A Vietnamese-English cross-cultural study on the use of responding to English greetings

Vietnam national university, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHÙNG THỊ ĐỨC A VIETNAMESE –ENGLISH CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON THE USE OF RESPONDING TO ENGLISH GREETINGS (Nghiên cứu Giao thoa Văn hoá Anh- Việt việc sử dụng lời đáp lại lời chào tiếng Anh) Minor Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 HANOI - 2010 Vietnam national university, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHÙNG THỊ ĐỨC A VIETNAMESE – ENGLISH CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON THE USE OF RESPONDING TO ENGLISH GREETINGS NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO VĂN HÓA ANH –VIỆT TRONG VIỆC SỬ DỤNG LỜI ĐÁP LẠI CÁC LỜI CHÀO CỦA TIẾNG ANH M.A Mino Programme Thesis Major: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: PHAN THỊ VÂN QUYÊN, MA HANOI - 2010 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS RETENTION OF THE STUDY PROJECT REPORT i ACKNOWLEGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii PART I: INTRODUCTION I Rationale II Aims of the study III Scope of the study IV Methodology V Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter One: Literature Review 1.1 Language in communication 1.2 Language and culture 1.3 Cross-cultural communication 1.4 Cross-cultural pragmatics 1.4.1 Speech acts 1.5 An overview of greetings in English and Vietnamese 12 1.5.1 Definition of greetings 12 1.5.2 Functions of greetings 12 1.5.3 Characteristics of greetings 13 1.5.3.1 Addressing forms in greetings 14 1.5.3.1.1 Addressing forms in Vietnamese greeting 14 1.5.3.1.2 Addressing forms in English greetings 15 1.5.4 Types of greetings 16 1.5.4.1.Greetings in passing 17 v 1.5.4.2.Greeting before a conversation 17 1.5.4.3 Greetings in Business 18 1.5.4.4 Greeting at a social event ( at a party) 19 1.5.4.5 Greetings in the classroom 20 1.6 Responding to a greeting in the light of Cross-Cultural Pragmatics 21 Chapter two: RESEARCH AND METHODOLODY 23 2.1 Hypotheses 23 2.2 Data collection 23 2.2.1 The questionnaire 23 1.2.2 The informants 24 Chapter three: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 25 3.1 Considerations when responding to greeting 25 3.2 The strategies of responding to greetings 26 3.2.1 Data analysis 26 3.2.3 Findings and results 37 3.2.4 Suggestion for using responses to greetings in English 40 PART III: CONCLUSION 42 APPENDIX I SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE I BIBLIOGRAPHY II PART I: INTRODUCTION I Rationale In recent years, English has become an international language used widely all over the world It is not only the language of communication and media but also the language of knowledge and culture Mastering English is considered an obligated condition for everyone in Vietnam and it is implied to be a “passport” for a good job because English serves their job and their promotion Therefore, people pay more and more attention to learning English They no longer grammar and translation exercises only but listening skill and speaking skill have been invested more time and better attention as well As a result, English has been learnt more properly and used more effectively However, in reality, Vietnamese learners of English often make mistakes in communicating with English speakers This is mostly caused by the effect of Vietnamese culture and the limitation of understanding about English culture One of the most important parts in almost every conversation is greeting which generally plays an important role in communication and functions as a start of a conversation or indentify the appearance of speakers or to express the respect to the listener In addition, greetings help to establish, maintain a relationship and facilitates the conversation Greeting is the first step of the communication The continual step is responding to the greeting, a decisive agent assuring the success of the communicating Thus, it is essential to take great interest in not only what and how we greet each other but also what and how we respond to greetings Although greetings and responses are, to some extent, formulaic, choosing a relevant response to a greeting is not an easy job In fact, many Vietnamese people failed to continue their conversation in English due to not only language ability but also understanding about the culture of target language, English In many cases, when being greeted by a foreigner, many English learners feel confused to find out a good and relevant response, some people cannot respond their partner’s greeting immediately Realizing the important role of responding to greetings, the author has chosen to study Vietnamese and English cross-cultural communication in term of responding to greetings with the expectation of finding out the similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English responses to greetings then suggest relevant responses to greetings in specific situations, which partly helps English learners in Vietnam have more confidence and achieve more success in communicating in English II Aims of the study The ultimate goal of this research is - to investigate the specific situations of responding the greetings among learners of English with certain variables (i.e age, gender, social hierarchy, etc.) - to provide readers general information about English and Vietnamese greetings and the way they reply a greeting in their own language - to compare and contrast replying strategies in English and Vietnamese in order to bring about the similarities and differences in the way Vietnamese and English people reply a greeting - Therefore, the research questions are:  What are the verbal strategies used by Vietnamese and English people to reply a greeting?  