A vietnamese english cross cultural study on gestures for greeting

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH CODE: 10 GRADUATION THESIS B.A DEGREE IN ENGLISH STUDY A VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH CROSS CULTURAL STUDY ON GESTURES FOR GREETING Supervisor : Assoc.Prof.Dr.Phan Van Que Student : Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan Date of birth : 19/03/1993 Course : K18A4 (2011-2015) HANOI-2015 Graduation paper DECLARATION Title: A Vietnamese-English cross cultural study on gestures for greeting I certify that no part of the above report has been copied or reproduced by me 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 Supervisor signature Signature Full name Full name Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) Graduation paper ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I have to thank my research supervisors, Mr.Phan Van Que,Assoc.Prof.Dr Without his assistance and dedicated involvement in every step throughout the process, this paper would have never been accomplished Special thanks are given to the management board of English Department who created good environment for students to study during four years at Hanoi Open University During the period of these months,many friends are helpful to color my life.I have to acknowledge all my classmates in class K18SP and friends in faculty of English for their assistances in many aspects that I cannot list them all because of limited space.We often discuss how to improve the qualities of my papers on the internet at night.However,the effect is not significant Last but not the least important,I owe more than thanks to my family members which includes my parents and my elder brother,my younger sister,my sister-in-law and my niece,for their financial support and encouragement throughout my life.Without their support,it is impossible to finish my college and graduate seamlessly Hanoi,May 2015 Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) Graduation paper TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study 2 Research questions Scope of the study Design of the study: PART B:DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Communication and cross-cultural communication 1.1.1 Communication and nonverbal communication 1.1.2 Nonverbal communicative competence 1.1.3 Cross-cultural communication 1.2 Gestures 1.2.1 Gestures defined 1.2.2 Gestures classified 1.2.3 Gestures across cultures 11 Chapter 2: GREETING GESTURES 14 2.1 Greeting 14 2.2 Greeting gestures across cultures 14 2.2.1 Dead gestures 14 2.2.2 Contemporary greeting gestures 16 Chapter 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 26 3.1 Greeting gestures as perceived by the Vietnamese informants 26 3.1.1 Data analysis of greeting gestures 26 3.1.2 Considerations of factors affecting greeting gestures (table 5) 30 3.1.3 Data analysis of handshaking gesture 31 Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) Graduation paper 3.2.1 Data analysis of greeting gestures (see table 6) 34 3.2.2.Considerations of factors affecting greeting gestures (table 8) 39 3.2.3.Data analysis of handshaking gesture 39 3.3.Major cross-cultural similarities and differences 40 PART C CONCLUSION 42 REFERENCES 43 Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) Graduation paper LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Informants’ background Table 2: The use of greeting gestures Table 3:The most greeting gestures used by the Vietnamese Table 3: Frequencyof greeting gestures in use (Vietnamese subjects) Table 4: The most greeting gestures used by English native speakers Table 5: Factors affecting gestures of greeting (Vietnamese subjects) Table 6: The most greeting gestures used by the Vietnamese and English native speakers Table 7: Greeting gestures in term of frequency (English native subjects) Table 8: Factors affecting greeting gestures (Vietnamese and Anglicist subjects) Table 9: The most greeting gestures used by the Vietnamese and English native speakers Table 10: Factors affecting greeting gestures (Vietnamese and Anglicist subjects) Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Nowadays, English is becoming more and more popular in the world People use English as a means to connect between this country among others not only in communication but also in bussiness, policy and social activities Because of that, Vietnam is one of the countries which is influenced strongly by English as well In Vietnam, English plays an important role in all fields, one of them is education People at different ages learn English with the aim to communicate with everyone in the world especially have a good job What is mentioning is that almost English learners focus on learning grammar, lexicology, sentence structures, word buiding and the ways to use words Athough the factors are