Idioms containing the word cat in english and vietnamese from the syntactic and semantic perspectives

The greeting categories are analyzed with data taken from 100 English emails written by English native speakers and 100 emails written by Vietnamese people.. Sample email of steps which

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

GREETINGS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

EMAILS FROM A CROSS-CULTURAL

PERSPECTIVE

(Lời chào trong thư điện tử Tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt

từ quan điểm giao thoa văn hóa)

CAP THI PHUONG

Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung

Hanoi – 2020

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CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled

"Greetings in English and Vietnamese emails from a cross-cultural perspective" submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

Hanoi, 2020

Cap Thi Phuong

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Date:………

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my appreciation to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Ho Ngoc Trung, who has supported and helped me with his suggestions and insightful comments all these months in this difficult undertaking of writing a Master Thesis

I am indebted to a special friend who mediated the arrangement with the HR manager of a multinational company in order- for me to be able to collect the data

My gratitude also goes out to the employees of the companies who willingly participated in my study and became part of it

Last but not least, I must thank my family for the support they provided me during this period

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Methods of the study 3

1.5 Scope of the study 5

1.6 Significance of the study 5

1.7 Structure of the study 6

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Review of previous studies 7

2.2 Review of theoretical background 9

2.2.1 Overview of Speech Acts 9

2.2.1.1 Definition of Speech Acts 9

2.2.1.2 Direct and indirect speech acts 11

2.2.2 Politeness Theory by Brown and Levinson 11

2.2.3 Cross-cultural communication and Email 14

2.2.3.1 Cross – cultural communication 14

2.2.3.2 Email communication viewed from a cross-cultural communication perspective

15 2.2.3 Emails 17

2.2.4.1 Email definition 17

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2.2.4.2 Theoretical analysis of genre 19

2.2.4.3 Format of an email 20

2.2.4.4 Language used in email messages 23

2.2.5 Overview of Greetings 24

2.2.5.1 Greeting as a Speeach Act 24

2.2.5.2 Definition of Greeting 24

2.2.5.3 Criteria for greeings identification 25 2.2.5.4 The significance of greetings in emails 26

2.2.6 Summary 27

Chapter 3: A COMPARISON BETWEEN IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE EMAILS

28 3.1 The categories of greetings in English and Vietnamese emails 28

3.1.1 Based on the structural and functional dimensions 28

3.1.1.1 Direct greeting 29

3.1.1.2 Indirect greeting 31

3.1.2 Based on the contextual dimension 37

3.1.2.1 Greeting on the run 37

3.1.2.2 Speedy greeting 38

3.1.2.3 The chat 39

3.1.2.4 The long greeting 39

3.1.2.5 The intimate greeting 40

3.1.2.6 The business greeting 40

3.1.2.7 The introductory greeting 41

3.2 Similarities and Differences between greetings in English and Vietnamese emails from a cross-cultural perspective

42 3.2.1 Similarities 42

3.2.2 Differences 44

3.2.2.1 The differences about the structural and functional dimensions of greeting categories

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3.2.2.2 The differences about the strategical dimensions of greeting

categories

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3.3 Implication in using greeting categories in emails for Vietnamese

learners of English

53 Chapter 4: CONCLUSION 55

4.1 Recapitulation 55

4.2 Concluding remarks 55

4.3 Limitation of the research 56

4.4 Suggestion for further studies 57

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ABSTRACT

This study focuses on a cross - cultural comparison of greeting categories in English and Vietnamese emails in workplace and everyday life This paper makes a significant contribution for future researchers, as it is of help to researchers in the speech act and cross- cultural area specifically in terms of English and Vietnamese emails It will be also of help to those learning how to write emails in English and those who teach it in these two countries Thus, the outcome of this research will contribute to depict the differences and the similarities in the use of greeting categories between two different groups of respondents from diverse linguistic and cultural domains The greeting categories are analyzed with data taken from 100 English emails written by English native speakers and 100 emails written by Vietnamese people Utilizing contrastive analysis, the author analyzed the greeting categories in English and Vietnamese emails Results of the study showed that greeting in emails is a culturally significant even in universal terms Especially in Vietnamese, greeting

is an important part in culture life Some issues considered as "a taboo" in English emails are used popularly in Vietnamese emails There are specific cultural features in two languages Then, some suggestions for the Vietnamese learners of English are presented based on the theory and the conductor's personal experience after studying

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure 2.1 Flowchart of politeness strategies for doing FTAs

(Brown and Levinson, 1978, p 74)

Table 2.2 Sample email of steps which are usually included in

the request letter

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Table 3.1: Number of English and Vietnamese people using

greeting catergories (direct and indirect greetings)

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Table 3.2 Some examples of strategic greetings in English and

Vietnamese

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Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

The years of the 21st century saw the introduction and widespreed adoption

of email as a means of workplace and daily life communicaiton Email is now a fact of life in daily conversations and many workplaces, where it has largely replaced written memos and much telephone and face-to-face interacion Email has become the primary communication medium in some workplaces and social relationships between groups of people and it plays an important role in the transmission of information and , in general, in dealing with everyday administrivia at work (Waldvogel, 2005)

Interstingly, greetings perform as important a social role in email as in other forms of interation As Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (2003) noted: greeting is one means by which the writer constructs his or her social and professional indentity and relationship with the addresses Therefore, this study investigates greetings as distintive stylistic features of emails in workplaces and daily life communication

1.1 Rationale

Greetings are one of the most important social phenomena Every human society has various forms and ways of greetings According to Goffman, greetings provide the means of the opening conversations appropriately, establish and maintain social relationship (as cited in Li, 2009, p.1), for example

“hello” or “hi” Greetings have been described as a significant aspect of human interactions For instance, Schottman (1995:489) states that “Greetings are the essential ‘oil’ of encounter of all types and reassuring confirmation of human sociability and social order”

In Vietnam, greetings play a crucial part in culture of communication as stated in the proverb: “Lời chào cao hơn mâm cỗ” In addition, greetings can sometimes be used to determine a person’ manners in Vietnam as Prof Dr Le

