Verbal expressions in giving and receiving presents in english and vietnamese cultures

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGNLANGUAGES POSTGRADUATE DEPARTMENT ************ LÊ HÀ VÂN VERBAL EXPRESSIONS IN GIVING AND RECEIVING PRESENTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMES

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN

LANGUAGES POSTGRADUATE DEPARTMENT

************

LÊ HÀ VÂN

VERBAL EXPRESSIONS IN GIVING AND RECEIVING

PRESENTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

CULTURES

BIỂU THỨC BẰNG LỜI KHI TRAO VÀ NHẬN QUÀ

TRONG VĂN HOÁ ANH VÀ VIỆT

MA MINOR THESIS

FIELD CODE

: :

ENGLISH LINGUISTICS 60 22 15

HA NOI – 2009

LÊ HÀ VÂN

VERBAL EXPRESSIONS IN GIVING AND RECEIVING

PRESENTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

CULTURES

BIỂU THỨC BẰNG LỜI KHI TRAO VÀ NHẬN QUÀ

TRONG VĂN HOÁ ANH VÀ VIỆT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

: Number

LIST OF TABLES AND GRAPHS

Table 1: Age group correlation between English and Vietnamese respondentsTable 2: Gender correlation between English and Vietnamese respondentsTable 3: Living area correlation between English and Vietnamese respondentsTable 4: Occupation correlation between English and Vietnamese respondentsTable 5: Strategies in giving presents on the occasion of birthday

Table 6: Strategies in giving presents on the occasion of wedding

Table 7: Strategies in giving presents on the occasion of house warmingTable 8: Strategies in receiving presents

Table 9: Rank of importance of social factors

Table 10: Rank of importance of social factors

1.1 Rationale

It can not be denied that English has been used as an international language all over theworld; it is the most widely spoken language which is used in many fields such as economics,trade, tourism, diplomacy, politics, and press In Vietnam, as a result of the Open-door policy,the number of people learning English for various purposes is on the rise They study English

to communicate with people from other countries where English is used as a native, a second

or just a foreign language, to read English materials, or simply to pass the national secondaryschool exams

Although English has been taught in Vietnam for many years, not until recently has thefocus of improving linguistic competence for learners been on syntax, on lexical andphonological components of the language Many people still believe that being good atEnglish means being good at linguistic competence Thus, cultural factors are paid littleattention to

In our modern world, however, globalization is expanding; the need for interacting andcommunicating across nations is indispensable Successful communication requires not onlypurely linguistic competence but also the knowledge of social norms, social values andrelations between individuals known as communicative competence Communicativecompetence presupposes ability to use the language correctly and appropriately Thispragmatic competence is as crucial as linguistic competence The lack of it may lead torudeness, misinterpretation, cultural shocks, and even communication breakdown

It is clear that people who lack an awareness of socio-cultural conventions in the targetlanguage may face unwanted communication breakdown in cross-cultural interaction Forexample, if a Vietnamese speaker gave a native speaker of English a gift and he/she onlyreceived the response from the receiver as: “Thank you” or “Thank you so much”, theVietnamese speaker may feel a little bit disappointed because he/she expects a more emotional

at least, reducing the threat of communication breakdown in giving and receiving presentsparticularly in intercultural communication.

1.2 Aims of the study

This study aims to:

- Find out typical models of English and Vietnamese verbal expressions used when giving and receiving presents in specific situations

- Identify the similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese verbal expressions when giving and receiving presents

- Make tentative explanations for these similarities and differences in terms of linguistic politeness

1.3 Scope of the study

As mentioned above, the study mainly focuses on English and Vietnamese verbalexpressions used when giving and receiving presents on three occasions: birthday, wedding,and house-warming party Due to its small scale, only 25 Vietnamese and 25 English nativespeakers were involved in this study These respondents were asked to complete thequestionnaires with information about their verbal expressions used in the case of giving andreceiving presents in certain situations

Conclusions are based on the analysis of the data collected from the questionnaires Dataobtained from questionnaires about what English native speakers and Vietnamese peoplemight say in certain situations may not be always the same as what they actually say in the reallife.