really important, most of English learners and people who use English are disregarded They are cultural aspects of language in communication In fact, speaking is not only way to interact with other people In communication, gesture, posture and eye contact also express what people want to say Athough we often use them, we still not recognize its role during conversation Thank to them, the listener is easier to understand the speaker.Gestures used for greeting,in particular,play an important part in communication in that they help to establish and maintain relationship in an initial meeting To learn any language, we have to research its culture, so the communication activities of each nation reflect surface of the nation That is barrier for learners to succeed in learing English Practically, be good at grammar, lexicology is not enough, we still misunderstand what the speaker want to express and sometimes lead to situations we can not solve by myself To improve learners’ communicative competence, to help them communicate effectively in initial meetings and avoid culture shock in cross- cultural communication “A Vietnamese-English Cross-Cultural Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) Study on Gestures for Greeting” is chosen as the topic for my study Aims of the study To help English learners improve their speaking skill as well as establish conversations in meeting.I did research and want to show them the important aspects in communication especially effects of gestures in meeting In addition,I will produce some illustrations which helps English learners react better in any situation With the aims to help learners be able to establish conversations naturally and use it native styles.This may help people avoid the misunderstanding and culture shock in English and Vietnamese cross-cultural communication and then enhance the effectiveness in communicative activities.Thanks to that,many advantages could be brought into our social life Research questions • what is the greeting gestures commonly used by English native speakers? • what is the greeting gestures commonly used by Vietnamese? • what is potential areas of culture shock in nonverbal greetings? Scope of the study Gesture is a large aspect of nonverbal communication According to its functions it is divided into such categories as Greeting/ Parting, Approval/ Disapproval, Offensive and Profane In this study, attention will be focused on some gestures for greeting, which are commonly used in initial meetings They are handshaking, nodding, waving, hugging, high-5, patting on one's shoulder/ back, bowing,and raising eyebrows Of the eight gestures, priority is given to handshaking as it is most frequently resorted to in all cases while we carry out the survey and analyze the data Smile is also a very popular gesture of greeting, however, due to the limitation of a minor thesis, it is not Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) mentioned in the paper.Besides,major similarities and differences between the English and Vietnamese native speakers when performing gestures will also be highlighted and analyzed in great detail to avoid misinterpretations, misunderstandings and culture shock in Cross – Cultural Communication and help to perform an effective communication as well Methods of the study To achieve the aims as stated,a linguistic contrative analysis is carried out through the study Conclusions are based on the analysis of statistics and references The major approaches are: - References - Survey questionnaires - Discussion with foreigners,oversea students,visitors,employees from foreign companies,… - Personal observation Particularly,I made survey questionnaires based on conversation with 40 Vietnamese ( 30 males,10 females ) and 40 English native speakers ( 30:10 the number of people are same to Vietnamese) The survey’s questionares in both English and Vietnamese and consist of seven questions but six of which the informants were requested to tick (X) if they think it’s appropriate to use greeting gestures eight common gestures are given: handshaking, waving, high-five, hugging, patting on shoulder / back, nodding,bowing and raising eyebrows In addition, the informants were asked to tick the parameters chosen among age, gender, occupation, marital status, social status, length of time they have known each other, and environment, which they generally take into consideration when greeting someone and ranking them in a level scale of importance Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) The informants were also required to show their own greeting gestures when meeting people of old age, same age and young age; same sex and different sex; higher, equal and lower status; in different contexts Of 40 questionares delivered to the Vietnamese who live in the North of Vietnam,40 questionnaires