A study on english expression of greeting with the reference to vietnamese equivalents

Aims of the research The thesis analyses the different expressions of greeting in English with reference to Vietnamese, with a view to helping Vietnamese learners of English to raise th

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the research

Language is an important part of our daily communication and we indicate the various communication patterns which are used in meetings and during negotiations Whereas greeting is a part of everyday conversation, it is important to know how to use it properly with confidence It’s important for anyone to feel confident when greeting someone because they will quickly form

a first impression that may be hard to change later If we start a conversation doubting ourselves and unsure of what we are saying, this will affect our performance for the rest of the conversation But if we can effortlessly use the right greeting expressions, we will feel more confident during the rest of the conversation It is clear that greeting someone with confidence will make the communicators more comfortable and form a first positive impression On the other hand, greeting with the stumble around and unsure of what we are doing,

we may misjudge our true level of English and speak to them more differently than we would like

Greeting is affected by the differences in culture of each country, it is used widely in many countries in the world in various ways While gestures are normally used in some Western countries such as: kissing, nodding, hand-shaking, waving, hugging , oral greeting is priority used in some Asian countries as the ancestors said: “greetings are more precious than the feasts” It

is different culture that there will be some main problems people usually face when they communicate each other A good greeting helps to maintain the conversation and leads the communicators to take interest in talking to each other Greeting (in terms of suitable greeting expression in different contexts)

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can help us convey our friendliness, respect, politeness, etc to someone The way people greet someone can tell us information about culture, custom, religion, etc Specially, basing on greeting, we can also indicate something about the social status, age-range of the greeter

In this paper, I concentrate on English expressions of greeting with reference to the Vietnamese equivalents I want to point out the similarities and differences between them and some implications for teaching to help the communicators have a deep look into greeting in two languages

1.2 Aims of the research

The thesis analyses the different expressions of greeting in English with reference to Vietnamese, with a view to helping Vietnamese learners of English to raise their awareness of using the expressions of greetings in English properly, thus improving their learning capability when using English in daily conversation

1.3 Objectives of the research

This graduation thesis is designed to pursue these following specific objectives:

First of all, the study describes the pragmatic features of greeting expressions in English

Secondly, it points out the similarities and differences of the greeting expressions in English and Vietnamese on term of pragmatic

Finally, some suggested implications for teaching and learning the different expressions of greetings in English will be given so that teachers and learners can avoid making mistakes in their teaching and learning process

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1.4 Scope of the research

Greeting is one important part of language, especially is the initiator of conversation How greeting is used in different cultures, particularly between English and Vietnamese people is my great concern The study concentrates mostly on greeting expressions in English with reference to Vietnamese, which will be the foundation for the writer to point out some differences and similarities between them

In addition, the questionnaires have been given to collect the data of greetings on time, age, hierarchical order, social status, marital status .and some forms of greetings which are used in communications as questions, exclamations, congratulations, invitations

1.5 Significance of the research

Theoretically, major similarities and differences between the English and Vietnamese speakers when greeting someone will also be highlighted and analyzed in great detail to add some certain theoretical background to studying English

Practically, the study can help Vietnamese learners greet someone properly Moreover, the communicators will feel greeting more self-confident when they start talking to someone It is the first signal for them to get a successful purpose in negotiation with the partner Futhermore, it may enable the learners thoroughly understand that the ways of greeting in foreign language

as compared with mother tongue are very necessary So that they can reach communicated goal and also use greeting form into consideration

1.6 Structural organization of the thesis

The study is devided into five chapters:

Chapter 3 is the methodology which points out the research-governing orientations and research methods

Chapter 4 is the findings and discussions By analyzing the pragmatic features of greeting expressions in English, some differences and similarities between English and Vietnamese as well as implications for teaching and learning will be pointed out

Chapter 5 is conclusion It refers to recapitulation and concluding remarks Furthermore, the chapter points out the limitation of the study and provides some suggestions for further studies

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Review of previous studies

Greeting is really an interesting issue in our daily life There are many famous Vietnamese and foreign linguists and scholars having done researches

on this linguistic field A number of foreign researchers are interested in making researches of greeting expressions such as: Dr Maysa'a Kadhim Jibreen in

