CROSSCULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN MAKING REQUESTS AND GIVING INVITATION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (Research Methodology)

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN MAKING REQUESTS AND GIVING INVITATION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (Research Methodology) Student Course Instructor Deadline Trần Thúy Quỳnh K18C Dr Kieu Thi Thu Huong 16 08 2010 Ha Noi – August 2010 TABLE OF CONTENT PART ONE – INTRODUCTION 1 Identification of the problem 1 2 Purpose and significant of the study 1 3 Research question 1 4 Scop.

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN MAKING REQUESTS AND GIVING INVITATION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (Research Methodology) Student: Course: Instructor: Deadline: Trần Thúy Quỳnh K18C Dr Kieu Thi Thu Huong 16.08.2010 Ha Noi – August 2010 TABLE OF CONTENT PART ONE – INTRODUCTION Identification of the problem Purpose and significant of the study Research question Scope of the study PART TWO – LITERATURE REVIEW I.1.1 Definition of culture I.1.2 Characteristics of culture I.2 Communication I.2.1 Definition I.2.2 Components of communication I.2.3 Models of communication I.3 The role of culture in communication I.4 Cross-cultural communication I.5 Some feature about request I.5.1 Definition of request I.5.2 The concept of speech acts I.5.3 Requesting seen as speech acts I.5.4 Kinds of request I.6 Some features about invitation I.6.1 Definition of invitation I.6.2 Types of invitation 10 PART THREE: THE STUDY II.1 Methodology 11 II.2 The subject of the study 11 II.3 Data analysis 12 PART FOUR – CONCLUSION References Title: CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION REQUEST AND GIVING INVITATIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE IDENTIFICATION OF PROBLEM English has been becoming the most widely used language all over the world It is considered as a “bridge” to make all countries closer English is used in many fields such as: economy, politics, diplomacy, science, technology, etc…Moreover, in the age of integration and co-operation, the need for communication among people from different culture greatly increases In order to communicate effectively, English learners have to be sensitive to the English’s background Paying attention to customs and cultural differences can give someone outside that culture a better chance of assimilation or acceptance Ignoring these can get a person into trouble With the hope of helping Vietnamese learners of English to get effectiveness in communicating with foreigners, the author would like to carry out a cross cultural study on making requests and giving invitations in English and Vietnamese PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY The objectives in my study are to help English learners know and understand more about the critical role of culture in communication, to study the differences in giving invitation and making request in Vietnamese and English Moreover, this study also brings forward the overview on communication and cross-cultural communication Meanwhile, some misunderstanding caused by cultural differences in communication are analyzed to help learner raise the awareness of what is appropriate in the target language and awareness of cross-cultural communication RESEARCH QUESTION Is there any difference in making requesting and giving invitation between English and Vietnamese? If it has, what are they? SCOPE OF THE STUDY Communication and culture are very wide fields that require much time to study Therefore I can not cover all aspects of this issue, only focus on some following aspects: - Definition of culture and communication as well as their relationship - Overview of communication and cross-cultural communication - Lay out of some cultural differences between English and Vietnamese in making requests and giving invitation - Analysis on misunderstanding in making request and giving invitation caused by English-Vietnamese cultural differences - Overview of request and invitation II LITERATURE REVIEW II Definition of culture According to A.L Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn, the two American leading ethnologists, there have been more than 300 definitions of culture with various points of view writers throughout human beings history Following are some of the most widely accepted definitions by the outstanding experts in the field- the linguistics and philosophers Table: Diverse definitions of culture Topical Culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or categories, such as Historical social organization, religion or economy Culture is social heritage, or tradition that is passed on to the future Behavioral Normative Functional generations Culture is shared, learned human behavior, a way of life Culture is ideas, values, or rules for living Culture is the way human solves problems of adapting to the environment Mental or living together Culture is a complex of ideas, or learned habits, that inhibit impulses and Structural Symbolic distinguish people from animals Culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols or behaviors Culture is based on arbitrarily assigned meanings that are shared by a society Culture has also been studied and defined in many ways by multiple scholars