Similarities and differences between the English and Vietnamese verbal expressions whengiving and receiving presents are also discussed In this study, giving and receiving presentssimply are understood as a nice symbol of cultural behaviors in normal life expressing deepemotion, concern, gratitude and attention to the Recipient, bringing joy to both the giver andreceiver, promoting goodwill, and developing a closer relationship As the result, sometentative explanations for these similarities and differences in terms of linguistic politenesswill be given in this study

1.4 Methods of the study

In order to carry out this study with the aim of a cross-cultural research, the main method

used is the quantitative one All the comments, evaluation and conclusions in this thesis are

mainly based on:

1 Survey questionnaires;

2 Statistics, description and the analysis of the collected data

DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 The relationship between language and culture

Up to now, there has been much research with tremendous attempts to describecomplicated and diversified relationships between language and culture In spite of opiniondivergences, it is said that culture embraces language and language reflects the image ofculture

According to Sapir (1921), “language is a purely human and non instinctive method ofcommunicating ideas, emotions and desire by means of voluntarily produced symbols.”Language is a part of culture and a part of human behavior Anna Wierzbicka (1992, p.371)regards “Language as a mirror of culture and national character” People can understand thecultural characteristics of the nation through the language they use Richard et all, (1992, p.94)defines: “Culture is the total set of beliefs, attitudes, customs, behaviors, social habits of themembers of a particular society” This definition not only helps us to understand what theculture is, but also lists the components of culture Obviously, culture is sort of knowledge,which everyone must possess to function within a society Beliefs, attitudes, customs,behaviors and social habits are not innate or born naturally, but they are learnt through thesocialization process in which you grow up a full member of a society That is the reason whyculture does not belong to any single person but to all people

It is often held that the function of language is to express thought and to communicateinformation Language also fulfills many other tasks such as greeting people, conductingreligious service, etc Krech (1962) explained the major functions of language from the threefollowing aspects:

1) Language is the primary vehicle of communication;

2) Language reflects both the personality of the individual and the culture of his history

In turn, it helps shape both personality and culture;

3) Language makes possible the growth and transmission of culture, the continuity of societies, and the effective functioning and control of social group.

For many people, language is not just the medium of culture but also is a part of culture

It is quite common for immigrants to a new country to retain their old customs and to speaktheir first language amid fellow immigrants, even if all presents are comfortable in their newlanguage This occurs because the immigrants are eager to preserve their own heritage, whichincludes not only customs and traditions but also language This is also seen in many Jewishcommunities, especially in older members: Yiddish is commonly spoken because it is seen as apart of Jewish culture

It is obvious that language plays a paramount role in developing, elaborating andtransmitting culture and language, enabling us to store meanings and experience to facilitatecommunication

Language and culture are so closely related that the correct understanding of therelationship between the two is vital in cross-cultural communication Children learning theirnative language are learning their own culture; learning a second language also involveslearning a second culture to varying degrees On the other hand, language is influenced andshaped by culture It reflects culture Cultural differences are the most serious areas causingmisunderstanding, unpleasantness and even conflict in cross-cultural communication

1.2 Speech Acts

The theory of speech acts has long been studied It was first formulated by thephilosopher John Austin in a series of lectures which are now collected into a short book

called How to do Things with Words (Austin, 1962) These ideas were then further developed

by other scholars such as Searle (1969, 1975), Labov and Fanshel (1977), Bach and Harnish(1979), Edmondson (1981), Recanati (1987), Allan (1994) and so on