“The Speech Act of Greeting: A Theoretical Reading” He has given definition

of greeting, classification and structures of greeting in term of semantic,

syntactic and pragmatic Williams K.(1997) in "An Evaluation of Greeting Exchanges in Textbooks and Real Life Settings" He has pointed out in general classifications of greeting

In Vietnam, a great number of studies on greeting expression have attracted

learners of English such as Nguyễn Thị Bích Hằng (2009) in “English analysis: English and Vietnamese Greetings”, Huyền Vũ (2009) in“Cách chào hỏi của người Việt và người Mỹ ”, Trần Thị Bích Hạnh (2010) “Vietnamese and English Greetings: A contrastive analysis”, and Huỳnh Thị Thanh Châu in “Greetings in English and Vietnamese: A contrastive analysis ” Hoàng Thị Kim Dung in “A cross-cultural study of addressing forms in greetings in Vietnamese and English.” (2010), the study shows the similarities and differences in two countries through their cultures in order to help the learners avoid cultural shocks or cross- cultural conflicts involving the addressing forms in greetings in

global communication Trần Anh Vương in the research “Ways of greeting and

a comparison between Vietnamese and English greetings” studies on greeting and greeting culture in English and Vietnamese He also points out the

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similarities and differences between them However, his research is rather wide

He infers both verbal and non-verbal greeting

Generally, they have analyzed and compared almost all aspects of greeting

As a significant aspect of politeness phenomenon, greeting has been studied in disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, yet there has been no systematic investigation of their use across different languages from pragmatic perspective I want to reach communication goal and also have greetings put into consideration A person in different relationships has different ways to greet The speakers may be grandparents, parents, uncles or aunts, brothers or sisters, children, nieces or nephews or relatives in family The speakers may be in high or low rank in office, they may be older or younger compared to interlocutors Therefore, the study enables learners to understand thoroughly the ways of greeting in the foreign language in comparison with their mother tongue In my paper, I only deal with the characteristics of the ways of greetings in Vietnamese and English and the similarities and differences in using them in communication

2.2 Review of theoretical background

2.2.1 Language and communication in greeting

Language is the remarkable system that allows people to communicate an unlimited combinations of ideas using a highly structured stream of sounds Or

“language is the system of special signals which people use to communicate and

it is the basic means of communication and developing thought of people People use language to impart tradition, culture, history and experiences from the old generation to the young generation.” It is the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in an agreed way And there is no doubt that language is a system for communicating

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The way in which the words can be meaningfully combined is defined by the language’s grammar The actual meaning of words and combinations of words are defined by the language’s semantics

When people want to tell each other something, language appears Apparently, language is the means of communication Without language, people cannot exchange information, experiences and share feelings, thought with each other People use language to express their thought, feelings, ideas, experience

It is the reality of thought

Communication is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs or behavior It is the activity or the process of expressing ideas, feelings or exchanging the ideas, information with someone It is clearly seen that the way we communicate and the way we understand another person’s communication are the result of our knowledge and past experiences That means communication can take place anywhere and is carried out by anybody In communication, interlocutors show their attitude, relationship, mood, understanding, confusion and a whole range of other things and convey a range of meanings in different cultures, from insults to approval or even attraction The participants do anything to make others understand what they mean The successful communication means that the person receives the massage being intended To communicate successfully, the communicators must understand the other’s needs, feelings, and ideas

Language plays an important role in conveying people’s thinking and expressing their feeling and attitude in daily communication, meanwhile, greeting expression belongs to the language system When meeting, people greet each other by expressions (saying some words) So greeting is the activity of giving speech or words to welcome someone It is an important part of communication, even compulsory Participants are both speakers and listeners

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involved directly in conversation And using the way of greeting can help us know interlocutors’ emotion, feeling as well as their knowledge, culture, politeness and respect to each other People who are involved in conversation should depend on objects and other features of communicative situation such as age, sex, family relationship, social status and power

People use language to communicate while greeting is a process of communication So greeting involves language which is known as greeting language It is one of the key changes to communicate effectively with different people in different cultures

2.2.2 Culture in greeting

Culture is the combination of all the physical and behavioral aspects of a society Culture includes all knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other tradition and habits acquired by man as a member of society Culture is also a historically transmitted, socially constructed system of beliefs, premises, symbols and their meanings that pertain to a group of people So we can consider culture a tool that our families and societies instil in us to get through life In Vietnamese, cross culture is defined as the contact, the affective exchange, the interaction among cultural aspects of different ethnics In English, culture is like an iceberg, most of which is deep within the ocean just much of culture is deep within people The tip of the iceberg is easy to see This includes the visible aspects and taboo of communication in other cultures The remaining huge chuck of the iceberg hidden below the surface includes the invisible aspects of a culture such as the values, traditions, experience and behaviors that define each culture

