A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF GIVING COMPLIMENTS and responses IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

VINH UNIVERSITYFOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT ==== ✍•✍==== A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF GIVING COMPLIMENTS and responses IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO THOA VĂN HÓA VỀ CÁCH KHEN VÀ ĐÁP LẠI LỜI KHEN TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT ) GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: LINGUISTICS Student: TRUONG THI THANH CANH, 47A1 Supervisor: BUI THI THANH MAI (M.A) 1 Vinh - 2010 Acknowledgement I would first like specially to thank Mrs. Bui Thi Thanh Mai (M.A), my supervisor, for her whole – hearted help and invaluable advice. Without her guidance, my thesis is far from completed. I would also like to thank Mrs. Tran Ngoc Yen (M.A) for her kindly support. She encourages me to have self- confidence to do this research. I want to acknowledge the help of Miss Sofia for her advice when I conduct the list of questionnaire. She provides important information that the author uses to have a suitable survey questions. My gratitude goes to Mr. Tinh (M.A) who teaches at ASEM Vietnam center for his essential materials and advice. Last but not least, I give a very special thanks to my family and classmates, who always stand by me, provide their emotional support through out the process I do this paper. 2 ABSTRACT Many people who communicate cross-cultural boundaries have experienced communication breakdowns with people from different first language backgrounds. It also happens to any one who wants to give compliment on a person from another country. The main purpose of this thesis is to raise the aware of culture gap. It is done, focused on the comparison of the ways of giving compliment and responding to compliments between the English and the Vietnamese. Using the authenticable data from survey, which is conducted with 30 native speakers in each culture, this research is carried out with three sub-aims: (1) to find out similarities and differences between two cultures in the way they perform speech act of compliment; (2) to investigate the culture factors that have influence on the word choice of interlocutors; (3) to enrich the knowledge of second language learners about the importance of culture factor in leaning target language. The result also illustrates the fact that people in two cultures are very friendly. They tend to give compliments a lot. However, what they compliment on, how they give and respond to, it differs. How detailed the information is it? The readers will find the answers in the next chapters of the thesis. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement i Abstract ii Abbreviations iii Part A: Introduction 1. Rationale 1 2. Aims of the study 3 3. Scope of the study 3 4. Methods of the study 4 5. Data collecting procedure 5 6. Design of the study 5 Part B: Development Chapter I: Theoretical Background 1.1. What is Pragmatics? 6 1.1.1 What is Speech acts. 6 1.1.2 Compliment as a speech act. 11 1.2. Cultural communication. 13 1.2.1. Notion of culture 13 1.2.1.1. Cross-cultural communication. 14 1.3 Positive – negative politeness. 14 Chapter II: A cross-cultural study of giving and responding to compliments in English and Vietnamese equivalents 2.1 .Topics of compliment. 17 2.1.1 .Topics of compliment in English 20 4 2.1.1.1 Appearance 20 2.1.1.2. Skill or talents 21 2.1.1.3 Work accomplished. 22 2.1.1.4 Possession 22 2.1.2 Topics of compliment in Vietnam. 23 2.1.2.1 Appearance 23 2.1.2.2 Skill or talents 25 2.1.2.3 Work accomplished. 26 2.1.2.4 Possession 27 2.1.3. A contrasive analysis 27 2.1.3.1 Major similarities 27 2.1.3.2. Major differences 28 2.2. Giving compliment strategies 30 2.3: Compliment response strategies in English and Vietnamese equivalents. 32 2.3.2. English findings 2.3.1. Vietnamese findings 2.3.3. A contrastive analysis 38 2.3.3.1 .Major similarities 39 2.3.3.2. Major differences 40 Chapter III: Some suggestion for giving and responding to compliments in English and Vietnamese equivalents. 3.1. Some suggestions. 41 3.1.1. What do we compliment on? 3.1.2 How do we give a compliment? 3.1.3 How to respond to compliment. 3.2. Suggested teaching application Part C. Conclusion 1. Review major findings 48 2. Suggestion for further research 49 References 5 APPENDIX 6 . ABBREVIATIONS H The hearers S The speakers E The English V The Vietnamese HA Highly advisable A Advisable Y/N Yes or No IA Inadvisable CR Compliment response VoE Vietnamese students of English. 7 . poses the need for language learners care for enriching the knowledge of the country where their target language is spoken.Among those elements. Rationale Nowadays the increasing diversity of the modern classroom. culture. “language and culture have to be studied together. history…. in which second language learners form a community. Therefore. and have to be brought into interactive relation in successful discourse” (Radolph Quirk). PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. which contains sub-factors as shown in the following. they have to master many factors such as: language. economy. This relation leads to the need of improving what we call “communicative competence”. biography.. Communicative competence Linguistic knowledge Interaction skill Cultural knowledge Verbal factors Awareness of predominant Social structures eatures in context Non – verbal factors Choice and interpretation of Values and attitudes forms. 8 . suitable to specific contexts roles and Stereotypes in specific Communicative strategies in Cognitive diagram speech events order to gain oriented targets Possible continuums Acculturation of variable Meaning of variables in specific contexts Those factors are also represented in following diagram by him. culture plays an important role in widening the knowledge of language in use or context of conversation for the learners. To have this knowledge. Especially. That knowledge is so important with language learners. nowadays.door policy. with opened. the importance of study 9 . Vietnam enters the global stage. Data collecting procedure As one important part of this thesis. This survey was conducted by 30 native informants in each culture. We tend to direct our teaching and learning to modern way. this paper with realistic data base will provide useful material for language learners. asking for permission. which focuses on rote memorization of grammatical and lexical components of language.target language is emphasized more than ever. The fact has proved that.. (In many languages... here and there still exists the traditional method of learning and teaching language. In this paper. giving apology.) Hopefully.. collecting data procedure took the author a rather long period of time to do it. There are two main situations 10 . It cannot help language learners become effective language users. advisable. And the last is conducted with the aim to study in specific situations. which contain three main parts: The first one is to find some general information about informants which are used to explain some unexpected findings during the process of writing. 2. To promote the knowledge of the learners about this problem there are many studies of famous theorists on kind of speech act such as: making request. it is not suitable in the development of modern society. However. compliment responses require the language user to walk a delicate line between appearing too boastful or ungrateful depending on the way s/he responds to the compliment.but not many of them focus on speech act of compliment. This is also the interesting topic attracting the author’s interest because it requires a great deal of pragmatic insight by the speaker and therefore are often rich with data that reveal the cultural orientation of language learners. which stand for four groups “highly advisable. the author asks the participants to rank the topics of compliment given by researcher into the order from 1 to 4. The questionnaire is the combination of open and close ended questions.. and Australia. the term “English” refers to the people who speak English as their mother tongue such as English. yes or no and inadvisable”. New Zealand. The second part. American. The analysis is only based on the authentic result collected from the survey. Even though there are some inconveniences when completing this research. this paper tries to find the answers for three following questions: *What do people in the two cultures often compliment on? * How to give a good compliment? *What kind of strategies do they use to respond to compliments? . ...This research focuses on the cross . They are only taken into account when used to explain some information. pitch....Non-verbal language: gestures. it is because of the variety of language. Scope of the study . 