A contrastive study on invitations in english and vietnamese

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS A CONTRASTIVE STUDY ON INVITATIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (ĐỐI CHIẾU LỜI MỜI TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT) DO VAN SAN Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung Hanoi, 2020 CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled A CONTRASTIVE STUDY ON INVITATIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Linguistics Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2020 Do Van San Approved by SUPERVISOR Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung (Signature and full name) Date: / / 2020 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a number of people First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher A special word of thanks goes to all the lecturers at Faculty of English under Hanoi Open University and many others, without whose support and encouragement it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished I am also indebted to my friends, who squeeze time from their busy schedule to help me finish my thesis, they are all busy with their own thesis but they are willing to give their helping hands as soon as I am in need Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, my wife, my daughter and my son, for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work ii ABSTRACT Invitations play an important role in our communication They are used in daily life Making a suitable invitation for each situation is not simple, especially in a foreign language There are some researches about invitations but no research is studied on invitation strategies and forms of the invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and Vietnamese This study is designed to aim at pointing out invitation strategies and forms of the invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and Vietnamese then finding out the similarities and differences of those features To reach the aim, some methods are used: Descriptive method, contrastive method and analytic method Data used for analysis, description and contrast in this study were mainly collected through existing invitations, fifty formal letters of invitation to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and the same amount of informal letters of invitation to a housewarming party, a birthday party in Vietnamese After having contrasted, some similarities and differences of invitation strategies and forms of the invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party between English and Vietnamese have been founded There are some implications on teaching and learning the writing theory a letter of invitation to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English as a foreign language in Nam Duyen Ha high school are carried out iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS - CALP: cognitive academic language proficiency - D: Social distance - H: Hearer - EFL: English as a Foreign Language - Eg: For example - ESL: English as Second Language - P: Relative power - R: Ranking of impositions - RSVP: Re’pondez s’il vous plait - S: Speaker - S: Subject - SCAR: Socio-Culture Anticipatory Recursive - X: Situation - V: Verb iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality i Acknowledgements .ii Abstract iii List of abbreviations iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………… 1.1 Rationale for the research ……………………………………… ……… 1.2 Aims and objectives of the research ………………………………… ……2 1.3 Research questions………………………………………………………… 1.4 Methods of the research 1.5 Scope of the research …………………………………………………… …6 1.6 Significance of the research ………………………………………… …… 1.7 Structural organization of the thesis…………………………………………… .8 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………… 2.1 Previous studies…………………………………………………………… 2.2 Theoretical background ……………………………………………………10 2.2.1 The syntax, semantics ……………………………………… 10 2.2.2 Categories of invitations to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and Vietnamese………………… … 15 2.2.3 