The connection between the human capacities for culture and language has been noted as far as classical antiquity, the relation between language and

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culture is more complex than the coordinate title language and culture would suggest Language is, of course, an integral part of culture, defined simplistically

as the totality of beliefs and practices of a society

Furthermore, the semantic content of language is always related to the entities, events, states, processes, characteristics and relations within culture, and culture depends in large measure on language in order to function and to perpetuate itself It is not strange, therefore, that most of the serious mistakes in translation are the result of not recognizing the intimate relations between language and culture

Greeting expression is a phenomenon of language And as language is believed to be woven into every fabric of every human culture, it can be said that greeting expression is an element of culture

Although there are plenty of disagreements on the definition of culture and the relation between language and culture, a majority of people agree that culture overwhelms language and language reflects culture Nevertheless, cultural features vary from region to region, even when they speak the same language That is why their reflections in language are different Greeting expression is not an exception It is influenced by cultures Each country has its own culture So cross- culture among countries can make greeting expression have plenty of dissimilarities between Vietnamese and English cultures Cultures rooted in people’s awareness so deeply that they can not be changed easily in a short time Each culture still has its own characteristics and dignity These dissimilarities between two cultures often create a phenomenon called cultural shock when people from the two cultures endeavor to communicate

The ways of greeting in Vietnamese and English are surely affected by cultural features To partially help avoid the cultural shock in this area, this

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research will discuss some main characteristics of the way of Vietnamese and English people’s greeting It can also help us know more about the way we can make a polite greeting

2.2.3 Speech act

According to Yule (1996), speech act is one of the central phenomena that any general pragmatic theory must account for On any occasions, the action performed by producing an utterance will consist of three related acts: locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary act The first one, locutionary act is the basic act of utterance, of producing a meaningful linguistic expression The second one, illocutionary act is the function of the utterance that speaker has in mind that is what kind of speech act the utterance counts as And the last one, perlocutionary act refers to the hearer recognition of the illocutionary act

Communicating is the way to express a certain attitude, and the type of speech act being performed corresponds to the type of attitude being expressed For example, a statement expresses a belief, a request expresses a desire and an apology expresses regret As an act of communication, a speech act succeeds if the audience identifies, in accordance with the speaker’s intention, the attitude being expressed Since language has been an intentional behavior, it should be treated like a form of action

The speech act is used to express meaning, an utterance with the speaker’s intention Normally, the speech act is a sentence, but it can be a word of a phrase

as long as it follows the rules necessary to accomplish the intention When one speaks, one performs an act Speech is not just used to predicate something, but

it actually does something Though making a statement may be the paradigmatic use of language, there are all sorts of other things we can do with words We can make requests, ask questions, give orders, give thanks, do greetings, make

From pragmatic perspective, greeting can be regarded as locutionary which has a meaning and illocutionary act Illocutionary act is conventional act and differs mainly in its immediate purpose or illocutionary force Illocutionary force can be conveyed through the illocutionary act However, the understanding

of the covert meaning of greetings by the interlocutors in daily conversation lies

in the routinization of such expressions

2.2.4 Definitions of greeting

Greeting is important as well as frequent in everyday social interaction all over the world Appropriate greeting behavior is crucial for the establishment and maintenance of interpersonal relationships Thus, knowing how to say hello

to people in each situation is very necessary for English users all over the world

In English, when two friends meet each other, they often say "Hi, Mary" or

“Hello, John” or “Nice to see you!” Then they often ask a general question, such as "How are you?" or "How are things?" or "How's life?” These actions are called greeting Greeting is the thing people say to show that they can recognize the presence of the others It is an act of communication in which human beings intentionally make their presence known to each other, to show attention to, and to suggest a type of relationship or social status between individuals or groups of people coming in contact with each other When meeting, people do not start talking directly, first of all they greet each other

B: Have you finished your homework?

According to Sack’s study of “How are you?” (1975) greeting was

defined as a “greeting substitute” in greeting- response:

For example:

A: Hello

B: Hi

A: How are you?

