A contrastive analysis of refusing an offer in english and vietnamese

Based on literary works either published or uploaded in the internetand English speaking materials written by native speakers, this paperstudies refusals of offers to enhance the efficie

Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese

It’s really difficult to refuse someone when he or she offers yousomething or to do something, especially when you’re busy or you don’twant to do You want to refuse but you don’t know how to say let yourfriends or your listeners feel satisfied and contented Or when your bossoffers you a promotion but you feel you have no ability, how can yourefuse? I hope this paper will help students understand the differences ofrefusing an offer in Vietnamese and English to become more proficient intheir studying of English

Based on literary works either published or uploaded in the internetand English speaking materials written by native speakers, this paperstudies refusals of offers to enhance the efficiency of the teaching andlearning of this speech act in English and Vietnamese, create thetactfulness and flexibility in language use for both Vietnamese learners ofEnglish and English-speaking learners of Vietnamese with the maxim

declared in a Vietnamese proverb: “You don’t have to buy words, so don’t let them hurt the feeling of others.”

Moreover, investigating the politeness strategies of refusals andfinding the similarities and differences in two languages can help theVietnamese learners overcome the difficulties caused the interfere of twocultures when they face the sticky cases of refusing offers It also helps toenhance and improve language communicative competence ofVietnamese learners of English

Until now, there have been some works studying about refusals.

Nguyen Phuong Chi studied some ways of refusals: nonverbal like shaking the head, brushing something aside, having a dirty look… and verbal.

Pham Thi Van Quyen studied the refusals of requesting in Vietnamese incomparison with English basing on some available situations Nguyen ThiHai studied the refusals in conversations with actions “request”, “ask,

“beg”, “advice”, “invite”, “ thank”, “ compliment”, “ congratulate” …inVietnamese

In this paper, I will give some examples of the English andVietnamese refusals of offers in different situations In the whole paper, Ijust focus on verbal refusing an offer I include three types of offer refusals:direct, indirect, both direct and indirect Then I show some similarities aswell as differences in refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese Thefinal part of the paper, I will explain the pedagogical implications of thisfunction- refusing an offer

Refusing an offer I) Definition:

According to Vietnamese dictionary, refusal means you don’twant to accept the things you was given or offered (page 1036) Forexample, you refuse an offer, an invitation, a duty, ect In Oxford

Advanced dictionary, the noun refusal is an act of saying or showing

that you will do not give or accept something

Offer means an act of saying that you are willing to do somethingfor somebody or give something to somebody (Oxford dictionary, page1052)

Refusing an offer here means you are not willing or reject to dosomething when someone offers you to do It also means you don’taccept the offer help of someone

The communication strategies are affected by many factors,particularly Culture, especially face and politeness

II) Types:

In this paper, I use four situations for three main types of refusing

an offer in English and Vietnamese I take the examples from the study

by Ly Quy Khuong and Tran Thi Phuong Thao, 2004 Here are foursituations which I use to analyze how the listeners refuse:

Situation 1: You’re very busy Your colleague offers you to helphim You don’t have time to help him, how can you refuse him?

Situation 2: You bike is broken Your friend offers to help you totake it to bike repair store You don’t want to bother him or you don’twant to accept his help offer How can you refuse him?

Situation 3: You come to visit your friend’s house Your friendoffers you some cakes that you don’t want to eat How can you refuseher?

Situation 4: You have just moved to a new flat several days Youhave difficulty in unlocking the door Your neighbor offers to help you.You don’t want, how can you refuse?

After each example in one language, I use the parentheses toexplain the equivalent structures in another language

1) Refusing an offer directly

According to conversation theory, speech act was made appropriate

to termination of their own speech is direct speech act Consider thefollowing examples to see the differences between two languages easily

Some examples in Vietnamese refusals:

[1] Thôi Chuyện của mình thì tự giải quyết đi Tôi không

có rảnh rang ( No You should solve your problem by yourself I’m notfree)1 (situation 1)

[ 2] “ Thôi Về đi Xe của tôi chứ có phải xe của Bình

đâu?.” ( No Go away It’s my bike, not your bike, ok?) (situation2)

[3] Bánh này dở lắm Không ăn đâu ( This cake is bad Idon’t want to eat) (situation 3)

[4] Thôi khỏi Tôi không cần anh giúp ( No I don’t needyour help (situation 4)

Some examples of English:

[5] I can’t help you Don’t bother me ( tôi không giúp anh/chị đâu Đừng làm phiền tôi(situation 1)

[6] Go away ( làm ơn biến đi dùm đi) ( situation 2)[7] No, it’s awful ( Không, nó ghê quá) (situation 3)

1 The part in parentheses in this paper is the equivalent structure in other language.

[8] No go away ( không, đi đi) (Situation 4)From the example 1 to example 6, the listeners or offeredpeople refuse directly, bluntly and indelicately These ways ofresponse may hurl the informants’ feelings or make them beshocked However, the number of these sentences is not much.Khuong and Thao say that almost informants suppose the use ofdelicate, tactful and polite language still have more effect inrefusal strategies Considering these examples to understandmore:

[9] Phương à, xin lỗi Chắc tôi không giúp anh/ chị đượcrồi ( Sorry Phuong, Perhaps I can’t help you) (situation 1)

[ 10] “ Thôi Muộn rồi Bình về trước đi.” ( No It’s too late.