The theory of letter writing………………………………………… … 16 2.3 Theoretical framework …………………………………………………… 17 2.3.1 Politeness strategies………………………………………………………17 2.3.2 Generalization of speech acts…………………………………………….20 2.3.3 Invitations as speech acts…………………………………………………24 2.3.4 Direct and indirect speech acts………………………………………… 26 2.3.5 Informal letters ……………………………………………… 27 2.4 Summary ………………………………………………………………… 31 Chapter 3: INVITATIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 32 3.1 Invitation strategies to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and Vietnamese 32 3.1.1 Direct invitations in English ……… 32 3.1.2 Direct invitations in Vietnamese…………………………… 35 v 3.1.3 Indirect invitations in English ……… 37 3.1.4 Indirect invitations in Vietnamese…………………………… 39 3.2 Forms of invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and Vietnamese………………………………………………… 42 3.2.1 Forms of the invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English 42 3.2.2 Forms of the invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party in Vietnamese………………………………………………………… 44 3.3.The similarities and differences in forms of the invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and Vietnamese 47 3.4 Summary……………………………………………………………………… .49 Chapter 4: CONCLUSION ……………………………………………… .51 4.1 Concluding remarks ……………………………………………………… 51 4.2 Limitation of the study …………………………………………………… 51 4.3 Recommendations/Suggestions for further study ………………………….52 REFERENCES ……………………………………………………… ………53 APPENDICES………………………………………………………………….56 vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the research There is no doubt that today mastering a language is very necessary because it can give learners important opportunities to communicate to study and work effectively abroad It is very difficult to master a foreign language because the enormous vocabulary and profound understanding in grammar are not enough So it is necessary for learners to understand the culture of the language that they want to master The goal of learning a language, these days, is to be able to carry out effective communication Communication, however, may fail to achieve as there is lack of certain understandings of the country where that language is spoken There are “unwritten rules” are potentially confusing and create misunderstandings even for native speakers (Levine & Adelman, 1982) Wall (1987) indicated that many of our daily social interactions involve making invitations and responding to them Everyday people are usually invited to small things including going somewhere, drinking something, eating food or in special occasions such as birthday party, graduation So that making invitations is now very important in our daily life It is a speech act used very often in communication People can use it both in spoken and written forms in many ways It helps people to create, maintain and reinforce a good relationship with other people In teaching students to write a letter of invitation, It has been found that they have some difficulties such as they confuse formal and informal invitations; they cannot make other invitations themselves but for the forms or the invitations are not appropriated Mastering how to make appropriate invitations which are suitable to a particular culture should be taken in considerations so as not to cause hurts, shocks, misunderstandings, and misinterpretations Moreover, as a teacher of English at Nam Duyen Ha high school, I found that my learners have faced many problems when they write a letter of invitations and how to write an informal letter of invitation to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English effectively They often feel confused to choose the right form of invitations and make errors in using them Because of the above reasons, I have decided to choose the title: “A contrastive study on invitations in English and Vietnamese” to study for the thesis to find out the similarities and the differences in invitation strategies and forms of the invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and Vietnamese 1.2 Aims and objectives of