (technique of creating new words called “portmanteau”). 3.1.2. Lunch (sometimes called more formally “ luncheon”) Lunch (bữa trưa) is a meal eaten in the middle of the day between 12 and 2p.m. Many people eat sandwiches (also known as a butty or sarine in some parts of the UK) or cakes, fruit, coffee and tea. Some people have a simple meal such as cheese and biscuits or soup and bread. In countryside, a ploughman’s lunch is a traditional lunch for farmers: a bread roll, Cheddar cheese, Branston pickle and salad, perhaps with a pork pie. It is also traditional fro people to go to pubs with some friends for a pub lunch and a drink. Many people who work in London have to make arrangements for their midday meal as they work far from home. Most large companies have a canteen in which food served is plain but adequate for their employees. The workers can find a lunch for themselves. A meal in canteen is inexpensive and may consist of soup, fish and chips or meat and two vegetables with fruit or a pudding of some sort as dessert. The employees can choice whatever they like. If they do not want they can have a lunch in a numerous cafes and restaurants. Depending on the restaurants and food chosen, a meal may cost anything from a modest sum to quite a few pounds. Furthermore, people can get a meal or a snack in a pub or in cafe. In many cafes, there are no waiters or waitress and instead the customers help themselves and pay at cash- desks before going to the tables. Some people do not bother to go out to lunch. They will have a “packed lunch”- this typically consists of a packet of crips, a piece of fruit and a drink and with which they also have a cup of tea or coffee, probably made in the office. The “packed lunch” is kept in a plastic container. This way is not only cheap but also convenient than getting to a restaurant and queuing up there. In summer, park and public squares are popular places where people sit on bench or on ground, eating their lunch, giving the crumbs to the sparrow and pigeons. 3.1.3. Tea time Drinking tea is English traditional custom. It is said that “seven cups of it wake you up in the morning, nine cups will put you to sleep at night”. So, the English have much time in a day to enjoy tea. For instance, right waking up, they have a cup of tea with biscuit in bed. It is called early morning tea. Tea time is the time used to drink tea. It often starts about 3.00. 3.1.3.1. High tea High time (bữa ăn mặn) originated as a Britain working class tradition. “High” refers to the way it was taken, sitting on top stools in a tea shop or standing at a counter or buffet table (“Sunflower”, 2002). High tea traditionally takes place at 4 o’clock tea. At that time people often have a meal with sandwiches, scones, butter and jam and cake with a pot of tea. 3.1.3.2. Afternoon tea The tradition of afternoon tea goes many years to the late 1700s. In England at that time, there were two main daily meals, breakfast and dinner. Dinner was served very late in the evening, so it was a very long time between meals. The Duchess of Bedford (1788-1861) complained about “sinking feeling” in the late afternoon. Afternoon tea was her invention to keep her going until dinner. She would invite friends to join her tea at 5p.m. Other hostess quickly copied her idea. Food at tea included such things as thin crustless, sandwiches, shrimp or fish pate, toasted breads with jams and regional pasties such as scones and crumpets (Riddell, 1995, p.221). Now afternoon tea is used broadly in England, but most British families do not have time for afternoon tea at home. They often have it on pub or bar. Actually, English people enjoy tea time as it is civilized thing to do. The tradition of afternoon tea offers a pleasant break in the day, a chance for conversation, relaxation and, of course, a good cup of tea. 3.1.4. Dinner Dinner (bữa tối) refers to the main meal._. of the day taking in the evening about 7-10 p.m. It usually consists of soup or hors d’oeuvres, fish, meat and vegetables, dessert, cheese, biscuits and tea or coffee. Sometimes, people call dinner is lunch or supper if it is the main meal that is taken place in the midday. In many homes, dinner may be the only time everyone gets together and shares the day’s experience. It is also an occasion for inviting friends. 3.1.5. Supper Supper means “bữa ăn đêm” or “bữa ăn nhẹ vào buổi tối” is the most common name for a light snack taken before going to bed. People often drink a glass of mild and a sandwich. 