He focuses on verbal and nonverbal greetings in common; Nguyen Thi Phuong Thanh (2016) compares greeting categories in English and Vietnamese; Le Thi Tinh (2016) provides most common greetings in English and Vietnamese She finds out that different countries have different ways of greetings in particular situations However, greetings in emails has not been mentioned in the above researches that is the reason inspired me to carry out a cross-culture contrastive analysis on greeting in English and Vietnamese emails

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

1.2.1 Aims of the study

The aim of this study is to find out what greeting categories are used in English and Vietnamese emails, compare and contrast to point out the similarities and differences of greeting categories in English and Vietnamese emails from a cross-cultural perspective, to provide Vietnamese learners of English necessary skills of writing greetings in emails

1.2.2 Objectives of the study

To achieve the aims of the study, this thesis focuses on these objectives:

- To identify categories of greetings in English and Vietnamese emails;

- To point out the similarities and differences of greeting categories in English and Vietnamese emails from cross-culture perspectives;

- To draw some implications of the thesis for English learners on how to write effective greetings in emails

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1.3 Research questions

In order to achieve the objectives, the following research questions are raised for exploration:

1 What are the categories of greetings in English and Vietnamese emails?

2 What are the similarities and differences between greeting categories in English and Vietnamese emails from cross-cultural perspectives?

3 What is the implication of the thesis for English learners on how to write effective greetings in emails?

1.4 Methods of the study

The research is conducted with references from the diverse reliable sources such

as books, MA thesis in which related to the ways of greeting in English and Vietnamese emails

Beside that, the author also used the emails collected from participants from different muticultures companies which help the author find out the similar and different greeting categories in English and Vietnamese emails Totally, there 200 emails in both languages 100 English emails are written by English native speakers who works in munticultures companies and other 100 Vietnamese emails are written

by Vietnamese native speakers from different companies located in Vietnam

- Research approach

The main aim of the study is pointing out the similarities and differences between greeting categories in English and Vietnamese emails from a cross – cultural perspective to provide Vietnamese learners of English necessary knowledge and skills

in writing greetings in emails In addition, some implications for using greeting in English to Vietnamese emails for learners of English are giving Therefore, to achieve the aims stated, quantitative and qualitative methods were applied in the study, which mainly use qualitative methods Using qualitative methods to analyze and compare the main features, the model and using the greeting in English and Vietnamese emails 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

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The descriptive method is used in the first stage to make details the features of greeting in English and Vietnamese emails based on the examples collected from many different sources such as books, MA thesis, internet, dictionaries, ect

The comparative analysis method is used to clarify the similarities and differences from a cross-cultural perspective

-Principles for data collection and data analysis

In this paper, data sources to be analyzed are collected from secondary sources and primary sources The secondary sources cited from M.A thesis, books and journals from the Internet which concerning with greetings in emails are collected and read for searching useful and needed information The primary sources are emails which are collected from employees and staff working at different multicultural companies to respect the following criteria:

There were totally 200 English and Vietnamese emails analyzed in this study 100 English emails were written by English native speakers who are studying and working

at different multicultural schools and companies located in Vietnam and other countries The other 100 Vietnamese emails were written by Vietnamese native speakers who are studying and working at different universities and companies located

in Vietnam The participants are both female and male and in different ages from 20 to

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-Research method

Describing and analyzing the greeting categories in English and Vietnamese emails, exploring the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese, and finding out the common mistakes made by Vietnamese local people when writing emails to English native speakers In order to gain the achievements, some methods are used as followed:

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 Quantitative method is used to describe and interpret the main features of English greetings in emails

Analytical and comparative methods assist to the major method in this study Analytical method will be used to analyze statistics that are available after carrying out

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the descriptive research Comparative method is used to find out similarities and differences in the ways English and Vietnamese people use to greet in the emails of exchanging information

For achieving the aims and objectives of the study with high reality, selected materials is the main technique to be used In addition, some examples from M.A thesis and journals from the Internet were selected to help the author find out the similarities and differences of different categories in greetings in English and Vietnamese emails

In summary, a brief description of the method is presented in this section and this also shows the way we research the aim of the research Different features of English and Vietnamese greeting in emails will be pointed out Furthermore, the study draw out the similarities and differences between greetings categories in English and Vietnamese emails The author use qualitative research design and analytical method to collect data as well as analyze them

1.5 Scope of the study

The greeting categories which are analyzed in this study are greetings in English and Vietnamese emails in written form The models of greeting categorized and analyzed in this study include the only greetings that are commonly found in daily conversations and workplace emails in written forms Moreover, greetings is one important part of language, especially is the initiator of conversation How greeting is used in different cultures, particularly between English and Vietnamese emails is my great concern Therefore the study focused on the cultural similarities and differences between greetings in English and Vietnamese emails in different social encounters

1.6 Significance of the study

It can be said that this is the first dissertation in Vietnam researching about greetings in English and Vietnamese emails The thesis has the following new points Firstly, the thesis pointed out and described the greeting categories in English and Vietnamese emails Secondly, the study analyzed the similarities and differences in greetings in English and Vietnamese emails Moreover, the thesis is a useful resource for businesses, employees, teachers, and students who are interested in writing in the

1.7 Structure of the study

The thesis consists of 4 chapters as follow:

Chapter 1 is the Introduction of the study which shows the reasons why the topic

is chosen, what the research aims at as well as the scope, the significance and the structural organization of the study

Chapter 2 is the Literature review and Theoretical background of the study This chapter will give the brief review of related literature and theoretical background of every matter mentioned in the study

Chapter 3 is the Findings and Discussions It presents and analyzes the collected data from questionnaires as well as gives the similarities and differences of using forms

of greetings in English and Vietnamese emails from cross-cultural perspectives Besides that, the study offers some writing skills for Vietnamese learners of English in writing greetings in emails are drawn out

Chapter 4 is the Conclusion of the study which presents the recapitulation of the study, the limitations of the study and some suggestions for further study

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Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Review of previous studies

A few studies on the use of greetings in emails messages written by English speakers have been conducted

A study on content and language used in email messages sent by L2 and L1 English speakers by Tella (1992)

Tella (1992: 1–292) studied the content and language of email communication between Finnish upper secondary school students, who studied English as a L2, and L1 speakers of English from various countries, among others Britain, the USA and Austria The aim of the study was to discover what contents, themes and topics were present in email communication between the participants, and what kind of language they used in their email messages As the focus was also on language used in emails, one of the aims was to find out how the use of greetings differed from greetings used in traditional letters