the research 1.2.1 Aim The thesis aims to point out the similarities and differences in invitation strategies and forms of the invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and Vietnamese 1.2.2 Objectives To meet the aim mentioned above, some specific objectives of this research should be phrased as follows: - Identifying the invitation strategies and forms of the invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and Vietnamese letters; - Investigating the similarities and differences between invitation strategies and forms the of invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and Vietnamese letters; 1.3 Research questions In order to achieve the aims and objectives of the study, the following research questions are posed: What are the invitation strategies and forms of invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and Vietnamese letters? What are the similarities and differences in forms of invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and Vietnamese letters? 1.4 Methods of the research 1.4.1 Research approach This research is mainly conducted by the qualitative Also, contrastive analysis is used to find out the similarities and differences in invitation strategies and forms of the invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and in Vietnamese Therefore, the considerations, remarks, consumptions, comments and conclusions in the thesis are mainly based on data analysis 1.4.2 Research setting The research is conducted with references from diverse reliable sources such as textbooks, short stories, books, cards, letters and films in English and their Vietnamese equivalents are used In the past years teaching the writing skill for learners of Nam Duyen Ha high school in Thai Binh, the author has found out that making invitations is rather difficult for students as they only learn vocabulary and make their own invitations, ignoring how these invitations can be used in specific contexts This leads to a drawback that students somehow learn English word by word and cannot use them effectively and properly in English daily conversations This research aims at pointing out invitation strategies and forms of the invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents in order to help students at Nam Duyen Ha high school identify more clearly about the differences in structure as well as in semantics of invitations to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and their Vietnamese equivalents 1.4.3 Principles for intended data collection and data analysis This research aims at investigating invitation strategies and forms of the invitation letters to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and their Vietnamese equivalents For such reason, the author has presented theoretical background related to both fields of linguistics as well as notions Then details of invitations to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and their Vietnamese equivalents are also presented clearly Regarding material selecting, various textbooks, books, cards, letters are a great use to list a great number of the English invitations to a housewarming party, a birthday party with reference to their Vietnamese equivalents To achieve these aims and the stated objectives, the process of data collection and analysis have been carried out through four major steps Firstly, collecting forms of invitation to a housewarming party, a birthday party in English and in Vietnamese from textbooks, books, cards, letters, magazines, novels, short stories, the internet and films Secondly, analyzing and classifying these invitations in terms of semantic features in details Thirdly, APPENDICES I- VIETNAMESE INVITATIONS Niềm vui ngày đặc biệt không trọn vẹn khơng có diện bạn bè Mời bạn đến tham dự bữa tiệc sinh nhật thân mật bé xinh đẹp giới! Vào 20/8 tới đây, tổ chức tiệc sinh nhật lần thứ 18 ý nghĩa Rất mong cậu đến tham dự Với tất niềm hạnh phúc, muốn thông báo cho bạn biết em bé gia đình chuẩn bị trịn tuổi vào Chủ nhật tuần tới Chúng tổ chức bữa tiệc nhỏ để mừng sinh nhật bé, mời bạn đến chia vui gia