B: I’m fine Thank you And you?

A: I’m fine Thanks

Greeting is a kind of adjacency pairs showing that the second one should follow the first one

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For example:

A: Good afternoon, class!

B: Good afternoon, Miss!

A: How are you today?

B: I’m fine Thank you, and you?

A: I’m fine Thanks

Meanwhile, Frieg and Mortlock (1989) defined greeting as “ritualistic expressions” which are affected by social factors, particularly cross-cultural

differences

An expression of greeting clearly indicates the willingness to undertake a transaction of some sort, a universal signal that directs the other party’s attention toward the agent and at the same time demonstrates the friendly, appreciative conduct that befits a peaceful trader

2.2.5 Functions of greeting

Perhaps, greeting is one of the most popular interactions among people Everyone in the world greets each other, every country has its own greeting culture Greeting is an important activity

Firstly, it is clear that almost all human interactions begin with greeting When meeting, people do not start talking directly, first of all they greet each other then they talk about the topics In other words, every communication begins with greeting

Secondly, greeting expressions are not just sayings, gestures which are used to start the conversation, also convey messages People’s greeting expressions can show the relationships among the greeters

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Thirdly, a good greeting helps to maintain the conversation and leads the communicators to take interest in talking to each other Through greeting, we can express our friendliness, respect, politeness, etc, to our friends by choosing suitable greeting and intonation That is the key for us and our counterparts to have successful conversation In conclusion, the ways people greet can tell us

information about culture, customs, religion, etc

2.2.6 Some factors affecting on greeting

When growing up everyone is taught to speak, behave and greet someone

by the older people We are taught to take consideration about how to greet and choose the suitable greeting There are some factors affecting the choice

• Social status

In every society, there have been many social positions, classes and there are ranks between them such as the rich or the poor, the upper class or the lower class That is why there are titles, the nouns referring to social status like “Sir, Lord, Madam, Lady, Professor, etc in English.” and “lạy cụ ạ, lạy ông ạ, thưa ngài, thưa thầy ” in Vietnamese We now live in modern life, we have the right

of equal behavior and free communication However, we have to follow some behavior principles, communication styles because we are educated naturally So the social status can be divided into two kinds: the equal and the unequal

(i) Equal social status

The upper class people greet each other formally The words they use during communication are often formal

For example:

- Good morning, sir!

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- Good afternoon, chief!

- Nice to see you, Professor!

The speakers use the hearers’ title, noun referring to their social status They greet each other in such ways because of social etiquette and politeness They want to show that they are well-educated and polite people

The people in medium class often greet each other less formally They do it informally and freely They rarely use the titles of the hearer because they want

to be friendly and familiar with each other

For example:

A: Hi, Jane!

B: Hi, Anna!

(ii) Unequal social status

The people who are in lower classes often greet the people who are in higher classes formally They express the modest and respective attitude to the higher class people They greet them because of social etiquette not because of interest in each other

For example:

- Good morning, Director!

- Good morning, Mr Brown!

It is clear that social status affects on greeting very much It controls the ways people greet each other and it is necessary to study about the social status

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• Age

We would not greet the old people and the young people in the same ways Greeting the older people expresses the respective attitudes of the speakers Greeting the younger people or friends expresses our friendliness Obviously, age plays an important role in the way of greeting

For example:

The boy and Mr Garret

The boy: Good morning, Mr Garret!

Mr Garret: Good morning, boy!

In Vietnamese:

The boy: Cháu chào bác ạ!

Mr Nam: Ừ, chào cháu

From the above examples, the younger people greet the older first and use the formal greeting style but the older can use informal greeting to reply

The people at the same age often greet each other quite informally as they want

to show their friendly attitude in order to be in relaxed atmosphere in which they can talk comfortably So they use informal greeting, sometimes with humorous words

For example:

In English:

- Hi!

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- Hello!

- Good heaven! Fancy bumping into you!

In Vietnamese:

- Chào, khỏe không?

- Kìa Nga, đi đâu đấy?

