An english-vietnamese cross-cultural study of keeping face at the first encounter

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An english-vietnamese cross-cultural study of keeping face at the first encounter

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An english-vietnamese cross-cultural study of keeping face at the first encounter

PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale With the trend of globalization and integration, cross-border contacts appear more and more frequent However, differences among cultures are one of the biggest barriers for successful cross-cultural communication It is widely accepted that English has been an international language in the world In Vietnam, for the past few decades, we have witnessed a dramatic change in English teaching and learning Communicative approach plays a key role in that big change That is to say, language in use is paid more attention and becomes a core in language teaching and learning for learners’ benefit Language is part of a culture and also its reflection Therefore, teaching a language means teaching its culture It is obvious that learners cannot master a language without grasping its culture In England, when greeting someone, people tend to use two questions: health questions (How are you? How are you doing?) and work questions (How are things?) as greeting routines while the Vietnamese ask food questions (what you have today?), display questions (Are you reading books?) besides health and work questions Or at the first meeting, the Vietnamese often ask about others’ age, marital status or income which can be seen as DON’Ts to Western people If it is not observed with the understanding of Vietnamese culture – a positive politeness oriented culture, it is easily misinterpreted as curious and nosy behavior, thus threatening others’ faces According to Lado (1957), to be successful in another language learning and to communicate effectively, linguistics knowledge is not enough Besides that, interacting skills and cultural knowledge are required As a result, to raise learners’ awareness of cross-cultural differences is essential to avoid culture shock or communication breakdown As Brembeck rightly puts it, “To know another’s language and not his culture is a very good way to make a fluent fool of one’s self” Aims of the study The aims of study are: - To find out safe and unsafe topics for the first encounter in Vietnamese and Anglophone cultures - To examine politeness strategies employed by Vietnamese and Anglophone informants under the influence of age, gender and power - To point out cross-cultural similarities and differences Methodology Quantitative method is mainly exploited for the practical aspects of the cross-cultural interaction under study The following methods are used:  Survey questionnaire  Analysis of the collected data: statistic, descriptive, interpretive, comparative and contrastive  Reference to home and foreign publication  Consultation with supervisor, Vietnamese and foreign colleagues Scope of the study Non-verbal factors are believed to be very important for keeping face at the first encounter However they are beyond the scope of this study The study only focuses on the verbal aspects and the data analysis of politeness and safe and unsafe topics The study is limited within the first encounter conversation in five groups and situations The survey questionnaires are given to 100 native speakers of Vietnamese (NSVs) people and 100 native speakers of English (NSEs) people However, 50 questionnaires of the NSVs and 50 questionnaires of NSEs are selected for Design of the study The study consists of parts: - Part A: Introduction - Part B: development Chapter 1: Theoretical Preliminaries Chapter 2: Methodology Chapter 3: Results and discussion - Part C: conclusion PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES I.1 Culture and communication I.1.1 What Culture? Up to now, there have been many definitions of “culture” It can be defined as “what makes you a stranger when you are away from home It includes all those beliefs and expectations about how people should speak and act which have become a kind of second nature to you as a result of social learning When you are with members of a group who share your culture, you not have to think about it, for you are all viewing the world in pretty much the same way and you all know, in general terms, what to expect of one another” (Bock, 1970:1) According to Claire Kramsch, “culture can be defined as membership in a discourse community that shares a common social space and history, and common imaginings Even when they have left that community, its members may retain, wherever they are, a common system of standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating and acting.” (1998: 10) Actually, people in one community acquire common ways of viewing the world, common attitudes, beliefs and values… through their interactions They “share the same background (for example, national, ethnic, religious) resulting from a common language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and values” (Quang, N, 1998: 3) However, we can hardly see the influence of culture on each individual as “it refers to the informal and often hidden patterns of human interactions, expressions, and viewpoints that people in one culture share” (Quang, N, 1998: 3) Adapted from Levine 1987:42) I.1.2 What Communication? Communication is “the process of sharing meaning through verbal and nonverbal behavior” (Quang, N, 1998: 3) Communication is also defined as “any process in which people share information, ideas, and feeling