What are the similarities and differences in responding to greeting in English and Vietnamese? III Scope of the study - Although the role of paralinguistic and non-verbal factors in real-life communication is fully conscious, the study focuses on the verbal aspects of the act of replying a greeting only - The study is confined only to strategies of replying a greeting in Vietnamese and Anglophone culture The Vietnamese Northern dialect and the English language spoken in Great Britain are chosen for contrastive analysis - Conducting survey questionnaires enables the author to collect the data from a large population in a short period of time Recorded and videotaped face-to face conversations are impossible due to the limitation of time, geographical distance and financial difficulties IV Methodology In order to carry out this study theoretically, the author has based on careful studies and analysis of linguistic, semantic and pragmatic materials with the great support of my supervisor through her valuable remarks and comments as well as reference to both home and foreign publications Thus, in order to achieve the objectives of a crosscultural research, the main method of study is the qualitative and quantitative one The survey questionnaire is designed for Vietnamese people about their ways of replying greetings in their target language and English people about their ways of replying greetings in their mother tongue The survey was designed with different situations basing on the routines and daily conversations Their cultural and linguistic matters will be analyzed by the statistics, data, and description collected Besides, some comments and suggestions are also given by personal observations or consultation with the supervisor V Design of the study This study consists of three main parts Part I - Introduction- In this first part, all the theoretical background and academic routines are discussed In part B – Development focuses on the chapters In chapter I, cross-cultural and responding to a greeting are defined cultural pragmatics and replying a greeting are mentioned In this chapter, the author distinguishes the differences and the similarities between responding to greeting in English and Vietnamese In the next chapter, the research methodology is discussed with analysis and findings from the survey questionnaires conducted by the Vietnamese and English Part III is the conclusion of the study, here, the author summarize all the main ideas, the important findings as well as some suggestions PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter One: Literature Review 1.1 Language in communication In the history of human’s evolution, language is seen as the most amazing achievement because it creates the distinguishing between man and beast Since language has become a part of the development of man and his society, it is impossible to distance language from people Language includes a system of verbal forms of communication which conveys meaning by other means of human communication and a system of non-verbal cues such as body motions, facial expressions, etc According to Schmidt and Richard (91980:161), “language is to build bridges, to consolidate political regimes, to carry on arguments, to convey information from one person to another, to entertain and in short, to communicate” Hence, “language is a human system of communication which uses structured vocal sounds and can be embodied in other media such as writing, print and physical signs” (The Oxford Companion To The English Language 1996:523) Hybels,S and Weaver, R (1992) say “communication is any process in which people share information, ideas and feelings that involve not only the spoken and written words but also body language, personal mannerisms and style, the surrounding and things that add meaning to a message” In this sense, communication is considered a transactional process of creating and sharing meaning, through verbal and non-verbal behavior, between two or more persons In Malinowski’s words (in Hudson R.A 1980:109) “language functions as a link in concerted human activity, as a piece of human behavior” In this way, communication has “the phatic function” as communication is used not only for exchanging information but also establishing, reinforcing and maintaining a social relation to confirm each other’s presence In this sense, Verderber (1990:60) claimed uses of language Firstly, language is to designate, label and define thoughts, feelings, objects, people and experiences in order that they may be shared with other people Secondly, language is used to evaluate what it defines as language plays a role to control over the perceptions and behaviors of people Thirdly, we use language to discuss things outside our immediate experience Finally, we can use language to reflect on or to talk about language because it is self- reflexive Talking about the functions of communication, Verderber also defined three functions of communication i.e psychological function, social function and decision-making function In brief, it is difficult to distance language from communication Thanks to language, communication becomes more successful and effective In turn, communication helps language express all features and characteristics 1.2 Language and culture Language and culture are the two factors which are interrelated because people share not merely language but also culture Thus, “What is culture?” It is difficult to define this concept Culture normally refers to the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behavior, language, ideas, customs and so on However, culture is the way we act, the context in which we exist, think, feel and relate to others In Kottak’s words (1979:4) culture that complex whole which include knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society Another definition that is the most widely –cited by Goodenough (1992:217) A society’s culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members, and to so in any role that they accept for any one of themselves In this definition, culture is seen as a shared background (e.g national, ethic, religious) resulting from a common language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and values Therefore, culture is also absorbed through the socialization process Goodenough stated “the relation of language to culture is that of part to whole” and according to Goshgarian, “Language shapes our perception of reality” The socio-cultural context reflects the social and cultural practices of a community through language It is not difficult to interpret culture through language because language reflects cultural identity which people meet daily in their lives Additionally, thanks to language, cultural values and ideas, human culture would be persevered by generations to generations In its turn, culture has a great influence on the way in which language is used Culture itself navigates guidelines or practices for linguistic behavior To add this sense, William Frawley (1992:45) says: “Culture is the final arbiter of meaning, or linguistic meaning is entirely determined by the cultural context in which the language occurs” In Bromfit’s words (C.J et al: 1995), language is one of the most important symbol systems in any culture, thus, there is no surprise that language and culture should be taught and learned in the foreign or second language classrooms as learning a new language means learning a new culture 1.3 Cross-cultural communication Obviously, cultural components play an important role in conveying the message of communication People living in a cultural environment gradually learn the language, beliefs and behavior of the group in which they re nurtured They know and understand the manners which are acceptable in their society Thus, there is an understanding between those who share the same culture However, when people from different cultural backgrounds, cross-cultural communication occurs Jose, P (1992) states: Things happen as entities from different cultures directly and constantly communicate This, obviously, will lead to changes of the original patterns, or in other words, crosscultural communication is the exchange of cultures and also the results of these changes Sooner or later they will experience a period of curiosity, frustration, anger, alienation, depression and other such reactions that have come to be labeled “culture shock” It is the reaction of the person from his culture to the visitor’s behavior coming from other culture It seems that no matter how well a person has prepared himself, some degree of “shock” is inevitable and, some would say, necessary for better adjustment What is important is to recognize these feelings and to know how to respond to them (Condon and Yousef 1996) In order to cope with this problem, we should adopt openness, a receptive attitude towards other cultures, never see them as awkward or meaningless Mentioning what makes communication successful, Byram and Flemin (1998:12) stated “acquisition of abilities to understand different modes of thinking and living, as they are embodied in the language to be learnt, and to reconcile or mediate between different modes present in any specific interaction” 35 Among the strategies used by the respondents, “accepting” are used the most by both the Vietnamese and the British, which are 60% and 70% respectively However, the British may use “refusing” more than the Vietnamese with 