đình! Sự diện cậu bữa tiệc sinh nhật mang lại niềm vui lớn cho Chào mừng cậu đến với bữa tiệc sinh nhật hoành tráng nhất! Mình dự định tổ chức bữa tiệc sinh nhật tuyệt vời kỷ niệm tuổi 30 nhà vào 15/3 tới Tên cậu đứng đầu danh sách khách mời Mong cậu xếp thời gian đến chia vui mình! Đó bữa tiệc hoang dã mà cậu trải qua Đừng quên đem theo quà đến nhé! Mình trang trí nhà cửa chuẩn bị cho bữa tiệc sinh nhật độc vơ nhị tới Mình muốn nói với cậu cậu mời tới để lần biến nhà tớ thành mớ hỗn độn Mình thường khơng thích chia sẻ bánh đồ với khác, đến nhà vào thứ Hai tới thoải mái tranh giành đồ ăn ngon nhé! Hãy đến tham gia tiệc sinh nhật để thể tình yêu quan tâm cậu dành cho vào 19/6 Đừng quên mang theo quà lớn cậu thực yêu quý 10 Mời cậu đến tham dự bữa tiệc sinh nhật lần thứ 18 vào 2/1 tới Chúng ta khơng uống rượu đâu, cậu bắt buộc phải mang theo quà 11 Bữa tiệc sinh nhật cô bé xinh đẹp Nguyễn Đỗ Tường Vy tổ chức vào 12/8 tới Chúng trân trọng mời bạn tham dự gia đình bạn bè thân thiết 56 12 Chỉ vài ngày thôi, bé An Phúc trịn tuổi Chúng tơi mong bạn bớt chút thời gian để tham dự bữa tiệc gia đình Hy vọng ngày hơm trở thành kỷ niệm đáng nhớ đời đầy niềm vui bé! 13 Chúng tổ chức sinh nhật cho gái bánh lớn nhiều niềm vui Mời bạn đến chia vui với gia đình! 14 Chúng tơi định tổ chức bữa tiệc nhỏ để chúc mừng sinh nhật gái vào 28/5 tới Mời bạn đến tham gia với chúng tôi! 15 Vào kỷ niệm sinh nhật tuổi công chúa bé nhỏ Trần Yến Nhi, mời bạn đến chia vui gia đình Chắc chắn bé vui ăn ngon bên cạnh người thân yêu quý! 16 Hồng tử bé có bữa tiệc sinh nhật nhiều màu sắc đời vào [ngày] tới Sự diện bạn nhân đôi niềm vui kiện ý 17 Con trai lớn lên nhanh dễ thương Vào 16/1 tới, bé tuổi Mời bạn tới tham dự tiệc sinh nhật đầm ấm chia vui gia đình! 18 Chúng tơi mong bạn xếp thời gian tham dự tiệc sinh nhật bé Hoài Thu vào 12/3 tới Chắc chắn thằng bé vui chia sẻ niềm vui với người / mà u quý! 19 Vào 01/10, vợ chồng tổ chức sinh nhật cho trai Trần Quốc Hùng Mời bạn đến tham dự với gia đình nhé! 20 Chào mừng bạn đến tham dự bữa tiệc sinh nhật trai vào ngày 26/4 Hãy tạo nên kỷ niệm đáng nhớ với thằng bé! 21 Mày có nhớ mai ngày khơng? Nhớ mà khơng nhớ chẳng sao, tối mai 7h có mặt “rì zọt” cao cấp “my home” Không đến nghỉ chơi! 22 Sinh nhật! Sinh nhật! Sinh nhật! Chúng mày nghe thấy khơng? Chán lắm, để tao phải nhắc Nhớ lịch hẹn 6h tối mai khơng? Tai cổng quán Cafe T-box đường qua, tao kiểm tra q tụi bay Khơng có đừng hi vọng vào! Thân ái! 23 Mặc dù tao ghét mày thật đấy, sinh nhật tao mà mày cịn đáng ghét 7h tối thứ tới nhà tao nhé, nhớ dẫn theo người yêu Lâu chẳng quẩy chị em 57 24 Để kỉ niệm ngày đặc biệt, ngày mày có đứa bạn tuyệt vời tao đời, mày phải có mặt bữa tiệc hồnh tráng tối mai lúc 8h nhà tao Sự diện mày làm tao đau đầu thay tao thích điều đó! 25 Chuẩn bị váy vóc để xinh đẹp chưa nào? Đừng nói mày khơng biết mai ngày nhé! Chào mừng đến với tiệc sinh nhật tao, 7h tối mai bãi biển, chỗ bọn hay tới nha! 26 Chúng bay có hội để thưởng thức tài nghệ nấu nướng tao Nghe đồn bãi biển tối ngày kia, lúc 4h chiều có kiện, bữa tiệc ngồi trời Đùa chứ, hơm đến với tao Tốt chúng bay nên nhịn ăn từ hơm bữa tao khiến tụi bay no tới mức không nhà đâu 27 Đã chuẩn bị để chơi chưa hội chị em bạn dì tao? Sinh nhật tao buồn thiếu tụi mày đấy, quỷ sứ 7h tối thứ nhà tao nhé! 28.“Mời vợ chồng bạn tới dự tiệc sinh nhật vào lúc 17h thứ Bẩy tuần tới” “Mời bà cụ ngồi chơi.” (Khai Hung, 1988) 29.“ Mời bạn gia đình đến dự bữa cơm thân mật sinh nhật gia đình vào 17h ngày 10 tháng 11 năm 2020” 30.“ Con kính mời bố mẹ sang nhà chúng dự cơm tối sinh nhật anh Nam vào lúc 19h ngày mai thứ Tư ạ” 31.“Thứ Hai tuần tới sinh nhật mình, đến dự cơm vợ chồng vào lúc 18h” 32.“Mời cụ ngồi chơi” (Khải Hưng, 1988) (Invite- old man- naturally- sit- play) 33.“Kính mời hai bác tới dự bữa cơm nhà gia đình cháu vào lúc 11 ngày mùng 10 tháng 10 năm 2020” 34.“Ngày 01 tháng tháng 10 chúng em nhà Kính mời anh chị đến dụ bữa cơm thân mật chúng em” 35 “Tôi lấy làm hân hạnh mời anh lại chơi” (Khai Hung, 1988) 36.“ Cháu kính mời bác đến dự bữa cơm thân mật gia đình cháu chúng cháu chuyển nhà vào ngày mùng tháng năm 2020.” 