4. These compliments focus on two topics are: Appearance and achievement. In part two.. 3.. sometimes some factors can be omitted such as: age. . Determined by its aims.cultural study to find out the similarities and differences between the English and Vietnamese in the ways they give and respond to compliments. . the most popular topics in use with compliment in both cultures are appearance and ability.Furthermore.. it is valuable and deserved to be considered. not the entire one in daily communication.Paralinguistic factors: intonation.Communicative environment like : place. area of living.. marital statue.. this thesis only focuses on different cultural aspect which aims to develop communicative skills.. light... Aims of the study This paper is carried out with the aims: 11 . Moreover. only four popular topics are suggested. distance.. Besides. with the limitation of a graduation thesis.set and ask informants to give their ideas about: How do they give compliment and respond to it.. It does not go into detail study of paralinguistic and some other aspects of speech act compliment such as: .. voice. this paper is considered in relative not restrict standard. It is similar in part three. facial expression.. . the author makes a survey with a list of questionnaire conducted by herself. . .With the result found.Firstly. .To be as the useful material for second language learners who want to become fluent speakers. she applies some theory of some famous theorists to set the base for her research.Through the analysis. .With the difference. Design of the study This thesis includes three main parts and three chapters: Part A: Introduction Part B: Development Chapter I: Theoretical Background Chapter II: A cross-cultural study of giving and responding to compliments in English and Vietnamese equivalents Chapter III: Some suggestion for gving and responding to compliments in English and Vietnamese in equivalents. 5. After that. 6. the contrastive analysis method is applied when analyzing the data from the survey to find out the similarities and differences with the aim as stated before. Methodology To act such purposes.Thirdly. . . she collects the data and sorts it out into groups of information. 12 . this study gives the explanation based on the of cross – cultural study. The concluding and summarizing is the last one used to give final conclusions and suggestions for further study. the author uses the following method: .Secondly. for the theoretical background. . the research emphasizes the importance of studying foreign language applied in culture context. which is to raise the awareness of communication breakdown. the researcher finds out some similarities and differences between the English and Vietnamese when they choose the ways of giving and responding to compliments. 13 . pragmatics is concerned with the study of: . Part C. Conclusion Part B: Development Chapter I: Theoretical Background 1. Relationships between the linguistics forms and the users of those forms. Speaker meaning . 1 What is Pragmatics? Pragmatics is one of the main branches of linguistics. According to George Yule (1997: 3). How more gets communicated than is said . The expression of relative distance .1. why they did not come) (Tha ̣ch Lam.g. or to state some facts which is must be do either truly or falsely”( J. there are some utterances we cannot decide whether it is “true” or “false”. Giờ muộn thế này mà họ chưa ra nhỉ? (It is so late. Green. Gió lạnh đầ u mùa) 14 . For example: E.L. which is stated: “Communication is. we often think of speech acts.1. the successful interpretation by an addressee of a speaker’s intent in performing a linguistics act” (Georgia M.1). And “a linguistics act” is controlled by certain rules or norms that suitable with different societies.. many theorists have studied this term. Therefore. when mentioning pragmatics. Levinson (1983). In fact. This interchange creates the differences of choosing language among different cultures. What is speech acts? For over the past years. It is difficult to give a correct definition for the question: What is pragmatics? We only know that it refers to the language in use. p. 1. And language in use has connection with the term: “communication”. we will continue this talk with the talk of speech acts. rather. were some other well known theorists such as: Hymes (1964). but it has such a complicated scope that it is far from easy to give the satisfied definition. How to do thing with words.L Austin. people have tried to think in different way. and later.1 What is speech act? As above part. However.1). Searle (1969). Austin (1962) with his famous book: “How to do thing with words”. how does pragmatics vary across- culture? And how can the learners recognize this variety? Those question will be answered easier when the term “speech act” is mentioned. Natural Language Understanding. Brown and Yule (1983) and Schmidt and Richards (1983).. The pioneer of this theory was the philosopher J. people assumed that the business of a “statement”can only be to “describe” some state of affairs. p. At first. From the time speech acts theory appeared. because sometimes talking to pragmatics means talking to speech acts. the attitude being expressed. Most of the researchers share the common view that: speech acts are acts performed via utterances or speech acts are the actions that are involved when one says something and in English these actions are given more specific labels such as: apology. It is J. promise or complaint… As mentioned above. it is a statement. and an apology expresses regret. a statement expresses a belief. in 15 . we often ask this kind of question: E. Such types of examples have enhanced the theorists to give the complete definition of speech acts. he stated that: In general. Therefore. When the notion of speech acts brought out. For example: When a child talks to his mother: “Mum.g. “ Bác đi đâu đấy? (Where are you going?) Although Vietnamese people do not really want to know where his friend is going to go. she still gives that question to keep conversation with the people in a poor district. It is impossible to know exactly the speaker’s intention if we only base on his statement without the context. we have another outlook. As an act of communication. a request expresses a desire. In other words. However. Or in Vietnam. when Mrs. complement. To communicate is to express a certain attitude. For example. a speech act succeeds if the audience identifies. invitation. his question is easily accepted and it is considered as the Vietnamese greeting routine. it is language in use. this question functions not only as what a question should do but also like a statement. it is easy to see that there are no one utterance – one function relationship.Austin who gave the notion of speech acts firstly. In this situation. Thus. Ti talks to Lien. speech acts are especially concerned in real life. speech acts are acts of communication. and the type of speech act being performed corresponds to the type of attitude being expressed. I’m hungry!” If we classify this sentence based on grammatical standard. Although she knows why her guests come late. he only asks to tighten relationship with the hearer by showing his care through that kind of question. in accordance with the speaker's intention. request. This unseparated relationship causes both the speakers (S) and hearers(H) confused. This view was shown in Yule’s statement: “indeed. he hopes to transform his intention to hearer and this effect is called perlocutionary act. In conclusion. illocutionary force is the most important force. Austin divided speech acts into three acts: Locutionary act. it is simple when understanding speech acts as following ways: * To say something is to do something * In saying something. They have a close relationship relating to each other whenever an utterance is produced. felicitously. Although there is such a classification . we do something * By saying something we do something And it is clear that in terms of speech acts. * Locutionary act: Are sentences that conform to the phonological and grammatical convention of the language.. promise. There are many factors that have effect on the way S creates a sentence. The usual acts are “warn. In this case. it becomes a request. its purpose is conveyed and causes the effect to the hearer. Normally. A Vietnamese production of “Bonjour madam” will not normally be known as a locutionary act because this sound does not make sense in Vietnamese. those three dimensions are not separated.” * Perlocutionary act: When a speaker utters.” However. An act performed via an utterance is successful if: it is recognized when being pronounced correctly. it is what the speakers hope the hearers recognize. when carrying out the research on this field. request. illocutionary act and perlocutionnary act..L. J. * Illocutionary act: This one refers to the aim or the communicative purpose that is attacked or achieved by the utterance.this situation. Thus it is 16 . the term “speech act” is generally interpreted quite narrowly to mean only the illocutionary force of an utterance. the child wants to ask his mother for something to eat. That is why there are some different classifications of speech acts. the question given here is how this force can be realized easily. At the beginning. . oaths. The earth moves around the world. compliment. a report. exercitives. I’ll help. Searle (1967. in what way we know that our speech are to right person and in right situation? That is also the question set by many theorists.necessary to notice that: “the utterance must be said by the right person to the right person in the right place at the right time in the right manner” (Jackson and Stockwell 1996: 140).g. a complaint..g.. (The Judge to a couple): You are marriaged.. E. It is shown in following table: Constatives Directives Commissives Acknowledgement Assertives Requestives Promises Apologize Predictives Questions Offers Condole Retrodictives Requirements Congratulate Desriptives Permissives Greet Ascriptives Advisories Thank 17 ..g.. behavetives. It is so hot here! What about going around for a walk? * Expressives: S expresses feeling and attitudes about something. Austin divided speech acts into four subtypes: expositives. but it is so confused. Nonetheless. a request E. The author concerns the one of Austin’ students..g. 1969). I am interested in the Titanic film because it is so interesting * Representatives: Describing states or events in the world such as an assertion. we also have another category of Bach and Harnish’s.g. * Declaratives: changing the state of affairs in the world. such as an apology.. * Directives: getting the listener to do something such as a suggestion. a claim. At the beginning. E. If you need a favor. E. E. Besides that. commissives. There were some others who also introduced their views about how to sort out speech acts into subtypes reasonably. which is not so different in sense from the one of Searle’s. he claimed there are 5 types as follows: * Commissives: committing speaker to do something in the future such as a promise. not all of them have clear definition of compliment.2. So. the author only focuses on the speech act of compliment. However. it is considered as major part of our daily communication. Giving a compliment is thought as giving a valuable verbal gift." .1. Compliment as a speech act "I can live for two months on a good compliment. In this paper.Mark Twain Compliment is universal in all societies and languages. Everyone likes to receive compliment because it makes them happy. It also plays an important role in moral life of people. Informatives Bid Confirmatives Accept Concessives Reject Retractives Assentives Dissentives Disputatives Responsives Suggestives Suppositives Each type of speech act functions differently along with the illocutionary force of the speaker.1. Specifically. comfortable and self- confident. what is compliment? 