The Comparative Study Of Metaphor In Chinese And Thai Diet Words

The continuous development of the world economy and rapid progression of science and technology at the present,that make a closer distance between China and Thailand.Moreover,not only a thousands of Thais have started learning Chinese increasingly but also a large number of Chinese people are learning Thai as well.From this point,language bought the carrier of cultures,as well as learning the second language is not just only about pronunciation,vocabulary,grammar,and text,but also understanding its cultural background and customs.In this phenomena,a further improvement of language skills need to be enhanced.However,the "metaphor" in Chinese and Thai are difficult for Chinese and Thai learners to understand because metaphor is a human cognitive mechanism,which is partly mapped to the target domain from the source,so metaphor also contains people’s way of thinking and cultural connotations.In 1980,George Lakoff and Mark Johnson had proposed a point of view:"Metaphor is everywhere in our daily life.In people’s thinking and behavior,the conceptual system of thinking and behavior is metaphorical in essence." Diet has a close relationship with human survival has been found in this study,in addition,the words also relate to diet are bound to be able to express the understanding of the world around it.Although many Chinese researchers have studied the metaphors of diet words in Chinese,the researchers in Thailand haven’t made a comprehensive comparison as well as study of Metaphors between Chinese and Thai diet words.So "comparative study of metaphors in Chinese and Thai diet words" as the topic of the thesis is studied.Chinese and Thai teachers and learners will be beneficial from this study.Through the comparison and research of predecessors,in this study the diet words(source field)is the main research object,and divides the metaphors of Chinese and Thai diet words into six categories,which are(1)A specific food(subdivided into Staple food,Vegetarian food,Meat dish,Snacks,Drinks,Condiments,Food state).(2)Cooking techniques(3)Eating utensils(also subdivided into tableware and cooking utensils).(4)Eating and drinking activity.(5)Taste and(6)Dietary needs.Then systematically compared and analyzed.In the process of comparison consist of discussed Chinese and Thai people’s way of thinking and the origin of metaphor for the metaphors of diet words,describes the similarities and differences in the application of the two,and put forward the translation and teaching strategies of the metaphors of the Chinese and Thai diet words.After a comparative study of Chinese and Thai diet words metaphors,both have the similar target domains and have different target domains are found.Chinese and Thai food specific main metaphor of human psychology,behavior,experience,appearance,character,ability,and also compared to the specific things about people and abstract things.The cooking techniques of the Chinese and Thai language from different means can be compared to life experience and human behavior.Chinese and Thai eating utensils are often represented by people’s way of thinking as tools of human survival(such as occupations),and also refers as a degree or an extent.The main metaphor of eating and drinking activities are people experience something in life,and they are also compared to human behavior.Taste words mainly in Chinese and Thai mapping to human psychology,appearance,experience,character,also can be mapped to specific things and abstract things.Dietary needs mainly describe a person’s desire or demand for something.The similarities and differences based on metaphor are mainly derived from the Chinese and Thai people have the similar and different factors by way the of thinking and cognitive patterns of food.Although China and Thailand are both counted as an agricultural-based countries,so that it shares a similar concepts of foods.However,the geographical environment and climate differences between China and Thailand also caused the different foods between those two countries.The reason why,the similar and different metaphorical concepts on diet have been found.In addition,as China has a long-rang of history,there are many metaphorical concepts of diet words derived from the allusions of Chinese history.On the other hand,according to the author’s investigation,although Thailand has a long history as well,but only a part of historical allusions affect Thai’s concept of eating metaphor.The religious belief(Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism)in Chinese and Thai also affect a great influence on the concept of dietary culture of Chinese and Thai people.So metaphorical expressions were appeared in the diet words.According to the comparison and analysis of Chinese and Thai diet words metaphor,Three groups were divided which are(1)Exactly similarity(same tenor,same vehicle);(2)Part of the similarity(different tenor,but same vehicle;different vehicle,but same tenor);(3)Completely different(different tenor,different vehicle).In order to put forward the translator to matters of Chinese and Thai should pay more attention,as well as forwarding the metaphors of dietary words in the Chinese Thai language teaching strategies.So Chinese and Thai learners would know more deeply in the fact of the metaphors of food and drink,including enhance the cultural awareness of China and Thailand.