A study on english expression of greeting with the reference to vietnamese equivalents

CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the research Language is an important part of our daily communication and we indicate the various communication patterns which are used in meetings and during negotiations Whereas greeting is a part of everyday conversation, it is important to know how to use it properly with confidence It’s important for anyone to feel confident when greeting someone because they will quickly form a first impression that may be hard to change later If we start a conversation doubting ourselves and unsure of what we are saying, this will affect our performance for the rest of the conversation But if we can effortlessly use the right greeting expressions, we will feel more confident during the rest of the conversation It is clear that greeting someone with confidence will make the communicators more comfortable and form a first positive impression On the other hand, greeting with the stumble around and unsure of what we are doing, we may misjudge our true level of English and speak to them more differently than we would like Greeting is affected by the differences in culture of each country, it is used widely in many countries in the world in various ways While gestures are normally used in some Western countries such as: kissing, nodding, handshaking, waving, hugging , oral greeting is priority used in some Asian countries as the ancestors said: “greetings are more precious than the feasts” It is different culture that there will be some main problems people usually face when they communicate each other A good greeting helps to maintain the conversation and leads the communicators to take interest in talking to each other Greeting (in terms of suitable greeting expression in different contexts) can help us convey our friendliness, respect, politeness, etc to someone The way people greet someone can tell us information about culture, custom, religion, etc Specially, basing on greeting, we can also indicate something about the social status, age-range of the greeter In this paper, I concentrate on English expressions of greeting with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents I want to point out the similarities and differences between them and some implications for teaching to help the communicators have a deep look into greeting in two languages 1.2 Aims of the research The thesis analyses the different expressions of greeting in English with reference to Vietnamese, with a view to helping Vietnamese learners of English to raise their awareness of using the expressions of greetings in English properly, thus improving their learning capability when using English in daily conversation 1.3 Objectives of the research This graduation thesis is designed to pursue these following specific objectives: First of all, the study describes the pragmatic features of greeting expressions in English Secondly, it points out the similarities and differences of the greeting expressions in English and Vietnamese on term of pragmatic Finally, some suggested implications for teaching and learning the different expressions of greetings in English will be given so that teachers and learners can avoid making mistakes in their teaching and learning process 1.4 Scope of the research Greeting is one important part of language, especially is the initiator of conversation How greeting is used in different cultures, particularly between English and Vietnamese people is my great concern The study concentrates mostly on greeting expressions in English with reference to Vietnamese, which will be the foundation for the writer to point out some differences and similarities between them In addition, the questionnaires have been given to collect the data of greetings on time, age, hierarchical order, social status, marital status and some forms of greetings which are used in communications as questions, exclamations, congratulations, invitations 1.5 Significance of the research Theoretically, major similarities and differences between the English and Vietnamese speakers when greeting someone will also be highlighted and analyzed in great detail to add some certain theoretical background to studying English Practically, the study can help Vietnamese learners greet someone properly Moreover, the communicators will feel greeting more self-confident when they start talking to someone It is the first signal for them to get a successful purpose in negotiation with the partner Futhermore, it may enable the learners thoroughly understand that the ways of greeting in foreign language as compared with mother tongue are very necessary So that they can reach communicated goal and also use greeting form into consideration 1.6 Structural organization of the thesis The study is devided into five chapters: Chapter is the introduction which deals with briefly expressions of greeting in communication and their function Chapter is the literature review This chapter presents a thorough