A study on the use of greetings in workplace email communication by Waldvogel (2007)

Waldvogel (2007: 122–143) has studied the form and use of greetings in email messages sent by New Zealand employees and employers (native speakers of English) from two workplaces: an educational organization and a manufacturing plant The aim

of the study was to explore “the relationship between the organizational or workplace culture and the role, status, and style of email” (Waldvogel 2007: 126), in addition to finding out how the workers of both workplaces used email and what kind of attitudes they had towards it While analysing the openings and closings used by the employees and employers, the aim was to identify how the sociolinguistic variables such as status, social distance and gender influenced on the form and use of them The analysis was conducted by counting the different types of openings and closings “cross-tabulated to the variables” (Waldvogel 2007: 126) The most significant finding was the fact that indirect and socially distant styles of communication were dominant in the educational organization, where openings and closings were not widely used, whereas in the manufacturing plant, however, openings and closings were used more extensively than

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in the educational organization, which reflected the open and positive relationships between staff and management Additionally, the frequent and extensive use of openings and closings also constructed good relationships between workers, and contributed to a direct and friendly workplace culture Therefore, Waldvogel suggests that the relative status of people, social distance, and gender, for instance, are not as important factors for the form and use of openings and closings as the workplace

of directness and amount of lexical/phrasal and external modification employed in the English e-requests of Greek Cypriot university students, what forms of address Greek Cypriot students (NNSs [non- native speakers] of English) employ in their e-mails to faculty” and “to what extent British native speaker lecturers perceive unmodified and direct e-mails from students as abrupt and impolite” (Economidou-Kogetsidis 2011: 2) The emails written by the students were both requests for information and requests for action Each request head act within an email was identified, and they were analysed and coded considering the degree of directness, “internal modification (lexical/phrasal downgraders or upgraders), and external modification (mitigating supportive moves and aggravating moves added to the head act)” (Economidou-Kogetsidis 2011: 6) In addition, every email was analysed regarding the form of address used The results of the study showed that NNS students preferred direct communication style in their email messages, did not use lexical/phrasal downgraders, omitted both openings and closings, and used a great variety of forms of address

In Vietnam, a great number of studies on greetings have attracted

learners of English such as Huyền Vũ (2009) in “Cách chào hỏi của người Việt và người Mỹ”, Hoàng Thị Kim Dung (2010) in “A cross cultural study of dressing forms

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in greetings in Vietnamese and English.” 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 Nguyễn Xuân Thành (2013) in “A study of common

greetings in English and Vietnamese” points out the differences and similarities

between English and Vietnamese greetings He also raises awareness of concerning in the importance of communication especially in greetings However, his study is rather wide He researched in both verbal and non-verbal greetings

Overall, all most aspects of greetings are analyzed and compared in the researches above such as sociology, anthropology, socio-linguistics, and discourse analysis However, these studies only focus on greetings in the form of spoken and gesture languages, yet there has been no cross –cultural contrastive study on greetings

in written form like in emails in Vietnam I strongly desire to reach communication goal and have greetings in emails put into consideration

2.2 Review of theoretical background

2.2.1 Overview of Speech Acts

2.2.1.1 Definition of Speech acts

One of the main concepts in pragmatics is a speech act The following section defines and classifies speech acts

Austin (1962) claimed that analysis of speech acts is the major goal of pragmatics He introduced the term “speech act” as a basic unit of communication While articulating words and utterances speakers produce three types of acts: a locutionary act, an illocutionary act, and a perlocutionary act A locutionary act is defined as an act of saying something with a certain sense understood by its propositional meaning (for example, an utterance “It’s hot in here” is a statement that it

is hot in a certain place) An illocutionary act is producing an intention through locution (for example, “It’s hot in here” might be an indirect request to open the window since it is hot in a certain room, an indirect refusal to close the window, and a complaint about hot temperature in the room) A perlocutionary act is the effect of an utterance on the hearer (for example, “It’s hot in here” might result in someone opening or closing the window) An illocutionary act is central in this classification

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Austin classified illocutionary speech acts as follows:

1 Verdictives – acts of making verdicts or judgment, e g, estimate, rate;

2 Exercitives – acts of making a decision regarding the action, e.g order, permit, advise;

3 Commissives – acts of making a commitment to a certain action, e.g promise, intent;

4 Behabitives – acts of expressing attitudes or feelings, e.g thank, welcome;

5 Expositives – acts of demonstrating and clarifying the words usage, e.g reply, argue, illustrate, assume

Searle (1969) inherited some of Austin’s ideas, but criticized his taxonomy for the lack of governing principle of organization, confusions between illocutionary verbs and acts, overlaps and heterogeneity within the categories Searle (1976) developed the theory of speech acts and their classification in his own way He named five basic categories of speech acts:

1 Representatives or assertives – acts that commit the speaker (S) to the truth of the expressed proposition, e.g affirm, believe, conclude, deny;

2 Directives – acts that make the hearer (H) perform a certain action, e g ask, insist, request;

3 Commissives – acts that commit to some future action, e g guarantee, pledge, promise, swear;

4 Expressives – acts that express attitudes, e g apologize, congratulate, thank, welcome;

5 Declarations – acts that immediately change reality according to the propositional content, e g I resign

Bach and Harnish (1979) borrowed some of the terms of Austin (1962) and Searle (1976) and developed their own taxonomy of speech acts They distinguished the following types of illocutionary speech acts specified by the type of attitude expressed:

1 Constatives, e g announcing, claiming, confirming, identifying, reporting, and stating;

2 Directives, e.g advising, forbidding, ordering, permitting, requesting, suggesting, and warning;

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3 Commissives, e g agreeing, inviting, offering, promising, and swearing;

4 Acknowledgements, e.g apologizing, condoling, congratulating, thanking, and greeting

2.2.1.2 Direct and indirect speech acts

In addition to the classification of speech acts according to their function, speech acts are distinguished according to their structure into direct and indirect (Searle, 1975) Direct speech acts correspond to the three syntactical types of sentences: declarative, interrogative, and imperative In direct speech acts, there is a clear relationship between the structure and the function (statement, question, and request/ order) In indirect speech acts, in contrast, there is no direct relationship between

structure and form According to Searle (1975), in indirect speech acts, "the speaker communicates to the hearer more than he actually says by way of relying on their mutually shared background information, both linguistic and nonlinguistic, together with the general powers of rationality and inference on the part of the hearer." (pp 60- 61)