37.Chị xơi chén nước (Khải Hưng, 1988) 38.“Đến dự liên hoan nhà anh chị vào 8h ngày 20 tháng 9.” 58 39.“Chủ nhật tới bọn chuyển nhà mới, đến dự bữa cơm thân mật gia đình vào lúc 5h chiều.” 40 “Bác có muốn uống chút trà khơng?” 42 “Con có muốn ăn khơng?” 43.“Chủ nhật tuần tới đến nhà tớ chơi, không?” II - ENGLISH INVITATIONS Do you want to drink some tea? Do you want something to eat? You come to my house next Sunday, don't you ? Would you like to have dinner with us? Would you like to come over our house and have dinner with us? If you would come over to our house, we could have dinner together? Do you think we could cook and have dinner together? Let’s have dinner together M Hung, Why haven't you come here recently? 10 Our dear father Brian Jacobson is turning 65 next month We are hosting a surprise birthday party to pay tribute to his life and his hard work in buiding his successful catering business 11 Come and join us in wishing David Banner a very happy 30th birthday 12 As you know that next week is my birthday, and I would love to invite you as well as our classmates to join a small birthday party at 11 am next Sunday at my house 13 I would like to invite you to my housewarming party at 6.00 pm next Saturday 14 The Smith’s Family would like to invite you to their new humble abode Expect a night of fun and laughter at am on 10th January at my new house 15 She’s moved again, but she hasn’t traveled far She’s inviting you to a party so you’ll know where she is 16.We just thought it would be nice to have you over for dinner (Tilllitt & Bruder, 1999) 17 It would be lovely to have you join us as we have arranged a small gettogether for our housewarming party 18 As you know, next week is my birthday Please join us for my birthday party 59 19 Our first home! We’ve finally settled down and found our perfect house Please join us to celebrate with housewarming 20.“Let's go to our place for a beer” (Tillitt & Bruder, 1999) 21.“Let's go to our place for dinner” (Tillitt & Bruder, 1999) 22 Let’s go out to get some drinks 23.“How about dinner?” (Tillitt & Bruder, 1999) 24.“How about coffee?” (Tillitt & Bruder, 1999) 25.I haven’t started settling my stuff but that can come later How about a fabulous party? Sounds great? Then come on by 12am 26.We are holding my father’s birthday party next week So why don’t you come on over at our place 27.They say only people make a house, a home With true friends like you around I am assured that my new house will be a home in no time So why don’t you join us for a housewarming party this Sunday 28.“Can you come over and join us?” (Le Huy Lam, 2000) 29.May we have the pleasure of your company at dinner?”(Le Huy Lam, 2000) 30.Tom and I have decided to hold a housewarming party on May 10th Do you think you will be able to come? 31.“You will come to have dinner with us, won’t you?” (Le Huy Lam, 2000) 32.“It's just that Alan and I wanted to have a few people over for a dinner to celebrate finishing dissertation and we would like to invite you especially, since you're chairman” (Tillitt & Bruder, 1999) 33.“We moved to our new place To celebrate this wonderful event, we invite you to come to our housewarming party We will have and drinks to commemorate the event.” 34.“I'll have a birthday party at 2:pm on 11th January It'll be celebrated in my house 35.I'll fell happy when you come Some my friends have been invited, too I think you'll fun when you meet my friend Because they're lovely Come here you can taste some special food which my mother will cook In the party I'll make a tiny game, You'll like it After the party we'll come to the beach” 60 III - SAMPLE ENGLISH LETTERS Letter 40A, Lonron Satu, Taman Bahagla3, Melaka 16th March 2020 Dear John, How is everything going? I am delighted to tell you that I have moved to a new house As the previous tenancy contract has ended, I found a new house in North Sydney where is much closer to my office I moved in last Friday after finishing all the cleaning The new place that I rent is a two-storey house with a big yard at the back, so I can host a BBQ diner there My bedroom is much