and in depth studies which are done by previous researchers This will also present the synthesis of the theoretical and conceptual framework to apply for conducting the researches Chapter is the methodology which points out the research-governing orientations and research methods Chapter is the findings and discussions By analyzing the pragmatic features of greeting expressions in English, some differences and similarities between English and Vietnamese as well as implications for teaching and learning will be pointed out Chapter is conclusion It refers to recapitulation and concluding remarks Furthermore, the chapter points out the limitation of the study and provides some suggestions for further studies CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Review of previous studies Greeting is really an interesting issue in our daily life There are many famous Vietnamese and foreign linguists and scholars having done researches on this linguistic field A number of foreign researchers are interested in making researches of greeting expressions such as: Dr Maysa'a Kadhim Jibreen in “The Speech Act of Greeting: A Theoretical Reading” He has given definition of greeting, classification and structures of greeting in term of semantic, syntactic and pragmatic Williams K.(1997) in "An Evaluation of Greeting Exchanges in Textbooks and Real Life Settings" He has pointed out in general classifications of greeting In Vietnam, a great number of studies on greeting expression have attracted learners of English such as Nguyễn Thị Bích Hằng (2009) in “English analysis: English and Vietnamese Greetings”, Huyền Vũ (2009) in“Cách chào hỏi người Việt người Mỹ”, Trần Thị Bích Hạnh (2010) “Vietnamese and English Greetings: A contrastive analysis”, and Huỳnh Thị Thanh Châu in “Greetings in English and Vietnamese: A contrastive analysis” Hoàng Thị Kim Dung in “A cross-cultural study of addressing forms in greetings in Vietnamese and English.” (2010), the study shows the similarities and differences in two countries through their cultures in order to help the learners avoid cultural shocks or cross- cultural conflicts involving the addressing forms in greetings in global communication Trần Anh Vương in the research “Ways of greeting and a comparison between Vietnamese and English greetings” studies on greeting and greeting culture in English and Vietnamese He also points out the similarities and differences between them However, his research is rather wide He infers both verbal and non-verbal greeting Generally, they have analyzed and compared almost all aspects of greeting As a significant aspect of politeness phenomenon, greeting has been studied in disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, yet there has been no systematic investigation of their use across different languages from pragmatic perspective I want to reach communication goal and also have greetings put into consideration A person in different relationships has different ways to greet The speakers may be grandparents, parents, uncles or aunts, brothers or sisters, children, nieces or nephews or relatives in family The speakers may be in high or low rank in office, they may be older or younger compared to interlocutors Therefore, the study enables learners to understand thoroughly the ways of greeting in the foreign language in comparison with their mother tongue In my paper, I only deal with the characteristics of the ways of greetings in Vietnamese and English and the similarities and differences in using them in communication 2.2 Review of theoretical background 2.2.1 Language and communication in greeting Language is the remarkable system that allows people to communicate an unlimited combinations of ideas using a highly structured stream of sounds Or “language is the system of special signals which people use to communicate and it is the basic means of communication and developing thought of people People use language to impart tradition, culture, history and experiences from the old generation to the young generation.” It is the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in an agreed way And there is no doubt that language is a system for communicating The way in which the words can be meaningfully combined is defined by the language’s grammar The actual meaning of words and combinations of words are defined by the language’s semantics When people want to tell each other something, language appears Apparently, language is the means of communication Without language, people cannot exchange information, experiences and share feelings, thought with each other People use language to express their thought, feelings, ideas, experience It is the reality of thought Communication is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs or behavior It is the activity or the process of expressing ideas, feelings or exchanging the ideas, information with someone It is clearly seen that the way we communicate and the way we understand another person’s communication are the result of our knowledge and