Examples of indirect speech acts include requests in interrogative form, imperatives, warnings, advice, threats, refusals, suggestions, and invitations

2.2.2 Politeness Theory by Brown and Levinson

Brown and Levinson (1987 [1978]) Politeness Theory is the most eminent theory

on linguistic politeness According to Leech (2007), “has remained the most seminal and influential starting point for studying cross-cultural and interlinguistic politeness” (p 1) The theory of Brown and Levinson (1987) builds on three notions: face, face threatening acts (henceforth FTAs) and politeness strategies To begin with, everyone has a ‘face’, “the public self-image” that want to preserve (Brown and Levinson, 1987,

p 61) The concept of ‘face’ wants can be either ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ The positive face is reflected in a need to be liked and appreciated by others or to quote them is “the positive consistent self-image or “personality” (crucially including the desire that this self-image be appreciated and approved of) claimed by interactants” (Brown and Levinson, 1987, p 61) In general, positive politeness moves are delineated as expressions of informality and familiarity (Meier, 1995) On the other hand, the

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negative face is “the basic claim to territories, personal preserves, rights to distraction – i.e., to freedom of action and freedom from imposition” (Brown and Levinson, 1987, p 61), in essence, the desire not to be obscured and to preserve one’s own freedom

non-In keeping with their theory, speakers (in CMC, ‘senders’) desire to preserve their social face in communication as well as basic wants They view politeness actually as a perplexing system for alleviating FTAs Occasionally, participants are forced to use FTAs, so as to get what they need Any utterance can be understood as potential face threat, be it suggestions, requests or advice considering that possibly inhibit the recipient’s freedom of response (Holmes, 1995)

Brown and Levinson’s model further explains five possibilities to express a FTA as shown in the Figure 1 below The “estimation of risk of face loss” signifies the risk that the speaker or sender in our case will undertake, while making a request and the strategy is increasing in size as we move in a lower position in the figure

Figure 2.1 Flowchart of politeness strategies for doing FTAs (Brown and Levinson, 1978, p 74)

In the first place, the speakers or in our case the senders have to make the decision if they are going to do the FTA Subsequently, they select to do the FTA then, they might choose to do it ‘on record’, which means to carry out the act baldly, and without any redressive action (Brown and Levinson, 1987, p 69) This speech act is done in the most definite way, without attention to the social aspect and realized

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oftentimes by imperatives Brown and Levinson (1987) postulate that, that sort of strategy is typically employed in cases of emergency or propositions that need trivial sacrifices for the sake of the receiver Furthermore, someone may also decide to perform the act employing positive redressive action, in other words ‘give face’ to the hearer by exhibiting solidarity with them The individual seeks to lessen the treat to the receiver’s face, thus desires not to threaten the receiver’s face Thirdly, the sender can employ negative redressive action This strategy takes under consideration the hearer’s

or in our case receiver’s desire not to be imposed upon It is the most elaborated and conventionalized form of strategy (Brown and Levinson, 1987)

Indirectness is mainly associated with negative politeness strategies and indirect requests Lastly, we have the ‘off-record’ FTAs, it is used when the speaker/sender acknowledges the risk of FTA to be too serious and chooses to say or do nothing, in order to prevent face loss

Brown and Levinson (1987) argued that there are three social determinants the people evaluate when choosing the politeness strategies so as to hinder the threat to face The three parameters are Power (P), Distance (D) and Rating of imposition (R) The former two are examined in this study The combination of these three values will indicate the importance of the FTAs, which in succession have an impact on the strategy which is employed by the speaker/sender (cf Figure 2.2) In light of a FTA request, in line with Brown and Levinson’s (1987) model, the speaker/sender has as previously mentioned four odds We can glean from these that the more commanding the requests are, the more tactics the speaker/sender will employ, with the purpose of mitigating the face threat

Figure 2.2 Factors in estimated risk of face loss (Brown and Levinson, 1987)

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Brown and Levinson’s (1987) model of politeness is the only that attempts to explain how people generate politeness Thus, in my study, I will consider seriously their model and the various manifestations they offer from a pragmatic point of view,

25 in terms of categorizing the various moves found within the emails into the two sets

of politeness strategies (positives and negatives)

2.2.3 Cross-cultural communication and email

2.2.3.1 Cross-cultural communication

E.T Hall believes that “culture is communication and communication is culture”

C Lévi-Stauss thinks that cultures are “shared symbolic systems” that are “creations of the mind”134 Any culture is primarily a system for creating, processing, sending, and/or storing information Communication underlies everything Although we tend to regard language as the main channel of communication, it is necessary to remember that information about culture is communicated by other means as well135 S Ting-Toomey notes that there are four necessary elements of cross-cultural communication such as (1) two people (or two groups) (2) of different cultures (with a quite broad definition of culture) (3) in interaction (4) who negotiate common meaning

In cross-culture communities, there is some reaching across boundaries We try to build bridges of relationship between our cultural communities by sharing, listening, learning and being open to changing It usually requires intentionality, and programs of education and community-building It also means that two or more cultures are considered or related to; often cultures are compared or contrasted with one another, and one culture is deemed superior or inferior to another;

power differnteials are still not addressed, it is only allows for mimited learning or exchange between cultural groups; cultural differences may be understood or acknowledged, but are also managed in a way that does not allow for individual or collective transformation

Cross –cultural communication is a field of stydy that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavor to communicate across cultures, Interccultural communication is related field of study

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According to Richards (1985:92), "cross-cultural communication is an exchange

of idea, information, ect between person from different backgrounds there are more problems in cross-cultural communication than in communication between people of the same cultural background Each participant may interpret the other's speech accroding to his or her own cultural conventions and expectations If the cultural conventions and misunderstandings can easily arise, even resulting in a total breakdown of communication This has been shown by research into real life situations, such as writing emails to apply for a job, customers - sale staff encounters and legal communicaton"; thus, cross-cultural cummuniaton is the exchange and negotiation of information ideas, feelings and attitudes between individuals who come from different cultural backgrounds

