(Lê Ngọc Minh, 1997) - Thôi mà! Anh đói lắm!Mình đi ăn phở đi.
- Phọc môn không hà, em sợ bị ướp xác lắm.
(Trần Thi Bảo Châu,)
- Em mới tìm ra một hàng ăn ngon lắm! Ta đi ăn nhé!
- Để khi khác, muộn mất rồi. Bây giờ anh muốn nghe em nói chuyện
(Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Tú, 1979)
2.3.2.4. Conditional form
This type of sentence will help the speaker to check permissive conditions or the ability of the hearer to carry out the invitation. And the hearer’s response will answer for the pre-invitation not for the invitation, so it can reduce the risk when the hearer gives a negative response. In Vietnamese, these sentences often consist of the words and phrases such as “Nếu…, Nếu rảnh/rỗi”, “khi nào rảnh”, “thư thả (thì), “nếu có thời gian”, “nếu không bận gì”…
được không?
- Em thích chứ!”
(Minh Uyên, 1998)
- Nếu tối thứ bảy này anh không bận, rất vui lòng được mời anh đến nhà chơi.
However, in daily conversation speaker can use many forms at the same time to increase their effects.
- Nếu Loan đồng ý (conditional form),anh mời Loan đi ăn kem. Ở chỗ kia có kem Bắc cực ngon lắm!. (exclamative form)
In conclusion, there are many forms of sentences used to make pre- invitation. Each type has different functions and different ways to express speaker’s purpose.
CHAPTER III: SOME SIMILARITIES ANDDIFFERENCES OF PRE-INVITATION BETWEEN DIFFERENCES OF PRE-INVITATION BETWEEN
VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH 3.1. Similarities 3.1. Similarities
In daily conversation, pre-invitation is used commonly in both English and Vietnamese with the same purposes:
− to get the idea about how participant will respond to invitation before they make an invitation
A: Are you doing anything on Saturday evening? B: I don’t think I am.
− to avoid putting both the hearer and the speaker in a difficult position A: Tôi có hai vé xem phim tối nay. (pre-invitation)
B: Ngày mai tôi thi. − to draw the hearer’s attention
A: Tối nay bạn có rỗi không?
B: Không, mà có chuyện gì cơ? − to be a reason for invitation
A: I’m having friends to dinner on Sunday, and I’d really you to
come. B: Sure!
− to persuade the invitee to accept the invitation
A: Say, we’ve come here to dance but not to sit and listen. Why not
have a dance?
B: You are right, dear. Sitting is boring, but I’m not good at Tango.” The most used form of pre-invitation in both English and Vietnamese is interrogative form; declarative form is used less than interrogative form. In the interrogative form, the most sub-form used is Yes/No question.
In English
Pedro : Are you busy on Saturday night, Jill?
Jill : Well …uh…I don’t have any definite plans yet. Why?
Pedro: I though we might go to the new movie at the Playhouse Theater.
Jill : Fantastic ! I read a good review of it, and I `d love to go!
In Vietnamese
A : Tối nay bạn có rỗi không?
B : Không, mà có chuyện gì cơ?
A : Tôi muốn mời bạn đi xem phim với tôi!
3.2. Differences
Pre-invitation in Vietnamese is more flexible, it is used in many different forms, in many different positions while in English we just see pre-invitation with interrogatives and declaratives. Vietnamese people use more forms than English people do, apart from the common forms such as
interrogatives, declaratives, and exclamative in Vietnamese, we can also see pre-invitation in imperative form.
E.g: “Hãy thong thả, được nước rồi, uống vài chén chè tàu với tôi đã.”
(Khái Hưng, 1999) English people use more interrogative forms, and less exclamative forms than Vietnamese people do.
Pre-invitation seldom appears after invitation in English. In contrast, pre-invitation appears after invitation more frequently in Vietnamese, especially, there are some typical phrases which often follow invitation in order to persuade the hearer and make the invitee feel more comfortable such as “Đừng làm khách”, “cứ tự nhiên”, “xin cứ coi như người nhà”, “chúng tôi coi anh/chị như người nhà”….
Vietnamese people often consider an invitation a formal act, so they often hesitate when they are invited to do something. Therefore, the pre- invitation such as “Đừng làm khách”, “cứ tự nhiên”, “xin cứ coi như người nhà”, “chúng tôi coi anh/chị như người nhà”… will make the invitee feel more comfortable and accept the invitation.
About the answers for pre-invitation question, Vietnamese often use hedging response. We can see very clearly through the collected examples. However, English people often answer directly by “stop” response or “go- ahead” response. This shows Vietnamese people’s habit of indirect talking, often avoid talking directly, and try to keep a good relationship with others. This is a special characteristic of Vietnamese communication style which will be introduced in the next article.
∗ A hedging response for pre-invitation question in Vietnamese A: Tối nay bạn có rỗi không?
B: Không, mà có chuyện gì cơ?
A: Tôi muốn mời bạn đi xem phim với tôi!
B: Ồ, ngày mai tôi phải thi rồi.
∗ A go-ahead response for pre-invitation question in English A: what are you doing tonight? (pre-invitation)
B: Not much. (go-ahead response to project invitation) A: How about a movie? (invitation)
B: Okay. (acceptance)
A habit of Vietnamese people is asking some questions around the main topic before going to the target. This is seen clearly in Vietnamese communication style, it also called “go around talking”. Similarly, before making an invitation, Vietnamese people often talk about something related to the invitation, one of them is considered pre-invitation.
Other differences of pre-invitation in Vietnamese and English are that in Vietnamese, pre-invitation can express the speaker’s feeling and
attitude more clearly. By go with the exclamative words and the final particles, pre-invitation can show that the relationship between speaker and hearer is close or distant, speaker is older or younger than hearer or the social status of speaker is higher or lower than hearer.
- Thôi mà! Anh đói lắm . Mình đi ăn phở đi. Phọc môn không hà, em sợ bị ướp xác lắm.
(Trần Thi Bảo Châu)
In the example above, we can realize the close relationship between inviter and invitee. “Thôi mà” is a word express the intimate relationship. In another example, the pre-invitation “Này anh, trời cũng đang mưa, nếu anh không tìm thấy ông Cương kia” shows the distant relationship, and the speaker and hearer are the same status.
− Này anh, trời cũng đang mưa, nếu anh không tìm thấy ông Cương kia, tôi mời anh đi uống cà phê được không?
(Hồng Hoang, 2000)
Vietnamese is more flexible and has more variants than English. Pre- invitation in Vietnamese can be a phrase, a clause or sentences, depending on the specific situation and speaker’s purposes. Let’s study some of the following examples:
• A clause
“Hãy thong thả, được nước rồi, uống vài chén chè tàu với tôi đã.”
(Khái Hưng, 1999)
-Nếu Uyên thích đi đò trên sông thì anh tình nguyện chở Uyên đi
được không?
- Em thích chứ!”
(Minh Uyên, 1998)
• A phrase