past experiences That means communication can take place anywhere and is carried out by anybody In communication, interlocutors show their attitude, relationship, mood, understanding, confusion and a whole range of other things and convey a range of meanings in different cultures, from insults to approval or even attraction The participants anything to make others understand what they mean The successful communication means that the person receives the massage being intended To communicate successfully, the communicators must understand the other’s needs, feelings, and ideas Language plays an important role in conveying people’s thinking and expressing their feeling and attitude in daily communication, meanwhile, greeting expression belongs to the language system When meeting, people greet each other by expressions (saying some words) So greeting is the activity of giving speech or words to welcome someone It is an important part of communication, even compulsory Participants are both speakers and listeners involved directly in conversation And using the way of greeting can help us know interlocutors’ emotion, feeling as well as their knowledge, culture, politeness and respect to each other People who are involved in conversation should depend on objects and other features of communicative situation such as age, sex, family relationship, social status and power People use language to communicate while greeting is a process of communication So greeting involves language which is known as greeting language It is one of the key changes to communicate effectively with different people in different cultures 2.2.2 Culture in greeting Culture is the combination of all the physical and behavioral aspects of a society Culture includes all knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other tradition and habits acquired by man as a member of society Culture is also a historically transmitted, socially constructed system of beliefs, premises, symbols and their meanings that pertain to a group of people So we can consider culture a tool that our families and societies instil in us to get through life In Vietnamese, cross culture is defined as the contact, the affective exchange, the interaction among cultural aspects of different ethnics In English, culture is like an iceberg, most of which is deep within the ocean just much of culture is deep within people The tip of the iceberg is easy to see This includes the visible aspects and taboo of communication in other cultures The remaining huge chuck of the iceberg hidden below the surface includes the invisible aspects of a culture such as the values, traditions, experience and behaviors that define each culture The connection between the human capacities for culture and language has been noted as far as classical antiquity, the relation between language and culture is more complex than the coordinate title language and culture would suggest Language is, of course, an integral part of culture, defined simplistically as the totality of beliefs and practices of a society Furthermore, the semantic content of language is always related to the entities, events, states, processes, characteristics and relations within culture, and culture depends in large measure on language in order to function and to perpetuate itself It is not strange, therefore, that most of the serious mistakes in translation are the result of not recognizing the intimate relations between language and culture Greeting expression is a phenomenon of language And as language is believed to be woven into every fabric of every human culture, it can be said that greeting expression is an element of culture Although there are plenty of disagreements on the definition of culture and the relation between language and culture, a majority of people agree that culture overwhelms language and language reflects culture Nevertheless, cultural features vary from region to region, even when they speak the same language That is why their reflections in language are different Greeting expression is not an exception It is influenced by cultures Each country has its own culture So cross- culture among countries can make greeting expression have plenty of dissimilarities between Vietnamese and English cultures Cultures rooted in people’s awareness so deeply that they can not be changed easily in a short time Each culture still has its own characteristics and dignity These dissimilarities between two cultures often create a phenomenon called cultural shock when people from the two cultures endeavor to communicate The ways of greeting in Vietnamese and English are surely affected by cultural features To partially help avoid the cultural shock in this area, this research will discuss some main characteristics of the way of Vietnamese and English people’s greeting It can also help us know more about the way we can make a polite greeting 2.2.3 Speech act According to Yule (1996), speech act is one of the central phenomena that any general pragmatic theory must account for On any