2.2.3.2 Email communication viewed from a cross-cultural perspective

Because of developments in technology and the economic globalization of the world, interactions between individuals from different cultural groups have been occurring more frequently than in the past Computer-mediated communication (CMC), through international networks, has been extensively used in many parts of the world CMC refers to interactive computer messages (e-messages) electronic mail (e-mail), cyber forums (e-mail lists), or online conferencing CMC through international networks is less expensive and more convenient than conventional telephone and fax mediated communication Since the introduction of the Internet, e-mail use has notably increased and the purpose of using e-mail has grown from primarily organizational purposes to educational purposes Two views of CMC have developed since it first attracted public attention in the beginning of the 1990s An optimistic view is that CMC allows people to communicate independent from the physical constraints of time and space and the social constraints of race, gender and class A more critical view assumes that CMC is the final stage in the dehumanization of society and supporters of this view claim that the anonymity of CMC encourages insulting communication behavior to a greater degree than face-to-face communication (Fouser, 2001) According to social presence theory (Short et al., 1976), communication is affected by the quality of the medium Because of its text-based structure, CMC is assumed to be extremely low in social presence as compared to face-toface (FTF) communication

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CMC also filters out the contextual cues in communication that are conveyed through physical environment, nonverbal behavior and each participant’s social status Lack of these cues makes CMC “appropriate for tasks requiring less social interaction and social intimacy” (Rice, 1983) Generally, CMC is considered more impersonal than FTF communication (Ma, 1996)

Yet some scholars in the field, like Walther et al (1992), claim that, despite its limitations in conveying contextual cues, CMC enables relational development between communicators Moreover, in the absence of visual cues, CMC tends to promote uninhibited behaviors in multicultural environments (Ma 1996) In CMC, group members participate more equally than they do when they talk face to face Some barriers of face-to-face interaction such as race, gender, physical appearance and language accent are non-existent in CMC (Van Gelder 1990) Thus, in a CMC environment, we judge one’s mind rather than other features Although it is impossible

to see nonverbal cues in CMC, alternative relational cues are available to its participants In CMC, relational cues can be transmitted in two ways First, verbal messages in the text can convey relational messages (Rice, 1987) In other words, relational tones can be incorporated in text messages; for example, the organization of the text, syntax, punctuation marks and emphasis can all serve as relational cues Second, relational messages can be transmitted through electronic symbols (Gumpert, 1990) known as “emoticons”, which derive from “emotive icons” (Metz, 1992) Metz posits that emoticons take four different forms: to verbalize physical cues; to describe physical actions; to emphasize claims; and to describe physical conditions (smiling face) In face-to-face (FTF) communication, the concept of nearness determines the position of the persons in communication The concept of nearness implies a host/guest distinction, which means that one participant or group is, to some degree, dominant over others However, in a computer-mediated environment there is no nearness concept since the participants contribute in the conversation from their own cultural context; thus, none of the participants/groups in the communication are bounded by the same cultural context as other participants/groups (Ma, 1996) Cultural difference does have an impact on e-mail communication, but not the same impact as it has in FTF communication It is important that we develop a better understanding of these

e-Email is presently used widely all over the world for different purposes both for formal and informal communication (Crystal 2001; Carlsson 2002; Englung 2009; Vauras 2008; Toropainen and Lahtinen 2013) As email has become such a popular mode of communication, there has to be something that explains its widespread use Though email may contain some elements of other modes of communication, such as memos, letters or even telephone conversations, it is like none of these, but unique (Crystal 2001: 125-126): it is more effective than the letter as it can be responded quickly, and it defeats the telephone as well in eliminating the so called “telephone tag” (i.e people leaving messages to each other asking them to call back) Naturally, also email has limitations as a mode of communication, but most of them remain still undiscovered; email could therefore be seen as quite an unpredictable mode of communication, since “there is no way of controlling an e-mail, once it has been sent; nor is there any way of knowing who will eventually see it or edit it” (Crystal 2001: 126–127) Thus, the concept of email may sometimes feel slightly ambiguous, but it has most similarities with letter writing, since an email contains elements of it: when writing email messages, every element of an email, such as openings and closings, for example, are usually placed on a separate line, being spaced away from the body of the message (Crystal 2001: 102) Further, the range of openings and closings used in email writing are also characteristics of traditional letter writing (Crystal 2001: 103) Regarding a letter’s functions, email is today used for most purposes that have earlier been carried out by a letter alone, such as “the sending of CVs or job applications, certain types of form-filling” (Crystal 2001: 126)

The language used in email communication though has traditionally been regarded as freer than in letter writing (Vauras 2008: 211), and there are several points

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that reflect the informal language use that is typical of email writing (Crystal 2001:

103): the use of first names with an opening, such as Dear David, Hi Mary, sometimes

even merely initial letters are being used, “even between people who do not know each

other well”, and the absence of Yours sincerely in closings, for example Also the fact

that when writing emails some people prefer using more personalised openings, such as

Hello + first name, or Hi Everyone!, reflects the informal character of email (Tella

1992: 213) Further, since email messages can be easily deleted and using email feels temporary, the sense of carefreeness is being promoted (Crystal 2001: 127) For these reasons, there is a tendency to regard email as an informal mode of communication Moreover, as it is spontaneous, quick, private, and used also in leisure time, email offers possibilities of greater levels of informality than traditional letter writing (Crystal 2001: 127–128) Nevertheless, it should be born in mind that email is also used in formal contexts, and formal emails, such as emails sent to authorities, are handled with the same dignity and value as traditional letters: they are archived and filed, and regarded as formal documents (Englund 2009)

Electronic communication, including email, has several characteristics of informal spoken language, which may explain why email is considered an informal mode of communication, informal communication style being typical of it (Severin-Eriksson 1997: 119–120, as quoted in Södergård 2005: 272) In practice, this means that no great attention is paid to strict rules concerning spelling, for instance (Vauras 2008: 211; Language Development via the Internet 2005) The informality of email can therefore be seen also as a chance to improve communication (Englund 2009) Firstly, from a writer’s point of view writing emails does not set high requirements concerning grammar and spelling, for instance, which may encourage people to write although they would otherwise feel uncertain of writing Secondly, this also contributes to the writer’s sense of freedom to choose his/her words As it is more acceptable to use language freely in emails, it again increases the freedom of language use and makes email a more popular and powerful medium, since “allowing a range of linguistic options increases the communicative power of a medium” (Crystal 2001: 107) Further, even though there are guidelines for email writing, giving directions how to write emails and which style to use in them, the reactions of recipients influence people’s use

of email more than style guides (Crystal 2001: 107) In other words, the use of email

