CROSSCULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN MAKING REQUESTS AND GIVING INVITATION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (Research Methodology)

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN MAKING REQUESTS AND GIVING INVITATION IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (Research Methodology) Student Course Instructor Deadline Trần Thúy Quỳnh K18C Dr Kieu Thi Thu Huong 16 08 2010 Ha Noi – August 2010 TABLE OF CONTENT PART ONE – INTRODUCTION 1 Identification of the problem 1 2 Purpose and significant of the study 1 3 Research question 1 4 Scop.

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT

MAKING REQUESTS AND GIVING INVITATION

IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

(Research Methodology)

Ha Noi – August 2010

Student:

Course:

Instructor:

Deadline:

Trần Thúy Quỳnh K18C

Dr Kieu Thi Thu Huong 16.08.2010

TABLE OF CONTENT

PART ONE – INTRODUCTION

1 Identification of the problem 1

2 Purpose and significant of the study 1

3 Research question 1

4 Scope of the study 2

PART TWO – LITERATURE REVIEW I.1.1 Definition of culture 3

I.1.2 Characteristics of culture 4

I.2 Communication 5

I.2.1 Definition 5

I.2.2 Components of communication 5

I.2.3 Models of communication 6

I.3 The role of culture in communication 7

I.4 Cross-cultural communication 7

I.5 Some feature about request 8

I.5.1 Definition of request 8

I.5.2 The concept of speech acts 8

I.5.3 Requesting seen as speech acts 8

I.5.4 Kinds of request 9

I.6 Some features about invitation 9

I.6.1 Definition of invitation 9

I.6.2 Types of invitation 10

PART THREE: THE STUDY II.1 Methodology 11

II.2 The subject of the study 11

II.3 Data analysis 12

PART FOUR – CONCLUSION

References

Title: CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION REQUEST AND GIVING

INVITATIONS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

1 IDENTIFICATION OF PROBLEM

English has been becoming the most widely used language all over the world It is

considered as a “bridge” to make all countries closer English is used in many fields

such as: economy, politics, diplomacy, science, technology, etc…Moreover, in the age

of integration and co-operation, the need for communication among people from different culture greatly increases

In order to communicate effectively, English learners have to be sensitive to the English’s background Paying attention to customs and cultural differences can give someone outside that culture a better chance of assimilation or acceptance Ignoring these can get a person into trouble

With the hope of helping Vietnamese learners of English to get effectiveness in communicating with foreigners, the author would like to carry out a cross cultural study

on making requests and giving invitations in English and Vietnamese

2 PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY

The objectives in my study are to help English learners know and understand more about the critical role of culture in communication, to study the differences in giving invitation and making request in Vietnamese and English Moreover, this study also brings forward the overview on communication and cross-cultural communication Meanwhile, some misunderstanding caused by cultural differences in communication are analyzed to help learner raise the awareness of what is appropriate in the target language and awareness of cross-cultural communication

3 RESEARCH QUESTION

Is there any difference in making requesting and giving invitation between English and Vietnamese? If it has, what are they?

4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Communication and culture are very wide fields that require much time to study Therefore I can not cover all aspects of this issue, only focus on some following aspects:

- Definition of culture and communication as well as their relationship

- Overview of communication and cross-cultural communication

- Lay out of some cultural differences between English and Vietnamese in making requests and giving invitation

- Analysis on misunderstanding in making request and giving invitation caused by English-Vietnamese cultural differences

- Overview of request and invitation

II LITERATURE REVIEW

II 1 Definition of culture

According to A.L Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn, the two American leading ethnologists, there have been more than 300 definitions of culture with various points of view writers throughout human beings history Following are some of the most widely accepted definitions by the outstanding experts in the field- the linguistics and philosophers

