Asking for Permission in English and Vietnamese

1. Rationale for the research We are now living in the time of unstoppable development of the world in which international cooperation in general and cultural, educational exchanges in particular are vigorously promoted. In fact, learning foreign languages, especially English, has played an increasingly important role. The international language of English has been described as an effective tool to supportably proceed those activities much more easily. Traditional language learning, however, is becoming outdated in modern times because only vocabulary and grammar are focused on. In fact, today English is learnt for communicative goal, so only vocabulary and grammar is not enough. Another important aspect is culture. The communicative goal may definitely fail to achieve if this aspect is ignored. It is believed that each country has its own distinctive features which learners should be paid much attention to. If they do not eagerly get themselves prepared for knowledge about one culture in which they are newly involved, lots of misunderstandings and embarrassments will follow when there are communications and interaction as well. Good preparation for cultural knowledge will be useful to help the speakers or anyone involved to avoid them. Maybe a good basis of culture is an advantage over others in social interactions. Therefore, language and culture havea mutual relationship. In communicative contexts, their engagement as well as involvement is easily spotted off. When communication among people who come from different cultures or even from the same one occurs, misinterpretations possibly lead to misunderstandings because each represents his or her own culture including customs, rituals and etiquettes. In cross culture communication, a person usually imposes his individual judgments on others’ actions just based on what he has known earlier. As a result, the communicative target is impossible to obtain. Obviously cultural understandings benefit the interlocutors to become successful in communication, perceive certain ways of speaking more deeply so that they can have suitable reactions. Asking for permissions which are observed in English and Vietnamese is a good example. It is common and important in daily interaction. Asking for permissions shows the fact that a language is not just a simple utterance at all. Many problems will certainly follow if culture and politeness factors are neglected. The two cultures have their own politeness standards, so an utterance in general and asking for permissions as well in particular may be acceptable in Vietnamese, but unacceptable in English and viceversa or the ways people ask are different. In some cases, people make direct requests while others make indirect requests. Obviously, it is very important to get ourselves well prepared for those matters. No matter how different they are, politeness strategy is always a desirous goal to reach. On a small scale of crossculture communication, the study tries to make clear the contrast between the two speech acts of asking for permissions in English and Vietnamese. Asking for permissions in English and Vietnamese shares some certain similarities, but has differences, too. Vietnamese and English speakers do not have the same conceptions of what makes a polite way of asking for permissions based on their habits and cultures. For those reasons, the study of speech act of asking for permission in Englishand Vietnamese ismade.Itwillprovidegoodreferenceandsuggestionto well asking for permission and avoiding unwanted misinterpretations so that people have more opportunitiestobecomesuccessfulcommunicators

Graduation Paper DECLARATION Title: Asking for Permission in English and Vietnamese I certify that no part of the above report has been copied or reproduced from any other’s work without acknowledgement and that the report is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor Hanoi, May 2015 Student (signature) Full name Nguyen Thi Anh Linh Supervisor ( signature) Full name M.A Vo Thanh Trung Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 Graduation Paper ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, M.A Vo Thanh Trung for his enthusiastic and useful guidance, insightful comments, and encouragement without which my thesis would not have been completed My special thanks go to all my lecturers in Hanoi Open University for their precious assistance, scholarly knowledge and enthusiasm I am grateful to all the participants for their enthusiastic participation in the thesis Last but not least, I would like to express my indebtedness to my family, especially my parents and my sister who have given me constant support and love during the completion of the thesis Nguyen Thi Anh Linh Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 Graduation Paper TABLE OF CONTENT Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 Graduation Paper PART A INTRODUCTION Rationale for the research We are now living in the time of unstoppable development of the world in which international cooperation in general and cultural, educational exchanges in particular are vigorously promoted In fact, learning foreign languages, especially English, has played an increasingly important role The international language of English has been described as an effective tool to supportably proceed those activities much more easily Traditional language learning, however, is becoming outdated