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has also been influenced by “the linguistic mores” of its users (Crystal 2001: 107), which explains why the language used in emails is nowadays regarded as informal Moreover, the fact that the use of email has become a routine part of everyday social life has also influenced informal language use in emails: it is being used extensively in everyday communication, particularly during leisure time (Crystal 2001: 128) Although the sense of freedom is regarded as a positive aspect of email writing, sometimes the carefreeness may go too far (Englund 2009): messages may become very ungrammatical and the use of unestablished abbreviations, for example, complicates reading and understanding; what is regarded as quick and effective on some occasions does not always apply Thus, in order to be understood, it is recommendable to write emails in the same manner as one would write a traditional letter, paying attention to spelling and grammar rules (Englund 2009) Due to the extensive and growing use of email, however, it may be that in future it may lose its informal and carefree usage, or at least more formal style will become more common

as email is being used for wider and different purposes (Crystal 2001: 128):

The result will be a medium which will portray a wide range of stylistic expressiveness, from formal to informal, just as other mediums have come to do, and where the pressure on users will be to display stylistic consistency, in the same way that this is required in other forms of writing

2.2.4.2 Theoretical analysis of genre

The use of the method of analyzing genre helps the thesis clarify the characteristics of the text structure, the polite strategies, the linguistic means specific to the type of business correspondence in the workplace and in life

- Category and related concepts

The studies of the linguistic genre can be divided into two schools: Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and English for Specific Purposes / ESP Scholars of systematic functional linguistics believe that linguistic structure is an integral part of the social and functional context of texts, and often advance research focusing on the usefulness of genres in pedagogy Studies of specialized English also look at the pedagogical significance of the genre, with a particular focus on genre analysis as a means to help non-native English speakers use the language

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Studies of business correspondence are in the field of specialized English language studies (ESP) ESP genre analysis is rooted in Swales' studies 1981 on discursive structure and linguistic characterization of the introduction of a research article introduction, and 1990 in the work "Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings" ESP studies often describe language and discourse characteristics of certain genres The results of the ESP research are then applied to the curriculum design and ESP teaching materials In ESP studies, the discursive structure is often described in terms of moves / steps and the communicative purpose of the genre plays

a very important role in analyzing the genre According to Swales, "a set of communicative events becomes a genre when they share communicative purposes In such a sense, the focus of the concept of genre is central emphasis on "common communicative purposes rather than formal similarities or some other criteria" Bhaita, another pioneer in the field of genre analysis, also said that the nature of a genre "is mainly characterized by the communicative purpose it is intended to perform" The communicative purpose determines the structure of the genre; and if the purpose of the communication alternates For example, if the purpose is to communicate in writing between the two companies, then the form of correspondence to use.If the purpose is to briefly inform the customer of a In fact, the flyer format will be effective

2.2.4.3 Format of an email

To meet certain communication purposes, each letter type consists of certain parts (moves) and steps, forming a general structure for each type of letter Swales (157) suggested that the writer can achieve the purpose of the request when doing the following moves: (a) opening greetings (b) request (c) acknowledgments (d) closing greetings Through reference to the analysis of the letter structure of Bhatia Joy Baugh Hayati et al and through practical analysis, we generalize the table of small steps (sign denoted S) Among them, there are sections or steps that always appear and there are optional sections, or steps; in a part, steps may appear first and after, depending on the wishes of the writer In table 2.1, the sections are numbered M1-M5, and steps are numbered S1-S13

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M1 Salutation S1 Salutation Chào người nhận

M2 Prepare for

the request S2 Build friendly

letterhead

Create sympathy through the recipients

S3 Introduce yourself Let the person know who the writer is,

from which organization S4 State the situation State the situation that led to the request M3 Request S5 Request Ask the recipient to do something

S6 Give the reason for the request

Give the reason or / and explain the request was made

S7 Benefit Indicate the benefit of the receiver /

writer if the request is made S8 Add announcement /

information

Add notifications / other information (time / location / additional questions / clarification )

Describe the desire for the writer to receive a response from the recipient S11 Build sympathy at

the end of the letter

Create sympathy for the recipients through thanking, appreciating cooperation, giving wishes

M5 Closing S12 Goodbye at the

end of the letter Signature Write your full name Position at work

Say goodbye to the recipient, clearly state the writer's name and position in the company

Table 2 1 The steps are usually included in the request letter in general

I'm August – Community Manager at

CampanyX-an entrepreneur CampanyX-and tech talent community builder with series of events, co-working places and a startup competition

S4 State the situation This July, ABC Summit- the first event in

Srandford that covererge the leading experts in frontier technology will be taken place The even not only focuses on the presentation of pioneering technology but a studio creates a forum for entrepreneaurs who have appetite for risk and a tolerance for failure to come together and share experiences in the course of their business…

M3

Request

S5 Request Writing this email, I'd love to invite you to join

our upcoming technology event as speaker

S6 Give the reason for

the request

Give the reason or / and explain the request was made

S7 Benefit …as you will bring to ABC Summit intriguing

stories and hands-on experience of frontier technologies

the end of the letter

Thank you for reading…

Sean Jones Company Manager

Table 2.2 Sample email of steps which are usually included in the request letter

2.2.4.2 Language used in email messages

Since email is a relatively new medium and it has features of both written and spoken language, there are no strict rules concerning the writing style used in email but certain conventions regarding writing styles in email messages are preferred (Biesenbach-Lucas 2006, as referred to in Economidou-Kogetsidis 2011: 1; Chen 2006: 35; Englund 2009) Particularly in western countries the writing conventions concerning email are basically comparable to each other, with some cultural differences (Tella 1992; Crystal 2001; Englund 2009) Consequently, conventions concerning email writing in Finland differ from the English and Swedish email writing conventions to some extent, particularly regarding greetings used in emails (Englund 2009; Crystal 2001) Language users, and particularly language learners, should therefore be aware of the differences in these conventions, in order to write emails that are appropriate in the target language For this reason, in the next sections characteristics of email and the language used in writing them in addition to the