18 . compliment belongs to act of “Acknowledgement” 1. Most of theorists share the same idea that compliment belongs to the most “sensitive” area of language. norm. the Vietnamese often give compliment on other appearance at the first meeting like: 19 .“Your content is good but your writing is difficult for me to read” The important roles of compliment cannot be denied. etc.. he can say: . skill. She also points out that even when a compliment appears to refer to a third person. to whom we will give compliment. the major function of a compliment is ‘to create or maintain solidarity between interlocutors”. For example. sex.. There are also many factors affecingt on this process such as: culture. There are many notions being given. social power… Cross-culturally. it is necessary to answer those questions: When. taboo. for some “good” ( possession. and lifestyle. value. “compliments are expressions of admiration. to praise.) which is positively valued by S and H (1998a: 485). age.etc.. for instance in a classroom situation”. it is not always good whenever giving it. usually the person addressed. It is used to replace other speech acts such as apologies. However. for example: Teacher wants to remind student’s bad writing in his/her easy. According to Alle Patrica Wall. gender. (complimenter): What a polite child! R. characteristics. and another one is “to reinforce desired behavior. it may well be indirectly complimenting the addressee as following example: R’s(recipients) old school friend is visiting and comments one of the children’s manners: C. especially. or to suggest something. why. We do our best.. thanking. to encourage someone. respect or praise” or another more specific one of Holme’s: “compliment is a speech act which explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speaker. As Wolfson claimed. (recipient) : Thank you. to give an appreciate compliment.. to soften criticism with usage of “but” or “though”. giving and responding to compliment is affected by many cultural factors such as religion. This also reflects its variable functions. Because. People apply it for many purposes such as: to break ice at the first meeting.. “congratulates” group.1. people live. Their function mainly shows attitudes. Cross-cultural communication 20 . 1.1. This group includes: congratulate. it will die. In the point of view of cross-cultural pragmatic. it belongs to “acknowledgments” area. belief. among them. There are many definitions were given by the linguists but it is difficult to decide which is a the most ssatisfying one. Similar to culture. it is not enough if they only learn structures. it also has the close relationship with the values. In table 1. we can see that culture is something that appears. compliment also changes among different countries. compliment is regarded as a speech act. custom and any other capabilities and habit acquired by man as a member of society”. Therefore.Taylor’s : “Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge. different circumstances. Cultural communication 1. For example. culture is a special phenomenon which is controversial topic. but in Western nations. exists and connects closely to human life. compliment and praise.2. Alfred Knoeber and Clyde Kluckkhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of culture. communication breakdown or culture shock. From above definitions.. law. They should know how to apply language in real situations because language without culture.2. art. in 1952. we mentioned term “culture”. Linguistically. feeing of the speaker to the hearer. This type of system is summarized in the list of rules or norms which control people behavior. Thus. 2. moral. It is reflected through much aspect of human life and especially language. Among them.“You look very beautiful”. It exists despite of distance of time and space. each country has its own culture and value systems. And this is one of the factors create miscommunication. the classification of Bach and Harnish’s. 1. Edword B. it is uncomfortable when someone compliments them like that. with second language learners. Notion of culture In above section. What is culture? According to many theorists.1. the author sets her interest in the definition of Mr. and space relationships. ethnic. It is normal if we mention the relationship between language and culture in one country because individual was taught how to fit their society’s norms when he was a little child. racial. What is politeness? There were many linguists gave their definitions for it. interlocutors tend to try their best to keep a good relationship with each others. and age and class backgrounds. The most important purpose of any utterance is creating illocutionary force. and mediating one's cultural differences through language. politeness has a close-knit relationship with the term speech acts. And Clarke and Sanchez gives us a useful way to understand this term by explaining from what is “cross. Positive – negative politeness In any conversation. And it expresses as the practical application of good manners or etiquette. it means S is keeping her/ his face. ¨Cross-cultural communication¨ is a process of exchanging. As the first ones who investigated this field. But what will happen if s/he goes abroad or contacts with person who comes from a totally different culture? This is time for the need of knowledge of cross-cultural communication to appeare. 2001) 1. sexual orientation. (Clarke and Sanchez. From above subparts. gender. That is the way of showing politeness of people all over the world. In other words. religious. it is based much on how polite the speaker is. being polite. we know that speech acts is a kind of act which performs via utterance. We only apply some aspects of them as references. To understand more clearly 21 . there is no satisfying one. It is also the process by which people express their openness to an intercultural experience”. and this force can get its power or not. however. By understanding and knowing how to use this term: “cross-cultural communication”. negotiating.3. people all over the world become closer and closer to each others.culture” to “cross-cultural communication” as following: “The term ¨cross-culture¨ implies interaction with persons of different cultural. Since that. non-verbal gestures. Brown and Levinson (1987:66) stated that: “Politeness is a battery of social skills whose goal is to ensure everyone feels affirmed in a social interaction”. similar to speech acts. maintained or enhanced. From that we have two types of politeness: Negative and positive politeness. Brown and Levinson claimed that: “Face is something that emotionally invested. For example: when your friend asks you that” “Do you like my presentation? you answer: “I like it a lot. even liked by others. Even though we have such classification. we have two subtypes of face: Negative face and positive face. and must be constantly attended to in interaction”. To make it easier to be recognized. They are: ● Tact maxim: Minimize cost and maximize benefit to other ● Generosity maxim: minimize benefit and maximize cost to self ● Approbation maxim: minimize dispraise and maximize praise of other ● Modesty maxim: praise and maximize dispraise of self ● Agremeny maxim: minimize disagreement and maximize agrement between self and other ● Sympathy maxim: minimize antipathy and maximize sympathy between self and other. Another one gave his view. For instance. we study the notion of “face”.about this phenomenon. Positive face is “the need to be accepted. Positive politeness is a kind of strategies which are attempts by S to treat the listener as a friend or as some one to be included in discourse. and to know that his or her wants are shared by others. It refers to that emotional and social sense of self that everyone has and aspects everyone else to recognize”. so we direct our attention to a more detail saying of Leech (1983). to have freedom of action”. negative face is “the need to be independent. Whereas. it is perfect!” although you think that it is not good. which modified this theory is Yule. to be treated as member of the same group”.He developed a list of rules or politeness Maxims to help classify speech. “face means the public self-image of a person”. it is so difficult to categorize it. Also in their leading theory. we compliment other: “You look very nice today!” Negative politeness is an attempt by S to save H’s face by engaging in some formality or restraint. 