3.1.6. Parts of meal Basically, English meals and meal time are quite clear. Even name of courses are also: starter, main course/ meat course and dessert. Actually, English name of courses are affected strongly by nomad culture in which the English life is inclined to movement than sereneness. Especially, in the terms of cognition and community, they are on the side of analysis thought and personality. It is the reason why a meal is divided into three courses and each person has their own portion. Starter (món khai vị) known as soup or hors d’oeuvre is a meal that is often severed at the beginning of a meal in order to stimulate appetite of eaters. And people enjoy it before the next courses. Next to starter is main course (món chính). There are dishes served one after one. English people sometimes call main course is “meat course” (món ăn với thịt là chủ yếu). “Meat course” itself shows that meat takes an important role in English meal because Western countries in general and England in particular descended from pastoral civilizations in which meat is their staple. So, main course is named after meat. A typical main course or meat course often has some dishes as follow: roast beef, roast chicken with sausages, roast pork with apple sauce, steak and kidney peas or roast lamb with mint sauce. The last course of a meal is dessert (món tráng miệng). Dessert are fruit, sweet, cake, cheese, tea or coffee which are eaten to wash away food smell. As majority editable things in dessert are sweets, so it is called “sweet course”. Moreover, English country is famous for many kinds of pudding cakes: rice pudding, bread and butter pudding, steamed pudding, suet pudding and Christmas pudding. May be it is the reason why the word “pudding” is referred to dessert course. 3.2. Drinks It is natural that eating is a vital part to human beings. But eating without drinking will not satisfy men’s demand. In this part we would like to introduce what the English often drink. 3.2.1. Tea There is a saying that “the British like a nice cup of tea in the morning and a nice cup of tea at night. And at half past seven, their idea of heaven is a nice cup of tea. They like a nice cup of tea with their dinner and a nice cup of tea with their tea, and before they go to bed” (“Weaving it together 3”, 2000). It seems that no one likes tea quite as much as the British do. As, in fact, tea is popular in countries around the world. Each country has its own ritual and custom for drinking tea and so do the British. The British like to be formal and well-mannered when they serve tea. The people here favor the black tea of India and Ceylon served in china cups with handles and matching saucers. In Britain, tea is made in a pot, using one teaspoonful of tea leaves for each cup plus one extra teaspoonful for the pot. Boiling water is poured into the pot and the tea is left for about five minutes before the host serves the guest. Even there are the adages from the side of the Victorian about making tea: “Those who love good tea Must please remember me Be sure allow the water to boil Then the tea you will not spoil”. Or “Do not drain the pot dry and then fill it up again, fill half the cups at a time and replace in the teapot the water you have taken from it, always with boiling water”. Drinking tea is an important part of daily life in England. The average number of cups of tea each day is 3.6, though some people drink as many as 10 cups a day (“Life in Britain”, 1990). To English drinking tea is a way to relax and entertain. Sharing a cup of tea with guests provides an opportunity for conversation and a quiet moment away from the normal hustle and bustle. 3.2.2. Alcohol/wine Both alcohol and wine are excited drinks in which alcohol (in full ethyl alcohol) is a colourless volatile inflammable liquid forming the intoxicating element in wine, beer, spirit, and wine is a fermented drink made from other fruits. Besides, spirit is known as a kind of intoxicated drinks but its concentration is very high. Although alcohol, wine and spirit are little different from each other, people often call them alcohol. Even the words “drink” and “drinking” also refer to alcohol. For example, “She drinks too much”, means “She drinks more alcohol than she can”. Or “He has a drink problem”, means “that he can’t give up drinking alcohol than is good for him”. Drinking wine is favourite in England, so the consumption increases every year. Sometimes, the quantity produced is never likely to satisfy the growing British thirst. Thus, most of the wine drunk in Britain is imported from France, Spain, Italy and Germany. Although the high taxes make wine and spirits expensive, the British drink twice as much as they did. Whisky is the most favorite of the spirits in Britain. It is, of course, the national drink of Scotland, and “Scotch” is exported to the rest of the world. 