representing various disciplines Adler (1997:15) has synthesized many definitions of culture She says: “Culture is something that is shared by all members of some social groups, something that the older members of the groups try to pass on to the younger members, something (as in the case of morals, laws and customs) that shapes behavior, or…structures one’s that shapes behavior, or…structures one’s perception of the worlds” According to Levo Henriksson (1994), culture covers everyday life as well as myths and value systems of society Roos (1986) see culture as a system of lifestyles and as a common dominator for lifestyles Lifestyles reveal culture that is large and stiff wholeness, uniform, regular and like-minded in our live Lifestyle is a possible way to outline one’s life within the framework of culture Another definition given by Nguyen Quang is: “Culture is a shared background (e.g: national, ethnic, religious) resulting from a common language and communicative style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and values It refers to the informal and often hidden patterns of human interactions, expressions and viewpoints that people in one culture share.” According to Tran Ngoc Them, Culture is an organic system of material and spiritual values that mankind has accumulated and created in the process of practical activities, in the interaction between man and his natural and social environment (1997:27) II 1.2 Characteristics of culture According to Richard E.Porter and Larry A.Smovar (1994:12), there are characteristics of culture: a Culture is not innate, it is learned Fact has shown that numbers of Culture learn their patterns of behavior and ways of thinking until they have become internalized The power and influence of these behavior and perceptions can be seen in the ways in which people acquire culture b Culture is transmissible: The symbol of a culture is what enables us to pass on the content and patterns of a culture People can use spoken words, written words as well as non-verbal actions as symbol to spread culture c Culture is dynamic As with communication, culture is ongoing and subject to fluctuation; they seldom remain constant As ideas and products evolve within a culture, they can produce change though the mechanisms of invention and diffusion d “Diffusion” is another way in which change occurs The assimilation of what is borrowed accelerates as cultures come into direct contact with each other For example, as Japan and North America share more commerce, it is observed that American assimilating Japanese business management practice and the Japan incorporating American marketing tactics e Culture is selective Every culture represents a limited choice of behavior patterns form the infinite patterns of human experience This selection is made according to the basic assumptions and values that are meaningful to each culture In other words, culture also defines the boundaries of different group f Facets of culture are interrelated These characteristics serve to inform us that culture is like a complex system As Hall clearly states: “You touch a culture in one place and everything is affected” (Richard E.Porter and Larry A Samovar 1994:13) g Culture is ethnocentric Kneesing notes that ethnocentrism is a “universal tendency for any people to put its own culture and society in central position of priority and worth” (Rich E Porter and Larry A Samovar 1994:13) I.2 Communication I.2.1 Definition of communication Communication is a process of sharing meaning though verbal and non verbal behavior between people from different cultures Therefore, communication which is influenced by cultural values, attitudes and behavior is the influence of culture on people’s reactions and responses to each other I.2.2 Components of communication The communication process is made up of various elements According to Dell Hymes, the elements of communication are as following: - The addresser: The person who originates the message - The addressee: the person to whom the message is addressed - The channel: the medium through which the message travels - The message form: the particular grammatical and lexical choice of the message - The topic: the information carried in the message - The code: the language or dialect - The setting: the social or physical context Richard represents his identification of the components of communication Following it, all communication is formed by: senders (addresser) and receivers (addresses), messages, channels, feedback, noise, code and setting Communication is also influenced by what we bring to it I.2.3 Models of communication Communication can be classified into kinds: Verbal and Non-verbal In order to have a more general overview on communication, let’s look at the following diagram: Communication Verbal communication Non-verbal communication Intralanguage Paralanguage Extralanguage Lexicon Rules of grammar Vocal characteristics Rules of language use Volume & interaction skills Rate Types of vocal quality Silence Body language Object language Environment language Eye contact Clothing Setting Facial expressions Jewellery Conversational distance Gestures Accessories Time Postures Make up Lighting system Touch/hapties Artificial scents Colour Gifts I.3 The roles of culture in communication Wood (1987:199) claims