40% “Accepting +greeting” which account for 15% is another difference made by the Vietnamese respondents when being asked to reply the offering Table 13: The percentage of those choosing the strategies to response greetings as an offering Responses British respondents Vietnamese respondents (20) (20) Accepting 12 (60%) 14 (70%) Accepting +greeting (0 %) (15%) Refusing (40%) (15%) (5) Greeting= reminding The data from survey show that respondents give various strategies to reply the reminding The first one as well as the most popular one is “thanking” which is used by 40% of the British respondents and 35% of the Vietnamese respondents It is interesting that both the British and the Vietnamese chose “greeting +thanking” as their second favorite response which is used by 20% of the Vietnamese and 20% of the British However, when being reminded about something, Vietnamese people can employ “complaining” to reply their partner’s greeting, sometimes they may thank those reminding them and ask a question which is not given by the British 36 Table 13: The strategies to response greetings as a reminding Reminding British respondents Vietnamese respondents Thanking Thanking Oh! Ow! Thanks! Thanks for warning Agreeing +promising Agreeing +promising Ok! I’ll come Yes! I’ll be there Agreeing + Thanking Agreeing + Thanking Yeah! Thank you I know! Thanks so much! Greeting + Thanking Greeting + Thanking Hi! Thanks so much! Hey! Thank you Agreeing +thanking + Thanking + Questioning Promising Thanks! Will you come? Ok! Thanks for reminding me I’ll be there Complaining Oh man! The table below demonstrates more the figures in percentage to give the reader a clear picture of the similarities and differences in responding a greeting in this kind of situation 37 Table 14: The percentage of those choosing the strategies to response greetings as a reminding Responses British respondents Vietnamese (20) respondents (20) Thanking 40% 35% Agreeing +promising 15% 5% Agreeing + Thanking 10% 10% Greeting + Thanking 20% 20% Thanking + Questioning 0% 15% Complaining 0% 15% Agreeing +thanking + 15% 0% Promising 3.2.3 Findings and results In this section, I shall present the findings from the data, contrasting the British and Vietnamese responses to greetings In considering similarities and differences, I shall relate the discussion to the hypotheses postulated in the previous part From the data analysis, it is easy to realize that for almost every situation given in the questionnaire, the Vietnamese respondents and the British respondents tent to have the similar strategies in responding to greetings The differences in giving strategies for each situation are caused by the difference in term of culture of Vietnamese people and British people  The similarities To reply formulaic greetings, the British and Vietnamese people have the same selection of responding to greetings for each greeting formulae 38 - in responding to a greeting, Vietnamese speakers are very likely to take into account the age of those greeting them and consider this factor as the most important in replying a greeting However, for Vietnamese respondents, the greeting itself is the second most important factor Like the British, The Vietnamese choose “thanking” to reply a greeting in form of a compliment, which shows the effect of the British culture on English learners  The differences - In responding to greetings, British speakers consider the length of acquaintance and the greeting itself as the most important factors Age, however, is another important factor but it is less important - Responding a greeting in the form of a compliment, the British respondents tent to accept it, which shows the effect of the culture to the selection of linguistics for the purpose In this study, denying or self-basement can be found in the utterance by the British respondents for example “But it’s not comfortable I like yours, indeed” - To reply the commenting on the weather, a familiar topic to the British, British respondents appears to express their agreeing to the comment, which is the most frequently The other important strategies which can be employed in this situation are agreeing then greeting their partner - The next comments are on the greeting in the form of a meal question This situation has shown some interesting findings in the British responses caused by the differences in cultural acquisition Some British speakers not consider this utterance as a greeting but a Yes- No question, thus, they utter “Yes, Yes, I am” or “Yes, of course” However, for those working and living in Vietnam for a long time give the right utterance for the meal question as a greeting Might this can be explained why no “answering question + greeting” strategy is employed by British respondents - The previous comments above may be true to the next situation, in which the respondent is greeted by an offering Thus, no one greets their partner or accepting and greeting as their Vietnamese partners 39 - “Thanking” is the most common strategies given by the British speakers in the last case in