Making a statement may be the paradigmatic use of language, but there are all sorts ofother things we can do with words We can make requests, ask questions, give orders, makepromises, give thanks, offer apologies, and so on Moreover, almost any speech act is reallythe performance of several acts at once, distinguished by different aspects of the speaker'sintention: there is the act of saying something, what one does in saying it, such as requesting

or promising, and how one is trying to affect one's audience

The theory of speech acts is partly taxonomic and partly explanatory It mustsystematically classify types of speech acts and the ways in which they can succeed or fail Itmust reckon with the fact that the relationship between the words being used and the force oftheir utterance is often oblique

For example, the sentence 'This is a pigpen' might be used non-literally to state that a

certain room is messy and filthy and, further, to demand indirectly that it be straightened outand cleaned up Even when this sentence is used literally and directly, say to describe a certainarea of a barnyard, the content of its utterance is not fully determined by its linguistic meaning

in particular, the meaning of the word 'this' does not determine which area is being referred to

A major task for the theory of speech acts is to account for how speakers can succeed in whatthey do despite the various ways in which linguistic meaning underdetermines use

Austin identifies three distinct levels of action beyond the act of utterance itself Hedistinguishes the act of saying something, what one does in saying it, and what one does bysaying it, and dubs these the 'locutionary', the 'illocutionary' and the 'perlocutionary' act,

respectively Suppose, for example, that a bartender utters the words, 'The bar will be closed in five minutes,' reported by means of direct quotation He is thereby performing the locutionary

act of saying that the bar (i.e., the one he is tending) will be closed in five minutes (from thetime of utterance), and what is said is reported by indirect quotation (notice that what thebartender is saying, the content of his locutionary act, is not fully determined by the words he

is using, for they do not specify the bar in question or the time of the utterance) In saying this,the bartender is performing the illocutionary act of informing the patrons of the bar's imminentclosing and perhaps also the act of urging them to order a last drink Whereas the upshot ofthese illocutionary acts understands on the part of the audience, perlocutionary acts areperformed with the intention of producing a further effect The bartender intends to beperforming the perlocutionary acts of causing the patrons to believe that the bar is about toclose and of getting them to want and to order one last drink He is performing all these speechacts, at all three levels, just by uttering certain words

Based on Austin‟s speech act theory, Yule (1996, p.55) presents a table showing thespeech acts classification as below:

Speech act classification

Speech act type

As we can see, Yule distinguishes types of speech acts which can be made on the basic of

structure According to him, three structural forms (Declarative, Interrogative, and Imperative) and the three general communicative functions (Statement, Question and Command/Request) can be combined with each other to create two types of speech acts

namely Direct and Indirect speech acts He argues, “Whenever there is a direct relationship

between a structure and a function, we have a direct speech act Whenever there is an indirect relationship between a structure and a function, we have an indirect speech act” (Yule, 1996, p.55) In uttering "Turn on the fan, please", the speaker (S) has directly requested the hearer

(H) to turn on the fan The syntactic structure of this utterance indicates a straightforwardrequest in English But the same request can be made in a more tacit, indirect manner to

achieve the same result S may say something like "It is very hot in here" Or let us have a look

at another example in asking someone blocking the TV screen to move: "Move out of the way" This is a direct speech There are different structures can be used to accomplish the

same basic structure above but now they are functioning as indirect speeches

a This is a really exciting program.

b You'd made a better door than a window.

c How about moving over just a teensy bit.

d Would you mind moving just a bit?

e Do you have to stand in front of the TV?

f You are standing in front of the TV.

In summary, indirect speech acts are generally associated with greater politeness inEnglish than direct speech acts because politeness is one of characteristics of indirect speechacts

1.3 Verbal Expressions in Giving and Receiving Presents

Giving a gift/present is an ancient and universal way to express, among other things,gratitude, appreciation, altruism and love (Saad & Gill, 2003) Presents/Gifts have beendefined as "something that is bestowed voluntarily and without compensation (Dictionary.com,2005) Anthropologists and psychologists have viewed gift behavior as a product of aninteraction between psychological mechanisms and the environment (Toby and Cosmides,1992)

Dr Gary Chapman, in his book The Five Love Languages [Northfield Publishing, 1995],

identifies five different ways in which people communicate their love to one another Whenyou understand and know your partner‟s love language, you can effectively communicate yourlove in such a way that he/she feels loved

One of the basic five love languages is receiving presents, a verbal expression of love and

appreciation An unconditional gift says “I was thinking of you and thought you might like this I love you.”