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English and Vietnamese email writing conventions are discussed, with a focus on the use of greetings

2.2.5 Overview of Greetings

2.2.5.1 Greeting as a Speech Act

In speech act theory, greetings are analyzed as simple utterances and often as examples of ritualization in speech (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969) Greetings are included in the category of expressives (Searle, 1969), behabitives (Austin, 1962), and acknowledgements (Bach & Harnish, 1979) Although the terminology is different, the common feature of the speech acts included in these categories is that they express attitudes and feelings towards H, represent politeness, and are often motivated by a certain event and are expected in a certain social situation In addition, Austin claimed that one of characteristics of behabitives is their “special scope for insincerity” (p 161) Along these lines, speaking specifically about greetings, Searle assumed that greetings lack propositional content and denotational meaning and have no requirement for sincerity Bach and Harnish, however, interpreted greetings as expressing “pleasure

at seeing (or meeting) someone” (p 51) The view of greetings as devoid of propositional meaning or having an elementary meaning has been criticized for example by Duranti (1997) and Wierzbicka (1985), as will be discussed later in the chapter

2.2.5.2 Definitions and functions of greeting

Greetings are commonly defined by linguists according to their social function in communication Goffman (1971) included greetings in “access rituals” which are

“conventionalized acts through which an individual portrays his respect and regard for some object of ultimate value" (p 62) In Goffman’s words, greetings “mark the transition to a condition of increased access” (p 107) Major functions of greetings, according to Goffman, are social: to establish and reestablish relations and to acknowledge different social status However, they have other functions in communication: “politeness, presence validation (for self and others), threat denial, petition preliminary, display, and identity establishment for self and others” (Goffman,

1971, p 74) Firth (1972) also defined greetings in their social sense as “recognition of

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an encounter with another person as socially acceptable” (p 1) According to him, greetings are highly conventionalized and patterned routines which produce attention, identify interlocutors, and reduce anxiety in a social contact Laver (1981) followed this view and approached greetings as conversational routines and part of linguistic politeness Goody (1972) once more emphasized the social functions of greetings: opening a communicative act and establishing and maintaining identity and rank The social aspect of greeting was highlighted in the recent definition by Felecan (2015):

“The greeting is a communicative behaviour, by means of which a speaker shows his/ her availability towards the interlocutor” (p 5)

2.2.5.3 Criteria for greetings identification

Some languages have specific greeting words and phrases, others – do not, thus certain criteria are necessary to identify greetings Duranti (1997) suggested the following six:

1 near-boundary occurrence;

2 establishment of a shared perceptual field;

3 adjacency pair format;

4 relative predictability of form and content;

5 implicit establishment of a spatio-temporal unit of interaction;

6 identification of the interlocutor as a distinct being worth recognizing (p 67)

Greetings occur at the beginning of a conversational or social encounter, usually after the parties have sighted each other; they are usually a part of an adjacency pair and constitute a unit of interaction Greetings distinguish a particular person from a group, recognize him/ her, and attract attention As for the fourth criterion, Duranti disagreed with the view that greetings are always predictable and formulaic and have neither propositional content, nor denotational value (Firth, 1972; Searle, 1969) Duranti argued that greetings have “relative” predictability and depend on the broad context and immediate situation as well As he showed in the empirical study of Samoan greetings, greeting exchanges in that culture do have propositional content, for example, giving and asking for new information or sanctioning certain actions Thus, the researcher concluded, in order to fully analyze the pragmatics of greetings, it is necessary to include ethnographic information and consider contextual and cultural

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characteristics To say that greetings are set formulas and routines would be limiting and inaccurate as greetings can be complex, can be adapted to particular situations, can establish new contexts, and communicate new information Duranti (1997) rightfully claimed that in real-life encounters any kind of conversation opening can serve as a greeting: “we must be open to all kinds of conventional openings in social encounters

as potential cases of greetings” (p 67) They depend on the context and the relations between the interlocutors; and thus, can be either conventional or unconventional The present study adopts such a view on greetings that, according to Duranti (1997), to say that greetings are constituted by formulaic expressions only tells half of the story The other half is how such formulaic expressions may be adapted to, and at the same time help establish, new contexts … Greetings are indeed, towards the formulaic end of the formulaic-creative continuum that runs across the full range of communicative acts through which humans run their everyday life, but they also can communicate new information to participants through the types of questions they ask and the kinds of answers they produce (p 88)

2.2.5.4 The significance of greetings in emails

A standard email has usually a fixed structure: a fixed sequence of discourse elements, including an opening, a body (the message itself) and finally a closing (Crystal 2001: 94) Greetings, i.e openings and closings, are sometimes considered optional elements of an email message, whereas a body of a message is naturally an obligatory element (Crystal 2001: 99) Though sometimes greetings are regarded as optional elements of an email message, it is preferable to use them, as greetings have a significant function in emails (Economidou-Kogetsidis 2011: 16; Crystal 2001: 99): greetings indicate politeness, how the recipient is taken into account, and what the relationship between the sender and the recipient is Furthermore, by the choice of a greeting and the type of a greeting (informal or formal) one sets the tone for the following email conversation (Waldvogel 2007: 122) Since both openings and closings establish and maintain communication it is relevant whether the greeting is present or absent (Carlsson 2002: 116) Moreover, the writer constructs his/her social and professional identity and relationship with the addressee through an opening, whereas a closing can consolidate the relationship and contribute, either positively or

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negatively, to future encounters (Waldvogel 2007: 123) Thus, “whatever approach is used to start or end the communication, important social information is conveyed by the choice” (Waldvogel 2007: 128) A successfully chosen and used greeting can therefore create a positive atmosphere between the interlocutors, whereas a greeting that is too intimate and informal, for instance, for the particular context may cause confusion, even irritation (Eisenstein et al 1996, as cited in Carlsson 2002: 116)