3.2.3. Other drinks As well as large amounts of hot drinks such as tea, coffee and coca-cola, British people especially children drink squash (a sweeter fruit concentrate that has to be diluted with water) and brand- name soft (non- alcoholic) drinks. They also expect to be able to drink water straight from the tap. Beer has been the favorite drink of the British since the early 1600s. Most beer is done in pubs. Traditionally, beer is drawn from the cellar up to the bar of the pub to be served to the customer as draught beer. Draught beer is “still”, which means that it is fizzy. A sweeter, darker version of bitter is “mild”. These beers have a comparatively low alcohol content. This is one reason why people are able to drink so much of them. In most pubs, several kinds of bottled beer, usually known as “ales” are also available. Beer which has gas in it and is closer to continental varieties is known as “lager”. During the 1980s strong lager became common among young people. Because these people were used to drink weaker traditional beer, they sometimes drank too much of it and became aggressive and even violent. They thus became known as “lager louts” (O’dricoll, 1985, p. 187). In some pubs, cider is available on draught and in some parts of Britain. Shandy is half beer and half fizzy lemonade. It has the reputation of being very good for quenching the thirst. 3.3. Table ware In the dawn of time, people used fingers to transport food to mouth. This action must not have changed if people had not invented devices eating so-called table ware (dụng cụ ăn uống) including knife, fork and spoon. Knife (dao) is a hand tool for cutting things into pieces or scorting in something without actually cutting through it. Fork (nĩa) is also a hand tool used for transporting things. Small forks are used to move other things, to break-up clods of soil or to rake weed. Here, I would like to deal mostly with the small, food-moving kind. Spoon is a utensil consisting of an oval or round bowl and a handle for conveying food to the mouth and for stirring. Actually, English people use knife during their meals as majority food like meat, potatoes… are often cooked in big pieces. So, they have to cut them into small pieces while eating. A long with knife is fork which is an imitative form of a working tool called “bồ cào” or rake. And spoon is used to spoon soup or transport food to the mouth. It is not clear to predict in what year or where this table ware was invented. But people say that the first Northern of Italy used it to eat their famous noodle. Then this set was brought to France and was quick introduced to English. No matter what where it was from, these utensils are estimated as a product of analytical mind, a represent of the nomad culture in which people are inclined to invention, analysis and role of personality. May be it is the reason why each term has its own separated function. 3.4. Out- door eating For English people ultimate in easy eating is eating out and the English do that everyday. 3.4.1. Restaurants Though it is not common than it used to be, going to a restaurant is not a usual habit of most people here. As majority English original restaurants are very expensive; especially, food is a real problem there. However, the English like going to restaurants owned by Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian or French immigrants because there are strange dishes that they are never served. These restaurants range from inexpensive fast-food places, to exotic ethic restaurants, to expensive, formal places that serve elegant food in elegant setting. Thus, for many English, ethic dinning means fun since these places serve immigrants who want their own native cuisine, but they also serve English looking for a dining adventure. 3.4.2. Pubs and bars Pubs and bars are common places for English people. They come there to drink, to talk and to relax. The word “pub” is an abbreviation of “public house”. It is the only indoor place where any stranger can come in and chat to a few local friends. As with so many other aspects of English life, pubs have become a bit less distinctive in the last quarter of the twentieth century. They used to serve almost nothing but beer and spirit. These days, people can get wine, coffee and some hot food at most of them as well. This has helped to widen their appeal. At one time, it was unusually for women to go to pubs. Now a few pubs exit where it is surprising for a woman to walk in. There are some features of pubs are time and the difference between pubs and bars. The first is that pubs have strictly limited hours of opening, which vary in length in different areas, each local government authority having power to fix its own “licensing hours” as they are called. Roughly one person may expect to find a pub open between 11.30 a.m and 2.30 p.m and again from 5.30 p.m until 10.30 p.m. Thus, it is impossible to get strong drink in English in the early morning, in the middle of the afternoon or at midnight or later. The second is that most pubs are divided