in modern times because only vocabulary and grammar are focused on In fact, today English is learnt for communicative goal, so only vocabulary and grammar is not enough Another important aspect is culture The communicative goal may definitely fail to achieve if this aspect is ignored It is believed that each country has its own distinctive features which learners should be paid much attention to If they not eagerly get themselves prepared for knowledge about one culture in which they are newly involved, lots of misunderstandings and embarrassments will follow when there are communications and interaction as well Good preparation for cultural knowledge will be useful to help the speakers or anyone involved to avoid them Maybe a good basis of culture is an advantage over others in social interactions Therefore, language and culture have a mutual relationship In communicative contexts, their engagement as well as involvement is easily spotted off When communication among people who come from different cultures or even from the same one occurs, misinterpretations possibly lead to misunderstandings because each represents his or her own culture including customs, rituals and etiquettes In cross- culture communication, a person Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 Graduation Paper usually imposes his individual judgments on others’ actions just based on what he has known earlier As a result, the communicative target is impossible to obtain Obviously cultural understandings benefit the interlocutors to become successful in communication, perceive certain ways of speaking more deeply so that they can have suitable reactions Asking for permissions which are observed in English and Vietnamese is a good example It is common and important in daily interaction Asking for permissions shows the fact that a language is not just a simple utterance at all Many problems will certainly follow if culture and politeness factors are neglected The two cultures have their own politeness standards, so an utterance in general and asking for permissions as well in particular may be acceptable in Vietnamese, but unacceptable in English and vice-versa or the ways people ask are different In some cases, people make direct requests while others make indirect requests Obviously, it is very important to get ourselves well prepared for those matters No matter how different they are, politeness strategy is always a desirous goal to reach On a small scale of cross-culture communication, the study tries to make clear the contrast between the two speech acts of asking for permissions in English and Vietnamese Asking for permissions in English and Vietnamese shares some certain similarities, but has differences, too Vietnamese and English speakers not have the same conceptions of what makes a polite way of asking for permissions based on their habits and cultures For those reasons, the study of speech act of asking for permission in English and Vietnamese is made It will provide good reference and suggestion to well asking for permission and avoiding unwanted misinterpretations so that people have more opportunities to become successful communicators Aims of the research Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 Graduation Paper This graduation thesis is conducted in an attempt to make a comparison between asking for permission in English and Vietnamese so as to help Vietnamese learners have a better knowledge on how to ask for permission politely in English , thus being able to use them effectively in the real-life communication and to avoid communication breakdown Objectives of the research This graduation thesis is designed to pursue these following specific objectives: (i)Pointing out the similarities between asking for permission in English and Vietnamese (ii) Pointing out the differences between asking permission in English and Vietnamese (iii) Suggesting some possible implications for asking permission in English, thus helping Vietnamese learners able to use them effectively in the real-life communication and to avoid communication breakdown Scope of the research This thesis focuses on the act of asking for permission performed by native speakers of English and then make comparison between them and those performed by Vietnamese native speakers in order to find out the similarities and differences of the two countries I also use definitions and statements of some authors who conduct research on pragmatics and speech act theories Research questions * What are the popular ways of asking permission in English and Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 Graduation Paper * What are the similarities between the ways to ask for permission in English and Vietnamese * What are the differences between the ways to ask for permission in English and Vietnamese 6.Methods of the study In carrying out the research I have adopted such methods of study as collecting data, contrastive analysis, statistics techniques and observation Design of the study Part A: Introduction: this part deals with Rationale, Aims, Scope, Research Questions, Methods and Design of this study Part B: Development consists of three chapters Chapter 1: Literature review: this chapter provides the theoretical background including speech act theory, politeness strategies, definition of permission, asking for permission as Speech Acts Chapter 2: Asking for permission in English and Vietnamese: this chapter will discuss written and verbal