22 . and that can be last. According to Yule. 23 . a Chinese girl. that is impossible. In the first part. skill or talents. Chapter II: A cross-cultural study of giving and responding to compliments in English and Vietnamese equivalents 2. sometimes the misunderstanding happens funnily and thoughtfully. especially. It is normal and popular in English that a man can compliment on a girl’s beauty. In his study about compliment. This is in line with the aim of the speaker to make sure that their compliments to the right person in the right situation. You have a beautiful smile. yes or no(Y/N) (means: we can give compliment or not).. based on the result of realistic survey by native speakers. It should be noticed that. New Zealand. The Chinese is famous for it’s Confuctional belief and they are influenced by the proverb: “men and women should keep distance in case of the occurrence of love affairs”. advisable(A). In contrast. Topics of compliment Because of culture boundaries.what they often like to compliment on and whether it is similar in Vietnam. topic of communication is 24 . And this research will give you the answer that in English speaking countries like England. Compliment is one of the most sensitive areas in communication. it is depended on the addressee. 1984. a strange girl. It is a nice but not right compliment. 242). possession”. saying “I have been watching you all through lunch. worked accomplished. The problem here is not that compliment itself.. a complete male stranger addressed one of the women on his way out of the restaurant. p.Wolfson gave an example that becomes more and more popular nowadays when people learn others’ culture: This is unexpected situation: in a small restaurant in Philadelphia’s Chinatown.. When a compliment is produced. the speaker has to think a lot of the relationship with the hearer. It lights up the whole room” (Wolfson..1. inadvisable(IA)” equivalent to the topics: appearance. the informants are required to fill in the suitable column with their own idea which standed for by “highly advisable(HA). Australia. The answer will be studied. automobiles. social. p.such a large term. 1983. a good meal (Manes. furniture. only four typical topics are studied. and other material possession The data of the survey is shown in the following table: Column 1 means “highly advisable” Column 2 means“advisable” Column 3 means“yes or no” Column 4 means “inadvisable” 25 . Some illustrations are detailed below: * Appearance: refers to one’s looks. completion. such as necklace and so on * Skill or talents: refers to the “quality of something produced through the addressee’s skill or effort: a well-done job. including haircuts. clothing. esp. a skillfully played game. thing achieved. * work accomplished: refers to one’s acquired skill. and ornaments. 101)”. *Possession: refers to homes. therefore. Situations 1 V E I: S/he has a lovely smile or beautiful eyes 57% 37% Appea S/he has soft voice 57% 33% rance s/he looks well-built though her/his ages (above 30) 20% 0% s/he is a sexy girl 0% 13% S/he has a new hairstyle 7% 7% II: S/he is good at some kinds of sports like football.. Table 1: The different choice of topic compliment by English and Vietnamese. 10% 7% Her husband is kind. 43% 10% or piano… talents S/he is good at communicating 50% 14% S/he can earn money easily 27% 0% S/he is humorous 30% 20% III: S/he gets a scholarship for a well known university or a good job 80% 47% Work accom S/he is promoted 23% 50% plishe S/he passed an important exam or presented successfully d 67% 43% at a meeting IV: S/he has a nice house or car 23% 10% Posses S/he has lovely pets. beautiful and intelligent 10% 3% His/her children are successful at school or at work 40% 10% 26 . handsome and intelligent 7% 3% His wife is kind. 13% 13% sion S/he has a nice necklace or shirt. Skill volleyball… or some kinds of instruments like guitar. 1. As he claimed.g. soft voice(33% HA. possession. In contrast. they also have the taboo that interlocutors should avoid mentioning such as compliment on age. dày. The English consider the appearance as the thing can be easy to give a compliment. 50% A) They are ones which get the highests rate of compliment in daily conversation. 78): People think that when they belong to the elder group of community. “appearance” refers to one’s looks. the result shows that. the point “s/he looks well-built though her/his ages (above 30)” is not so popular ( 0% “HA”.. Statically.. Appearance As being seen from the survey. which stated clearly by Esther Wanning (102.1. people suppose that when they are old they had better go to live in Special Health 27 .1.. her body. clothing. she thought that it is one of the most ‘sensitive” point that S avoids recommending to.HA. Pha ̣m Ma ̣nh Hùng) (How equivalent her hair! It is thick. in a society where achievement is highly acknowledged. and ornaments. in the individual environment like English. this does not mean that there is no exception. 57% “IA”)when complimenting. In general.However. 1. Surrounded by individual culture norms. 53% A) or new hair style (7%... Those findings will be illustrated more specific in the next sub- sections 2. "Tóc gì tuyê ̣t diê ̣u. Especially. This can be understood when standing at the view of culture concept of English. all of the elder become redundant. Topics of compliment in English It is said that.2. such as necklace and so on. 40% “Y/N”. It is rather so surprising to the author because at first. soft and so bright. mề m mại và chói rực lạ thường!” (Quoted in “Tiế ng chim hót trong bụi mận gai”. “The thorn bird”) As regard the point: “She is a sexy girl”. they seem to do nothing for society. 60% A). it also receives the marks for “HA” (13%) and “A” (57%).. including haircuts. beautify eyes (37% HA. E. the English take care of some characteristics such as lovely smile. the English are so enthusiastic in giving compliment.) (Colleen McCullough.1. They can compliment on a girl’s beautiful smile. 3% “A”. beside the topics of working day. and the highest rate of ‘HA”. Generally speaking.3.1. English speakers tend to compliment on the addressee’s 28 . Although most of the English do not like mentioning their money. passed an important exam or presented successfully at a meeting . However.1. From above analysis. “IA”: 54%). One more remarkable notice here is the subtopic: “s/he is humorous”. There are up to 53% informants support for the idea of complimenting others humour. no one considers it as “IA”. 10% ideas of “A” appeare. sometime it is acceptable with men because they want to show their achievement. It is easy to understand because we know that the English are the ones who are so consistent in individual values. who are above 30 and live in urban area. They think that asking them about their salary. there are up to 54% of ideas are “IA”. 2. Skill or talents The second type of topic that the author does research is “skill or talents”.2. the author sees that. “A’: 43%. 2.1. the English like talking about their skills or talent such as playing instrument (“HA”: 10%. most of the subjects of those ideas are male. “IA”:0%) or “good at communicating”(“HA”: 14%. Remarkably.1. Looking the information of the informants. on their cake they often put the same number of candles to their age. is promoted. but this behavior will be omitted when they are above 30. In this case. they are afraid of age. That is why. it is clearly to see that. This finding is also proved by a real concept: The English like holding birthday party.Care. That is why. their work are such personal questions. Work accomplished This is only one topic receiving no ideas “IA” for the whole subtopics: gets a scholarship for a well known university or a good job. “IA”: 0%) not about their money. they do not want to tell about their age (especially when they are above 30). Those percents reflects the fact that. most of the criteria are “HA” or “A” except the point that: “s/he can earn money easily”(“A”: 10%. A: 67%. if the speaker acknowledges their friend’s skill they can compliment on. this is one of the ways to solid relationship between interlocutors. The others such as her husband is kind. As seen from data.1.1. they have many approval ideas for ‘A”.1. Over all. The findings will be observed in specific situations: 2. beautiful and intelligent.2. handsome and intelligent or his wife is kind. The informants are Vietnamese. 57% highly supportive ideas for each. Therefore the point that “s/he is promoted” has highest percentage of “HA”(50%). The possession such as “having a nice house or car” or “having lovely pets” becomes neutral speech.4. work accomplished is a safe topic for searching words to compliment English speakers. This numeral reflects the fact that the Vietnamese are very interested in some outstanding features like “smile” or “tone of voice”. the way they speak are the inflections of their fates. we have just studied the topics of compliment in English through the work of sorting out subtopics based on criteria of “HA. A.achievement which was obtained through efforts. It is their opinion that the way people smile. Y/N and IA”. 29 . 2. For example: “Well done! You did very well”. 2. It can be observed from the table that the personal characteristics such as: “a lovely smile or beautiful eyes or soft voice”tend to get the highest support from the speakers. because there are 40% and 30% informants put their choices on column of “IA” for the two of them in order. Vietnamese findings In above section. Possession The topic of possession here seems to be a “sensitive” one because people do not like talking about it as much as the “work accomplished”.1. are avoided when complimenting others.2. Appearance The first sub-topic which is so popular to give comment here is appearance.1. The next one will be done with the same form but different subjects. . kind life. the Vietnamese care much for people who luckily have lovely smile or beautiful eyes or soft voice. They are: . 