Jeannette Haviland-Jones, a professor of psychology at Rutgers University studied thescientific power of flowers and found that flowers create instant delight and happiness, andinduce powerful positive emotions Upon receiving a gift of flowers, female study participantsresponded with true smiles, showed improved episodic memory and reported positive moodsthat lasted even three days later

M.J Ryan, award-winning author of Giving Thanks: The Gifts of Gratitude [Conari Press,

2007], corroborates the findings and observations that gifts increase human connectivity andbonding: “Gift recipients experience compelling connections with givers ”

Gift giving is not a new idea Communities around the world mark religious festivals,secular holidays and important dates with presents and sharing of food Christmas, Hanukkah-

an eight-day Jewish festival of lights held in December, commemorating the rededication ofthe Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 165 BC after its desecration, Thanks Giving, Chinese NewYear, Birthdays, and Valentine‟s Day are just a few of such occasions where gift exchange and

a deepening of ties with friends and loved ones take place

But why should the giving and receiving of presents be limited to particular occasions?Some may resist the notion that gift giving is an expression of love, especially when they haveentrenched attitudes about money For example they may believe that money should be savedand not spent on buying presents Adjusting these beliefs, they may come to see thatgifts/presents to be their partner‟s primary love language and the money is not spent on thegift itself but on the deepening of their relationship

Gift giving does not make someone a spendthrift any more than gift receiving makes aperson greedy Of course, you may choose to splurge on a pair of tickets for a romanticgetaway to an exotic location, precious gemstone jewelry or a state-of-the-art technologicalgadget

Alternatively, you may choose for a cheaper but no less special gift of a romantic dinnertogether, a bouquet of her favorite flowers or a favorite photo of the two of you blown up in aphoto frame Perhaps you may prefer the personal touch of burning a compilation of lovesongs onto a CD or writing a series of poems or prose that speaks volumes about your feelings

or hand making a special card

Giving and receiving presents is a universal love language Whatever present ideas youmay have, remember that they need to neither be expensive nor numerous; if your materesonates with this love language, a sincere present brings happiness and security to therelationship It is an effective way to improve one‟s emotional health and to show gratitudeand appreciation

1.4 Linguistic Politeness

The concept of Politeness has been part of linguistic studies since the late 1970s but it wasthe publication of Brown and Levinsons‟ famous Politeness book, in 1978 that established thisissue as one of the main areas of Pragmatics theory, a novelty that emphasized the importance

of this concept in human interaction (Sifianou, 1992) However, since in our times thedefinition of politeness is „the attitude of being socially correct, being refined and having goodmanners‟ (Oxford Dictionary 1981), then two issues emerge immediately: first that neitherspeakers‟ linguistic behavior necessarily accounts for their real motivation, nor should weassume that all languages share the same perceptions as far as concepts as „good manners‟ or

„social correctness‟ are concerned (Thomas, 1995; Sifianou, 1992) Scholars have nowadaysagreed on the fact that politeness is conceptualized differently and so, manifested differently ineach society, an argument supported by Sifianou (1992), who points out that „ despitepopular stereotypes, no nation may be objectively verified as more or less polite than anyother, but only polite in a different, culturally specific way‟

Within the issue of politeness, the most respected theory appears to be, asaforementioned, Brown and Levinson‟s The basis of their theory is the concept of face, a termreferring to every individual‟s sense of self-image This concept involves a positive and anegative aspect:

Negative face: the want of every „competent adult member‟ that his actions be

unimpeded by others

Positive face: the want of every member that his wants be desirable to at least some

others (Brown & Levinson, 1978)

The concept of face leads to the hypothesis that certain illocutionary acts could be

face-threatening, an idea introduced once again by Brown and Levinson (1978) Face-threatening acts (FTA), are liable to threaten or damage the Hearer‟s positive face, i.e expressions of

disapproval/criticism, accusations, contradictions, interrupting, expressions of violentemotions, etc., and threaten his/her negative face, i.e orders, requests, reminding, offers,

promises, etc Moreover, certain acts can also be face threatening to the Speaker‟s positiveface, such as expressing thanks, excuses, acceptance of offers/apologies, etc., as well as his/hernegative face, such as apologies, acceptance of compliments, confessions/admissions of guilt

or responsibility, etc Thus, always according to Brown and Levinson‟s hypothesis, thespeaker should adopt certain strategies, in order to maintain his or her own face undamagedand at the same time to minimize the possibility of affecting the positive or negative face ofthe Hearer If the Speaker decides to perform a FTA, then Brown and Levinson (1978) suggest

a framework that determines the choice of his/her strategy:

Circumstances determining choice of strategy:

5 Don’t do the FTA

Diagram 1: Possible strategies for doing FTAs (Adapted from Brown & Levinson, 1987, p.60-69)

As can be seen from the diagram above, in the context of the mutual vulnerability of face,

S has two options: She/he may seek to avoid the face-threatening act (Do not do the FTA) or

she/he may decide to “do the FTA” If S decides to do the FTA, she/he can either go off record,

in which case there is more than one unambiguously attributable intention so that S can not have committed him/herself to one particular intent, or S can go on record expressing

his/her intention clearly and unambiguously In the later case, S may express her/his intentions

without redressive action, i.e badly on record, or S may choose to employ strategies to

minimize the face threat referred to as redressive action In using negative politeness strategies, such as minimizing, weakening, and avoiding, the speaker can acknowledge the

addressee‟s personal territory and personal freedom of action as negative politeness orientstoward the hearer‟s negative face, roughly the expression of restraint and deference In using

positive politeness strategies, for example intensifying strategies, the speaker can show

recognition and appropriate validation of the addressee‟s self-image as positive orients towardthe hearer‟s positive face, roughly the expression of solidarity

To sum up, politeness, in the light of Brown-Levinson‟s politeness theory, can then bedefined as a desire to protect self-images A speaker must show awareness of the hearer‟s faceand self-image of her/his own in the particular cultures In every day conversation withdifferent situations people are obligated to adjust the use of words to fit to occasion Englishnative speakers frequently use politeness and politeness strategies when they communicate.When they are with friends, they say things that are informal When they are surrounded bythe strangers, they say in formal ways General speaking, in both situations, people try toavoid making the hearers feel embarrassed or uncomfortable

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

The focus of this chapter is on the verbal expressions in giving and receiving presents inEnglish and Vietnamese In fact, what to say when giving a present and how to respond whenreceiving a present are culture-specific and depend on many factors such as the context ofinteraction, S-H relative role relationship, gender and age, …etc Arising from these factors, anumber of hypotheses are suggested for investigation Apart from these factors, thesehypotheses are raised on the basic of typical models of verbal expressions as English nativespeakers and Vietnamese people use when they give and receive presents

2.1 Hypotheses

As hypotheses, my assumption is that:

1 Age is the most important factors in selecting verbal expressions in giving and

receiving presents in both English and Vietnamese

2 Anglophone speakers favor short and simple utterances whereas the Vietnamese ones prefer longer and more complex sentences

3 Vietnamese speakers (VS) are likely to use the strategy “wishes” when givingpresents

more often than English native speakers

4 Both English native speakers and Vietnamese speakers prefer the strategy “thanking”

There are three parts in the survey questionnaire, each of which serves a particularpurpose of the thesis (the Vietnamese and the English survey questionnaires are attached in theAppendices):

Part 1: This part is designed to obtain information about the informants who are asked to

do the questionnaire

Part 2: The purpose of this part is to find out what the informants would say when they

give and receive presents on special occasions Six situations are included in the questionnaire

and the informants are asked to answer the following questions:

- Situation 1: What would you say when you give a present/gift to the following person

on the occasion of his/ her birthday?