occasions, the action performed by producing an utterance will consist of three related acts: locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary act The first one, locutionary act is the basic act of utterance, of producing a meaningful linguistic expression The second one, illocutionary act is the function of the utterance that speaker has in mind that is what kind of speech act the utterance counts as And the last one, perlocutionary act refers to the hearer recognition of the illocutionary act Communicating is the way to express a certain attitude, and the type of speech act being performed corresponds to the type of attitude being expressed For example, a statement expresses a belief, a request expresses a desire and an apology expresses regret As an act of communication, a speech act succeeds if the audience identifies, in accordance with the speaker’s intention, the attitude being expressed Since language has been an intentional behavior, it should be treated like a form of action The speech act is used to express meaning, an utterance with the speaker’s intention Normally, the speech act is a sentence, but it can be a word of a phrase as long as it follows the rules necessary to accomplish the intention When one speaks, one performs an act Speech is not just used to predicate something, but it actually does something Though making a statement may be the paradigmatic use of language, there are all sorts of other things we can with words We can make requests, ask questions, give orders, give thanks, greetings, make 10 They are shown in greeting parents, relatives, friends, colleagues even the strangers English people use the same ways in any greeting expressions 4.3 Implications for teaching and learning the different expressions of greeting in English of Vietnamese Through a contrastive analysis of greeting expressions between English and Vietnamese, I would like to give out some implications for teaching and learning English greeting expressions of Vietnamese people It is observable that there are more chances for Vietnamese learners to perform greeting expressions than other speech acts because it takes place very often in daily life, especially at the beginning of any communications However, pragmatic failures sometimes occur during greeting It is common that most students tend to transfer their native language into target one mechanically It can lead to misunderstanding due to differences in cultures of two languages For example, when talking to the head of the company, they say “Hi, director” instead of “Good morning Mr or Ms.” It is clear that students just know how to greet in some situations like in their classroom, but they have a few opputunities to greet people in real social settings such as ceremory, company… In addition, Vietnamese learners not usually use stress or intonation properly according to particular contexts One big problem is that students may violate cultural values if they don’t know well about distinct features of the new culture For instance, Vietnamese learners fail to achieve the communication goal and give a bad impression at the first time they meet a native speaker when mentioning individual matters although they about personal affairs For example: 51 don’t mean to be curious One Dutch scientist lives in a Vietnamese village for several months in order to study Vietnamese rural areas When Vietnamese farmers see him, they greet: - Where is John going? (Bác John đâu đấy?) - Go straight He said (Đi thẳng) (cited in Ngan, 2005) It is the pragmatic failure, in intercultural communication, that leads to the misunderstanding between people from different cultures The study is hoped to provide a brief foundation for a look into greeting expressions in Vietnamese and English, a first useful method of exploring the structure of a language community and a social group For teachers, the study can provide a system of greeting expressions and help them explain the way to use greetings appropriately in certain contexts For example, they can teach their students how to greet the older people, relatives, colleagues, teachers, managers, employers, etc Greeting habit of English people is very different from that of Vietnamese people This study can help Vietnamese teachers teach their students how to greet someone naturally as the native speakers’ greeting habit In classroom, creating commnunicative opputunities for students to practice is always the best method Role plays in variety of formal and informal contexts are given so that students can accustom to greeting expressions in different ways As a result, the students become more active and self-confident to open a conversation with other people One important thing is that teachers should have sound knowledge in language transfer in order to help students’ pragmatics For instant, English 52 people not like to greet someone by asking the personal questions in greeting like Vietnamese For learners, the study helps the Vietnamese learners understand the behavior principles in greeting