Openings

Although also openings have a significant function in email, they are not used in several types of email messages (Crystal 2001: 99–100) Firstly, in messages from people who do not know the recipient personally, for instance, openings are not usually used Secondly, public announcements and junk-mail are also cases in point of messages without an opening Thirdly, in messages sent within institutions to all members of staff, sending out information and instructions, personalized openings are often seen as unnecessary Although messages sent between people who know each other usually include some sort of an opening, there are some cases where they are left out (Crystal 2001: 100): when a message is responded promptly, for example, or when the message is seen as the second part of a two-part interaction, in which case an introductory opening is regarded as inappropriate Nevertheless, the message is more likely to contain an opening, as an apology, if the delay in responding has been long (Crystal 2001: 100) In addition, it is acceptable to open a formal letter without an opening (Carlsson 2002: 117)

From the above points of view, the study only focuses on the greetings in the opening part of workplace emails to find out the similarities and differences between greetings categories in English and Vietnamese emails

2.2.6 Summary

In this chapter, the theories that related to greetings in emails and other previous studies have been reviewed Theories of speech act, politeness, cross-cultural communicaton, emails format of and email, and greetings in emails have been sufficiently deal with in the the chapter Briefly, what have been mentioned in this chapter is the theoretical background for discussing and finding in the chapter

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Chapter 3

A COMPARISON BETWEEN GREETINGS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

EMAILS

3.1 The categories of greeting in English and Vietnamese emails

3.1.1 Based on the structural and functional dimensions

In each country the forms of greeting are flexible and diversified People may use wishes, questions, exclamations… to greet each other Greeting expression conveys characteristics of cultures, traditional habits, and religions

In English emails the structure and meaning of greeting are not always equivalent

to those in Vietnamese emails

For example:

English native speakers greet someone by using these expressions in their emails: For example: English native speakers greet someone by using these expressions in their emails:

“Dear Mr/ Mrs/ Ms/ Miss Jones,”

or “Dear Jack,”

or “Dear Sir,”

or “Dear Madam,”

or “Hi Jerry,”

or “My darling Linda,”

or “Good morning Anna,”

Vietnamese people use these expressions to great each other in their emails:

“Kính gửi Quý Phụ Huynh,”

or “Bạn Lan thân mến,”

or “Xin chào bạn Hoa,”

or “Quý khách hàng thân mến,”

or "Chào em,"

Base on the structural and functional dimensions of greetings, we can divide greetings

in emails into two types: direct greetings and indirect greetings

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3.1.1.1 Direct greeting

In English, direct greeting is the greeting which contains verbs of greetings and

greeting words, such as, (“greet”, “welcome”, greeting words like “Hello”, “Hi”, ect

In Vietnamese emails, greeting words are “chào”, “kính chào”, etc According to

Pham Thi Thanh Dr., they are “ritualistic greeting” used to open or end a meeting so that parties can express politeness, modesty, courtesy of the role of communication” (as cited in Ngan,2005)

In English, when the English native speaker write a letter to their friends,

colleague at work, and family… they may greet them directly by using “Hi/Hello,” or Hi,/Hello + first name,” or “Good +part of the day,” such as “Good morning, Good afternoon! When writing a letter to a stranger who they have never met before, they greet “Dear + first name,” or “Hello + first name,” to show respect

 Dear Sir or Madam,

Opening greeting to more than one person:

 Dear all,

 Hi (everyone/ guys),

 To: All faculty members,/ To: New recruits,/ To: All members,/ To:…,

At the same time, the greeting in Vietnamese includes performative verbs such as

“kính chào”, “chào”, “thân gửi” or “kính gửi”… In Vietnamese, the diversity of

greetings are attached by the factors of age, participants, and social hierarchy Especially, social positions are the most important factors to decide how Vietnamese people greet in emails There are some relationships constituting the foundation of social life which are those between student and teacher, staff and manager, senior and junior, ect These relationships are asymmetrical, or what is called the hierachical order This is the reason why differerent people have different ways to greet The direct greeting expressions (expressions which contain verbs of greeting and greeting words) are formed as followed:

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 “Sender +chào + recipient (ạ),”

Eg: -Em chào thầy/cô (ạ),

- Em chào anh/chị (ạ),

-Cháu chào cô/chú (ạ),

This structure is often used in communicative situation that is ritual or social relation It is popular with student with teacher/ lecturer, people who have lower position to people that have higher position The speakers often used neutral pair pronoun “em – thầy/cô” or “cháu – cô/chú” e.t.c to address in greeting but they do not need to know their name to show respect manner to other people in the communication

 “ Xin chào + recipient,”

Eg: - Xin chào Loan,

- Xin chào Chung,

- Xin chào cô/chú/anh/chị (ạ),

These forms are very general in greetings in Vietnamese emails It is noticeable that a person who is younger or lower position has to greet the person in higher position by using an intensifier “ạ” at the end to be more polite

 First name + thân mến,

Eg: - Trang thân mến,

- Oanh thân mến,

In Vietnamese letters, the structure of greeting " first name + thân mến" is used between people who have close relationships such as closed friends, shop keeper and a closed customer, teacher and parents, a sale man and a closed client, ect

There are many direct greeting expressions that are used widely in Vietnam They are used in both formal and informal situations depending on the choice of the greeters

 Kính gửi/ thưa/chào+ recipient (first name/ group name)

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In addition to the word "chào" before the greeting, the Vietnamese also use the

honorific words before the verb to show respect: we often meet the honorifics:

"Thưa"," xin", "kính", and "xin chào" Depending on the degree of respect stemming from the position of the subject itself, people use honorifics: "thưa", "xin", "kính" before the "chào" At a higher level of respect, people use the honorific "xin kính chào"

According to Searle (1969), a greeting is defined as an illocutionary act which is simpler than other speech acts due to the lack of propositional content (as cited in Gass

& New, 1996, p.90) However, in reality, people usually greet each other by using questions, interrogation, exclamations, invitation, congratulations, compliments, ect.,

as indirect way

 Greeting by using holiday and good wishes

Greeting is an important part of making connections which is a huge important skill in communications Knowing how to greet somebody or share well wishes during

a holiday can really help in conversation In United States, the collective phrase Happy Holidays is often used (mainly by stores) as a generic cover-all greeting for all of the winter holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Hannukkah, and Kwanzaa: however, the phrase is not widespread in other countries The greetings and