which a reminding is used as a greeting Besides, it is the strategy “Agreeing +thanking +Promising” that is different from Vietnamese respondents’ strategy - Vietnamese speakers tend to show their better understanding in reply the greetings which not consists of a greeting phrase like “Hello! Hi! or Good morning etc.” - The Vietnamese tend to generally employ more strategies in responding to greetings in almost every given situations in the survey - However, the data show that although Vietnamese people speaks English as their foreign language, Vietnamese respondents bring their own cultural features into their target languages This can be explained why when being complimented Vietnamese people tend to deny it and give a compliment back to their partners Many people even use “self-basement” to respond to the greeting - Commenting on the weather is not a new topic to Vietnamese speaker in daily small talks The Vietnamese usually express their agreeing to the comment The other strategy which can be used by the Vietnamese responses is agreeing then greeting their partner, similarly to the British responses - A meal question is one of the most popular greetings in Vietnamese However, this situation might cause misunderstanding for the British respondents but it is not a problem for the Vietnamese The data from the survey indicate that the Vietnamese informants tent to consider the question “Are you having lunch” as a greetings but not Yes- No question, thus, they reply “Hey!” or “Hi!” instead of an answer ““Yes, of course” However, the data also show that there are a few Vietnamese people affected by their target language in responding this kind of greeting As a result, they utter the “real answer” - The difference between the Vietnamese and the British in responding to the greeting as an offer is that Vietnamese people employ the strategy “accepting +greeting” This proves that in spite of learning and using English in their working place, Vietnamese people are under the consequences of their culture - Besides the similar strategies to respond a greeting as a reminding by the British informants, Vietnamese people employ “Thanking +questioning” and 40 “Complaining” in replying the same remind This can be interpreted that those using the two strategies may not see the reminding as a greeting, thus they express their feeling and fail to greet their partner, as expectedly 3.2.4 Suggestion for using responses to greetings in English From the results and the findings discussed above, there are some most common strategies used to respond to greetings in each situation As discussed in the previous part that there exist two kinds of greetings in English and Vietnamese, direct greeting and indirect greeting, thus, to reply these greetings, two ways to reply the greeting should be mentioned and categorized into the following items In addition, it is sure that there are more appropriate strategies to respond to indirect greetings  Formulaic greetings: This kind of greeting might require speakers to respond formulaically, depending on the greeting itself The table below demonstrates some of them The formulaic greetings Suggested responses - Good morning! - Good morning! - Good morning! How are - Fine Thanks And you? you?  - Hi! How are you? - I’m fine You too? - Hi, Bob! - Hi, Jon! - Hello, Robert! - Hello! - How is it going? - Pretty good! - How’s have you been? - Not bad! Indirect greetings: As discussed in Chapter 1, indirect greetings are various, however, this study focuses on some kinds of them i.e complimenting, commenting on the weather, questioning about the meal, offering and reminding This forms of greetings should be responded by the following strategies 41 Greetings Complimenting Strategies to respond the greetings Denying Greeting Denying+ back complimenting Accepting Accepting + Greeting Expressing doubt + accepting Commenting on the weather Greeting+ Requesting Offering Agreeing Agreeing + showing concern Back question Consolation Requesting Questioning about meal Answering question + greeting Answering question Answering question +inviting Answering question +offering Answering question + back question Answering question + explaining Offering Accepting Refusing Accepting +greeting Reminding Thanking Agreeing +promising Agreeing + Thanking Greeting + Thanking Thanking + Questioning Complaining Agreeing +thanking + Promising 42 PART III: CONCLUSION Responding to greetings generally plays an important role in communication in that it helps to maintain the conversation and it is also one of the factors to decide the success of communication Therefore, it is essential to take great interest in what and how we should respond to greetings, unfortunately, responding is piece of language which is not separable from the culture of that language The interrelationship between language and culture does it part in communication as it influence the language people use to communicate The responses to greetings, thus, is not an exception Although responses to greetings in English are generally formulaic, the routine