into at least two separated bars: public bar and the saloon bar. The English like showing off when they go out for a drink and whereas the poorest customers go into the public bar, they go into the saloon bar. The differences between the two are that the saloon bar is less uncomfortable, it has chairs and linoleum, in contrast the public bar has wooden benches and perhaps a floor sprinkled with sawdust and the beer costs a penny or two more in the saloon bar than the public bars. 3.4.3. Take-away / fast food outlet Apart from pubs and bars, there are two types which are quite cheap. One is used during the day, most typically by manual workers, and therefore sometimes is described as a “workman’s cafes”. But it is used by anybody who wants a filling meal, likes the informal atmosphere and is not over- worried about cleanliness. It offers chiefly fried food of the “English breakfast” and it is called humorously as a “greasy spoon”. Majority of them are “transport cafes” at the sides of main roads. The other type is “take- away” (with ready made- foods) as well as fast food outlets. The most common take- away foods are fish, chips, hamburgers and some other light dishes. People often buy hot food from take- away to eat at home, at right there or in the street. 3.5. Etiquette of eating Etiquette is the conventional rules of social behaviour which requires everybody to obey. In the terms of history, the word “etiquette” was not original word in English language, it came into this language via that “grand monarque” Louis XVI. During his reign three centuries ago the functions held at the French Court were so extremely elaborate that each of the King’s guest had to be issued with an “etiquette”, or ticket, on which all the details of the Court’s various ceremonies were written (Kirillova, 1980). Since then etiquette rigid rules have been adhered to. Being conventional rules, it is used in many fields including eating. In Britain, even today, people are judged by their eating etiquette or eating manners. There is a popular saying in the UK is “manners make the man”. At the dining time, diners usually sit round a table with an individual plate, a knife and a spoon on the right hand side and a fork on the left placed before each them. Besides, the wine glasses are on the right, the salt cellar, the pepper box and mustard pot are in the middle of the table. Family eating etiquette is not too much difficult. The oldest or the husband of the family sits at the head of the table and others sit in descending order according to age or wherever they like. The meal starts when everyone has their own portion. However, if there are guests or in formal occasions, then everything around the eating table is different. Guests’ seating order is a way to show the host(ess)’s respect. Normally, the male guest of honor sits on the hostess’s right. The next most important man sits on her left. Likewise, the female guest of honor sits on the host’s right and the second most important woman sits on the host’s left. There is no discrimination between men and women, so they are alternately seated. If there are couples, they will be parted as their close probably affect to people around. In addition, an action is highly appreciated is that males seat and rise when females leave and return to the table. Actually, knowing how to use table ware and understand and what should be avoided is a way to show respect to the host(ess). Napkin or serviette (a piece of material or paper) helps diners clean up any mess that might occur during the course of the meal. Of course, this is its original use, and at an informal occasion such as a barbeque, it still performs this service. But the more formal the event, the more vestigial the presence of the napkin is, because the purpose of table manners is to preserve cleanliness and proper appearance. As soon as the meal is served, the diners remove the napkin from their place setting, unfold it and put it in their laps. When the diners leave the table at the end of the meal, they place napkin loosely next to their plates. It should not be crumpled or twisted, which would reveal untidiness or nervousness, nor should it be folded, because it might be seen as an implication that the diners think the host(ess) might reuse it without washing. The napkin also must not be left on the chair. It is say that a diner who leaves the napkin on his chair will never sit at that table again, but other, it might seem as if the diner has dirty napkin to hide or that the diners are trying to run off with the table linens. During the eating process, the English are little word ones. In other words, they do not talk much while eating. So, making noise is not good behavior. Eaters should chew with their mouth close and eat fairly slowly. Also, bowling hot