That process involves not only the spoken and written word, but also the body language, personal mannerism and style, the surroundings – anything that adds meanings to a message” (Hybels and Weaver, 1992: 5) In a communication, meaning can be shared directly to hit the issues or indirectly to avoid issues It is called direct communication and indirect communication respectively They all concern the relation between the speakers’ communicative intention, the interlocutors’ expectation of the message and the communicative effects of the message Problems in communication, especially cross-cultural communication can fall into two types: Non-communication – where no message is communicated; and Miscommunication - where an unintended message is communicated (Clyne, 1994: 26) It is the fact that for successful communication, the communicative effects should be matched to the intention, therefore, there should be sensitiveness and understanding of others’ production and the way they play with various identities which are available to them Hence, it is so important for a good communicator to realize the surrounding of others’ identities I.1.3 Culture shock in communication As discussed above, culture is “a complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (Tylor, 1978: 59, cited in Holliday, Hyde and Kullman, 2004) Living in the same society, we not think about our culture for we all see it in the same way Moreover, we can also expect other’s behavior without surprising We cannot separate our life from cultures Cultures impact on our daily activities in general and on our communication styles in particular This is all too obvious when we communicate with others who not share the same culture Actually, communication styles can and create misunderstanding and shock in conversations among people from different cultural backgrounds This can be illustrated with one example below: “The Italian made a strong political statement with which he knew his American friend would disagree The Italian wanted to involve the American in a lively discussion The American, rather than openly disagreeing, said, “Well, everyone is entitled to an opinion I accept that your opinion is different than mine.” The Italian responded, “That’s all you have to say about it? In general, the American did not enjoy verbal conflicts over politics or anything else The Italian actually became angry when the American refused to get involved in the discussion He later explains to the American, “a conversation isn’t fun unless it becomes heated” (cited in Quang, N, 1998: 40) With this example, it is obvious that communication is much influenced by cultures Before we arrive in a new land, we can think much about the new things which will happen differently there However, no matter how much we are prepared for the new culture, we find it hard to understand and accept the unfamiliar behaviors and sometimes hard to overcome the new situations The result is we still feel shocked “Culture shock is neither good nor bad, necessary nor unnecessary It is a reality that many people face when in strange and unexpected situations” (Harris and Moran, 1998: 226) Culture shock is related to the feelings in the hearers (Hs) or speakers (Ss) of “estrangement, anger, hostility indecision, frustration, unhappiness, sadness, loneliness, homesickness and even physical illness” (Valdes, 1995: 35) I.1.4 Communicative Competence (C.C) CC is understood as the knowledge that interlocutors need in communication It is not only the grammatical forms but also the knowledge which is the ability for both Ss and Hs to use in the appropriate way in any contexts It is a whole of knowledge and many other elements concerned in communication in general and in the intercultural communication in particular Saville – Troike (1985: 215) assumes: Communicative competence extends to both knowledge and expectation of who may or may not speak in certain settings, when to speak and when to remain silent, whom one may speak to, how one may talk to persons of different statuses and roles, what appropriate nonverbal behaviors are in various contexts, what the routines for turn – taking are in the conversation, how to ask for and give information, how to give commands, how to enforce discipline, and the like – in short, everything involving the use of language and the other communicative dimensions in particular social settings Along the line, Richards et al (1992: 65) gives out his definition of CC which consists of: a, knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of the language b, knowledge of rules of speaking (e.g knowledge how to begin and end a conversation, knowing what topics may be talked about in different types of speech events, knowing which address forms should be used with different persons one speaks to and in different situation) c, knowing how to use and respond to different types of speech acts such as requests, advice, apologies, thanks and invitations d, knowing how to use language appropriately Upon this view, it is vitally important to build up the socio-cultural rules for language use as an integral part for a successful communication I.1.5 Small talk in communication Sue: It’s nice to meet you My friend told me about you Have you lived in Seattle long? Mark: No, only three months How about you? Sue: I moved here three years ago from California Mark: Oh really? I am from California too! Where did you live in California? Sue: In Gilroy, not far from San Jose Mark: This is really coincidence I am from Gilroy too I like telling people I am from the garlic capital of the world Did you usually go to the summer garlic