to the English native speakers who are visitors,oversea students, teachers,… from England,Canada,America and Australia but they are now living,travelling and working in Hanoi,Viet nam.These people were randomly chosen when I guided them travelling or met them at HOU or at “foreign street” in the Old quarter of Hanoi It is sure that the background of informants were asked for analysis of the data like:nationality,age,sex,occupation,marital tatus,personality,… I have table 1:informants’ background Informats’ paramaters Vietnamese (N=40) Male Female (N=30) (N=10) Informants below 20 Informants from 20 to 40 21 Informants above 40 Informants who are married 10 Informants who are single 20 Informants who live in city 27 Informants who live in the country Anglicist (N=40) Male (N=30) 15 14 21 23 Female (N=10) 5 Finally,The result of process is statistics listed on Appendices Design of the study: Our paper is devided into three parts Part A is Introduction which provides an overview introduction about the rationable, aims, scope, methods and design of the study The second one is part B, Development, which Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 100 90 80 70 60 50 male 40 female 30 20 to 40 20 above 40 10 Chart 3:Factors affecting gestures of greeting (Vietnamese subject) Table indicates that the greatest important factor is age.Age is used about 98% while other factors like length of time (63%), gender (52%), environment (48%), social status (46%) are taken into consideration.The small proportion of occupation (20%) implies that these are not important factors.Some informants state that they not apprecate occupation.Others factors like kinship and culture only account for 5% 3.1.3 Data analysis of handshaking gesture According to the statistics,of the eight analyzed gestures above,handshaking is perhaps the most widely recognised of greetings worldwide, in both Western and non-Western societies.To get a better view on this gesture,we have decided to investigate how people shake hands in certain communicative situations.The matter is looked into two parts:in terms of communicating partners’ parameters and in terms of informants’ parameters In terms of informants’ parameters Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 31 The different way of grasping interactant's hand(s) and length of handshaking time occurs between males and females It is evident that male informants generally seem to have more firm and lingering handshakes than female informants (51.5% vs 41.2%, 18.2% vs 11.8%), and males most resort to pumped handshake, while shaking ( e.g 21.2% vs 5.9%) However, there is surprisingly contrary rate when females meet their close friends, or people of kinship ( e.g 76.5% vs 66.7%, 76.5% vs 45.5%) The females' dominance of lingering, and tight handshake over the males' shows that they appear more open, friendly and sincere in such cases Another striking difference is that a more prevailing rate of no handshake goes to females than males except for the cases of close acquaintance (e.g 58.5% vs 42.4%, 29.4% vs 6.1%) In terms of age parameters,informants under 40 more resort to weak and quick handshakes even when they meet their close friend, compared to those above 40 (e.g 3.7% vs 0%, 7.4% vs 0%) They also tend to pump the interactant's hand in most cases while informants above 40 are hardly found pumping while shaking Another noticeable difference is that the younger prevail over the older in the rate of no handshaking (e.g 22.2% vs 8.7%, 51.9%vs 39.1%), which indicates the older appear more formal than the younger In terms of communicating partners’ parameters While meeting a close friend most of the Vietnamese informants use a one-handed shaking (70%), while a few of them use two hands to shake Besides, many of them shake hands so firmly/ tightly (70%) and over a half of them linger his/ her hand for long (56%) This behavior indicates sincerity and intimacy between friends 40% of the informants also pump the partner's hand more than three and four times as a sign of friendliness and pleasure to meet friends On the contrary, to the person they dislike they prefer no handshaking (48%) or a loose and quick handshake (38%) No informants use lingering or two-handed shaking to greet the one they dislike They not use Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 32 two hands to shake to greet colleagues of the same age, or acquaintance of years younger, either Another noticeable feature is that being different from colleagues of the same sex Vietnamese colleagues of opposite sex tend to have a weak and quick handshake while greeting, instead of a firm and lingering handshake (18% vs 48%) As the Vietnamese consider gender as a crucial factor, especially in term of touching behaviors Age (as mentioned in 3.1.2) is the most important factor which has influence