that: “Communication is closely linked to culture, because communicating expresses, sustains, and alters cultures Your culture directly shapes how you communicate, teaching you whether interpreting is appropriate, how much eye contact is polite and whether conflict is desirable.” Nguyen Quang also revealed that the more similarities the two cultures have, the less difficulties communication gets in general All the differences of culture will be revealed through communicating between people in this culture with those in another one Therefore, in order to avoid misunderstandings, even culture shock in communication, culture should be taken into notice I.4 Cross-cultural communication According to Levine and Adelman (1982:X): “Cross-cultural communication or intercultural communication is the process whereby one culture affects interaction with a person from a person from another culture.” There are some people translate “cross-culture” as “Giao thoa văn hóa” According to Nguyen Van Do (1993), the important thing is not how the word is translated into Vietnamese, but the content of that concept expresses by a word or a terminology in a certain specific language Cross-culture is the mixture of cultural factors from different culture of a certain specific communication Cross-cultural communication has been defined by Nguyen Quang (1998) as “Communication (verbal and non-verbal) between people from different cultures, communication that is influenced by cultural values, attitudes and behavior, the influence on people and reaction and response to each other.” He also reasoned that in the process of trying to be successful in mastering a second language, the learners should reach for not only linguistics but also cultural knowledge of the language 10 In conclusion, when contacting with a person who has different communication styles, it is wise to keep in mind that: “Her strange style of communication results from her cultural upbringing We should not make a rash injustice before spending more time to understand her” I.5 Some features about request I.5.1 Definition of request We consider request as part of communicating activities And also, request is an act of asking for something or to something (Oxford Modern English Dictionary, 1996) I.5.2 The concept of speech acts Geogre Yule says actions performed via utterances are generally called speech acts (Yule 1996:7) It is also at this point to draw from Austin’s analysis of speech acts On any occasion, the action performed by producing an utterance will consist of related acts: illocutionary, locutionary and perlocutionary acts (Hoang Van Van, Ph.D, 200:71) A locutionary act is an act of saying: The production of a meaningful utterance (the utterance of a certain word and construction and the utterance of them with a certain “meaning” in the favorite philosophical sense of the word We are likely to produce a locutionary act However, we normally not make an utterance without purpose When saying that “I want to something to eat”, we not only intend to utter that sentence but also intend to require the listener to give us something to eat This kind of act is generally known as illocutionary act An illocutionary act is an act performed in saying something, making a statement or a promise, issuing a command or request, asking a question, etc….Illocutionary force Is understood as some kind of intended message that the speakers assigns to the sentence he utters Upon saying: “Have you got a lighter?”, the illocutionary force the force the speaker assigns to this utterance turns it to require the hearer to give the speaker the lighter than about the borrowing of it I.5.3 Requesting seen as speech act Oxford advanced learner’s Dictionary (1992:768) defines requesting as “an act of asking for something in speech or writing, especially politely.” In terms of speech acts, requesting is considered to be an act of requiring the other to something performed through speech in interaction 11 E.g: “If you utter a sentence like: Closed the window, please.” Pragmatically, we produce an utterance containing an act of asking the hearer to close the window Like thanking, complementing, inviting, etc…requesting is considered as one of the most sensitive illocutionary acts in communication in the example: “Could you tell me the time, please?” or “Would you mind showing the way to the nearest shop, please?” I.6 Some features about invitations I.6.1 Definition of invitation Inviting is very common in all societies and languages It is accepted as one of the main communicative acts, as well as one of the most sensitive areas of politeness in human interaction Everyday, we may make some sorts of invitation with such English utterances as: “I would like to invite you to…”, “Would you like to….”, “What about….” etc and Vietnamese expression such as: “Cháu mời ông bà ăn cơm ạ”, “Mời anh chị đến nhà chơi.” In Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1992:175) invitation is defined as “An act of requesting someone’s presence or participation, stating the specific event or setting time and place.” I.6.2 Types of invitations There are two kinds of invitation: Definite (with time/place expressions) Indefinite (with no time/place expressions) Based on the semantic and the syntactic function, Anna Wierbicka distinguishes