asking permission; direct and indirect way of asking permission; formal and informal way of asking permission Chapter 3: Findings and discussions : this chapter presents the results gained in survey questionnaires and observation and discusses the similarities and differences in asking for permission as speech acts made in English and Vietnamese Part C: Conclusion : this part summaries the major findings recorded during the making of the thesis, presents the limitations of the study, provides some suggestions for further research and gives some suggestions on learning Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 Graduation Paper English for Vietnamese learners Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 Graduation Paper PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER : LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Speech Act Theory 1.1.1Definition Developed by many famous philosophers, speech acts have been central to linguistic works for a long time and have been further developed by others and held a great concern of any research paper There are some definitions of speech acts of linguists in the world To begin with, usually when we want to express something we often not only create utterances containing grammatical structures and words, but also perform actions through these utterances, according to George Yule (1996) It is noticeable that human beings use language in order to perform actions, to create obligations and new social relations and to such things as reassuring, promising, or apologizing, etc According to J.L Austin, a philosopher of language, “contended that truth or falsehood and the logical relationships between words were inadequate to account for language use” [An Introduction to Pragmatics, : 164] and “the more we consider a statement not as a sentence (or proposition) but as an act of speech the more we are studying the whole thing as an act” [J Austin, How to Do Things with Words, 1962: 20] Under the insights of Austin, there is growth of perspective that is one of the well-recognized attempts to account for pragmatic meaning The two other famous linguistic researchers are Schmidt and Richards who define speech act theory as one that has to with the functions of languages, so in the broader sense we might say that speech acts are all the acts we perform via speaking, all things we when we utter The theory of speech acts is partly taxonomic and partly explanatory It must systematically identifies types of speech acts and the ways in which they can succeed or fail Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 Graduation Paper It must reckon with the fact that the relationship between the words being used and the force of their utterance is often oblique Thus, actions which are performed via utterances are generally called speech acts, and they are often given some specific labels such as promise, complaint, apology, compliment, request and invitation For example: You are fired! [Pragmatics, George Yule, 1996:47] In this sentence, the speaker gives the utterance at the same time with the action of sacking the listener It means that the utterance used to perform the act of ending the job of the hearer What is more, studying an utterance we focus on two parts: surface (including grammatical structures and words) and the meaning, the meaning of the utterance is the core of communication Speech act performs different functions in communication, and it is a unit of speaking J Austin (1962) affirmed that there is a close connection between speech acts and language functions In Austin’s theory of Speech act, he claimed that “actions are performed via utterances only with verbs he called performatives, the prototype speech act” This can be verbs or verbal phrases, typically formulaic, explicitly indicating the act the speaker actually wants to express as it is uttered However, there is a basic argument that some utterances are not statement or questions, but rather actions Austin generalized the notion of expressing actions with language, arguing that all utterances had the underlying performative structure In accordance to Austin’s view, Yule (1996) also restressed the definition of speech act Speech acts are actions performed via utterances, in English, are commonly given more specific labels, such as apology, complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, or request He added that these 10 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 10 Graduation Paper - Could I go out? May I have a piece of cake? Con sang chơi bên nhà ông Bác, u nhé! ( Tắt đèn- NTT) 2.2 Direct and indirect way of asking permission As a part of human daily communication, the way to ask for permission is also done directly or indirectly As a rule, the direct way is naturally straightforward and goes straight to the point For example: I can go out now? I have some thing to drink? Or Anh chơi không? Tớ muốn uống chút nhé? The employment of direct way is usually done by those of the same age, status or colleagues, friends in the circumstance in that face-saving is not important On the other hand, indirect way is employed in the conversation between those of the different age, status, or unfamiliar ones whose facesaving strategy is very important The way of asking for permission is like beating about the bush, not straightforward or go straight to the point For example: would you mind if I sat here? Or would it be alright if I could have a day-off ? Cháu