on imposing the way of handshaking as a gesture of greeting It can easily be seen that to people of 10 years older, no matter who s/he is, two-handed shaking is the preference chosen by most to show their respect (50% to close relative, 64% to acquaintance, 80% to boss) If they use one hand, it should be a firm/ tight handshake( 56%) The minor proportions of pumped handshake (2%), weak/ loose handshake(6%) and quick handshake (4%) indicate that these ways of shaking hands are inappropriate to greet someone much higher in age Social status also considerably affects handshaking form That can explain the difference between the rates of people of the same age but higher in post doing two-handed shake (64%vs 80%) Among people of kinship no handshake is preferable (above 50%) Instead of handshaking, they often take a slight bow to the old, pat on the back/ shoulder, or nod the head and smile while meeting someone of the same or younger age, etc If they want to shake hands, a tight, lingering, one or two- handed shake is popular Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 33 3.2 Greeting gestures as perceived by English speaking informants 3.2.1 Data analysis of greeting gestures (see table 6) Chart 4: The most greeting gestures used by English native speakers As seen from chart 4,of gesture used most,handshaking obviously ranks st (86%),followed by waving (60%), and hugging (46%).Nodding which accounts for 34% ranks 4th in the table.More particularly,females and the older actually shake and wave hands more than males and the younger (88.2 % vs 84.8%, 70.6% vs 54.5% in gender, and 90.0% vs 83.3%, 70.0% vs 53.3% in age, respectively) In contrast, higher percentages of high-5, nodding, patting on back/ shoulder and raising eyebrows are employed by male informants ( 15.2% vs 11.8%, 39.4% vs 23.5%, 30.3% vs 23.5% and 9.1% vs 0%, respectively ) Another noticeable feature is that bowing is more used among females and the older, whereas high-5, which is known as a gesture of sport, becomes more common among males and the younger The gesture that females and the older far more outnumber males and the younger is hugging ( 76.5% vs 30.3% in gender and 70.0% vs 30.0 % in age, respectively) The almost double proportion of hugging implies that this Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 34 gesture is another preference of greeting for females and the older, only after handshaking Greeting gestures in terms of frequency (see table 7) Chart 5: Greeting gestures in terms of frequency (English speaking subjects) The data from chart indicate that of the eight gestures given, handshaking, waving and hugging by far more often used than the others.Though handshaking,as estimated above,is not mostly used,it is most often used:29% cases always shake hands, 51% it frequently and 20% sometimes shake hands.Thus handshaking ranged the first in the list of frequency.Waving and hugging occupy the second and the third places in the list of frequency.Nodding and patting on the back or shoulder are less used when 10% informants state that they never use nodding and 30% informants never use patting.Bowing,high-5 and raising eyebrows reported to be the informal gestures of greeting among males and the young,thus,are much less often used (only22% use bowing sometimes while 78% never use it, 2% use them frequently while 56% never use high-5 and 62% never rasing eyebrows while meeting others) Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 35 Greeting gestures in terms of age It is remarkable that age appears a considerably important factor affecting the use of greeting gestures For those who are 40 years older or of the same age,both male and female informants prefer shaking hands when meeting people of all ages.More particularly, the data show that people over 40 use it more than ones under 40 ( 95% vs 86.7%, 75% vs 46.7%, 65% vs 43.3% ) Besides it is more used for greeting people of older age than ones of the same age (88.2% vs 58.9% and 90.9% vs 60.6%).Waving, hugging, nodding and bowing are completely acceptable to greet the older people while high-5 and raising eyebrows are found inappropriate and used by no one Those are most commonly used by males under 40 only when meeting people of the same age or younger.It is indicated that, females above 40 prefer doing a bow, especially to greet the much older ( 11.8% vs 3.03% in gender and 10% vs 3.3% in age respectively) They also use hugging almost twice as much as males under 40 while meeting people of the same age and the younger ( 47.1% vs 24.2 %in gender and 40% vs 26.7 % in age ) Greeting gestures in terms of gender It can be seen that gender has great influence on the consideration of proper greeting gestures Among people of opposite sex,handshaking tend to decrease about the percentages (81% vs 45.5 % in gender and 63.3% vs 