However, two people who are at the same age but in different social classes do not have the same way to each other People in lower position would greet the higher ones formally and politely The older people may greet the younger formally if they are in lower social status In some cultures, the social position seems to be more important than the age

To sum up, the age is the most important factor which affects both British American and Vietnamese informants’ greeting

• Greeter’s relationships

Apart from social status and age, greeting can also give us information about the greeter’s relationship When we meet the strangers, whom we do not know or do not talk to or do not want to ask anything, greeting is not appeared

It shows that we have no relationship with them

On the other hand, the way we greet someone who has close relationship with us certainly differs from we greet the others When we are introduced to a strange person, the greeting may be not the same as the person who we have ever got to know It is the controlling of greeter’s relationship in greeting In daily life, there are many relationships among people They can be divided into two levels: close relationship and normal relationship

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(i) Close relationship

The relationship between the people who have known each other very well such as close friends, relatives, lovers, family members In communication, these people treat each other casually and freely So, their greeting is often informal as they want to show their friendliness and closeness

Or two students in a class may greet:

- What’s up, Tim?

- Nothing, what about you, John?

Or the lovers say:

- Honey!

- Well!

Because of the close relationship, they seem never say “How do you do?” or “ How are you?” when greeting

(ii) Normal relationship

Normal relation is social temporary relationship Normal relationship is generated between the people who have not known well each other before It can

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be set up because of work, job, affair These people often greet each other formally and politely

For example:

- Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen!

- (Xin) Kính chào các quí vị!

These ways are greeting in the meeting, the conference, the concert with the meaning of welcoming to the participants

In business, the managers, the colleagues may greet each other by saying:

- Good morning, Mr Smith!

- Good morning, Ms Simson!

People who have not close relationship would never greet each other casually and informally

• Gender

Gender is not the most important factor affecting on greeting However, it

is necessary to remark the way of greeting in each culture In English, people greet each other equally, they do not distinguish between genders so much The man can greet the woman first and enclose a hug or kiss depending their relationship In Vietnamese, the female people often greet the other ones first respectively in the past Now, whoever can start conversation by greeting someone without concerning their genders

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2.7 Summary of the chapter

In this chapter, I present some theories which are related to the topic of the research with relevant theoretical framework to the theoretical background for the remaining parts of the study I also point out cultural features of English greeting expressions and demonstrate the syntactic, semantic features in order to the aim of this research Theory of translation is a very important for learners and help them avoid some mistakes in order to find the Vietnamese equivalents

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CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research-governing orientations

3.1.1 Research questions

The questionnaire has two versions, one in English for the English native

speakers and the other in Vietnamese for the Vietnamese ones

The survey was conducted in the forms of questions At the beginning of

the page, the informants were requested to give personal informations such as

gender, age, marital status, occupation The coming part consists of questions

numbered from 1 to 29 The respondents were asked to write specifically their

greetings for each question The questionnaire focused on answering three

following research questions:

• What are the pragmatic features of greeting expressions commonly used

by English native speakers?

• What are the similarities and differences of the greeting expressions in

English and Vietnamese

• What are the implications for teaching and learning the different expressions of greetings in English?

3.1.2 Research setting

As a whole, 100 participants in this study include 50 Vietnamese and 50

British and American people Regarding the gender, out of the 100 informants,

55 were females and 45 were males All Vietnamese informants are my

acquaintances and my family’s acquaintances who live in Son Tay province

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Some English native speaker informants are my friends’ acquaintances and others are the travelers who have just come to Duong Lam ancient Village for their holiday

3.1.3 Research approaches

The main aim of the study is description and comparison the features of English greeting expressions and their Vietnamese equivalents In addition, some implications for teaching and learning English greeting of Vietnamese need giving Therefore, to achieve the aims stated, descriptive and the comparative analysis are carried out throughout the study All the considerations and conclusion are largely based on the analysis of the collected data and references

The descriptive method is used in the first stage to make details the features

of English greeting expressions and their Vietnamese equivalents based on the examples collected from many different sources such as books, newspapers, internet, dictionaries, etc

The comparative analysis method is used to clarify the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese greeting expressions

3.1.4 Principles for intended data collection and data analysis

There were totally 50 English speaker respondents participating in the study It consists of 26 British respondents and 24 American ones, 21 of them were males, the rest were females As far as marital status was concerned, 20 of them got married, and the rest were single

For age, there were 5 people at the 10-20 age group and 12 participants were over 50 years old The majority of the English subjects belonged to 21-30 and 31-50 age groups, which had 15 and 18 people respectively