40% are neutral “Y/N” and the last is “A”. it is taken into account the biography of those supporters. seven informants give another idea that there is need to mention the age. and no one think that it is not a good complimenting topic. Thus. become ugly with wrinkles. it is easy to understand that most of participants chose the column of “HA”(50%) and “A”(37%). not all the participants ticked on “IA” column. most of Vietnamese women are standarded with their four characteristics: work. there are 20% of people show that it is “HA”. Different from the English. speech. The female in urban are afraid of the age because they think that if they get older and older. This is the first time that one suggested subtopic gets only 20% “A” and the highest proportion of disapproval (40%). Affected deeply by traditional values. Nevertheless.. This difference by chance indicates the development of our society. One more time. ngon. dung.Most of them are female and live in a city. Age: above 20 30 . no one chose “Y/N” column or “IA” one. above 20 . general idea is that we can mention other’s age or wish them longevity. hanh) cannot receive such kind of that saying. informants divide into 3 main groups: 20% people say that it is “A”. 57% of “A” and 23% ones suppose that can give compliment or not. There are six ones think that we can give comment. the Vietnamese regard the longevity as one of the luckiness that they have because of their honest. they will be less beautiful. They are: . In the second subtopic: “s/he looks well-built though her/his ages (above 30)”. spots. beauty. Although the Vietnamese like seeing the beauty.. they can not express directly whe complimenting a girl that she is a sexy one. Surrounded by traditional concept.They are young. With the idea of complimenting a person because “she is a sexy girl”. it is common when asking: “How old are you?” at the first time of meeting. However. Thus. personality (Cong. However. and being humorous is one of them. In Vietnam. To be good at communicating. There are some noticeable points such as: the idea of “s/he is good at communicating” stands out in the column of “HA” with 50% of participants’ choices . Skill or talents It is clearly stated in the table of observation that a vast of participants choose the column of “HA” and “A”. not all of us successed. they have been affected deeply by foreign culture such as: Korean. lựa lời mà nói cho vừa lòng nhau”(words cost nothing. eyes. or soft voice.2. Occupation: Student Those features explain the reason why it sounds strange to the author... Their thought also interchange along with the changing of sociosociety. Some one who can play sports like football.. Western.1. Finally.. selects suitable words to please other). 2. knowing the importance of “choosing suitable words”. there a lot of the changing. Even though. Gender: most of them are female . One more time. it is friendly if S compliment on others’ beautiful smile. magazines. the country which had a long history of fighting and protecting homeland. internet. the Vietnamese tend to compliment the ones who have that kind of special ability. But it should be taken into account if the compliment is she is a sexy girl because it becomes a taboo to with a strict person.2. a compliment given is natural. is good at communicating and specially. we mention the affect of culture on the Vietnamese behavior. the speaker has to have many characteristics. That is also regarded as the gift of God to some lucky people. humorous. especially with the young generation. volleyball. Marital statue: Single . instruments like guitar. the sense of humour plays an important 31 . There is a famous proverb: “Lời nói chẳ ng mấ t tiề n mua. . It emphasizes the ways in which people choose suitable words to communicate. Knowing that. Looking at present society.through films. Area of living: Urban . piano. in modern society.2. Most of the one who choose that ideas are: . Marital status: Single . It is obviously that someone who is intelligent is admired.role in ritual life. the least for “IA” (13%) one . it is not so impolite if we compliment other on their earning ability. This is proved in the above table: 0%“IA”. In situation: the person who can earn money well. the largest proportion is for “A” and “Y/N”column (30%) and ranks at the second is “HA” (27%). Being students. should we compliment him/her? As seen from the table. it is not so important that we have the idea of “HA”. Gender: men . having a good job.1. earning money well are the ways help those people achieve their purpose. In daily communication. In addition. earning money well is also one of the ways to show out one’s social power status. they are very young and ambitious. The author supposes that. On one hand. Living area: Urban . s/he is promoted (23% and 60%) and s/he passed an important exam or presented successfully at a meeting (67% and 23%). Age: above 20 . 2. 32 . On the other hand. so there is the need for looking at informants’ parameters. Work accomplished As a matter of topic: work accomplished. The above analysis shows that: compliment on skill or talents are suitable when S want to open a conversation with some one they want to. there is a general viewpoint that it is also a safe topic when complimenting others. It is obviously to see that the percentage of HA and A for this subtopic are very high (30% and 46%).3. they want to do some thing to identify them. The approval choices focus on “HA” and “A” column with statistics are: s/he gets a scholarship for a well known university or a good job (80% and 20%). the ideas of informants deliver in four columns. Occupation: Student The statistics indicate the reason why those informants have that ideas. there are some similarities between two cultures.“ Ông dạy quá lời. where focus on different topics of compliment. there is only one which has no idea of “IA”. the majority of decisions fall into the ‘A” and “Y/N” columns. skill or talents. Major similarities In the light of the data result. . Possession As regard this topic. 2. his/her children are successful at school or at work are the ones which have the higher percentage of “HA” (23%. Secondly. A contrastive analysis 2. Based on the above mentioned result. the result table also indicates that the safest topic is work accomplished. it is noticable that both speakers in two countries like giving compliment.3.confident.g. Tôi xin nhắc la ̣i để ông nhớ rằ ng trong nghề viế t ̣ tôi chỉ là mô ̣t câ ̣u ho ̣c trò rấ t vu ̣ng.…nhưng ông rấ t thông minh” (You are upgrading me! I have to remind you that I am only a young student in writing career. E.The sweet talks about this characteristics will make H feel good and self.1. “appearance” and “possession” are advisable topics if the S do not mention the too personal features. 40%) and “A”(47%. As seen from the data. 47%) comparing to the rest ones. “Tiế ng võng đưa”) 2. Firstly.2. The subtopics such as: s/he has a nice house or car.. The Vietnamese as well as English like to compliment on other’s outlook such as beautiful smile.1. kich . the proportion of four main types of topics: appearance. very few ones on “Y/N” one (27% in English and 17% in Vietnamese). Thirdly.1. possession vary. And rank in the second position is skill or talents with more than half of ideas are “HA” and “A”. They want to show their friendliness and politeness through the way in which they interact with others.1. it is best to look at the following three interesting observations. -…but you are verry intelligent!) (Thuý Na -Tràng Kiề u.. new hairdos. work accomplished.3.4. 33 . Whereas. with the compliment: S/he looks well-built though her/his age. Most of English think that it is normal to mention this beauty (15% are “HA”.3. So. the Vietnamese suppose that it is impolite when complimenting like that(0%. these differences reveal the unique of each nation. most of the Vietnamese regard it as a taboo because they refer it to such kind of meaning: E. Whereas. their younger generations hold a big celebration for them. Most of us do not like this word – “sexy”. in Vietnam.even though it has not bad meaning. “ No U hang up” song) In contrast.1. Another difference is complimenting on a sexy beautiful girl.g. “There was something sexy about your voice. đầ m quá đi mấ t” (That girl is so attracted! She looks sexy!) ( Nguyễn Tro ̣ng Phu ̣ng. it is necessary to know that the English does not want to hear anything which is too personal. At first. when a listener hears someone say “you look sexy today!”. 34 . it only receives 3% “A”. Major differences Beside the similarities. Anything you say makes me a beautiful noise” (Shayne Ward. That is the elder’s happiness when they are from 70. Generally speaking. 57% “A’ only 7% are “IA”). there are some remarkable differences about what the English and Vietnamese compliment on.2. “ Con bé nhà ai kháu thế ? – Gớm cái ngực. when complimenting on outlook of someone. It is said that the longevity is a gift for people because of their honest life.g. the addressee thinks it is not good saying and S is impolite.2. it is a popular topic because people think that it is one of the great things that they have in their life. and up to 43% “IA”. the English consider it as “beautiful word” to show their emotion to the beauty: E. When using this word . They think that the addressor is “putting their nose on other’s work”. 