ngồi có phiền bác không ? Tôi muốn xin nghỉ ngày có không ạ? 2.3 Formal and informal way of asking permission As it is discussed above, asking for permission is a part of human daily communication and it is often performed in two channels: formal and informal The messages which are circulating on regulated, preset channels, of an organization are creating the formal communication The content of the communication is related to the organization’s activity, to the work and to anything which is related to those The formal communication can consist in verbal messages, nonverbal messages, written, under the shape of letters, 26 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 26 Graduation Paper telephone messages, radio messages, printed, internal notes Even some gestures can consist in formal communication The messages are transmitted by the authorized ones: on official channels, these arrive to the ones who need to react, to people or machines which need to know the content of these messages The formal way of asking for permission is often done with the help of some structures, such as, Do you mind/ would you mind+ my V-ing, Is it ok/ alright + to V, Is it ok/ a problem +if + clause, I would like +to V+if+ clause( S+ can/could/may/might+V), I wonder+ if+ clause Cháu hỏi khí không phải, phiền anh, phép Usually, all formal communications are recorded and kept in the organization’s evidence Are retained copies of these by the transmitter, by the receiver, by all of the desks from the organization which need to know and keep the information Examples of formal communications are given by work commands, reports and financial evidence, reports over sells / inventory, statements referring to the company’s policies, post descriptions, etc On the other hand, informal communication arises out of all those channels that fall outside the formal channels and it is also known as grapevine It is established around the societal affiliation of members of the organization Informal communication does not follow authority lines as in the case of formal communication For example: I can use your bike, ok? Or Tao dùng xe đạp mày Informal communication takes place due to the individual needs of the members of an organization and subsists in every organization Normally, such communication is oral and may be expressed even by simple glance, sign or silence Informal communication, is implicit, spontaneous multidimensional and diverse It oftenly works in group of people, i.e when one person has some information of interest; he passes it on to his informal group and so on 2.4 Summary This chapter discusses the classification of asking for permission in English and Vietnamese 27 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 27 Graduation Paper CHAPTER III FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS The finding of the paper is based on those drawn from the results of data collection, surveys and obsevation However, due to the frame of the paper as well as others, they cannot be presented detailedly in the paper The discussion is made on the basis of those findings 3.1 3.1.1 Structures of asking politely for permission in English and Vietnamese Structures of English ways of asking for permission As discussed above, asking for permission is a part of daily communication and it is often performed in many ways The ways which the English employed depend on the situation, the hearers and the urgency However, asking for permission is normally an act of asking for a favour so it is often done in a polite way so as to save face or to please the hearers It is also the reason why asking for permission is expressed by a number of formal structures as the following: a Can/ could/ may/ might + S + V( bare infinitive) Can I ask you some questions? Could I go out? May I have a piece of cake? b Do you mind/ Would you mind+ if+ S+ V(p.s or V-ed) Do you mind if I use your pen? Would you mind if I open this door? c Would it be ok/ alright/ a problem + if + S +V(p.s or Ved) Would it be ok if I kiss you? Would it be alright if she goes with us? Would it be a problem if I leave now? d With PLEASE Could we go home now, please? Please can I sit here? Could I please go on trip this weekend? e Do you think + S+ can/could/may/might +V ( bare infinitive) Do you think I can borrow your car? 28 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 28 Graduation Paper Do you think I could eat these cakes? f Would it be possible for me + to V Would it be possible for me to study in this room? g Do you mind/ would you mind+ my V-ing Do you mind my playing your piano? Would you mind my cleansing your room now? h Is it ok/ alright + to V Is it ok to park here? Is it alright to throw all these things? i Is it ok/ a problem +if + clause Is it a problem if I make a copy of your passport? Is it ok if he has dinner with us? j I would like +to V+if+ clause( S+ can/could/may/might+V) I would like to ask you if I could give my opinion? I would like tell you if I can take part in this club? k I wonder+ if+ clause I wonder if I could ask you to help me? I wonder if I can hug you for a while? l Would it bother you if you send this letter for me? m Is smoking permitted here? n I need to smoke, you mind? 3.1.2 Structures of Vietnamese ways of asking for permission It is true that the act of face-saving is employed by communicators of any culture, the Vietnamese are not the exception; however, the ways to asking for permission in Vietnamese are restricted