50%, 85% vs 55% in age, respectively) The same tendency is found with the proportion of high-5 The evident difference is that while hugging is not common between males (15.2%), but becomes more common between females (64.7%) or between people of opposite sex (48.5%) The same difference is discovered with the rate of patting on one's back/ shoulder Surprisingly, however, the proportion of bowing and nodding almost does not change ( 3.03 % vs 3.03%, 5.9% vs 5.9%) when greeting people of the same sex or opposite sex Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 36 Generally, there are differences in using such greeting gestures relating to touching behaviors as handshaking, patting, hugging and high-5 Except for hugging, which appears preferable to females of the same sex , and males of opposite sex, the rest most resort to males of the same sex Other gestures like nodding, waving and bowing are considered the neutral ones, thus, they seem to be used equally by both sexes Greeting gestures in terms of marital status M arital status is a less important factor than gender.There is also very little difference between the married and the single in using gestures for greeting.The propotion of handshaking,nodding,bowing and raising eyebrows raises and falls slightly.However,single people use hugging more common than married people (30.3% vs 27.3%, 52.9% vs 35.2% in gender, 36.7% vs 20.0% in age respectively).Besides,waving and patting on one’s back or shoulder are used more common by single males (37.3% vs 30.3%, 21.2% vs 18.2%).More particularly,high-5 and raising eyebrows are never used by the married when they use them to greet the young single males Greeting gestures in terms of social status Greeting gestures are seem to be distinguished by social status as it is taken into consideration by the Anglicist.Handshaking is considered a standard gesture so it is used by majority of the informants (93.9%-100%) to greet people of not only higher status,but also of equal and lower status.A small proportion of informants use waving (M 3.03% and F 17.6%),nodding (M 3.03% and F 11.8%) and bowing (M 3.03% and F 11.8%) as respectful gestures of greeting while meeting those of high status.It is not surprising to find that no one use high-5, patting on the back/shoulder and raising eyebrows while meeting people of higher status.They seem to be appropriate to those of equal and lower status.Hugging is only used by females (11.8%) and those 40 (10%) in this case Greeting gestures in terms of communicative environment Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 37 People seem to be more friendly and open in informal and very informal contexts, which means they use more waving, high-5, patting on interactant's back/ shoulder, and nod a head to his/her and less handshaking,and bowing in their responses This can be seen clearly from the data , for example,handshaking is used by males less common than females (M 87.9% and F 100%).Bowing is the next choices,especially when people meet each other in very formal communicative environment (e.g M 9.1%,F 17.6%).The percentage of waving used by males in very formal context is 0% but it rises to 39.4 % in informal and 33.3% in very informal contexts The striking difference is that an over ten times higher percentage of hugging is employed by people communicating in formal context than ones in informal and very informal contexts ( 33.3%, 39.4% vs 3.03%, 58.9%, 64.7% vs 5.9% in gender and 36.7%, 33.3% vs 3.3%, 60%, 70% vs 5.0% in age, respectively) In fact, hugging is a very popular gesture of greeting in Western cultures, especially among family members and friends Raising eyebrows is found uncommon even in informal contexts, and used only by males and those under 40.High-5 and patting on the back/shoulder are considered as impolite gestures,thus,people are not appropriate to be used in such formal contets Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 38 3.2.2.Considerations of factors affecting greeting gestures (table 8) Chart 6: Factors affecting greeting gestures (English subjects) As can be seen from chart 6,to most of the English informants age is of great importance,ranged the first (76%).Other factors such as length of time they have known each other (72%),gender (62%) and communicative (50%).The small proportion of social status and occupation (16%) are also taken into consideration.Some informants state that they not mention marital status in the list of importance because it only accounts for 10% 3.2.3.Data analysis of handshaking gesture In terms of communicating partners’ parameters The English native speakers prefer shaking hands in almost every greeting case.While meeting a close friend,a person higher in age or social status,they tend to have a tight handshake (e.g 62% , 66% vs 68%).Lingering handshake is used with