food, shoveling food into mouth and making noise from fork, spoon, knife is regarded as impoliteness. Because each table ware has its own function; thus, do not use a spoon for what can be eaten with a fork or no use a knife to cut bread…. Besides, using fingers to eat is forbidden except some dishes are allowed such as pizza, chicken…. Bread is common on eating table. The diners can take it by fingers, but they cannot use fork to haspoon. At the end of the meal, fork and knife should put side by side in the middle of the plate. Soup spoons, coffee spoons and dessert spoons should be placed on the side plate or saucer, never leave them in the bowl, cup, etc. The diners also should not push their plates away or stack their dishes; however, the host(ess)’s friends can do. All in all dinning etiquette or eating manner is regarded as strict rule for diner. Without it, people are in trouble to contact and communicate with each other on the eating table. So are the English. Furthermore, the posture and word around eating table should be careful. To stretch over the table for something is considered as a discourteous action. The diners should politely ask the neighbour to help “pass me the salt, please” or “I’ll trouble your passing bread-plate”.The neighbour also responds courteously “certainly”. Before leaving eating table the diner always shows his laud to the cooker or the host or hostess “it’s an outstanding meal” or “you’ve dined me handsomely”. 3.6. Summary In the nutshell, in the chapter II we have given out some definitions of the word “meal” and remark about it. We have also listed field of word “meal” in English and words relating to it in contrast with Vietnamese equivalents according to meaning and function. From that we have deeply analysed and made clearly some fields of word “meal” in the light of language and culture. For instance, why the English call “meal” is “meat course” or “dessert” is “sweet course”/ “pudding”. Based on the analysis we realize that the original words and their meaning more or less have shown features of the land and people here. Moreover, in this chapter we have given out some ways to approach English culture and people through eating and drinking. CHAPTER III CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF VIETNAMESE equivalents relating to the English word “meal” 1. name of meals Descended from wet rice agriculture, Vietnam as well as other neighbouring countries takes rice as the staple product. And “cơm” (cooked rice) is always the main dish in during meals. On the way of calling, Vietnamese people have several ways to express the word “meal”. It may be “bữa cơm” or “cơm” (which is named after the staple dish), “(bữa ăn” (the time of eating and food). Even though “bữa rau” or “bữa cháo” is used to express “meal” (“bữa rau”, “bữa cháo” mean very simple meals). For convenient the word “cơm” is almost used to replace “meal”(bữa ăn): Meal = cơm = cơm +other dishes However, in daily life the word “com” is understood not only as real “cơm” (cooked rice) but also other dishes. In other words, “cơm” is used to refer completely to other dishes though someone does not eat “cơm”. 1.1. Breakfast The Vietnamese attach the utmost importance eating, so there is a saying that “Có thực mới vực được đạo”. It literally means that before doing something a person needs food to eat because eating will provide energy to him. In other words, the belly is not filled fair words. Hence, people will start a new day by a breakfast and next ones are lunch and dinner. Breakfast means a small/ light meal that a person eats in the morning. It is called “bữa sáng” or “bữa điểm tâm”. In previous years, there was no definition of breakfast as a light meal in Vietnam because breakfast was regarded as one of the main meal. In rural areas, labour productivity is very important so many people have main meal at 4 or 5 a.m to go to field. When the sun goes down, darkness covers the air, they just have the second meal and then go home and have an early sleep without eating. Some people have afternoon meal (lunch) at 2 or 3 p.m and their dinner are sweet potatoes or cassava or nothing. Recently, in several rural areas, breakfast has been thought as sub-meal. Breakfast food is quite simple just a little cold rice (left over yesterday) or some boiling sweet potatoes or corns. All these things go with fish sauce (nước mắm) salt or pickle. In the city, due to the Westernization process, Vietnamese meals have some changes. Breakfast is legitimated and becomes official sub-meal (except in remote areas). It is usually eaten between 6 or 7 a.m. It may consist of sticky rice called “xôi” or rice gruel called “cháo”. French baguettes are baked early and these are filled with Vietnamese sausage salad, onion, spicy and pork fat. One of the favourite dishes for breakfast is rice noodle with pork, chicken or beef called “phở”. “Phở” is usually eaten as a kind of soup rather than “dry” like spaghetti. Generally, to Vietnamese breakfast is a snack if not they will feel uncomfortable with a full stomach early in the morning. 