You should go home, Binh) (situation 2)

[11] Không Cảm ơn Mình không thích ăn loại bánh này (

No Thanks I don’t like this kind of cake) (situation 3)

[12] I’d really like to help you, but you see I’m so busy in

my project Sorry, I can’t help you ( Tôi thật sự rất muốn giúpanh/ chị Nhưng anh/ chị thấy rồi đó, tôi rất bận rộn làm kế hoạchcủa mình Xin lỗi, tôi không thể giúp anh/chị được.) (situation 1)

[13] No, it’s alright I can manage ( Không, được rồi Mình

có thể tự xoay sở.) (situation 2)

[14] No, Thank you ( Không, cảm ơn) (situation 3)Moreover, unlike native speakers of English, Vietnamesesometimes likes to use proverbs of philosophy in human life whenthey refuse directly:

Ex: Không cần anh giúp đâu Đèn nhà ai nấy sáng đi ( I don’t need your help Half the world not knows how the other half lives) (situation 4)

2) Refusing an offer indirectly:

Here are some responses to three situations indirectly inVietnamese and English:

In Vietnamese, we have some examples:

[15] Phương à, thât sự xin lỗi Dạo này tôi bận tập trungvào kế hoạch kinh doanh mới, sợ là tới hết năm nay cũng chưahết bận nữa David rất nhiệt tình, hay anh/ chị thử nhờ anh ấyxem (I’m really sorry, Phuong This time, I’m really busy toconcentrate on my new project.I’m afraid I’m going to be busyuntil the end of the year David is really ethusiatic, You can askhim to help you) (situation 1)

[16] Cảm ơn Binh, mình dắt bộ được mà …với lại đoạnnày chẳng có tiệm sửa xe đâu ( Thanks Binh, I can walk to take

it Moreover, there is no bike repair shop) (situation 2)

[17] Cảm ơn bạn Tôi ăn chưa quen loại bánh này.( Thanks I’m not familiar with eating this kind of cake) (situation3)

[18a] Cảm ơn anh Hôm qua tôi tự mở được Phiền anh, tôingại lắm ( thanks Yerterday I can open it I’m afraid of botheringyou” (Situation 4)

[18b] Chà, chà anh tốt quá nhưng em nghĩ em tự mởđược Cảm ơn anh nhiều ( You’re so kind but I think I can open

it Thank you very much” (situation 4)

In English, we have some examples for refusing the offer for 4above situations:

[19a] I’d like to help you, but I’m really busy in my new project.Sorry ( Tôi rất muốn giúp anh/chị nhưng tôi bận làm kế hoạch mới rồi.Thông cảm nha) (situation 1)

Or [19b] Sorry, I’m really busy this time ( Xin lỗi, dạo này tôi bậnlắm) (situation 1)

[20] I really appreciate your concern but I can solve this by myself.Thanks anyway ( Tôi đánh giá cao sự quan tâm của bạn nhưng tôi có thể

tự giải quyết Dù sao đi nữa cũng cảm ơn) (situation 2)

[21] Well Thanks, it look delicious But I’m really full Next time, I’lltry it ( Nhìn ngon quá nhưng mà tôi no quá Lần sau tôi sẽ cố gắng thử).(Situation 3)

[22] Oh, Thanks You’re so generous, but I’m familiar with it ( Bạnthật sự hào phóng làm sao, nhưng tôi quen với việc này rồi).(situation 4)

These involve the politeness strategy in language Politeness is apopular phenomenon to every society, every aspect of interaction Withoutpoliteness, life loses the good relationship between human to each other.Politeness is a culture issue which has the features of each community.Every society, every country has its own politeness principles However,evaluating which statement is true, how to speak politely, which level isformal is regulated by each specific culture

In reality, sometimes we can achieve the effect by using this speechact instead of using other speech act This is an indirect speech act.Indirect speech act strategies based on ability to express somethingindirectly and its contents are shown by the definition “Direct speech act”

(Searle, 1975) By refusing “No, I don’t want to lend you my money”, informant can say “Sorry, My mum hasn’t sent my money yet” to inform

that he doesn’t want to help his partner

There are many opinions in the use of direct or indirect speech act.Some authors say that brief and condensed way of indirect speaking willhelp to express the own personality of the speakers Moreover, it’s perhapsmore politely than direct way of speaking Consider two examples torealize the politeness in these utterances:

Khuong anh Thao( 2004) says that most of surveyed examples inVietnamese start with “gratitude” and give the explanations for theirrefusals or otherwise While English sentences often start with phrases

“You’re so kind”, “you’re a wonderful person…” or “I’m awfully sorry, but ”,then reasons or promise of accepting the offer in the future This ends withgratitude Besides that, interestingly, as I have mention above, Vietnamese

would like to use some sentences with “the philosophy of human life” that

are familiar with Vietnamese to response indirectly

For examples:

[23] Anh/ chị nhờ Advid thử coi vì “trong khốn khó mới biết bạn hiền” ( You can offer David to help you because “hard times show whether

a friend is a true friend” (Situation 1).

3) Refusing an offer both directly and indirectly:

The speakers can response the other’s offer by combining bothdirect and indirect speech act

Here are some responses for four situations above:

In Vietnamese:

[24] “Anh Phương à,Như đã giải thích hôm trước, tôi đang

có dự án cần hoàn thành gấp nên không thể giúp anh được Dù

không trực tiếp tham gia nhưng tôi có thể nhờ một người khác phụ giúp anh/chị” Dạo này anh khỏe không? ( Phuong, As I explained last time, I have had a project in emergency so I can’t help you Though I don’t take part in, I can have someone else to help you How have you been) (situation 1)

[25] Cảm ơn Bình rất nhiều Mà Bình về đi vì muộn lắm rồi.Mình tự dắt bộ được Với lại đoạn đường này không có tiệm sửa

xe đâu ( Thanks Binh You should go home because it’s too late

I can take it Moreover, there is no bike repair store here).(situation 2)

[26] Cảm ơn bạn Thật sự mình chưa quen ăn loại bánhnày Với lại mình còn no lắm Mình không ăn nữa đâu Lần saunhất định mình sẽ ăn thử ( thanks I’m not familiar with this kind

of cake I’m still full I can’t eat more I’ll try next time) (situation3)

[27] Cái cửa này hôm qua em mở được Chắc hôm nay sẽ

mở được Anh khỏi giúp em đi Không sao đâu Có gì em gọi anhsau Thôi cũng trễ rồi, anh về phòng ngủ đi Chúc anh ngủ ngon.( I can open it yesterday Today I can open You don’t need tohelp me Don’t worry for me I will call up you later It’s too late,you should return your room Good night.) ( situation 4)

In English:

[28] In fact, I’d like to help you, but I’m really busy in mynew project Sorry I can’t help you I think David can help you.( Tôi rất muốn giúp anh/chị nhưng tôi bận làm kế hoạch mới rồi.Xin lỗi, tôi không giúp anh/chị được Tôi nghĩ David giúp anh/chị được đó) (situation 1)

[29] No, thanks It’s too late now, you should go home Ireally appreciate your concern but I can solve it by myself Seeyou later ( thôi cảm ơn bạn trễ rồi bạn về đi Cảm ơn bạn đãquan tâm nhưng mình tư giải quyết được) (Situation 2)

[30] Thanks It looks delicious but I’m really full so I’ll have

to pass it ( Cảm on nhé Nhìn ngon quá nhưng mình no quá rồi.đành bỏ qua nó thôi.) (Situation 3)

[31] You’re so kind but I’m familiar with it You don’t need tohelp me I can manage it Thanks ever so much ( anh tốt quánhưng tôi đã quen với nó rồi không cần giúp tôi Tôi xoay sởđược cảm ơn nhiều nhé.) (Situation 4)

In example 23 and 27, we can find that these are not only the

refusals; they are also the greetings in everyday life.

III) The Contrast between English and Vietnamese in refusing offers:

Based on the above examples and the examples in the surveys ofKhuong and Thao (2007), Let see some differences in syntactic structure

by the following tables and also consider the word use

The structure of direct speech act:

In English :

Table 1

You don’t need to help me…

Table 2:

thank you, thanks ever so much

Table 3:

appreciation reasons Excuses/apology

I’d like to help you But I’m too busy to help

you

Sorry ( situation 1)

In Vietnamese:

Table 3:

Negative word Thanking

The structure of indirect speech act:

In English:

Table 4

Addressee terms Excuses/apology reasons

Phương à, Thành thật xin lỗi Tôi bận quá,

không giúp anh đượcrồi.( situation 1)

Thank you very much

I can manage it

But I can do it by myself

But I’m really full

Table 6

Positive appreciation Reasons/ explaining

why not accepting

Thank you very muchThanks a lots

Table 7:

Compliments/ exclamations Expressing the regrets

It looks delicious

Oh, What a pity!

But I’m really full I’ll try it next time.( situation 2)

I wish I didn’t eat anything before I come here.( situation 2)