20% and 40% respectively). “Hạnh phúc của một tang gia”) Therefore we often regard this word as a taboo in any conversation. Thus. But it is possible in Vietnam. This colors suit you well. 20% 23% 35 . One more difference is topic of ability and work accomplished. it is not good when you want to compliment some one who lives in England that s/he can earn a lot of money. there are close and open answers. The answer for the question: “How to give a good answer?” is collected from two representative situations: The first situation: How would you verbally compliment the following person when s/he wears a new shirt? The second one: How would you verbally compliment the following person when s/he has given a great presentation? We have the findings: . 2. This question covers a rather large area of linguistics research. Expressions Vietnamese English You look very nice today 7% 20% You look very nice today.In Situation 1: Table 2: Giving appearance compliment strategies in English and Vietnamese. if S ask an English (who are not close friends): “How much do you earn?” immediately we will be considered as an impolite person. With their own features. the English notice to some one who gets achievement through a process of doing something such as “is promoted” (50% are “HA”) while the Vietnamese think much of talent or ability such as “good at communicating”(50% “HA”). the author only investigates some notices based on what seen from the data. This thing is easy to see from the data table: only 13% of Vietnamese do not like complimenting on and up to 57% of English have opposite ideas. In this part. The other difference is located in money topic. Giving compliment strategies We have just taken a look at what we should and should not give compliment on.2. the informants can choose available ones or write down their answer. In daily conversation. In the survey. we will have some knowledge of “How to give a good compliment”. That is why. Therefore. in situation 1. Or speaker can compliment “H” and then attack comment to what they talk about such as: “Beautiful shirt! Where did you buy it. Your presentation is very good” (30%V. the author comes roughly to the suggested idea that: usually. For example. 30% 27% Well done! I want to listen to your presentation again.In situation 2: Table 3: Giving work achievement compliment strategies in English and Vietnamese.23%E) have vast ideas of participants. From that result. the compliment like “You look very nice today.”(20%V. buddy? (47%V-30%E) or “Well done. Other(e. This colors suit you well. Others( e.g. I like it.27% E). you have been so skilled. Options Expressions Vietnamese English You did very well in there 20% 20% Well done! Your presentation was very good. 10% 10% You must have spent a lot of time preparing that 10% 12% presentation. I 10% 13% love it. This strategy cover the main proportion of chosen expressions in both two cultures.g: I like your shirt!) 10% 7% .Beautiful shirt! Where did you get it from buddy? 47% 30% (Surname). And directness is one of the positive politeness strategies. you look different every time I see you 6% 7% You must have spent a lot of time choosing this shirt. we should speak directly and give 36 . 23% 24% (Surname). You did verry well!) 7% 7% It can be observed from the survey that most of the expressions used here are direct compliments on the object which the speaker suppose that it should be focused on. when compliment someone or something. it can encourage H on what they have or they are doing.3 Compliment responses strategies As being mentioned above. (1978) indicated that American speakers exhibit great ingenuity in avoiding the simple acceptance of compliments. Homes (1980.. to give a good compliment. with her New Zealand data. and Deflect/Evade. compliments are one of the universal speech acts. 2001. Therefore. 273). we cannot omit its response. social organization. In non-western languages. The reason is: the aim of the writer is to find out the variety of different cultures in different countries. the setting. p. Although there are many types of compliments strategies given by famous researchers. Permorantz. If the compliment gets its forces. However. When mentioning the act of compliment. social values. It is because of the importance of compliment response. It is interesting to see the response patterns vary greatly across cultures. Her analysis showed that Accept was the most preferred response type (61% of all the responses). For example: Herbert. By this way. Reject. This is one of the reasons that enhances the author does this research. the author is only interested in the one of Herbert: 37 . identified 12 strategies and classified these into three broad types: Accept. studying compliment responses can “enhance our understanding of a people’s culture.. you can show your sincerity that you really want to comment him/her. there were many attempts were taken into consideration. the acceptance rates are much lower than those in English speaking communities (Baek. Yule… have proven that compliment responses reveal “rules of language use in a speech community” and “critical elements of face maintenance devices”. that what you are saying is honest.All of them will discussed in chapter III: 2. 1998). and the function and meaning of language used in a community” (Yuan.comment after that. 1986. Many the theorists such as Homes. S have to think of many others factors such as the relationship with listener. * Comment Acceptance E. .You’re not the first and you’re not the last. Thanks/ thank you. 2. . * Reassignment E. . Agreements * Appreciation Token E.I love that outfit. . I look like Buster Brown.1. * Praise Upgrade E.Your haircut looks good.Your portfolio turned out great. * Comment History E.g.I like that shirt you’re wearing. .g. .: .g. 13).Me too.My brother gave it to me.g.I like your hair long. .g. .: -You’re funny. 38 .Nice haircut. I’m getting a new one * Disagreement E. .That’s a beautiful sweater.It’s too short.g.It’s all scratched up. .g. No agreements * Scale Down E. I’m never getting it cut short again.You’re a good audience.g.I got it for the trip to Arizona (p.That’s a nice watch. .g. . * Return E.: .: .Yeah. * Qualification E. . p. The author does not use them as the main database to do research. There is another one which claimed by Saito and Beeken: 1. Joke: You need to practice ten more years to beat me. . 3. 370) 39 . too. . It is difficult to give a universal framework for the complement response because of a lot of different characteristics of different cultures.You like it? . 4. Agreement: Yes. Return: You’re good.It’s alright. I know. I’m good at cooking. 2. Affirmative explanation: I have confidence.Did you finish the assignment for today? 3. 5. 1997. Denial: No. but I want to retake some pictures.Yeah .I like your shirt. 7. I’m not good. . 8. 9). *Question/ Question Response . Acceptance: I’m glad you like it. 6. Let’s play again. Gratitude: Thank you. Request interpretation . (Saito and Beecken.Nice sweater . Mitigation: It happened by chance. Avoidance/Topic change: Really?. she only takes them into of account as reference. appreciate it.You want to borrow this one too? The frameworks of CR(compliment response) categorization by Pomerantz (1978) and Herbert (1989) have been widely used with or without adaptation.Why? * No Acknowledgement -That’s a beautiful sweater. in English. 2.1. the hearer has different ways of responding to. the praise upgrade has rather high voters for agreement (17%). From that. each different topic. English findings Chart 1: Compliment response strategies in English As shown in the Chart 2.3. It is defferent fromVietnamese’s.5% of scale down used. The next part will reveal more specific information about this problem. In this paper. This statistic evidence has proved that there exists the difference between English and Vietnamese in the way they respond to compliments.2 Vietnamese findings As summarized from the data. The least percentage of choices belongs to the question strategies. with each different culture. Since communication varies culturally.5% of comment acceptance and 8. the result will be analyzed as following: 2.3. to find the answer for the questions: Are there any similarities and differences? Whether those findings can reveal something about the culture of the two countries? Is it helpful to the second language learners who are trying their best to get over communication boundaries? With those purposes. the author will analyze the data from survey to find out the most common compliment strategies used by the English and Vietnamese speakers. the major ideas of participants are acceptance 55%%. there are only 13. Besides. we have following result: 40 . it seems that most of people who choose this kind of response are students. This interaction between the speakers relate to sincerity of 41 . Appreciations are often short and grammatically simple. For example: “Cảm ơn! Rấ t vui vi bạn thích nó!