twice higher percentage when they meet a close friend or a person of kinship such as brother,uncle,etc, (52% & 20%, 36% & 18%).Most of English informants use one hand while shaking,Only a few of them use two hands to shake (under and over 10%).They normally not shake hands with members in their family but hugging or waving instead Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 39 In terms of informants’ parameters There are differences in the way of grasping interactant’s hand and length of handshaking time among informants males and females.Males tend to shake hands more firmly and quickly than females (e.g 63.6% vs 58.8%, 27.3% vs 5.9%).In addition, while lingering and pumped handshake is most resorted to males, it is hardly found to females (15.2% vs 0%, 18.2% vs 0%) Another striking feature is that males' constant dominance of one-handed shake is almost over females' Though two-handed shake is not commonly used by the English, it is more used by females than males in case of meeting someone of close relationship (e.g 41.2% vs 15.2%, 23.5% vs 12.1%) Similarly, a more prevailing rate of no-handshake goes to females than to males, which is estimated eight out of tens cases ( e.g 23.5% vs 9.1%, 17.6% vs 3.03%), as hugging and waving are found another prefrences of theirs 3.3 Major cross-cultural similarities and differences It is found that a greeting gesture is common or applicable in one culture but quite unrelated or even unreasonable in another due to cultural-specific features although gestures of greeting generally exist in most societies.Therefore,there are certain similarities ans differences in the way Vietnamese and English native speakers use greeting gestures From the data analysis in 3.1 and 3.2, it is discovered that both Vietnamese and English native speakers consider age, length of time, gender, environment and social status in turn as the five most important factors affecting the use of greeting gestures while occupation and marital status are not paid attention to Furthermore, in Vietnamese and Anglicist cultures, handshaking is one of the most preferable gestures, which is used by males and females of any age in any communicative environment Nodding, and waving are also popular gestures, while patting and high-5 are generally uncommon in formal contexts or not chosen to greet people higher in age and social status Fortunately, these similarities bring about a good result that help Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 40 people from the two cultures more easily establish and maintain effective interactions However, the differences in using greeting gestures between the Vietnamese and English native speakers are still remarkable Firth (1972:1) claims that " greeting is the recognition of an encounter with another person as socially acceptable However this may not always be true; sometimes people greet each other just for the sake of diplomacy- even if one might not really recognize the other as acceptable to his / her own standards " (cited from Nguyen Phuong Suu, 1990: 29) To the Vietnamese, age and social status, in fact, play an extremely important part in their daily life, thus, these factors have a tremendous influence on what gestures are properly used and how As being more formal than Western people in communication, Vietnamese people tend to be more formal in using gestures To greet someone who is much higher in age or social status, the Vietnamese generally prefer a slight bow or a handshake with two hands to show their respect, whereas the Anglicist rarely use bowing but they would rather have a one-handed shake Nguyen Quang (Forthcoming) states that in Western cultures two-handed shake does not show as much respect as in Vietnamese culture, but intimacy, sincerity and deep emotion Therefore, the Westerners may two-handed shake even with those who are in much lower in age or social status To them there is no great difference in greeting someone higher in age or social status and a friend The difference is looked into when they know their partner quite well and get on with him/her In this case a hug is found the best preference In addition, gender is taken as an important factor in communication, generally and in greeting, particularly Because of different cultural norms, beliefs, and life styles there are differences in using greeting gestures in term of gender between Vietnamese and Western people Touching behaviors of greeting such as handshaking, patting on back/ shoulder, especially hugging, etc., on the one hand, seem to be more common to Vietnamese people of the Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 41 same sex, on the other hand appear more preferable to Western people of both sexes From the analyzed data, it can be concluded that the Vietnamese never or rarely use hugging as greeting gesture between males