responses to greetings might vary from one to another by the Vietnamese, who learn and speak English as their foreign language and the British, the native speaker of this language Vietnamese and British cultures are put in the same situation However, having their roots from different origins, different traditions developed in a different background of history and process o social evolution, the two cultures differ a great deal The cross-cultures differences have to lead to the differences in the use of language in general and in responding to greetings in particular The differences are found in the strategies of the responding to greetings itself When being complimented by someone, Vietnamese people tend to employ the strategy “denying” and “back-complimenting” while British people like to express their “thanking” to accept the compliment The differences between the Vietnamese and British in responding a greeting can also be found in the situation of greeting by asking a “meal question” A cross-culture study is done with a view to point out the strategies employed by the Vietnamese and the British in responding to English greetings Using the different strategies by the Vietnamese and the British demonstrates the influences of culture on the use of language, particularly on the way people respond to greetings The writer of this paper has also suggested some ideas for the avoidance of interferences The suggestions given are for the purpose of communication For the purpose of promoting mutual understanding in cross-cultural communication, the contrastive study of “Responding to greetings in English” presented here is only a modest contribution The author is fully aware that there are some important questions that remain 43 unanswered For example, the following dimensions of this speech behavior need further comprehensive study: - Intralinguistic factors in responding to greeting - Paralinguistic factors in responding to greeting such as rate, pitch, volume, vocal quality - Extralinguistic factor in responding to greeting like body language, The writer wishes she could have more chances to go into greater detail dealing with the differences not only with the questionnaire survey but also with a video observation The writer also wishes she could make personal and more convenient contact with the British community for a more thorough study After all, it is her hope that all her mistakes would be considered in an understanding and generous view I APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE This survey questionnaire is designed for the study “A Vietnamese – English Cross-Cultural Study on the Use of Responding to Greetings” only It is intended to investigate how Vietnamese and Anglicist people reply the greeting Your assistance in completing the questionnaire is highly appreciated Any information you give will be appreciated and will be treated confidentially in that you will not be identified Please tick ( ) where appropriate * Your age:  Below 20 * Gender: From 20 to 50  Male  Above 50   Female * Occupation: * Nationality: * Education: Secondary  Tertiary  Post- graduate  *Marital status: Single  Married  Other (please specify) ……… * Place where you have spent the longest of your time: Urban  Rural  * Foreign languages None  Bad  Good  What you generally take into consideration when reply a greeting in your language? (Please tick your choices) a Age  II b Sex  c Social status  d Occupation  e Marital status  f Length of acquaintance  g The greeting itself  h Situation  i Other (please specify)………………………………………… Which factor you consider the most important? Please number the factors above in order of importance 01 is the most important If it is of no importance, please make a cross (X) a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h  i  Please write your reply to the greeting in each situation below: Situation 1: You are in the campus, someone passes you and greets you: (i) “ Hey, John!” (ii) “How’s it goin?” (iii) “Too sick of weather!” (iv) “Nice hair-cut!” (v) “Hey! A meeting at 10 tomorrow!” III Situation 2: You are in the canteen and having lunch Someone comes and greets you: (i) “Hi! How are you?” (ii) Hi! (iii) Are you having lunch? (iv) How are things? (v) What’s new? Situation 3: You are at a birthday party, someone comes and greets you: (i) Nice tie! (ii) Coffee? (iii) Oh! What a wonderful place! Situation 4: You are in the business meeting at work Someone comes and greets you (i) Good morning, Dr Conners! (ii) How you do? (iii) Good morning! How are you? IV Situation 5: You are at home The bell rings then your guest greets you: (i) Good morning, Mrs Robert (ii) Hi John! (iii) Nice house! (iv) Terribly cold! Situation 6: - As a teacher, you come into the class; your students stand up and greet you: (i) Good morning, Ms Burrow! - As a teacher in the class, one of your students greets you: (ii) “Hi! James!” - As a new student in the class, one of the classmates greets you: (iii) “Hi! There!” Thank you for your co-operation! 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