to certain structure For the conversation between speakers of the same age or position or familiar ones, the Vietnamese use “ nhé, nha, chứ, không? ” For example: Em ngồi chị ? Mẹ cho phép chơi với bạn nha? Con xin phép ba cho ạ! Cho hỏi chút, đỗ xe ko? For the conversation between speakers or different age, position or unfamiliar ones, the Vietnamese use some structures, such as, Cháu hỏi khí / Chú làm ơn / Phiền cô For example: Cháu hỏi khí liệu cháu ngồi ạ? 29 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 29 Graduation Paper Chú làm ơn cho cháu nhờ máy tính không ạ? Phiền cô cho cháu qua chút ạ? 3.1.3 The similarities and the differences between asking for permission in English and Vietnamese Vietnamese and English ways of asking and giving permission to draw out some similarities and differences in terms of syntactic and semantic formulas and meet the requirements of language teaching and learning In English language, the most familiar syntactic patterns are: Can I borrow your pen? (1) Could he use your phone charger? (Question head + S + Verb phrase with bare infinitive?) Would it be OK if I borrow/ borrowed your pen? (2) Would it be alright if he uses/ used your phone charger? (Question head + S + Verb phrase with simple present or past subjunctive?) Do you mind if I borrow/ borrowed your pen? (3) Would you mind if she uses/ used your phone charger? (Question head + S + Verb phrase with simple present or past subjunctive?) Meanwhile, syntactic formulas employed to ask for permission in Vietnamese language is quite limited The most commonly occurring patterns are: (1) Tớ dùng điện thoại cậu nhé? (Can I use your cellphone?) (2) Em ngồi không chị? (Would it be ok if I sit here?) (3) Con chơi với bạn chút không mẹ? Con liền (May I go out with my friend for a while, Mom? I promise to come back home soon.) In Vietnamese language, there is a low frequency of the structuring “if” Even they are never employed For Vietnamese people, the most commonly used syntactic patterns in English “Would it be ok if I borrow your 30 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 30 Graduation Paper pen?” or “Do you mind if I use your phone charger?” are the unusual patterns for the speech act of asking for permission It is because that we can not translate two above utterances into Vietnamese “Would it be ok if I borrow your pen?” ( Có không sử dụng bút máy bạn?) “Do you mind if I use your phone charger?” (Bạn có phiền không sử dụng sạc điện thoại bạn?) It sounds unnatural and clumsy That’s the reason why Vietnamese people seldom use these utterances to communicate Instead, they have a tendency to say: “Mình mượn bút máy bạn chứ?” “Mình sử dụng cục sạc điện thoại bạn không bạn? When using these expressions to ask permission, Vietnamese people never forget to smile It seems that they want to create intimacy and friendliness Thanks to that, they can erase the strangeness and increase the possibility of granting In term of semantic formulas, almost all the English expressions of asking permission contain modal verbs: can, could, may, might,…However, the choice of the appropriate modal verbs depends on age, social status, degree of acquaintance, respect, situation, etc For example- In the shop: a conversation between clerk and customer Clerk: May I help you? ( Tôi giúp cho bạn?) - At school: a conversation between two friends (they have close friendship) P1: Can I use your pen? (Tớ dùng bút cậu không?) P2: Of course (được mà) Moreover, when asking for permission to something, the English usually use the word “please” to make the request sound more polite It's not 31 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 31 Graduation Paper grammatically necessary to use “please” but a person may sound rude if he/she doesn’t use it “Please” can be put in different places: at the start, end or before the verb For example : - Please can I borrow your car? - Can I please borrow your car? - Can I borrow your car, please? In addition, a more important way of showing politeness is the tone of intonation and voice Even if a person use the word “please”, he/she can sound rude if his/her pronunciation is not correct One characteristic difference from asking for permission in English is the word “có thể” (can, could, may, might…) used in Vietnamese It doesn’t mention different degrees and types of modality It just makes the permission more polite For example : Tôi giúp cho bạn? (May I help you?) Furthermore, it’s interesting to note that, on the semantic level, the word “xin phép” is used not only to ask for permission but also to convey the meaning of saying goodbye The expressions containing the word “xin phép” are employed to ask for permission from the authority, elder and superior For example : Em xin phép thầy cho em ạ? (May I go out?) In other cases, Vietnamese people want to show the courtesy and respect when saying goodbye Therefore, they use expressions like this: For example : - Xin phép bác (It means: chào bác về.) - Xin phép người trước (It means: chào người về.) They are not expressions of asking for permission Surprisingly, they are greetings People often say these expressions with a smile or nod When it comes to giving permission, Vietnamese people express a preference for these words or expressions: “Ừ, được, mà, không đâu, lấy đi, làm đi, tự nhiên…” 32 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 32 Graduation Paper More interestingly, they also have the habit of adding the words