more spacious than the old one and it has a big window I always enjoy the beautiful city view in the morning In order to celebrate the moving, I am going to throw a house warming party and I would love you to come It will be on the 5th of July and starts at pm I will show you around my new house and we will have dinner together with my other friends Hope to see you on that day If you cannot make it, you are always welcomed to come another time Regards, Thomas Letter 10 East Road,Violetville,Cork 28th February 2020 Dear Mrs Marry, You will be glad to know that our new house Megha Villa is now complete 61 and we are shifting tomorrow As you know, the house was the last wish my mother expressed Although the construction started when she was still alive, it could not be completed in her presence Perhaps, it may now give great solace to her soul The house is a beautiful double- storeyed one with bedrooms The sitting room is large and glassed on three sides for the sunlight to pour in throughout the day There is a garden we have to develop around it We are throwing a house-warming party on 28th May, 2009 and are inviting just our immediate circle of friends at 10 a.m Sunday Sorry for this short notice, but please put aside all other engagements for that day and come along with your family We are fixing a barbecue in the warm open Do write me a line to reassure me Yours Sincerely, Annie Letter Thomson Nolan546 F, Concord Street, Orlando, FL 3280 24th April, 2017 Dear John, Greetings from Cork! Now that we have settled in our new house I am having a house-warming party to celebrate I am inviting some of the gang from Dublin and some of my new school friends from Cork The fun begins at 9pm on Saturday, 3rdMarch Why not come down on Friday night and stay for the weekend? I have asked Sandra and Brian to stay over also My dad will meet you at the station Let me know as soon as possible if you can come Love, Peter 62 Letter 31 Tran Duy Hung St., Cau Giay Dt., Hanoi December 15th 2016 Dear David, How are you? I hope you are doing well at university these days You haven't written to me about your examinations but I believe that you passed your exam easy Anyway, on December 20th 2016 will be my birthday To celebrate my 35th birthday, I am going to hold a warm dinner at Manh Hoach restaurant near Luc Quan crossroad, Co Dong, Son Tay, Ha Noi at 6.00 in the evening of the 2nd next Sunday I am going to invite all of my friends I will be very eager to meet you in there The dinner will start at o clock, but you can come more earlier and we can go fishing at the lake Bring your wife along with you too Don't be late I hope you would accept my invitation Your sincerely, Nam Letter Dear Anna, I'll have a birthday party at 2:pm on 11th January It'll be celebrated in my house I'll fell happy when you come Some my friends have been invited, too I think you'll fun when you meet my friend Because they're lovely Come here you can taste some special food which my mother will cook In the party I'll make a tiny game, You'll like it After the party we'll come to the beach Please let me know if you'll come My friend, Lan Letter Dear Susan, Do you know next Thursday will be a day of eager anticipation to me? It is then the day before my fourteenth birthday I have been looking forward to the party 63 for at least two months Everything is supposed to be perfect for that day: balloons, candles and tasty dishes, and music There will be a barbeque of magnificent proportions Miraculously, an enormous ice cream cake will be delivered with eight large pepperoni pizzas Needless to say, I am excited It is to be my first party at our new house I'm looking forward to seeing you come, that'll bring more life to this special event of mine Best wishes, Hai Letter Dear Mark, I want to make a small announcement that next week is my birthday, and it would be great if you can take your time and join us for a small party at my house It will be started at 5pm and maybe ended early around 9pm, so I hope it is a suitable time for you and everyone There will be birthday cake, delicious dishes that