and use greetings in appropriate time and places so that they can know how to respond when being greeted and communicate successfully Moreover, it helps learners in translating, especially translating a conservation in Vietnamese and especially provides some conventional greetings and responds in some circumstances in English The learners should aware that learning only grammar does not mean success in communication They incessantly study more about culture and life style of the other people in the world in order to be more confident in communicating For example, greeting in English can be a question “How you do?” which needn’t to be answered Last but not least, the learners should be encouraged to learn about Vietnamese history and linguistics which are served as the foundation to comprehend clearly English Such contrastive knowledge in their mother tongue and the second language also give them a clear distinction in order to avoid misunderstanding in transference 4.4 Summary of the chapter By comparing the greeting of Vietnamese and English to find out the similarities and differences, the study can suggest some implications for teaching and learning methods to provide useful knowledge of greeting in communication It can also help the Vietnamese learners of English use greeting expressions properly 53 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 5.1 Recapitulation In conclusion, greeting is a socially significant event in universal terms because it indicates the willingness to undertake a transaction of some sort, a universal signal that directs the other attention toward the agent and at the same time demonstrates the friendly, appreciative attitude It is really important in spiritual life like a saying “a good beginning is a half of the battle” (Đầu xuôi đuôi lọt) So, greeting is the process that will decide the success of the communication It is also a part of politeness which is used primarily when people meet each other in order to make the partner feel good, be friendly and minimize conflicts By comparing the greeting between English and Vietnamese, the study points out some similarities and differences with hope to help Vietnamese learners use English greeting appropriately and avoid using greeting habits to greet foreigners as mother tongue such as “ Where are you going?”, “ What are you doing?”, etc Finally, the study with the aims of providing the learners a system of greeting and the ways of greeting promotes them to use greeting actively and correctly in certain context 5.2 Concluding remarks The research is believed to contribute to the scare study on greeting expressions in English for Vietnamese learners Moreover, the study sheds light on the major similarities and differences in language and cultures between English and Vietnamese in greeting expressions Thus, it provides an insight 54 into Vietnamese and English culture, contributing to the mutual understanding between two groups The study also gives some implications to raise foreign language teachers and learners’ awareness in sociocultural knowledge and pay more attention to pragmatic transfer in learning second language 5.3 Limitation of the research Actually, there are different ways of greeting in English and Vietnamese I have tried my best to give some main characteristics of English and Vietnamese greeting and clarify the similarities and differences of using greeting in different contexts in two cultures However, it will surely have much restriction, I hope to receive all your comments and advice so that my study will be improved as I have expected 5.4 Suggestion for further studies If having conditions to continue this topic, I hope to investigate more researches for greeting in more kinds of speech act in real life in order to provide a system more comprehensively A study on gestures in greeting between English and Vietnamese The similarities and differences of greeting in written literature works between English and Vietnamese 55 REFERENCES ENGLISH Andrew Wright (1987) How to communicate successfully Cambridge University Press Austin, J L (1962) How to things with words Harvard University Press Fieg and Mortlock (1989) Levinson S.C, (1983) Pragmatics Cambridge University Press Maysa'a Kadhim Jibreen The speech act of greeting: A theoretical Reading M, Eisentein Ebsworth (1996).Cross- cultural Realization of Greeting in American English Berlin: Muonton de Gruyter Nehal Ahmad A study of modes of greetings in a global Perspective with particular reference to Udru Speech Community in India Graduation Thesis Robert La Do (2003) Ngôn ngữ học qua văn hóa NXB Đại học quốc gia Hà Nội Sack (1975) How are you? 10 Searl, J (1965) What is a Speech Act? Cambridge University Press 11 Schegloff (1973) An Evaluation of Greeting Exchanges in Textbook and Real life setting 12 Williams, K.E (2001) An evaluation of greeting exchanges in textbooks and real life settings Retrieved November 28, 2020 13 Yule, G (1996) Pragmatics Oxford University Press VIETNAMESE 56 Hồ Thị Loan, (2007) English