(“Thanks! Glad you like it!”) . not all the time we refuse or scale down because we can accept if it is acceptable. But it is a small number in comparion with the total of agreement group. There are also 11. who are above 20. The most common one is ‘thanks’. This is because of habit of the Vietnamese. they accept it but they tend to attack comment with agreement signal. In general. we have a general idea that the Vietnamese tend to scale down the compliments (43.5% of ideas). in some case.5% ppreciations strategy used. They like to use it because of its simple construction. When they are used.Chart 2: Compliment response strategies in Vietnamese Having a cursory glance at the chart 1. most of us tend to scale down it because we think that is simple of modesty. One theorist stated that the Vietnamese compliment sequences rather long contain many words and seem to continue beyond the initial compliment and corresponding response. the Vietnamese scale down or refuse compliments. The listeners use it when they do not want to talk much about the speakers’ compliments. Downgrades or refusals which put the receiver of the compliment in a situation where they could appear unappreciative of having received the compliment. However. Looking back at the information of informants. it means that receivers of compliments do not want to appear proud or boastful. It seems that when receiving a compliment. This is the way that they show their modesty and politeness.the compliment and the compliment response. the Vietnamese use many strategies to respond to compliments and the dominant one is scale down. the author illustrates the result on the chart below: 42 . it seems that.3. Praise upgrade can put the person who receives the compliment in a position where they are potentially showing pride. The longer interaction is.3 A contrastive analysis To show clearly the similarities and differences between the two cultures in the ways they respond to compliments. They are young (above 20). living in urban area. Sometime it is for fun but sometime like another way of refusing for polite refusal.5% choices. especially in the country which praises modesty like Vietnam. This is a characteristic that many language communities try to avoid. which has 13. It seems that they live in urban so they can be affected by foreign culture which connected to individual value. 2. there is appearance of the strategies “praise upgrade” (5%). Question strategy has the same pecentage to praise upgrade one (5%) In summary. This is time for the researcher to look at the survey to find information about participant. the Vietnamese like joking. the greater the sincerity is. The third dimension of responding to compliment is joking. It is shown that most of them are students. This fact is corresponding to what we found in part I. From the table of data. They can pride on what they have. Therefore. they tend to focus on one main strategy and the others play as support ones such as in English 55. most people in the two cultures are very friendly.% of choice are acceptance and in Vietnam is 43. Comment acceptance. the responding strategies used by the people from two cultures variably with six main ones are: Appreciation taken. It is observed from the Chart 1 that. Praise up grade. Major similarities Firstly. in each culture. this strategy is considered as not popular one 43 . Obviously. They often respond to compliment as well as give it. it is noticeable that. Joke and Question. 1. the proportion of using question strategies is small compared to the whole number.3. Scale down. 2.3.5% are scale down. Secondly. 3. Western countries incline the usage of short form and quick answer. 5% vs 8.2. It is also reflected in daily conversation. This way of thought belongs to negative politeness. In addition.5% and 5%). Whenever hearing another compliments.2 Major differences It is clearly to see that each culture likes to use different main strategies: the English prefer appreciation token (55%) and Vietnamese is scale down (43. the Vietnamese often refuse the compliment although they deserved. Another interesting result is a noticeable difference in scale down strategy. which count the percentage 11. the number users in Vietnamese is much smaller that that in English.5%).3. The Vietnamese use this kind of response is much more popular than the English.5%). 44 . It is kind of positive politeness. Whereas. As many Vietnamese participants said that this is signal of humbles as their traditional concept.5% and 55% respectively. This is because of the difference in belief between two cultures. Meanwhile. This difference refers to the division of negative and positive politeness. not exactly a new one) With the response strategy appreciation token. The proportion of this strategy in Vietnamese is larger than that in English (13. không phải mới đâu! (“Oh! It normal” or “it is rather old. (43. This result indicates the fact that the Vietnamese are very humorous. cũng bình thường thôi mà! Hoă ̣c là: Cái này cũ rồi mà. The English use agreement acceptance like the way they want to be acknowledged by others for what they have. They tend to show this characteristic in any situation. The last finding is that the imbalance in the use of joking in responding to compliment. Vietnam is a developing country while the English speaking countries belong to developed ones where the space of life is more rapid than that in Vietnam. they often reply that: Ồ. One follows collectivism and other’s is individualism. Vietnamese tend to extend conversation to keep close relationship and to prove that they care about speaker. The reason for this difference is the Vietnamese follow the norms of modesty in their belief. would all compliments we pay to the beautiful women have the best effect? Would all the compliments we pay to the ones who are successful in work are highly appreciated? In fact it depends not only on what we comment on. In addition. Sincerity is the key to give compliments. the English living in their individualistic environment.How do we give a compliment? We have just taken a look at what we should give compliments on. 3. However. The second noticeable point is that if S want to compliment on English’s ability.1.. heal. whether he is in Vietnam or in Western countries. And this part will help you answer the question “How to make a good compliment?” With the factor of the speaker himself. 3.1 Some suggestions 3. but also on many other factors like the way we making it or the outside factors such as setting. who live in neighborhood relationship and collectivism..1 What do we compliment on? From the result of the study. Meanwhile. 2 . they avoid mentioning the personal topics such as age. they should emphasize on achievement or work accomplished which was obtained through efforts. it is necessary to notice that the Vietnamese people. A true compliment comes from the giver’s heart and impacts the receiver’s heart. They can lift. the compliment on talent is highly appreciated. Compliments are often remembered long after they are spoken. Voicing his favorable perception or reaction to someone or something is usually best simply stated. And when talking with a Vietnamese. money. and inspire great things. Chapter III: Some suggestions for giving and responding to compliments in English and Vietnamese equivalents. compliment topics are abundant (except complimenting on a girl sexy beauty).1. in 45 . it is very important that he should show his sincerity. If he/she is an English. the outside factors have effect on the process of receiving compliment of H. Because the compliment’s variety depends on cultural concept. and we all need that at times. it is normal when accepting compliment in English. it is necessary for the speaker to focus on cultural factors. There are some suggestive activities for teaching English by teaching students how to give and respond compliments. we should know how to speak to avoid being considered as a boastful person. they highly evaluate the compliment which uses the first personal pronoun “I”. S should acknowledge his relationship with the person he is complimenting. 1. Moreover. Therefore. 3. compliments should be appropriate with the setting. comment on his boss' new hair color only if two are long-time friends. In modern language class room. For instance: S should tell some one who has just presented successful in a meeting that “Well done! Your presentation was very good”. If they do. 3. it is very useful to help them to improve language skills.2 Suggested teaching application Compliment plays an important role in our life. Last but not least. the directness is really highly evaluated. How to respond to compliment. Whereas. Besides. Activities * Activity 1: Role-play 46 . Teachers tend to emphasize the role of communicative skills by providing cultural factors in lesson. S should choose words carefully because a compliment in good taste and the right words at the right time is always welcome. they also often scale down it or attack some comments after that. if H is a Vietnamese. One more notice. Compliments make people feel good about themselves. As second language learners. many methods have been applied. For example.Western culture. it is necessary to notice to the addressee’s information and environment.3. Everyone likes to hear compliments. Vietnamese addressees like to show the modesty and humble so that rarely they accept the compliment for the first time. For example: “A beautiful shirt! I like it a lot”.1. You have such beautiful hair. Expressions a. What a lovely baby you have! 6. Your blouse is really beautiful. You (really) did a good job! 8. I really like your dress. * Additional six formula examples: 4. Noun Phrase + is/look + (really) + Adjective E.. Giving complements That’s a very nice .. I’m glad you like it. That … (tie) looks great on you. Responses to compliments How kind of you to say so. This dish is delicious. 5. Thank you. Provide sample dialogue for students to practice in pairs. Isn't your ring beautiful! 7. Nice game! Step 3.g.g.That's a really nice rug.g. You (really) handled that situation well! 9. I love your new apartment. pp. Step 1: Provide some expressions of paying and responding to compliment for student practice speaking individually. I + (really) + like/love + Noun Phrase E. my compliments to the chef. (an expression of modesty and humility) Step 2: Provide top three compliment formulas (Manes and Wolfson 1981. It was nothing really. b. 47 . That's a great looking car. 120 1. Great job on the …(presentation). 3. You look very good in … (that new hair-do). Your hair looks great! 