- Situation 2: What would you say when you give a gift/present to the following person

on the occasion of his/her wedding?

- Situation 3: What would you say when you give a gift/present to the following person

on the occasion of his/her house- warming?

- Situation 4: What would you say when you receive a gift/present from the following person on the occasion of your birthday?

- Situation 5: What would you say when you receive a gift/present from the following person on the occasion of your wedding?

- Situation 6: What would you say when you receive a gift/present from the following person on the occasion of your house- warming?

In each situation, the informants were required to express verbally when they give and receive a present from the following people:

- Their close friend

- Their brother/ sister

- Their employer

- Their employee

Part 3: In this part, social factors governing the verbal expressions when giving and

receiving presents are considered The informants are suggested to answer the followingquestion:

Which factor(s) influence(s) your verbal expressions when you give and receive a gift/ present? (Please number in order of importance)

2.2.2 The Respondent

There are two groups of respondents in my study The first group consists of twenty five

Vietnamese native speakers The other group consists of twenty five English native speakers

All of them come from different parts of England The informants are differentiated according

to the factors of age, gender, occupation, and residential area where they have spent most of

their life

a Age

Among 50 informants, nine of them are under the age of 20, 19 are between the age of 20

and 30, 14 are in their thirties and 8 are in their forties These data are presented in Table 1:

Age

VietnameseEnglish

Table1: Age group correlation between English and Vietnamese respondents

b Gender

The number of males and females participated in the survey is relatively equal Nearly half

of them are men (24) and the other 26 are women

Vietnamese

Table2: Gender correlation between English and Vietnamese respondents

c Living area

Vietnamese

Table 3: Living area correlation between English and Vietnamese respondents

As seen in the table above, the number of rural citizens who take part in the survey accounts

for over 40% Nearly 60% for the informants are living in urban areas

d Occupation

Table 4: Occupation correlation between English and Vietnamese respondents

In this survey data analysis, I divide occupations into two categories: the social

(lawyer, teacher, interpreter, writer, journalist, etc.) and the technical (IT engineer, architect,

construction engineer, etc.)

2.3 Data analysis

2.3.1 The communicative strategies in giving presents

In this section, verbal expressions are analysed in relation to the situation of giving

presents and the status of the respondents

2.3.1.1 On the occasion of Birthday

The analysis of the data has shown that there are two major strategies used to give

presents on the occasion of birthday

No

1

2

Table 5: Strategies in giving presents on the occasion of birthday

As we can see from the table, both English and Vietnamese native speakers use

“wishes” at the highest rate However, from the survey questionnaire, some informants employ

both strategies for more effective conversation between the G and R

a Wishes

This strategy is the most frequently used by both English native speakers: 95.24% and

the Vietnamese: 90% The Anglophone informants usually use wishes for special occasions,

especially birthday English native speakers‟ wishes for birthday tend to be short and simple

with the often use of adjective “happy”, “best” or the verb “have” like:

- Happy birthday!

- Happy birthday, all the best

- Have a great day

- Happy birthday Hope you a great day

Whereas, Vietnamese speakers prefer to use long utterance with the frequent use of the verb

“chúc” because Vietnamese people believe that the more wishes they get, the more likely theybecome true

- Chúc bạn sinh nhật vui vẻ (Happy birthday to you)

- Em chúc chị sức khoẻ, hạnh phúc, may mắn và thành đạt (Wish you health,

happiness, luck and success.)