festival? Sue: I used to go every summer How about you? Mark: I went to most of them I thought the one in 1980 was great Did you go to that one? (Levine and Adelman, cited in Quang, N, 1998: 47) In this conversation, the two participants are asking small talk questions before they found that they share some common backgrounds It can be seen that the conversation is working easily with small talk questions and this kind of conversation above is called “small talk” A small talk is defined as an everyday conversation about everyday matters, usually at social events Normally, small talk is not considered important but it is “an essential aspect of conversation in that it provides a means of easing things along” (Clyne and Michael, 1994: 84) It is used to initiate a conversation after the introduction and functions for maintaining conversations such as keeping them going on, leading to interesting debates However, small talk requires common expectations among participants about its appropriateness and a common willingness and cultural understanding to take part in I.2 Politeness I.2.1 What Face? The nature of politeness has been debating for a very long time by the linguists and still not agreed on exactly what it is Face is the central notion discussed in the area of politeness Language users are social beings whose various social beliefs, motives and goals are brought into their verbal interaction The nature of their conversation is affected by these variables; over time they play a role in development of language It is certain that social motives and goals impact the use of language When we are in a particular contact, especially at the first encounter where we not know much or even anything about the others, we need to make our partners see our pleasure to communicate to them Here face - a social psychological concept and face-work entailed are needed to maintain the communication According to Goffman (1967), face, or one’s public identity, is a “scared thing”; so people are strongly motivated to protect and manage their face Face is something which is not located in our of our body but “rather something that is diffusely located in the flow of events in the encounter” (Goffman, 1967: 7) According to Brown and Levinson (1987, 61), face can be defined as “the public self-image that every member wants to claim for himself” It is the emotional and social sense of self that everybody has and expects others to recognize Face consists of two related aspects: negative and positive face Negative face is the basic claim to territories personal preserves, right to nondistraction, i.e.: to freedom of action and freedom from imposition And positive face is the positive consistent self-image or “personality” (crucially including the desire that this self-image be appreciated and approved of) claimed by interactants In other words, negative face is a person’s want to be unimpeded by others and the desire to be free to act as s/he chooses and not be imposed on: a desire for autonomy and positive face represents a desire for approval, a person’s want to be highly appreciated and approved by selected others in terms of personality, desires, behavior, values and so on Yule (1996: 60) supports the idea that face is “the public self – image of a person” The emotional and social sense exists in ourselves and also is something which is expected to be recognized by others According to him, “politeness is the means employed to show awareness of another’s face” If someone says something which threatens others’ selfimage, it is called a “face threatening act” (FTA) And alternatively, when something is said in order to lessen the threat to others’ individual expectations, it is named a “face saving act” (FSA) In any social communication, people are strongly motivated to protect and manage their positive image which reflects the values and beliefs of themselves Moreover, because face can only be given by others, it is in everyone’s best interest to maintain each other’s face When this fails, their feeling may be hurt and “loss of face” is a consequence in the communication In the social meetings of the human beings, the participants their best to communicate with their positive face which reflects their values and beliefs Face-work is involved in the social communication and is the efforts by the participants to avoid losing others’ face Facework entails both avoidance strategies (e.g., avoiding unsafe topics or violating another’s territory) and approach-based strategies (e.g., greeting, compliments, and salutations to support one’s relationship) I.2.2 What Politeness? Politeness can be viewed as essentially the linguistic means by which face-work is accomplished Although politeness is driven by face concerns, these concerns can over the time, settings, individuals, cultures and so on It lies at the intersection of cultural, social, cognitive, and linguistic processes Politeness carries a significant role in human interaction in the society Politeness theory can be seen as a sub-discipline of pragmatics, it can be viewed as an aspect of speech which is governed by the rational rules They are nothing but the human’s need to maintain the social relationship, peace and to avoid or lessen the conflicts Hence, politeness, as Brown and Levinson (1987: 13) defines, “is basic to the production of social order and a pre-condition of human cooperation” According to Richards et al (1985:281), politeness is also considered as a matter related to face which is used to maintain the social interaction: (a) How languages express the social distance between speakers and their different role