including particles which express attitude and feeling toward the addressee:” dạ, vâng, ạ, ờ, ừa…” Ex: Dạ, ạ! In Vietnamese culture, people are willing to avoid unpleasantness by giving permission although they don’t want This contradiction can lead to great misunderstandings Therefore, “Yes” may not mean “Yes” When Vietnamese people say: “No problem”, it can mean “Yes, there is a problem” In this case, double and even triple check should be kept to maintain social rapport It’s clear that the English and the Vietnamese pay regard to the custom of asking for permission They consider the choice of expressions very carefully The way English people and Vietnamese people employ asking permission speech act is influenced by two factors: power relations (social status or age) and relationship (close, normal or distant) between interlocutors However, the characteristic feature which makes English different from Vietnamese is the use of modal verbs They are used to ask for permission with different degrees and types of modality Meanwhile, Vietnamese people have a habit of adding the particles “dạ, ừ, ạ, ” to the expressions of asking and giving permission to show respect, courtesy or intimacy One another difference between Vietnamese culture and English culture which affects the use of language is that Vietnamese people rarely refuse permission They don’t want to create unpleasant and threatening atmosphere during conversation Sometime, they give permission to maintain social rapport and satisfy the addresser’s positive face To some extent, this should be avoided because it can cause great misunderstandings 3.2 Some factors help to determine the strategies Language is a universal means of communication which helps people to express the idea, their wish, their desire Despite the fact that each culture 33 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 33 Graduation Paper has its own language, the act of saving face when communicating is of universal value though it is often performed in different ways When doing this paper, the writer has done collected some data through some questionnaires, interview and observation By analyzing those, some facts have been found on the ways of asking for permission in Vietnamese as well as in English These depend much on the status of speakers and the urgency of the business 3.2.1 When the speaker is at a lower status When asking for permission, speakers of lower status often employ very formal ways of asking though in some cases it is done in neutral ways but not informal For example: Dad, could you please help me with this mathematic problem? Or I wonder if you could help me with this mathematic problem? Or can you help me with this math problem? In this case, the status or position of speaker is important but one aspect that affects the act of face-saving is the urgency of the topic in discussion It is the same as in Vietnamese when speaker of lower status For example: Chú làm ơn cho cháu nhờ đoạn không ạ? Or Bố cho nhờ đến trường nhé? 3.2.2 When the speaker is at an equal status In a conversation between two speakers of the same status, the ways of face-saving tend to be mild and speakers often use the neutral ways to ask for permission For example: Can I have a look at your newspaper? Or I open the window, ok? However, thing goes formally if the business in question is more urgent 34 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 34 Graduation Paper May I use your computer for a while? Or I wonder if I can use your computer for a while? The situation is also the same in Vietnamese when speakers of the same position talking with each other Cậu cho tớ mượn máy tính lúc không? Or Tớ trước cậu nhé? But might turn into : Cảm phiền cậu cho tớ dùng máy tính cậu lúc nhé? Or Tớ phân vân liệu tớ trước cậu không? 3.2.3 When the speaker is at a higher status In a conversation when speakers are at a higher status, both English and Vietnamese people employ the neutral ways to ask for permission It is quite understandable that when they think face-saving is not of much value It is because they are of higher status and perhaps they have the power or right to ask in such ways However, it does not mean that they want to exert their right or to lose the face of the hearers “I want to have a look at your newspaper” does not sound a natural way to ask for permission In this case, it might be : “ may I have a look at your newspaper” In Vietnamese, if the speaker wants to the same, he or she might add “ nhé, nha ” Tớ xem qua tờ báo cậu nhé? Or Tớ xem nhờ tờ báo cậu? The act of asking for permission, in both English and Vietnamese, is like the act of asking for help; it is often performed in a formal ways and it depends much on the urgency of the business 3.3 Summary 35 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 35 Graduation Paper In conclusion, “Language is a system of signs that is seen as having itself a cultural value” (Kramsch, & Widdowson, 1998, p 3) Vietnamese culture is quite different from English culture That’s why the way people ask for permission and give permission are not similar., however, in some cases, it has the same value for both PART C CONCLUSION Recapitulation In daily life, whenever a person wants to something or uses something that belongs to another person, it’s important to ask for permission It is because asking for permission shows his/ her respect for others and increases the chances that his/her request will be granted However, the