two kinds of inviting: One can invite someone to something and one can invite someone to come to a place However, inviting someone to a place seems to be a special case of inviting someone to something More commonly, many theorists divided inviting two kinds: Definite and indefinite invitation Definite invitations include Yes/No question which require specific agreements They mention a time or a place E.g: “We are going to a concert tomorrow night Would you like to join us?” (Nguyen Quang 200:50) 12 Indefinite invitations not include a specific time and a place and may include a Yes/No question When people extend an indefinite invitation they not really know when and if they should get together with the other people E.g: “Listen! I have a lot to talk bout to you I think we should have lunch together on day soon.” (Nguyen Quang 200:51) Similarity, we may hear such phrases among the Vietnamese: “Hôm rỗi… ”, “Nếu có thời gian….”, “Lúc có điều kiện đến chơi” Actually, in both British and Vietnamese cultures, by saying such phrases people tend to end a conversation or to say goodbye politely Thus, these “invitation” may not be genuine It should be taken into notice that the more the time in the invitation far from Now, the lower the definition of the invitation is Let’s make comparison: - Bây giờ, anh đưa em mắt bố mẹ anh - Tuần tới, anh đưa em mắt bố mẹ anh - Tháng tới, anh đưa em mắt bố mẹ anh - Năm tới, anh đưa em mắt bố mẹ anh - Hai năm nữa, anh đưa em mắt bố mẹ anh To recognize the authenticity of an invitation people should base on communicative factors That is the idea of Nguyen Quang in “”Một số vấn đề giao tiếp nội văn hóa giao văn hóa.” 13 III THE STUDY III.1 Methodology In quantitative method, research questions related to the topic were given out The questionnaire includes 15 questions about making requests and giving invitations They are handed to 100 third and forth year students (K9D, K9G, K10A, K10B) in Faculty of English at Ha Noi Open University They were asked to tick the answer that they suppose it is the correct one They are the most suitable subjects to the topic because they are going to graduate in the near future and they may have chance to communicate with foreigners The questionnaire is aimed to investigate misunderstanding in making requests and giving invitations caused by cultural differences of Vietnamese learners in general and the third and forth year students in particular Basing on the statistic, the author can analyze concrete situations and then give reasons and suggestions However, there is disadvantage in using this method Some students suggest the answer or tick it by feeling Therefore, the real number of people choose the correct answer may be lower than the number that the survey analyzed showed Besides, qualitative method is used to collect data In order to complete this paper, the author has reference to some previous graduation papers By going to the library of Ha Noi Open University and The National Library, the author read some useful books relating to the graduation paper They are completely believable resources They are also the basic knowledge to understand the proposal A cross- cultural communication in giving invitation and making requests in Vietnamese-English However, this method has some minor disadvantages The author has to read a lot to find out what should be added to the paper as well as has to spend much time on searching books 14 III.2 The subjects of the study In order to have a specific look at cultural difference in giving invitation and making request between English and Vietnamese, a questionnaire is designed for the th and 4th year students at Ha Noi Open University They are at the age of 21 to 24 Most of them are female This is a normal phenomenon that we can see at any linguistic university; the number of female student is higher than that of male students The 3th and 4th year students have a long time in studying English Most of them have been learning it for over 10 years, the rest is from to years Through the survey, the author also realized the number of students who com from urban areas is equal to the number of rural area-students III.3 Data analysis The data will be analyzed to find out the answer for the research question: is there any difference in making request and giving invitation between English and Vietnamese, and what are they 15 CONCLUSION Inviting and requesting play an important role in communications Although invitation and requesting exist in most language, there are some differences in the way of making requests and giving invitations among countries Therefore, learners of English should know the differences between Vietnamese and English in order to avoid\ misunderstanding and culture shock when communicating with the native speakers The introduction shows rational, aims and objectives, scope of study and design of the study In order to help readers have overall view look to understand clearly about the proposal all the necessary definitions and characteristics of culture, communication, cross cultural communication, some features about requests and invitation, etc…Readers know some differences in making requests and giving invitations in English and Vietnamese Then, the survey analysis will show some misunderstandings in making request and giving