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There were totally 50 Vietnamese participants in the survey In term of gender, there were 24 males, and the rest were females Regarding marital status, 28 of them were still single, and the rest got married

Nearly a half of the Vietnamese respondents (23 people) were from 21 to 30 years old Only 1 informant was over 50 years old Fifteen informants were from

31 to 50, and 11 informants were from 10 to 20

Some issues about data that need focusing in the study process such as data types, source of data, and data analysis techniques Data types are like reference books, textbooks, dictionaries Source of data are from books, newspapers, magazines, websites and other materials Data analysis techniques are analyzing, collecting and classifying

3.2 Research methods

3.2.1 Major methods and supporting methods

Describing and analyzing the features of English greeting expressions with the reference to Vietnamese equivalents, exploring the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese, and finding out the common mistakes made by Vietnamese local people when greeting foreigners In order to meet the demand, some methods are used as follows:

The main method employed in this study is the descriptive method with quantitative and qualitative approach Quantitative method can involve collecting quantitative information, involves gathering mass of raw data from different powerful sources Qualitative method is used to describe and interpret the main features of English greeting expressions

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Analytical and comparative methods assist to the major method in this study Analytical method is used to analyze components of English greeting expressions and the relations between them The analysis aims at finding out the different greeting expressions base on their features Comparative method is used to find out similarities and differences in the ways English and Vietnamese people use the way to greet in their daily conversations

3.2.2 Data collection techniques

The major collection techniques which are used in the study are reference

to publications and survey questionnaires Then they are clarified their features

and functions

3.2.3 Data analysis techniques

After collecting data from English and Vietnamese informants, I describe each characteristic of greeting expression in English and Vietnamese by analyzing the collected data The last step is to investigate and analyze according

to the requirements of the study On that basis, the similarities and differences of greeting in their own cultural communication can be pointed out

3.3 Summary of the chapter

A brief description of the method is presented in this chapter and this also shows the way we reach the aim of the research The features of English greeting expressions will be pointed out Furthermore, The study gives out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese greeting expressions by the contrastive method I use qualitative research design and analytical method to collect data as well as analyze them The combination of these methods will be the best tool to reach the goal of the research

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CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 The pragmatic features of greeting expressions in English

The forms of greeting in each country are diversified and flexible They can be wishes, questions, exclamations in greeting the other people Greeting expression conveys characteristics of cultures, traditional habits, religions

The structure and meaning of greeting in English are not always equivalent to those in Vietnamese

For example:

English native speakers greet someone by saying:

“Good morning!”, “Good afternoon!”, “Good evening!”

Or: “Hi!”, “Hello!”, “Hey!”

Or: “How are you?”, “How do you do?”

Or: “God saves you!”

Vietnamese people say:

“Cháu chào ông/ bà ạ!”, Con chào bố/ mẹ!”

“Anh ăn cơm chưa?”, “Em đi đâu đấy?”

“Em chào sếp!”, “Em chào anh/ chị”

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English-speaking people usually greet each other in an informal way, so they can use the common conversational greetings for friends, family, and people they meet in casual situations

4.1.1 Time greeting

English people have tendency to greet each other based on daily formal greetings People tend to greet each other according to the time of the day:

Morning Good morning +

(general / first name)

From midnight to midday

- Good morning Green!

- Good morning Ba!

Afternoon Good afternoon +

(general / first name)

After midday until

5 pm

-Good afternoon everyone!

- Good afternoon Susan!

Evening Good evening +

(general / first name)

After 5 pm until midnight

- Good evening everybody!

- Good evening Peter!

Table 1: Time greeting in English

There is no doubt that, the English people respect the time very much They are very punctual The ways of greeting are changeable depending on the

parts of the day They use “Good morning!” to greet someone from morning to midday, or “Good afternoon!” at the time after midday to 5pm When they meet someone after 5pm everyday, they greet someone by saying “Good evening!”

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Sometimes “ Good morning!” can be used more casually by simply saying

“morning” and they can also use “afternoon” or “evening” as informal greetings although these are less commonly used in daily life They use title and name

when they greet someone formally such as “Good morning, Mr Green!” or

“Good afternoon, Ms Margret!” In informal situations, while greeting, they usually avoid using their titles, such as “Good morning, Green!”, “Good afternoon, Susan! ” Sometimes, people use wishes to greet someone “Good night!” is translated literally into“Chúc ngủ ngon!” in Vietnamese Indeed, it is

often used as the way of greeting before going to bed

There are some other similar greeting expressions depending on the time:

“Nice weekend!” or “Nice day!” or “Have a good time!”