1.2. lunch Vietnamese people start a new day early. Lunch (“bữa trưa”, “bữa cơm trưa”) begins around 11-11.30 a.m. Workers traditionally go home to eat with their family. This is the first meal which is cooked to serve all the family members in a day. Some people who are busy or do not like cooking remain in their office to have their meal at the canteen or eat a nearby street cafe. Some prepare lunch from home and pack it or buy it from a street vendor. The meal may comprise noodle soup or babercused meat and some pickled vegetables eaten with rice. In fact, lunch dishes are not too complicated as people do not want to spend a great proportion of their time cooking. They need relaxation; thus, they often buy ready-made food. On going home, they only cook rice and soup and lunch is ready. 1.3. Dinner Dinner is the first time all the members of the family reunite and eat together. Dinner is flexible, around 6-8 p.m even more late because each family has different schedule. Basically, the meal is the same proportion and composition as lunch, comprising three parts: vegetables soup plus picking-brine (canh), a dish of fish, eggs, or meat and rice. Besides, the house wives create appetite for all the family members by changing dishes in accordance with everyone’s taste and season; for example, crab plus onion and pickling-brine soup (canh cua). In summer, there is fish soup (canh cá) as well as in winter. Wealthier families will have additional dishes to compliment these. Besides, there is supper (ăn đêm) in the late day. Although it is Vietnamese original meal, people; especially dwellers in city, adapt it nowadays. The favourite dishes for supper are sticky rice, “phở” which are bought buy food stalls by night. All in all, like so many neighbouring countries, the Vietnamese have two main meals and one sub-meal: lunch, dinner and breakfast. Meal time is not specific for everyone as well as every family. 1.4. Parts of meal Unlike in Western countries a meal often consists of three courses: starter, main course and dessert, in Vietnamese only main course called “bữa cơm”. A typical Vietnamese meal illustrates the tradition of a wet rice culture, so agricultural imprint is very strong. There are many scholars in side and out side research for Vietnamese meal and they describe it in “Hanoi’gift” by Nguyen Thi Bay in Hanoi publisher as following: According to professor Tu Giay: Vietnamese meal consists of things from V-A-C (vườn-ao-chuồng: Vườn is a place where vegetables are planted. Ao means pond in which people breed fish. Chuồng is a place where cattle and poultry are kept). Also according to Japanese professor Fukui Hayao: a Indochina meal is Cơm-Rau-Mắm-Muối-Ot (rice, vegetables, sauce fish, chilli pepper). No matter what a Vietnamese meal includes, it usually comprises rice, vegetables, aqua-products and meat. For agricultural countries like Vietnamese, rice is the top list of food. There are some old Vietnamese proverbs that say: “Người sống về gạo, cá bạo về nước” (a man lives thanks to rice, a fish thanks to water) or “Đói thì thèm thịt thèm xôi, hễ no cơm tẻ thì thôi mọi bề” (being hungry you need meat and sticky rice but being full with rice you ignore everything). Second to rice in Vietnam is vegetables. For the Vietnamese “Đói ăn rau, đau uống thuốc” (eat vegetables if you are hungry, take medicine if you are ill) is an all time truth. Fresh aquatic plants are among the commonest in a meal, and of them, water morning glory (rau muống) may be the most popular vegetable in Vietnam. In an anthology uniting all kinds of folk literature, “rau muống” appears as an evidence for what I have just said “Trời còn đây đất còn đây, còn ao rau muống còn đầy chum tương” (as long as heaven and earth still last, there still is a pond of water morning glory and a full of soy sauce) (Huard & Durand, 1999). In addition, “rau muống” expresses a longing for home “Anh đi anh nhớ quê nhà. Nhớ canh rau muống nhớ cà dầm tương” (Far away, I miss my homeland. Water morning glory soup and egg-plants steeped in soy sauce) (“Heritage”, January /February 2002). Third in Vietnamese meal and ranking first among foods of animal origin are aqua-products (fish) since Vietnam is near sea and has a lot of rivers. A second to “rice with vegetable”, “rice with fish” is the most commonest “Có cá đổ vạ cho cơm. Con cá đánh ngã bát cơm” (a person can eat a lot of rice if there is fish). From the aqua-products, the Vietnamese extracts an exclusively particular condiments for their meal “nước mắm” (fish sauce) and “mắm” (paste). On the eating table, every dish will fail its delicacy if it is served without fish sauce. So, there is always a bowl of fish sauce in the centre of food tray (mâm cơm). Together with “áo dài” (traditional Vietnamese long dress), fish sauce which is known as an international word has become the symbol of Vietnam. Besides, meat is very popular in Vietnamese: chicken, pork, beef especially dog meat (thịt chó). Dog meat is a very common dish for Vietnamese (except vegetarians) but it is considered an excremental food by foreign visitor, so they never touched whenever form. Dessert (món tráng miệng) actually, is not an official course in Vietnam as people do not take it as a strict thing. They are very easy-going about fruit or sweets after a meal. Over the time, due to the changes in life, being affected by Western style, Vietnamese people gradually adapt it as a course of a meal. In fact, it is not necessary to have dessert after each meal. This depends on everyone’s needs. Dessert may be fresh fruits, cakes, sweet porridge event boiling roots. All these things are planted or made by Vietnamese themselves. Sometimes the order (main course, dessert) can be changed if a meal is served at a restaurant or wedding party. The number of courses will increase to three: starter (a small a mount of food you eat before the main, called soup), main course, dessert. Nobody knows the reason why, perhaps it is cultural interference. In other words, eating habit is such as integral part of culture, which travels with people wherever they go. Finally, each course conveys Vietnamese cultural characteristics: main course (rice, vegetables, aqua-products and meat) expresses rather specifically wet rice agricultural culture tradition. While Western civilization accession is performed tactfully through Vietnamese dessert (just agricultural self- sufficient products) and a mount of course (usually two sometimes three). All these things improve that Vietnamese still keep their own feature and never stop accessing to other culture through eating habit. 2. Drinks Food and drink are always companions with each other. Nutritionists say a person can live without eating for several days but it is dangerous if he or she dose not drink any water within two days. It is natural that when a person is thirsty, he or she drinks. However, it is not surprising if he or she is not thirsty, he still drinks. Similar to other countries, Vietnamese people need to drink every day. Actually, there are some differences between the Vietnamese drinking and other’s. Those are five questions for drinking: what do people drink? When do they drink? Where do they drink? Who do they drink with? And how much do they drink? 2.1. Tea Vietnamese drinking is quite plentiful. The most popular is tea. Like to rice, tea is a Buddhist plant, known in China in the 7th century and in Japan in the 8th century. The date of its diffusion in Vietnam is not fixed. But some say Vietnam is the cradle of tea as they have found several relics related to Vietnamese tea now. “Tea” is called “trà” or “chè” by most of people in Vietnam. Actually, there is no difference in meaning between them. “Trà” is Southerner’s dialect which is brought to Northern; however, the Northerner pronounces “chè” instead of “trà” as people in the North (except some provinces) do not distinguish exactly “ch” and “tr” in pronunciation. It is natural drinking tea is deeply rooted in the Vietnamese minds since they were children. There are many kinds of tea: the broad-leafed macrophyla (chè xanh or chè lục), shan tea (chè mạn, chè tuyết), green tea (chè xanh), black tea (chè đen), fresh tea (chè tươi) and dried tea or Chinese tea (chè khô). Vietnamese people mainly drink dried tea. More than a half of the recent decade, dried tea is also called fragrant tea (perfume tea with flower petals or stamens of jasmines or lotus…). If betal is said to promote feeling “every conversation begins with a quid of betel”, Vietnamese proverb, tea is also. When a person is in a sad or happy mood, they drink tea. Meeting friends, discussing business, waiting for someone, they drink tea, too. Drinking tea is also a chance to share feelings between friends and with people in the family. There could be time to cogitate about life. Discussing or chatting may take place around the table as a way to kill the pressures after hard working hours. For the Vietnamese making tea according to traditional style is a way to show their honor to guests. Therefore, making tea requires a veritable ritual. Let take an example, a tea maker has to prepare a tea service composed of a tea pot, a large cup and four tiny others with matching saucers before making tea. He takes a little account of water from the well or rain water into the pot placed on a brazier heated wi._.