invitation of the third and forth year students at Ha Noi Open University The author hopes that the readers will raise more awareness of cultural differences between English and Vietnamese to get succeed in communication 16 REFERENCES Brown, P & Levinson, S.1987 Politeness: Some universals in language Usage.CUP Blum Lulka, S.1987 Indirectness & Politeness in requests: same or different? Journal of pragmatics North Holland Bentahila, A & Davies, E.1989 Culture and Language use Claire Ellis.1995 Culture shock Vietnam Time books International Green, G.M.1975 How to get people to things with words: the whimperative question Levo Henriksson, R.1994 Eyes up on wings culture in Finish and U.S.television news Helsinki Yleisradio Leech, G.N 1980 Language & tact, Pragmatics &beyond series Amsterdam: Benjamins Nguyen, V.D.2004 Hanh dong thinh cau tieng Anh va tieng Viet duoi sang doi lien van hoa Tap chi ngon ngu Nguyen, V.D 1999 Cac Phuong tien ngon ngu tieu bieu hanh dong thinh cau Tieng anh va tieng Viet.HN 10 Nguyen, V.D.2001 Moi quan he giua ngon ngu va van hoa giang day ngoai ngu-giao luu van hoa Viet Nam-khu vuc-the gioi De tai cap bo Ma bo B96 11 Nguyen Quang.1996 Hinh thuc xung ho cac ngon ngu Noi san ngon ngu so 12 Nguyen Quang.1998.Intercultural communication.CEL VN National University 13 Nguyen Quang.2004 Mot so van de giao tiep noi Van hoa va giao van hoa DHQGHN 14 Phung, Q.N.1975 Co so van hoa Viet Nam Ha Noi:DHQG 17 15 Richard E.Porter, Larry A.Samovar 1994 An introduction to intercultural communication Thomson Publish House 16 Wiexbicka, Anna.1985 Different culture, different languages, different speech acts: Polish and English Journal of Pragmatics 17 Winston Bremnbeck The development and teaching of a college course in Intercultural communication APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is designed for my proposal on “Cross-cultural communication in giving invitation and making request in English and Vietnamese” I hope you will enthusiastically help me to complete this questionnaire: Personal information: - Name:…………………………………………………………… - Age:……………………………………………………………… - Gender: □ Male - Learning English duration: …………….year(s) - Longest time for residence: □ Urban areas □ Female □ Rural areas How often you communicate with foreigners? a Always b Sometimes c Never Which factor affects you most in communicating with foreigners? a Cultural differences b Your English skills c Your opinion:…………………………………………………………………… What you think about the role of culture in daily conversation with foreigners? a Important b So so c Unimportant How much you know about English culture? 18 a Much b Not much c None If a British person says: “Wouldn’t you like some tea?” What does he/she mean? a He wants to invite you a cup of tea b He doesn’t want to invite you a cup of tea c He wants to make sure that you not like tea When you want to invite a friend to your party What will you say? a Would you mind coming to my party tonight? b Please, come to my party tonight c Won’t you come to my party tonight? If your British friend says: “You wouldn’t like to come to dinner tonight, would you?” You will think that his utterance is: a Polite b Impolite c Very impolite “We are going to have a small party next Sunday Would you like to come and join us?” “Thank you, but I am afraid I have others plans for that day” a Never mind, may be another time b Come on, it will be very interesting c Could you change your mind? We will wait for you Host: Would you like some dessert? Guest: No, thanks It is delicious but I have really had enough What would you say next if you were the host? a No, take some more please b Why don’t you take some more? c Ok, why don’t we leave the table and sit in the living room? 10 Host: Would you like some dessert? Guest: No, thanks It is delicious but I have really had enough Host: Are you sure? 19 What does the host mean? a He invites you to take some more dessert b He does not believe what you said c He wants to make sure that you are really had enough 11 Which one is not a polite invitation? a Please sit b Take a seat, please c Would you like to sit? 12 “Do you mind going up stair and taking the briefcase for me?” How will you answer if you agree to it? a Yes b No 13 What you often say when you want to ask for your teacher’s help? a Teacher, may you help me? b Professor (his/her name), may you help me? c Could you help me? 14 What will you say to ask someone to repeat what he said? a Pardon? b Sorry? c Repeat please 15 When communicating with foreigners, you may suffer from culture shock What you to get over it? (solution for culture shock) ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ………… Thanks for your cooperation! 20 ... differences between English and Vietnamese in making requests and giving invitation - Analysis on misunderstanding in making request and giving invitation caused by English- Vietnamese cultural... culture, communication, cross cultural communication, some features about requests and invitation, etc…Readers know some differences in making requests and giving invitations in English and Vietnamese. .. study on making requests and giving invitations in English and Vietnamese PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY The objectives in my study are to help English learners know and understand more