and females even when they are very close friends or close relatives (This might be considered as rude or even bring up some disgusting idea of sex) While it is completely acceptable and preferable in Western cultures as English native speakers consider gender less important than acquaintance In brief, hugging between people of opposite sex in Vietnamese culture seems to be a "taboo", whereas hugging between people of same sex in Western culture is sometimes disapproval as it brings up some homosexual idea This striking difference may cause misinterpretations, misunderstanding and lead to communication breakdown to anyone who takes no notice of it Furthermore, to Vietnamese people of opposite sex the ways of handshaking should be taken into consideration to avoid misinterpretations and misunderstandings For instance, when a man does shake hands with a woman, a gentle and quick handshake is considered appropriate If he pumps her hand many times and shakes it tightly, he may be seen impolite and rude If he lingers the hand of hers for long he may be found having disgusting idea of sex These differences between Vietnamese and English cultures obviously may result in misinterpretations, misunderstandings that can lead to communication breakdown in cross-cultural communication PART C CONCLUSION “First impression count”, no one can deny the role of first impression One of the factors contributing to this is greeting Greeting is not only just saying “hello” but also using gestures.Greetings gestures play a very Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 42 important role in human communication as the foundation to build a good future relationship Each country has its own greeting gestures which base on its own culture such as:age,gender,social status,length of time people know each other,communicative environment,ect.To Vietnamese people,age is ranged the first as the most important factor,followed by social status.While to the English native speakers,communicative environment and length of time are also considered as the strongly consideration beside the age factor.However,there are some different views on these factors affect of gestures when people greet each other The Vietnamese use nodding most, and in formal contexts, to someone higher in age and social status they prefer two-handed shaking and bowing The English, on the other hand, use onehanded shaking most, even to someone higher in age and social status; twohanded shake, bow are rarely used However, they normally use hugging in intimate situations with a close friend or someone of kinship Waving and patting on one's back/ shoulder are considered the neutral gestures and often used, too, while high-5, especially raising eyebrows are hardly used at all In conclusion, the study “ A Vietnamese-English cross-cultural study on gestures for greeting” is hoped to provide a whole look into the use of gestures for greeting by the Vietnamese and English native speakers.The similarities and differences are found to help people from the two cultures establish and maintain effective communication in initial meeting, and avoid misinterpretations, misunderstanding, or culture shock REFERENCES I Book references Althen,G.(1988) American Ways Intercultural Press,Inc.USA Andrea de Jorio ( Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 43 Axtell,R.E (1988:4) The Do’s and Taboos of Body Language around the world JohnWiley & Sons,Inc Carr, J.B (1989:78) Communicating and Relating.WCB Mc Graw-Hill Chip Rose (1996) Intercultural competence.Interpersonal Communication across Cultures.Harper Collins College Publishers Ekman,.P (1982).Culture Shock! Vietnam.Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company,Portland,Oregon Greetings Lesson" Hawaii.edu Retrieved 2011-01-27 Greetings in other cultures" Brucevanpatter.com Retrieved 2011-01-27 Hybells and Weaver II (1998:345).Communicating Effectively.Von Hoffmann Press,Inc 10.John Bulwer (1989) Cultural Anthropology.McGraw-Hill Higher Education 11.Knapp,M and Hall,J (1997:43).Nonverbal Communication in Human Interaction.Harcourt Brace College Publisher,Orlando,USA 12.Liz & John Soars: (1997).Communicating Effectively.Cambridge,CUP 13.Nguyen Quang (2000)Intercutural Communication.VNU-hanoi,College of Foreign languages 14.Nguyen Quang (2002) Giao Tiep va giao tiep giao thoa van hoa.NXB Dai hoc Quoc Gia Hanoi 15 Nguyen Quang (Forthcoming) Giao tiep phi ngon tu qua cac nen van hoa 16.Mehrabian & Wiener, (1960).Linguistics across Cultures.The University of Michigan Press 17 Richards (1992:157) Foundations of Nonverbal Communication Southern Illiois University Press 18 Richards et Al.