A Comparative And Contrastive Study On Culture Behind Chinese And Arabian Animal-related Idioms And Relevant Reflections On Teaching And Learning

Animals hold an important status in Chinese and Arab people's life. The idioms of animal that include morpheme have more meaning and symbolism. Because of the difference between social backgrounds, ways of thinking, customs and habits, the feelings and associations of animals are not the same. The conceptual meaning and the figurative meaning between Arabic and Chinese animal idioms are also different. Because of differences between the Arabian culture and the Chinese one, there is a big difference in semantics, which leads Arabic students to face with great obstacles in the process of learning Chinese idioms of animals.In this paper, we focused on the culture of the Arabic and Chinese idioms of animal, make a comparison and analysis between both. Firstly, we discussed about the definition and origin of Arabic and Chinese idioms. Then, we argued about the common Arabic and Chinese animal idioms and differences. Next, we did a comparison between both cultural connotation and the socio-cultural background from the geographical environment, the lifestyle, beliefs and other aspects of analysis. We have explored the existing root of semantic and cultural differences and discovered that Arabs and Chinese people adopt different attitudes towards animals. Finally, we spoke about the difficulties to use idioms for Arabs who study Chinese and make widespread countermeasures and suggestions.We hope that the research will be suitable for Arabic students and could help them to understand the rules and characteristics of Chinese animal idioms smoothly, and promote the utilization of Chinese animal idioms beside them.