are made by my mom, and a lot of candies at the party We can eat and play a lot of fun games afterwards Call me if you cannot make it to my party I am looking forward to hearing from you soon Love, Linh Letter Dear Jonh, I am very happy to give you an invitation for my birthday party This occasion will take place on the next Saturday evening, 17th of March, and everyone in our class will show up This is going to be a themed party where everybody dresses like characters from fairy tales such as princes and princesses, and I hope you find this idea interesting The party will be started at 6pm, but I hope you can make your visit a little bit early so we can help each other to complete our costumes Contact me if there is any chance or inconvenience I am looking forward to hearing from you soon Sincerely, Nhan 64 Letter Dear Lily, As you know that next week is my birthday, and I am very excited to invite you as well as our classmates to join a small birthday party at my house At first I wanted to host a party at one of the fast food restaurants like KFC or Lotteria, but my mother told that it would be warmer and happier if the party will be held at my house I thought it was a good idea, so I would love to ask if you have free time to join us at pm this Saturday Everyone will be present there, so you can feel free to dress as stylish as you want Besides, can you me a small favor? I am a little bit confused about what to wear on that day, so it would be very nice of you if you could give me some advices on that It will be a very interesting event from the very first minutes, therefore try not to be late or you will miss some of the special greeting at the entrance My mother will cook some of her best dishes, and my father has already had the ideas of decoration as well as party games We are even preparing awards for the winners, so you can bring home some lovely gifts if you try your best This is my 18th birthday so I spend a lot of effort on it, and I hope you will enjoy a really good time at my party Please answer my email as soon as possible I am looking forward to hearing from you soon Your friend, Trang Letter 10 Dear Tina, Some of our classmates and I had decided to host a small party as we had finished the semester with good grades, so I hope you will spend a little time to join us This is going to be a very special party as everyone will participate in the making of it Our teacher agreed us to take a part of the class fund to make the decoration as well as some other stuff, and every single member will take care of the food It means that the party will include food from all the members of our class, and you can feel free to bring anything which is available If you not know which food to bring, it is fine to bring some drinks or fruits This is going to be a warm meeting between our classmates, so it is no need to be stressed out about the food The party will be held at 6pm next Sunday, and it would be nice if you have a little time to help finish the rest of the decoration If you have any free 65 time, please contact me so we can arrange our time to prepare for the party If you need any confirmation from our teacher to show your parents, you can also call me so I can get one for you I hope you will have time for this event as it maybe the last chance for all of us to gather and have fun Please think about this and make a decision as soon as possible I am looking forward to hearing from you soon Your friend, Ngoc Letter 11 Dear Cuong, On December 20th 2016 will be my birthday To celebrate my 35th birthday, I am going to hold a warm dinner at Manh Hoach restaurant near Luc Quan crossroad, Co Dong, Son Tay, Ha Noi at 6.00 in the evening of the 2nd next Sunday I am going to invite all of my friends I will be very eager to meet you in there Love Manh IV - SAMPLE VIETNAMESE LETTERS Letter Thái Bình, ngày 15 tháng 12 năm 2019 Chị Nhung kính mến, Chúng em vui mừng báo tin chị ngơi nhà cuả chúng em hồn thành Chúng em chuyển nhà vào ngày 15 /12/2019 Chúng em trân trọng kính mời chị gia đình đến dự bữa cơm thân mật gia đình chúng em vào 17h ngày 16 