expressions of asking for permission are differently expressed by different people in different cultures The speech acts of asking for permission is indeed confusing and complicated Therefore, the addressers should pay much attention to the asking for permission expressions so as to make a polite permission that will be granted by the authority and avoid creating a permission which will be assumed as joking, rudeness or sarcasm In this paper, some unique factors involving in the way to ask for permission from others have been investigated and discussed They are: ethnic difference, gender difference, situation difference or social status difference There is no doubt at all that “The way people ask for permission, to greater extent, is affected by the situation in which asking for permission is expressed different cultural background of the speakers.” (Soehartono & Sianne, 2003) Actually, according to Samovar and Porter, the notion that is deeply rooted in the English speaking culture is individualism (2000, p.67) 36 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 36 Graduation Paper One of the characteristic of individualism is that people in English speaking culture, especially the American believed all people have personal privacy For instance, anybody mustn’t step into another’s house without permission Nobody has the right to read any other’s letter even parents mustn’t read their children’s private letters That is the reason why people should ask for permission regardless of age, social status and relationship People will be punished if they infringe upon any other’s personal privacy with the motivation of curiosity, profit or malice It is because personal privacy is respected highly and protected by law in these countries Similarity, the Vietnamese also highly regard asking for permission In the past, Vietnamese ancestors create many valuable folk – songs, proverbs in order to teach posterity how to behave well, establish and maintain social rapports For example: “Học ăn, học nói, học gói, học mở” or “Đi thưa trình” It is a universal truth that the way to ask for permission is not the same in all cultures and all languages; however, the act of face saving might have some thing in common in both English and Vietnamese Suggestions for leaners of English When it comes to learning a second language, one of the problems learners have to face with is the influence of the first language and culture on the second language use As a consequence of this, learners are not confident when communicating or even cause pragmalinguistic and socio-pragmatic failure To overcome the above difficulties, the writer would like to discuss some implications for language learning based on contrastive analysis between Vietnamese and English ways of asking for permission Firstly, learners’ awareness of culture similarities and differences between patterns of asking and giving permission in English culture and Vietnamese culture should be enhanced By combining many suitable ways to 37 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 37 Graduation Paper help learners understand the conflicting patterns Learners must be well aware of the influence of the culture on language to avoid communication breakdown or offence and converse with native speakers of English successfully Secondly, learners’ sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic competence will be much improved when more practice and coping with daily life conversation are performed , especially options for asking and giving permission to satisfy the requirements of everyday interaction Finally, more communicative opportunities should be sought for learners to practice asking and giving permission in English Through role play, interview, dialogue, survey,… learners have chance to use the expressions they have learnt in real situations Significantly, they know how to choose suitable expressions in different situations Thanks to that, learners are able to engage in successful communication with native speakers Last but not least, practice makes perfect, learners of English will have a good command of the language though their effort to practise daily To sum up, the paper has explored some similarities and differences between the ways to ask for permission in English and Vietnamese as well as suggesting some ways for the learners to better their English However, due to time limit and the frame of the paper, others aspects, such as, ethnic minority, gender that affect the way to ask for permission cannot be discussed 38 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 38 Graduation Paper REFERENCES In English 1.Austin J.L (1962), How to things with words, CUP, London- OxfordNew york Brown P., Levinson S (1987), Politeness some universals in language usage, CUP 3.Brown P., Yule G (1989), Discourse Analysis, CUP 4.Hymes D (1966), Language in culture and society, Haprper international Edition 5.Hymes D (1972), Socio linguistics, CUP 6.Kramsch C (1998), Language and culture, Oxford University Press 7.Lakoff G (1977), What can you with words, politeness, pragmatics and performatives, In Roger, Andy, Wall, Bob and Murphy, John (eds.), Proceddings of the Taxas Conference 8.Leech G W (1983), Principles of Pragmatics, London and New York, Longman 9.Levinson S C (1983), Pragmatics, Cambridge University Press 10 Richard J C., Platt J., Webber H (1992) Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Oxford: Longman 11 Samovar & Porter( 2000) Cross-cultural Pragmatics: The Semantics of Human Interaction Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter 12 Soehartono& Sianne, (2003) Language grammar and communication, MC Grow- Hill, Inc 13 Yule G (1996), Pragmatics, OUP 14 Yule G ( 1997), Pragmatics, OUP 15 Soehartono & Sianne, (2003) A Study of asking for permision expressions produced by the Chinese and Javanese students of SMU Kristen Petra 3, Surabaya 39 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 39 Graduation Paper In Vietnamese 1.Nguyen Quang ( 2002), Giao tiếp giao tiếp văn hoá, ĐHQG Hà Nội 2.Nguyen Quang ( 2003), Giao tiếp giao tiếp văn hoá, Nxb ĐHQG Hà Nội To Ngo Tat (2002), Tat den 40 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 40 [...]