- Chúc bạn thêm tuổi mới ngày càng chín chắn và hạnh phúc (a new age full of

happiness and more mature to you)

It is interesting that some Vietnamese informants use foreign language for their wishes on theoccasion of birthday like: Happy birthday!, or Joyeux anniveraise! These phenomena areconsidered as the result of global integration process in Vietnam

- Tặng anh/em quà sinh nhật (This birthday gift is for you)

- Em có chút quà nhỏ mừng sinh nhật sếp (I have a small present for your birthday)

- Ê, quà của mày này (hey, this gift is for you)

- Ê, tặng mày này (hey, it is your present)

- A lovely gift for you

- Hey, I have got a gift for your birthday

- This is for you, my dear friend

As we can see from above, direct offer and wishes are employed by both native speakers of English and Vietnamese However, the use of these strategies is different from partner to

partner It depends on the relationship between the G and the R.

1 Close friend

It can be seen from the graph that both English and Vietnamese informants use

“wishes” at high rate (92% for Vietnamese and 80% for English informants) when they givetheir close friends birthday presents This shows that to the close friends, the strategy “wishes”

is really popular among English and Vietnamese informants in the event of birthday giftgiving Surprisingly, the number of English informants using the strategy “direct offer” ismuch higher than the number of Vietnamese ones (20% vs 8%) This shows that English nativespeakers tend to express their straightforwardness, their formality when the communicativepartner is their close friend

2 Brother/sister

For family members of same rank like brother or sister, 100% of the Anglophone usethe strategy “wishes” when they give birthday gift and the number of Vietnamese informantsuse this strategy is 92%

It is interesting that the strategy “direct offer” is not commonly used in this situation with only8% of Vietnamese informants while no one in the group of English informants employs thisstrategy

3 Employer

Like these above situation, the strategy „wishes” continually keeps showing its

dominant place at a very high rate: 100% for English informants and 84% for Vietnameseones It seems that wishes are the first choice for the Anglophone in birthday gift giving.For people with higher positions such as boss, employer or supervisor, Vietnamese informantstill use the strategy “direct offer” when they give birthday presents with the number of 16%.This may be opposite to what we expect before the research that Vietnamese people are alwaysaware of their social status before the ones who are at high rank, and therefore, they tend tolimit using direct utterances when they give presents to their employer.

4 Employee

For employee, the use of the strategy “wishes” is still dominant with 100% of Englishinformants employing this strategy compared with 92% of Vietnamese ones Only 8% ofVietnamese informant s use the strategy “direct offer” in giving presents to people who are oflower social status

In our observation, from the survey questionnaire, we can easily see that the strategy “wishes”keeps its dominant position on the occasion of birthday by both English and Vietnameseinformants to all of their communicative partners This shows birthday is a special occasionfor the Anglophone and Vietnamese associate their wishes with their lovely presents

2.3.1.2 On the occasion of wedding

For wedding, the strategies “wishes” and “direct offer” are employed by both Englishand Vietnamese informants

Like the occasion of birthday, Vietnamese informants use the strategy “wishes” at a very

high rate: 96.8% To Vietnamese people, wedding is the most important occasion in a person‟s

life It is the turning point, the great change in life which makes a boy a man and a girl a

woman Therefore, Vietnamese wedding wishes often concentrate on happiness, being together

forever or having a boy baby early It is interesting that Vietnamese people still a little

influence on feudal thoughts with the Male chauvinism (value men above women) As the

result, many Vietnamese people wish to have a cute boy baby early on the occasion of

wedding

- Chúc hạnh phúc (Wish you happiness)

- Chúc hạnh phúc và sinh quý tử (Wish you happiness and have a boy baby)

- Chúc trăm năm hạnh phúc, sớm sinh quý tử (Wish you happy forever and have a boy

baby soon)

The Anglophone still use this strategy at high rate, but much less than Vietnamese people

(78.95% compared to 96.8%) and less than their use of this strategy on the occasion of

birthday (78.95% vs 95.24%) English wedding wishes tend to be conventional and formulaic

like:

