Jurnal Bahasa dan Budaya China

Idiom, a kind of proverb, is the cultural product of a nation. Idiom is a special linguistic unit and phrase. Chinese idioms are flexibility and colloquial, they are usually three word expressions, but also are non-three word expressions. Chinese and Indonesian Idioms are phrases which have comprehensive meaning. But both of them are distinguished in phrase structure, Indonesian idioms mostly are two word expressions or sentence. It is difficult for learners to use idiom. Because we cannot understand it linguistically but also understand its potential meaning. In order to understand the potential meaning, firstly we should know some social backgrounds and religious belief. Based on the Chinese and Indonesian Idioms dictionaries as well as some other related information, I compared those idioms in Chinese and Indonesian, the analysis will focus on the concepts, the morphology and meanings, the emotions conveyed, the factors affecting the meaning differences, and the translation of the idioms referring to “arms and legs” in Chinese and Indonesian. I hope this paper can not only be helpful to the Indonesians who will learn Chinese oversea and the Chinese who will learn Indonesian, but also can improve their social abilities, and their abilities to use and translate Chinese and Indonesian as well.

Idiom, arms and legs, comparison of Chinese and Indonesian, translation