... findings 3.1 3.1.1 Structures of asking politely for permission in English and Vietnamese Structures of English ways of asking for permission As discussed above, asking for permission is a part of daily communication and it is often performed in many ways The ways which the English employed depend on the situation, the hearers and the urgency However, asking for permission is normally an act of asking. .. ASKING FOR PERMISSION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE Asking for permission is something commonly heard in humun daily life In terms of linguistics and pragmatics, it is a speech act that can be broken into different kinds 2.1 Written and verbal asking permission Asking for permission is a speech act, a way of communication; therefore, it also has the characteristics of communication ways, that is, written and. .. Phiền cô cho cháu đi qua chút ạ? 3.1.3 The similarities and the differences between asking for permission in English and Vietnamese Vietnamese and English ways of asking and giving permission to draw out some similarities and differences in terms of syntactic and semantic formulas and meet the requirements of language teaching and learning In English language, the most familiar syntactic patterns are:... expressions of asking for permission are differently expressed by different people in different cultures The speech acts of asking for permission is indeed confusing and complicated Therefore, the addressers should pay much attention to the asking for permission expressions so as to make a polite permission that will be granted by the authority and avoid creating a permission which will be assumed as joking,... có phiền bác không ạ ? Tôi muốn xin nghỉ một ngày có được không ạ? 2.3 Formal and informal way of asking permission As it is discussed above, asking for permission is a part of human daily communication and it is often performed in two channels: formal and informal The messages which are circulating on regulated, preset channels, of an organization are creating the formal communication The content... something or uses something that belongs to another person, it’s important to ask for permission It is because asking for permission shows his/ her respect for others and increases the chances that his/her request will be granted However, the expressions of asking for permission are differently expressed by different people in different cultures The speech acts of asking for permission is indeed confusing... of uttering the sentence (Yule, 1996) In the book How to Do Things with Words, Austin indicates that to perform a locutionary act we shall perform such an act as: ' 'asking or answering a question, giving some information or an assurance or a warning, announcing a verdict or an intention, pronouncing sentence, making an appointment or an appeal or a criticism, making an identification or giving a description,... force of an utterance Generally, we also perform illocutionary acts such as informing, advising, offer, promise, etc in engaging in locutionary By dint of controversial force associated with it in uttering a sentence Perlocutionary act is what we bring about or achieve by saying something, such as convincing, persuading, or deterring Perlocutionary acts are performed only on the assumption that the hearer... system of interpersonal relations designed to faliciate interaction by minimizing the potential for conflict and confrontation inherent in all human interchange” Leech (1983: 104) interprets politeness as forms of behavior aimed at creating and maintaining harmonious interactions According to Nguyen Quang (2005: 185), “Politeness refers to any communicative act (verbal and/ or non-verbal) which is intentionally... the first meaning to discuss permission speech act which makes up a high proportion in every interaction So, asking for permission is the act of wanting to know whether a person can do something or use something or not 23 Nguyen Thi Anh Linh - K18A1 - Course 2011 - 2015 23 Graduation Paper Ex: Can I use your bike? In Vietnamese dictionary (2010), the definition of asking for permission (xin phép) is ... speech acts of asking for permissions in English and Vietnamese Asking for permissions in English and Vietnamese shares some certain similarities, but has differences, too Vietnamese and English speakers... following specific objectives: (i)Pointing out the similarities between asking for permission in English and Vietnamese (ii) Pointing out the differences between asking permission in English and Vietnamese. .. chapter will discuss written and verbal asking permission; direct and indirect way of asking permission; formal and informal way of asking permission Chapter 3: Findings and discussions : this chapter