2. Pronoun + is + (really) + Adjective + Noun Phrase E.(dress). It truly went above and beyond. Staff: Thank you very much. Guest: My compliments to the chef. Dialogues Staff: What a beautiful dress. Staff: Thank you sir. *Activity 2: Use visual aids to teach such as Audio video . For additional practice. trying to use all of the expressions noted above. Guest: I really appreciate all the extra work you did on helping us solve that problem. I'm glad you like it. Elliot. I’ll be sure to let the chef know. Johnson. Ms. Simpson. I guess all those private lessons are finally paying off. 48 . Teacher uses video of native speakers to teach students more effectively. one partner takes the role of the guest and the other the role of the staff. Mrs. Practice the dialogue several times. Staff: Thank you ma’am. Step 4: Practice using the above expressions by having a dialogue similar to the ones above With a partner. switch roles. You really gave me a workout. Staff: Your new hair-do looks absolutely gorgeous. Guest: How kind of you to say so. how kind of you to say so. Guest: Your English is very good. My compliments to your work ethic. This linguine is superb. Guest: Thanks. Staff: Excellent game Mr. Guest: Thanks. Have the faces displayed so that they are spaced apart.Using pictures to show how to use non-verbal language when giving and responding compliment. Suggested compliment lesson plan for English speaking class. 2. one face should be a "happy face".Paper and pencils . Hope to provide a useful material for English learners.Three faces drawn on the chalkboard or large paper (see Anticipatory Set) .A jar containing a slip of paper for each student on which the teacher has written a specific a compliment Instructional Procedure: * Draw three large faces on the chalkboard or large sheets of paper. . . Duration: One Forty five -Minute Class Period Objectives: The learner will: .state what they like about a classmate. Take some 49 . the author suggests a lesson plan to apply in classroom. Ask students to remember how they felt walking into the classroom on the first day of school. Students discover that it feels good to make others feel good. Materials: . Purpose: This lesson encourages children to think of the feelings of others. were they a little frightened or worried that they wouldn't know anyone? Then ask the students to look at the faces and to go stand by the face that best shows that feeling. one a "straight mouth face" and one a "sad face".respond appropriately when receiving a compliment. ) Now ask. The teacher should remind the students to respond appropriately to the compliment. Some students may require compliment starters such as: o I like you because… o You are a friend because… o Thank you for…. * The teacher should then write each student's name on a piece of paper and place it in another container. Discuss the meaning of the word "compliment. Students should write or draw a compliment to the person whose name they drew. (Presumably. that's wonderful. Then ask them to move to the face that shows how they feel about being in that classroom today.) To practice receiving compliments. Remind students that a compliment is something nice that will make a person feel good.Remind students to say. * The teacher should write a compliment to each student on a slip of paper and put it into a container. Students may pull names out of the container.) .Discuss how it feels to receive a compliment. "Thank you. (Try to identify something unique and specific about each student. the teacher will randomly pull compliments out of the container and give the compliment to the intended person. 50 . (Often compliments will cause persons to smile and they will feel happy.time to ask several students to tell why they choose that face." . just skip the next question and go on." after they have received a compliment. several students will move from the "straight" or "sad" face to the happy face. what things happened in the classroom that caused the change? What makes this classroom a good place to be? Are there things students can say that will also make them appreciate each other? * Ask students if they know what it is called when someone says something nice about a person. Explain that the word is called a compliment. making sure not to get their own names. If everyone begins at the happy face. Allow time for students to formulate compliments. . . 51 .Have students take turns paying compliments to each other in front of the class and thanking each other for the compliments.Ask students how it felt to receive a compliment. Ask students how giving a compliment to someone made them feel. and thus can interpreted apart from social and cultural context”. With the realistic evidence of survey. the conclusion summarizes the main findings of the research. Part C : Conclusion 1. The last. there are some notices such as: the Vietnamese can compliment on almost everything in daily life. there are the suggestions for applying compliment in real life and suggested teaching application. The second part presents some of the results of data analysis on both cultures’ compliments. As indicated in the introduction. 1982:44). in which the answers for three questions :What. Acknowledging this problem. When S want to compliment on other appearance. This method emphasizes the role of the learners by encouraging them to turn what they learn into language in use. Some major differences in the way the English and Vietnamese giving and responding to compliments. One must bear in mind that the speech event of complimenting and responses are “dependent on shared beliefs and values of the speech community coded into communicative patterns. most of language teaching classroom in Vietnam today have been changing their traditional method. the safest topic in both cultures is work accomplished and then talent and ability. this thesis reveals some interesting differences between the ways the English and Vietnamese giving and responding to compliments. In reality. the biggest problem that prevents the interchange among countries is the culture gap or communication breakdown. Living in society that the globalization is changing so quickly. The present study also proves that studying what is applied in real context is very important. As analyzed above. which emphasizes the dominant role of teacher in class into a new one which focuses on the role of learners. (Saville-Troike. then. how to compliment on and how to response it are given. except something belongs to what we call “taboo” such as the word 52 . people have to deal with many challenges when communicating with the one who from another country. the first part of this paper has tried to give a brief review of some theorical background. the norm seems to be to receive the compliment ‘gracefully’. The writer hopes to provide a dimension to find out the variable language and culture of the countries in which English and Vietnamese are spoken as mother tongue.The norm of Vietnamese society. this paper only study partialy the act of compliment of English and Vietnamese.“sexy”. in small scope. Because of the limination of graduation thesis. it is only because of the cultural context. it is necessary for them to know how to use this speech act successfully in realistic language. This difference can not illustrate that the English or Vietnamese. 53 . which are directed either explicitly or implicitly to someone for something valued positively by the speaker and the hearer. it can not be denied tha “compliments are positive expressions. In English-speaking society. 1986). The result from chapter 2 indicates that English speakers tend to accept the compliments while the Vietnamese speakers prefer to reject them. Suggestion for further research. with target language learners. This problem calls for the need to mention the way of giving compliment. the English does not want to mention anything which is so private like age. Therefore. sometime. that is. It is not enough when we only know what to compliment on. This norm has two aspects. our sweet talk does not get its illocutionary force because we lack of the sincerity in what we are saying. salary for example. is to be modest. 2. on the other hand. too. In a nutshell. There are many requirements but the most important thing that the speaker should pay attention to is ‘complimenting to the right person in the right context”. This kind of reaction relates to the idea of positive politeness. to accept it. It is because of the different concept of the two cultures. who are more friendly. All they need to do is to appear humble and it shows their thinking in the way of negative politeness by contrast. One is to meet complimenter’s positive face needs and the other is to think positively about oneself. The difference between two cultures does not only exist in what they give compliment on but also in the way they respond to. and even the whole speech community” (Holmes. This one will provide the language learners a useful material to understand their changing during the period of leaning English . they know what they should do to improve their language skills. : 54 . From that. The further research will focus on “A contrastive study of the ways of giving and responding to compliments by Vietnamese and Vietnamese students of English”. 2. (1989). 28(4). N. M. Principles of Pragmatics. 49-75 5. J. (pp 115-132). Leech. IV: References I: Books A.(1978). . 12. A. Brown. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Chen.). New York: academic Press.Daikuhara. American speech.(1988a). Say “thank you”. and Wolfson. 6. Beak.(1983). Austin. Working papers in Educational linguistics. Compliment and compliment response in New Zealand. 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