relationships (b) How face-work, that is, the attempt to establish, maintain and save face during conversation, is carried out in a speech community Languages differ in how they express politeness According to Yule (1997: 60), Politeness is viewed as “the idea of “polite social behavior”, or etiquette within a culture” In other words, politeness is “a number of different general principles for being polite in social interaction within a particular culture” I.2.3 Politeness Strategies Politeness up to now has been addressed in different ways by linguists, e.g., Blum-Kulka et al (1985), Blum-Kulka (1987,1990), Janney and Arndt (1992), Mao (1994), Kasper (1990), Fraser (1990), Lakoff (1990), Leech (1983), Brown and Levinson (1987)… However, some general principles are agreed for politeness in the human socio-communicative verbal interaction They are Politeness Rules by Lakoff (1990), Politeness Strategies by Brown and Levinson (1987) and Politeness Principles – Maxims by Leech (1983) Of all, Brown and Levinson’s theory is the most outstanding and most quoted In the Politeness theory by Brown and Levinson (1987), politeness is considered as a complex system for softening face-threatening acts The concept of face is a fundamental construct in this theory More importantly, it can be seen as a meditating variable, a construct which is used to meditate between language use and a host of social psychological variables As a result, five strategies of politeness so as to minimize the loss of face are set up by Brown and Levinson (figure No 1) In social communication, the choice of strategy which is made depends on the interlocutors’ background, education, culture etc According to Brown and Levinson (1987), negative politeness seems to be more polite Hence, it is put at a higher degree of politeness than positive one However, this appears controversial cross-culturally In the Western cultures, negative politeness is preferable in communication for its conventionalization but it seems opposite to the Asian cultures, particularly to the Vietnamese one Positive politeness tends to be their preferred choice for saving face for narrowing the gap among the interactants as well as making their relationship closer in the talk Although Brown and Levinson’s chart is highly appreciated, Quang, N (1998) offers another figure (figure No2) with some comments on its universal values According to him, negative politeness is as powerful as positive politeness is on equal footing in communication 10 NSEs and NSVs both share one common thing in communication That is gender influence in communication Talking/asking about sports-one of the safe topics for both NSEs and NSVs, both English female participants and Vietnamese female participants shows more concern to their new female friends who they have just got acquaintance They resort more to compliments, exaggerations, considerations about figure with beautiful words to their new friends However, both English male participants and Vietnamese male participants show less consideration, interest to male friends who they have got acquaintance in the party III.2.3.2 Differences In terms of power influence in communication, there are some differences: In general, NSEs tend to use more NPS, less PPS and less MPS than NSVs in communication According to the survey, the English informants are inclined to use NPS 1Indirect Conventionally and NPS 2- Question, hedge, NPS 5-Give deference more than the Vietnamese informants Among the PSs, the PPS 17-Asking personal questions and the NPS 11- Avoiding asking personal the politeness strategies, the Positive Politeness Strategy 17Asking personal questions and the Negative Politeness Strategy 11-Avoid asking personal questions seem to be the most noticeable For Vietnamese group, both men and women use PPS17, even at the first meeting This seems to suggest that in the Vietnamese culture, this strategy is a good way to show concern, consideration and good attitude to their partners, enhancing their solidarity in any meetings However, the percentage of this strategy is not always high It depends on genders and situations For example, in the first situation: When you first meet your business partner in the office, how would you talk to him/her about your and/or his/her occupation? (He/she is at your age and the same gender) a He/She is of higher status: b He/She is of equal status: c He/She is of lower status: To a business partner who is of higher status, the PPS 17 is used less than that to a business partner who is of equal or lower status Even in this situation compared to situation II and III, its percentage is also the least While Vietnamese informants use PPS 17 more than English informants, they use less NPS 11-Avoiding asking personal questions That is different when compared to English group According to the survey, both men and women of English not use PPS17 at the first meeting Instead, they make use of NPS11 in any situation at the first encounter Meanwhile, NPS11 is used by only some of Vietnamese informants 37 This can be illustrated by the following chart: 40 35 30 25 English 20 Vietnam ese 15 10 PPS PPS PPS PPS PPS 10 PPS 11 PPS 12 PPS 13 PPS 17 Chart 1: Positive Politeness Strategies used by Fem ale English and Fem ale Vietnam ese inform ants to their new fem ale friend about sports From the chart 1, the female Vietnamese informants use PPS17 (25%) while the female English informants not use this one In terms of power, the results reveal that there is no power influence on the way the English informants use to their business partner of different statuses at the first meeting meanwhile there