We make sense of ourselves and our environment through concepts such as time or love, which are often abstract and can be quite difficult to express. To talk about such concepts, we often use figurative language, for example, metaphors or idioms, such as time flies, once in a blue Moon or head over heels.
Although idioms exist in all languages, they differ because of our cultural diversity and the fact that languages, despite being interconnected, have evolved along different paths. This can make learning about idioms from different languages a useful and enjoyable way of exploring different cultures.
Idioms can be partially inferred from their underlying image-schematic structure. For example, in être dans la lune (to be in the Moon), someone’s thoughts are conceptualised to be in a separate space from the spatial location of the time of speaking. The idiom I love you to the Moon and back is based on the image of a long distance representing the intensity or extent of a feeling. As these structures are shared by us all, we can often guess the meaning of idioms we have not heard before, even in a different language! Sometimes, though, we also need some knowledge of the culture to understand the meaning of an idiom and that is why it can be difficult to work out the meaning of new idioms.
Idiom activities work well as a stand-alone activities or integrated into other learning activities. We include here one such activity that can be completed and shared at home:
Using idioms – Activity Sheet (English version)
Using idioms – Activity Sheet (Polish version)
Using idioms – Activity Sheet (Romanian version)
If you are interested to find out more, Creative Multilingualism, a four-year research programme investigating the interconnection between linguistic diversity and creativity, have some multimedia resources on metaphor and idioms:
Podcast: How do metaphors shape our world?
Metaphor and Cultural Diversity