tháng 12 năm 2019 xóm thơn Tam Hoa, xã Minh Tân, huyện Đơng hưng, tỉnh Thái Bình Chị cố gắng thu xếp thời gian đến dự thăm nhà em Sự diện chị gia đình niềm vinh hạnh chúng em Gia đình hân hạnh đón tiếp Em Phạm Hồng Anh 66 Letter Hưng Hà, ngày 13 tháng năm 2020 Hải thân mến, Công trình kỷ gia đình tơi hồn thành Mọi công vệc chuẩn bị chuyển nơi ổn Vào 11h ngày 15 tháng năm 2020, gia đình chúng tơi tổ chức bữa cơm thân mật nhà Trân trọng mời bạn gia đình đến dự chúng tơi xóm Hồng Thái, thơn Vị khê, xã Minh Hịa, huyện Hưng Hà Đây dịp để bạn bè gặp Cố gắng thu xếp công việc dự Rất mong gặp bạn Bạn Lê Thị Hương Letter Thái Bình, ngày 12 tháng 10 năm 2020 Thanh thân mến, Chắc cậu biết tuần tới sinh nhật tớ, tớ hào hứng để mời cậu bạn lớp khác tham dự bữa tiệc sinh nhật nho nhỏ nhà tớ vào lúc 19h ngày 15 tháng 11 năm 2020 thơn Vỵ Giang xã Chí Hịa huyện Hưng Hà tỉnh Thái Bình Mong cậu cố gắng nhé! Bạn cậu, Nhã 67 Letter Nam Định, ngày 10 tháng năm 2017 Dũng thân mến, Tớ có thơng báo nho nhỏ tuần tới sinh nhật tớ, thật tuyệt cậu dành thời gian để tham gia bữa tiệc nhỏ nhà tớ Bữa tiệc bắt đầu vào lúc chiều kết thúc sớm vào lúc tối, nên tớ hi vọng khung thích hợp cho cậu tất người Sẽ có bánh sinh nhật, ăn ngon mẹ tớ nấy, thật nhiều kẹo Chúng ăn sau chơi trị chơi vui nhộn Hãy gọi cho tớ cậu đến bữa tiệc Tớ mong nghe tin cậu sớm Yêu thương, Mai Letter Lan thân mến, Tớ vui gởi đến cậu thư mời sinh nhật tớ Dịp sinh nhật diễn vào tối thứ bảy tuần tới, ngày 19 tháng 6, tất người lớp có mặt Đây bữa tiệc chủ đề, nơi mà người ăn mặc nhân vật câu truyện cổ tích hồng tử cơng chúa, tớ mong cậu thấy ý tưởng thú vị Bữa tiệc bắt đầu vào lúc chiều, tớ hi vọng cậu đến sớm chút để giúp hồn thành trang phục Cứ liên lạc với tớ có thay đổi hay bất tiện Tớ mong nghe tin cậu sớm Chân thành, Huy 68 V - Practice: Writing a letter, a card of invitation to a housewarming party Task 1: Complete the letter below by filling each blank with a suitable phrase in the box: reply as soon as you can celebrate my new life request that everyone brings something be here invite you 89 Hang Bai street Hoan Kiem District Hanoi 24 March 2006 Hi everyone, In order to ……(1)…… in Hanoi I would like to …(2)… you to a special housewarming party When: Friday, 27 Match, 2006 at 8pm Where: 89 Hang Bai street I would like to ….(3)… for to people to eat and drink Please ….(4)… so that I can estimate how many people will …(5)… and what everyone will bring Looking forward to hearing from you Tran Lam Task 2: Complete each sentence of the following letter Dear Janet, As/ know/ we / buy / new house/ April// …………………………………………………………………………………… It / be/ bad condition / and / it/ need/ a lot/ work// …………………………………………………………………………………… We/ finish/ most/ it/ now/ and look/ very nice// …………………………………………………………………………………… Mike/ I/ decide/ give/ house – warming/ party/ July 9th// …………………………………………………………………………………… You/ think/ you/ able/ come? …………………………………………………………………………………… Most/ our/ former classmates/ invite/ and/ they/ all/ agree/ come// …………………………………………………………………………………… 69 We/ organize/ barbecue/ garden/ new house// …………………………………………………………………………………… We/ dance/ sing/ play/ some games/ during/ after/ party// …………………………………………………………………………………… Please/ me/ ring/ and/ let/ know/ you/ make/ it.// …………………………………………………………………………………… 10 We/ really/ look forward/ see/ you/ again// …………………………………………………………………………………… Love Margaret c Task 3: Write a letter of invitation to a housewarming party: …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… 70 ... the findings and suggesting some implications for teaching and learning invitations in English and Vietnamese as a foreign language With regards to reliability, the data for this research was only... 1.4.7.Data analysis techniques After collecting 100 invitations to a housewarming party, a birthday party including 50 English invitations to a housewarming party, a birthday party and 50 Vietnamses... making and accepting invitations in English and Vietnamese Đinh Phuong Thuy (2014), found out the syntactic and cultural similarities and differences between spoken invitations in Vietnamese and