Vocative in Comparison With Vietnamese one Graduation Thesis Hoàng Thị Kim Dung (2010) A cross-cultural study of dressing forms in greeting Vietnamese and English Graduation thesis Huyền Vũ (2009) Cách chào hỏi người Việt người Mỹ Huỳnh Thị Thanh Châu Greeting in English and Vietnamese: A contrastive analysis Graduation thesis Le Quang Thiem, (2004) Nghiên cứu đối chiếu ngôn ngữ Hanoi National University Publisher Nguyễn Ngân (Dec 23, 2010) Lời chào người Việt Nguyễn Quang, (2001) Một số vấn đề giao tiếp giao tiếp văn hóa.Hanoi National University Press Nguyễn Quang, (2003) Một số vấn đề giao tiếp nội văn hóa giao văn hóa Hanoi National University Press Nguyễn Thị Bích Hằng English and Vietnamese greeting Graduation thesis 10.Phạm Văn Bình (1999) Tục ngữ nước Anh thành ngữ tiếng anh giàu hình ảnh NXB Hải Phịng 11.Trần Anh Vương (2004) Ways of greeting and comparison between Vietnamese and English greeting Graduation thesis 12 Trần Ngọc Thêm (1997) Cơ sở văn hóa Viẹt Nam Nhà xuất giáo dục WEBSITES http: www.learnenglish.de/basic/greetings http://www.htu.edu.vn/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9 87:li-chao-trong-i-sng-vn-hoa-ca-ngi-vit&catid=102:tt&Itemid=44 http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ach/article/viewFile/3056/2822 57 Appendix Survey Questionnaires The questionnaires are designed for my research into “A study on English expressions of greeting with the reference to the Vietnamese equivalents ” Your assistance in completing the questionnaires is greatly appreciated It is certain that these questionnaires are for my research purpose only Please feel free to complete the questionnaires with all confidential information Would you kindly return these completed questionnaires? Thank you very much for your assistance Your nationality : Your age : Your occupation : _ Please tick ( √ ) where appropriate Your sex : Male Female Your marital status : Single Married How you greet your relative in the daily life and she or he is: Your upper hierarchical person (Your grandparents, your parents ) _ 58 Your uncle or aunt _ Your older sister or brother _ Your younger sisiter or brother _ Your niece or nephew _ How you greet your friend if she or he is: Your very close friend _ Your normal friend _ Your acquaintance (opposite sex, older than you) _ Your acquaintance (opposite sex, younger than you) _ 10 Your acquaintance (opposite sex, same age) _ 11 Your acquaintance (same sex, older than you) _ 12 Your acquaintance (same sex, younger than you) _ 59 13 Your acquaintance (same sex, same age) _ How you greet someone on business and she/ he is: 14 Your manager _ 15 Your colleague (same sex, older than you ) _ 16 Your colleague (same sex, same age) _ 17 Your colleague (same sex, younger than you ) _ 18 Your colleague (opposite sex, older than you) _ 19 Your colleague (opposite sex, same age) _ 20 Your colleague (opposite sex, younger than you) _ How you greet someone you not know before and she or he is: 21 The stranger (Same sex, older than you) _ 22 The stranger (Same sex, same age) _ 23 The stranger (Same sex, younger than you) 60 _ 24 The stranger (opposite sex, older than you) _ 25 The stranger (opposite sex, same age) _ 26 The stranger (opposite sex, younger than you) _ 27 If you are a student, how you greet your teacher? _ 28 If you are a tourgide, how you greet before guiding? _ 29 If you are a Master of Ceremory (MC), how you greet? _ The end BẢN ĐIỀU TRA Tôi soạn điều tra nhằm phục vụ cho đề tài nghiên cứu: “nghiên cứu cách chào hỏi tiếng anh đối chiếu với tiếng việt” Các câu hỏi nhằm mục đích nghiên cứu Xin q vị vui lịng hồn thành giúp tơi trả lời câu hỏi khảo sát Xin chân thành cảm ơn quý vị! Quốc tịch: Tuổi: 61 Nghề nghiệp: Xin chọn ô phù hợp với thân: Giới tính: Nam Nữ Tình trạng nhân : Chưa kết hôn Đã kết hôn Bạn chào người họ hàng bạn gặp ngày người là: Ông, bà, bố, mẹ bạn _ Cơ, dì , chú, bác bạn _ Anh trai, chị gái bạn _ Em trai, em gái bạn _ Cháu trai hay cháu gái _ Bạn chào bạn bạn người là: Bạn thân bạn _ Bạn bình thường bạn _ Người quen bạn (khác giới, lớn tuổi bạn) 62 _ Người quen bạn (khác giới, tuổi bạn) _ 10 Người quen bạn (khác giới, tuổi bạn) _ 11 Người quen bạn (cùng giới, lớn tuổi bạn) _ 12 Người quen bạn (cùng giới, tuổi bạn) _ 13 Người quen bạn (cùng giới, tuổi bạn) _ Bạn chào người làm quan bạn người là: 14 Sếp bạn _ 15 Đồng nghiệp bạn (cùng giới, nhiều tuổi bạn) _ 16 Đồng nghiệp bạn (cùng giới, tuổi bạn) _ 17 Đồng nghiệp bạn (cùng giới, tuổi bạn) _ 18 Đồng nghiệp bạn (khác giới, nhiều tuổi bạn) _ 19 Đồng nghiệp bạn (khác giới, tuổi bạn) 63 _ 20 Đồng nghiệp bạn (khác giới, tuổi bạn) _ Một người bạn không quen, bạn chào họ nào? 21 Người lạ (cùng giới, nhiều tuổi bạn) _ 22 Người lạ (cùng giới, tuổi bạn) _ 23 Người lạ (cùng giới, tuổi bạn) _ 24 Người lạ (khác giới, nhiều tuổi bạn) _ 25 Người lạ (khác giới, tuổi bạn) _ 26 Người lạ (khác giới, tuổi bạn) _ 27 Nếu bạn học sinh, bạn chào thầy giáo nào? _ 28 Nếu bạn hướng dẫn viên du lịch, bạn chào đoàn nào? _ 29 Nếu bạn người dẫn chương trình, bạn chào nào? _ 64 65