(1992:64) Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics.Longman Group L.t.d 19 R.I.Birdwhistell (2000).The body in language.Cassell,London and New York Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 44 II Sources from internet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeting http://doc.edu.vn/tai-lieu/de-tai-mot-so-hinh-thuc-ma-con-nguoichao-hoi-nhau-56861/ http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/CommunicativeCompetence.htm http://tai-lieu.com/tai-lieu/luan-van-nhung-van-de-co-ban-cuangon-ngu-cu-chi-12730/ http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/CommunicativeCompetence.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-cultural_communication Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K18A4_(2011-2015) 45 [...]... content and how.Besides,she or he must pay much attention to cultural and cross- cultural factors so that misinterpretations,misunderstanding and communication breakdown.That is reason why the power of non-verbal communicative competence can not be underestimated 1.1.3 Cross- cultural communication Cross- cultural communication is a field of study that contains two definitions: “culture” and cross- cultural. .. attention,it is also grew to be a common greeting, calling attention to oneself as one approaches Hand waving is understood worldwide and used in a variety of situations and locals to greet others Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K1 8A4 _(2011-2015) 24 Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K1 8A4 _(2011-2015) 25 Chapter 3 DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS Greeting gestures, as far as concerned,play an important part in human communication as it helps... when parting or reuniting to show warmth and affection.The hug is described as the arms are wrapped around the torso of a companion,usually,the action is reciprocated.” (Amstrong,20003:16) Depending on culture, context and relationship ,a hug can indicate familiarity, love, affection, friendship, brotherhood or sympathy A hug can indicate support, comfort, and consolation, particularly where words are... LITERATURE REVIEW As named,this chapter will review the theories of communication and nonverbal communication in some researchers’ points of view.Various definitions about gestures as well as categories are illustrately introduced in this chapter 1.1 Communication and cross- cultural communication 1.1.1 Communication and nonverbal communication “we are great communication” Liz & John Soars:1997 Everyday,... to greet in Vietnamese culture.Thus,nodding and waving are best ways and perfect actions for all parners of both sexes Greeting gestures in terms of marital status Marital status has not much influence on the use of greeting gestures. The proportions of handshaking,waving or patting on the back/shoulder remains almost the same among the young and the old,males and females whether they are married or single.However,high-5... Oriental cultures,especially in Japan,South Korea,Thailand,India,Laos,… bowing is considered the formally standard and traditional greeting Japanese bow is an example Bowing in Japan is a way of saying "hello" , "goodbye" , "thank you" Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K1 8A4 _(2011-2015) 17 and even "I'm sorry" The dept of the bow and duration of the head is kept lowered is depending on the age of the person ,status... Eagleton "Indeed, some linguisticians hold that the potential obstacles Nguyen Thi Thanh Loan_K1 8A4 _(2011-2015) 6 to acts of verbal understanding are so many and diverse that it is a minor miracle that they take place at all" (Reason, Faith, and Revolution, 2009) Communication involves three components: verbal messages (the words we choose), paraverbal messages (how we say the words) and non-verbal... gestures are the use of movements (especially of the hands)to communicate familiar or prearranged signals.Sharing the same idea,Hybells and Weaver II (1988:345) claim that gestures are made up of hands and arm movements.However,some researchers argue that gestures are made up of not only hands,arms but also head and legs (Carr,1988:78) or gestures are movements of the body and face which communicate meaning... gestures are gestures which have existed in ancient times and which are not used or understandable today Like verbal language, the gesture has birth and death.This is mainly because there have been changes in social and industrial development and partly due to the extinction of ethnic minorities and some tribes For example, China is a country with many nationalities Among them, the 'Hanna' nationality,... others and the types of language that can be used for a particular occasion Nonverbal communicative competence is known as the ability to use nonverbal cues effectively.As mentioned above, only 7% of message is sent through words, with remaining 93% sent nonverbal expressions (Mehrabian and Weiner,8).,therefore ,a good communicator is supposed to know what nonverbal cues are appropriate to use,in which content