Table: Diverse definitions of culture

Topical Culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or categories, such as

social organization, religion or economy

Historical Culture is social heritage, or tradition that is passed on to the future

generations Behavioral Culture is shared, learned human behavior, a way of life

Normative Culture is ideas, values, or rules for living

Functional Culture is the way human solves problems of adapting to the environment

or living together

Mental Culture is a complex of ideas, or learned habits, that inhibit impulses and

distinguish people from animals

Structural Culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols or behaviors Symbolic Culture is based on arbitrarily assigned meanings that are shared by a

society

Culture has also been studied and defined in many ways by multiple scholars representing various disciplines Adler (1997:15) has synthesized many definitions of

culture She says: “Culture is something that is shared by all members of some social

groups, something that the older members of the groups try to pass on to the younger members, something (as in the case of morals, laws and customs) that shapes behavior, or…structures one’s that shapes behavior, or…structures one’s perception

of the worlds”

According to Levo Henriksson (1994), culture covers everyday life as well as myths and value systems of society Roos (1986) see culture as a system of lifestyles and as a common dominator for lifestyles Lifestyles reveal culture that is large and stiff wholeness, uniform, regular and like-minded in our live Lifestyle is a possible way to outline one’s life within the framework of culture

Another definition given by Nguyen Quang is: “Culture is a shared

background (e.g: national, ethnic, religious) resulting from a common language and communicative style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and values It refers to the informal and often hidden patterns of human interactions, expressions and viewpoints that people in one culture share.”

According to Tran Ngoc Them, Culture is an organic system of material and

spiritual values that mankind has accumulated and created in the process of practical activities, in the interaction between man and his natural and social environment.

(1997:27)

II 1.2 Characteristics of culture

According to Richard E.Porter and Larry A.Smovar (1994:12), there are 6 characteristics of culture:

a Culture is not innate, it is learned Fact has shown that numbers of Culture learn their patterns of behavior and ways of thinking until they have become internalized The power and influence of these behavior and perceptions can be seen in the ways in which people acquire culture

b Culture is transmissible: The symbol of a culture is what enables us to pass on the

content and patterns of a culture People can use spoken words, written words as well as non-verbal actions as symbol to spread culture

c Culture is dynamic As with communication, culture is ongoing and subject to fluctuation; they seldom remain constant As ideas and products evolve within a culture, they can produce change though the mechanisms of invention and diffusion

d “Diffusion” is another way in which change occurs The assimilation of what is borrowed accelerates as cultures come into direct contact with each other For example,

as Japan and North America share more commerce, it is observed that American assimilating Japanese business management practice and the Japan incorporating American marketing tactics

e Culture is selective Every culture represents a limited choice of behavior patterns

form the infinite patterns of human experience This selection is made according to the basic assumptions and values that are meaningful to each culture In other words, culture also defines the boundaries of different group

f Facets of culture are interrelated These characteristics serve to inform us that culture is like a complex system As Hall clearly states: “You touch a culture in one place and everything is affected” (Richard E.Porter and Larry A Samovar 1994:13)

g Culture is ethnocentric Kneesing notes that ethnocentrism is a “universal

tendency for any people to put its own culture and society in central position of priority and worth” (Rich E Porter and Larry A Samovar 1994:13)

I.2 Communication

I.2.1 Definition of communication

Communication is a process of sharing meaning though verbal and non verbal behavior between people from different cultures Therefore, communication which is influenced

by cultural values, attitudes and behavior is the influence of culture on people’s reactions and responses to each other

I.2.2 Components of communication

The communication process is made up of various elements According to Dell Hymes, the elements of communication are as following:

- The addresser: The person who originates the message

- The addressee: the person to whom the message is addressed

- The channel: the medium through which the message travels

- The message form: the particular grammatical and lexical choice of the message

- The topic: the information carried in the message

- The code: the language or dialect

- The setting: the social or physical context

Richard represents his identification of the components of communication Following it, all communication is formed by: senders (addresser) and receivers (addresses), messages, channels, feedback, noise, code and setting Communication

is also influenced by what we bring to it

I.2.3 Models of communication

Communication can be classified into 2 kinds: Verbal and Non-verbal In order to have a more general overview on communication, let’s look at the following diagram:

Communication

Verbal communication Non-verbal communication

Intralanguage Paralanguage Extralanguage

Lexicon

Rules of grammar Vocal characteristics

Rules of language use Volume

& interaction skills Rate

Types of vocal quality

Silence

Body language Object language Environment language

Eye contact Clothing Setting

Facial expressions Jewellery Conversational distance Gestures Accessories Time

Postures Make up Lighting system

Touch/hapties Artificial scents Colour

Gifts

I.3 The roles of culture in communication

Wood (1987:199) claims that: “Communication is closely linked to culture, because

communicating expresses, sustains, and alters cultures Your culture directly shapes how you communicate, teaching you whether interpreting is appropriate, how much eye contact is polite and whether conflict is desirable.”

Nguyen Quang also revealed that the more similarities the two cultures have, the less difficulties communication gets in general

All the differences of culture will be revealed through communicating between people

in this culture with those in another one Therefore, in order to avoid misunderstandings, even culture shock in communication, culture should be taken into notice

I.4 Cross-cultural communication

According to Levine and Adelman (1982:X): “Cross-cultural communication or

intercultural communication is the process whereby one culture affects interaction with

a person from a person from another culture.”

There are some people translate “cross-culture” as “Giao thoa văn hóa” According to

Nguyen Van Do (1993), the important thing is not how the word is translated into Vietnamese, but the content of that concept expresses by a word or a terminology in a certain specific language Cross-culture is the mixture of cultural factors from different culture of a certain specific communication

Cross-cultural communication has been defined by Nguyen Quang (1998) as

“Communication (verbal and non-verbal) between people from different cultures,

communication that is influenced by cultural values, attitudes and behavior, the influence on people and reaction and response to each other.” He also reasoned that in

the process of trying to be successful in mastering a second language, the learners should reach for not only linguistics but also cultural knowledge of the language

In conclusion, when contacting with a person who has different communication styles,

it is wise to keep in mind that: “Her strange style of communication results from her

cultural upbringing We should not make a rash injustice before spending more time to understand her”

I.5 Some features about request

I.5.1 Definition of request

We consider request as part of communicating activities And also, request is an act of asking for something or to do something (Oxford Modern English Dictionary, 1996)

I.5.2 The concept of speech acts

Geogre Yule says actions performed via utterances are generally called speech acts (Yule 1996:7) It is also at this point to draw from Austin’s analysis of speech acts On any occasion, the action performed by producing an utterance will consist of 3 related acts: illocutionary, locutionary and perlocutionary acts (Hoang Van Van, Ph.D, 200:71)

A locutionary act is an act of saying: The production of a meaningful utterance (the utterance of a certain word and construction and the utterance of them with a certain “meaning” in the favorite philosophical sense of the word We are likely to produce a locutionary act However, we normally do not make an utterance without

purpose When saying that “I want to something to eat”, we do not only intend to utter

that sentence but also intend to require the listener to give us something to eat This kind

of act is generally known as illocutionary act

An illocutionary act is an act performed in saying something, making a statement or a promise, issuing a command or request, asking a question, etc….Illocutionary force Is understood as some kind of intended message that the

speakers assigns to the sentence he utters Upon saying: “Have you got a lighter?”, the

illocutionary force the force the speaker assigns to this utterance turns it to require the hearer to give the speaker the lighter than about the borrowing of it

I.5.3 Requesting seen as speech act

Oxford advanced learner’s Dictionary (1992:768) defines requesting as “an act of

asking for something in speech or writing, especially politely.”

In terms of speech acts, requesting is considered to be an act of requiring the other to do something performed through speech in interaction

E.g: “If you utter a sentence like: Closed the window, please.” Pragmatically, we

produce an utterance containing an act of asking the hearer to close the window

Like thanking, complementing, inviting, etc…requesting is considered as one of the

most sensitive illocutionary acts in communication in the example: “Could you tell me

the time, please?” or “Would you mind showing the way to the nearest shop, please?”