In this paper, I would like to discuss about the contribution of Contrastive

Linguistics in terms of Contrastive Syntax (CS). Language is not structured

linearly or a collections of words but it is structured hierarchically and ones cannot
understand language without understanding the structures of the sentences. We
may convey a different meaning by changing the order of a sentence. It is CS that
aims to determine the similarities and differences between two or more languages.
All languages have the universal basic cognition and determining the similarities
between the languages will help facilitate the learning process and translation.
However, the differences are the obstacles that may discourage the learners and
cause problems for the translation of the language. Such features existing in L1
may not exist in L2, which will cause considerable difficulties for the learners or
the translators. Therefore, Contrastive syntax plays an important role in the
teaching and learning a foreign language as well as the translation.
With regards to teaching and learning a foreign language, CS helps the language
program developer and the book writer to facilitate the appropriate materials for
the teaching and learning process. The study of constituents, phrases, clauses,
sentences and word orders in the correct way do provide appropriate approaches in
order to help the learners to acquire the language in the easiest way. Besides, based
on CS, teachers can also predict the difficulties of their students in learning and
thus can deliver effective teaching strategy to their students, teaching them to be
aware of the errors and fix them or teach them to apply the correct structures in L2.
Auxiliary verbs and tenses are some of the most difficult problems of Vietnamese
learners of English usually encounter as they are not used in Vietnamese.
Therefore, the facilitation of materials and teaching strategy form the teachers will
save the learners’ time and effort when learning the foreign language.
With regards to translation, CS contributes and helps to explain the difficulties in
translation. There are a few structures that are not common in Vietnam, such as
passive sentences and if a translator just translate words by words, the translation
will sound unnatural and cannot convey the correct message from the writer to the
readers of L2. Besides, translation is not just simply exchanging words by
definitions but it also takes into account the context, culture and the essence of the
two languages. Understanding the differences between the languages help the
translator convey the meaning of the text from L1 to L2 to its correct and fullest
meaning.