- Congratulations

- Congratulations, all the best

- I hope you will be really happy

- Congratulations Best wishes for your future

b Direct order

This strategy is employed at a low rate by both English and Vietnamese informants whencompared to the strategy of wishes However, the number of English native speakers using thestrategy “direct offer” is much more frequent than that of Vietnamese ones (21.05% vs 3.2%)and also higher than the number of English informants using “direct offer” on the occasion ofbirthday One special thing from the data collection is that English informants often directlyname out the present to the R with the expectation that the R will please with that present andsometimes they also express their feelings to the R as well

- I hope you use these crystal glasses and think of me every time

- Wedding album to put all you photos in I hope the present is ok

- Fondue set hope you have lots of fondue party‟s

A little number of Vietnamese people use direct offer on the occasion of wedding They only use this strategy when they give presents to their close friends

- Quà cưới của mày đây (this is your wedding gift)

- Quà cưới này (here is your wedding gift)

1 Close friend

To give a close friend a wedding gift, the strategy “wishes” is employed at high rate byboth English and Vietnamese informants (80% vs 84% respectively) In addition, Vietnameseand English native speakers use the strategy “direct offer” to their close friend quitefrequently, certainly less frequently than the strategy “wishes” Comparing to othercommunicative partners, close friend is the subject Vietnamese informants use this strategy atthe highest rate: 16%

2 Brother/sister

Unlike the previous situation, for brother or sister, Vietnamese people do not use thestrategy “direct offer” 100% of Vietnamese informants use “wishes” when they give awedding present to their brother or sister However, only 75% of English informants employthe strategy “wishes” The strategy “direct offer” is used at extremely high rate (25%) byEnglish native speakers if comparing to the number of Vietnamese people using this strategy(0%).

3 Employer and Employee

It is surprising that the data analysis of the employment of gift giving in interactionwith employer and employee is the same

Vietnamese: the use of “wishes” is still at the highest rate:100% while nobody use the strategy

“direct offer” in giving wedding gifts to their employer or employee

Anglophone: compared to the case of brother/sister, “wishes” is used at a higher rate:89% and

“direct offer” is less frequently used with the percentage of 20% It can be easily seen from thegraphs that to brother and sister, the strategy “direct offer” is used at highest rate by theAnglophone in comparison with other communicative partners including close friend,employer, and employee

2.3.1.3 On the occasion of house warming

In our observation, the following strategies are found from the survey questionnaire onthe occasion of house warming

No

1

2

3 Giving compliment on the new house

Table 7: Strategies in giving presents on the occasion of house warming

a Wishes

It can be clearly seen from the above table that “wishes” keep its dominant position byVietnamese informants with the percentage of 61.5%, but much less frequently used than otheroccasions like birthday (90%) and wedding (98.6%) For the Anglophone, the number ofpeople using the strategy “wishes” steadily reduces through the occasions of gift giving:95.24% for birthday, 78.95% for wedding and only 47.06% for house warming Englishwishes on the occasion of house warming seem to be short and simple and formulaic with thecommon use of the noun “congratulations” or the verb “hope”, or “have”:

- Congratulations

- I hope you will be very happy here

- Let‟s have some fun tonight in your house

Whereas Vietnamese people use the verb “chúc”, or “chúc mừng” in their wishes and thecontent of their wishes much pay attention to wish the owner of the new house doing goodbusiness with more and more money This originates from Vietnamese long-standing opinionthat the location of their house affects on their business Therefore, when Vietnamese peoplebuild or move to a new house, they will get a wish of doing business thriving like:

- Chúc mừng tân gia (Congratulations on your new house)

- Chúc làm ăn phát đạt (Wish your business thriving)

- Xin chúc mừng Chúc làm ăn phát đạt, thịnh vượng (Congratulations Wish your business thriving and prosperous)

b Direct offer