As usual, the participants choose the suitable greeting expression so that they can send a massage to their partners in a relaxed, familiar, easy and friendly way They want to start a conversation conveniently and successfully, they must know that greeting is very important in communicating

4.1.2 Time-free greeting

We can use another common way of greeting like “Hello + first name or

Hi + first name” People can greet by this way to anyone at any time

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whereas the employee may reply: "Hello, Mr Jim" or even "Hi, Mr Jim" More formal greetings are “Good morning, Good evening and Good afternoon”

“Hello” is the most common greeting form in U.S.A However, it can be uttered

on most formal occasions

There are many ways of greeting someone in English As said above

,English people often use greetings according to parts of the day as “good morning, good afternoon, good evening! .or “hello, hi” to greet them Greeting

is sometimes more polite in some formal situations such as in the lecture, the court, the business meeting, a talk in the crowd They also use many other English greetings and expressions to say slightly different things We can also use such English greetings to sound more natural, and also to express ourselves more clearly and precisely By doing this, people show their respect and interest

in having conversation with their acquaintances

4.1.3 Interrogative greeting

When an English people meets someone for the first time, he /she often

says: “How do you do?” and the usual reply is also “How do you do?”

The expression “ How are you?;How are you feeling now? How are things?How's it going?How are you getting on?How have you been? ” are used

as greetings to ask about sb’s health For example:

- Hi, Scott How are you?

- I’m fine, thank you

Greeting has both formal and informal display Halliday (1979), states that American society has a certain amount of informality especially in customs

of introductions and greetings Generally speaking, Americans ignore social status However, there are rules of social patterns and good manners that should

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be followed in official occasions as in the following situation: A younger person

is introduced to a woman, a guest to the host or hostess or a person to the group

One would say, for instance: "Margret, may I introduce Mr Bradly?" and then adds "Mr Bradly, this is my friend, Margret Hoskins from Chicago" The usual

reply to such an introduction is to use the following greetings

For example:

“How do you do?”

"How do you do? I am pleased to meet you"

It is also common to add the name of the person just introduced:

"How do you do, Mr Bradly?"

- Happy birthday (to you)!

- Many happy returns (of the day)!

- (Ah) Merry Christmas (to you)!

- Many happy returns (of your birthday)!

often say “Hello, Mary!” or “Hi, John!” Then they ask a general question such

as “How are you?” or “How is thing?” or “How’s life?” In some normal

situations, they often use title, name in greeting They use some following patterns to greet:

- Hi, how are you doing? My name is Mary

- Hello, pleased to meet you How are you?

- Hi, you must be Ann I am Susan

- Nice to see you again!

For example:

Following the dialogue Mr Bean meets Mrs Breuer, one of his students, and her husband in the street

Mrs Breuer: Good morning, Mr Bean

Mr Bean: Good morning, Mrs Breuer How are you?

Mrs Breuer: I’m fine, thanks, and you?

Mr Bean: Not too bad, thank you very much

Mrs Breuer: Mr Bean, this is my husband Michael Michael, this is Mr Bean my English teacher

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Mr Bean: Hello, Michael

Mr Michael: Pleased to meet you, Professor!

………

Mrs Breuer: Well, goodbye Mr Bean, it was nice to see you

Mr Bean: Yes, goodbye

Mr Michael: Goodbye, professor

(http: www.learnenglish.de/basic/greetings )

4.1.6 Other greeting expressions

a Greeting on the run

This greeting just happens to people having a close relationship This situation usually happens when people don’t have much time, just exchange each other shortly and say in a few words

For example:

Situation: people meet by accident on the way to their office

A: Hi! How was thing?

B: Hi! I’m fine I’m late for working Bye!

b Speedy greeting

Greeting can begin and end suddenly This way is usually come up by olleagues They greet and exchange information briefly while they are going somewhere

For example:

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Two colleagues greet each other:

A: Hi! How have you been?

B: So-so, and you?

or:

A: Hi, How are things going?

B: Not bad ’N you?

A: Good morning, Mr Tony

B: Good morning, Mr Green

A: Did you watch the football match yesterday? I missed it

B: What a pity! MU played well They won.