is for the Vietnamese informants With more use of surroundings and tentativeness of Vietnamese questions or utterances, power distance between Vietnamese interlocutors is strongly felt In terms of age, there is also no age influence on the way the English informants use to their new neighbor of different ages at the first meeting However, there is for the Vietnamese informants They show more concern, more consideration, and more interest to a new neighbor who is younger or older In general, power, age and gender affect the use and the frequency of politeness of the Vietnamese informants while only gender does to the English informants The cultural differences can be a good explanation for the differences in the use of politeness strategies by Vietnamese and English informants Social power and age can play a very important role in everyday communication in Vietnamese culture They can strongly influence on the way the speakers talk and express their ideas They can also have great impact on the choice of topics in communication The second explanation can lie in the way the two cultures view the world Whereas Vietnamese culture advocates the values of collectivism, English one looks for the values of individualism Personal questions, for example, can be viewed as 38 concern, attention and care from speaker to addressee in Vietnamese culture, but viewed as curiosity and nosiness in English culture PART C: CONCLUSION Safe and unsafe topics for small talks at the first meeting At the first encounter, the Vietnamese informants tend to talk about the topics of Age, Work, Marital status, Place of residents, Family It seems to suggest that in the Vietnamese culture, asking these such topics means showing concern and positive attitudes to their communicating partners By contrast, the English informants usually mention the topics of Weather, Work, Place of residence, Sports, News, Family, Pets, Health and Studying The topics preferred by the Vietnamese informants are unsafe to the English informants because they seem too personal and inappropriate for a small talk at the first encounter Politeness strategy under the influence of power, age and gender Power and age have no significant influence on the choice of politeness strategies to the English informants They use quite the same PPS, NPS, MPS to ask/talk about work to their business partner of different status power Gender makes some difference in the choice of politeness strategies Female English informants pay more attention, give more compliments and interest to their new female friends bout figure, accessories…which are relate to sports than male English informants to their new male friends 39 Power, age and gender all have influence on the choice of politeness strategies to the Vietnamese informants They resort to politeness strategies in each situation differently They show more concern, consideration and interest to their business partner at the higher power status, their new neighbor who is 10 years older and their new female friend Implication for culture teaching It is well-known that language and culture are interrelated Therefore, teaching a second language should not be separated from teaching its culture Basically, when teaching, we should take the following three elements into consideration: teachers’ competence, textbook and development of cultural awareness in EFT classroom 3.1 Teachers’ competence Good communication skills and good knowledge of their own culture and the culture of the language they are teaching are the possessions of a language teacher This is emphasized by Mc Leod (in L.Damen 1987: 329): “the teacher (true mediator) may be a bicultural person, but does not necessarily have to be But he must possess good communication skills, and above all, an extensive and intensive knowledge and understanding of more than one culture, on both the cognition and affective levels He must use this knowledge to educate members of each culture about the other….The actions of the true mediator should result in some mutual benefit to the two cultures involved” 3.2 Textbook Textbook plays an important role in cultural teaching besides the teacher’s competence It should be based on the learners’ needs, types of skills and the curriculum objectives In terms of cultural textbooks, there are two kinds: one compiled by English authors and the other by Vietnamese ones Each kind has its own advantages and disadvantages The former consists of vivid topics there and in detail but because it is not compiled for Vietnamese learners, therefore, it is quite difficult for Vietnamese learners to comprehend The latter is advantageous in that it is suitable for different demands and levels of learners with good knowledge of the target language But it is likely to be culturally biased That is to 40 say textbooks compiled by the Vietnamese authors are mainly influenced by Vietnamese cultural characteristics Hence, the cooperation between Vietnamese and Anglophone textbook-writers is believed to be the most effective 3.3 Developing cultural awareness in EFT classroom In order to teach culture in the class effectively, developing cultural awareness in ELT classroom plays an important role As we know, language and culture are interrelated: language is used as the main medium through which culture is expressed When skills are taught, some culture-based activities should be performed in the class to raise learners’ awareness of cross-cultural differences and develop their interest in the target culture These comparisons will enrich learners’ knowledge and experience Following are the suggested areas in cross-cultural communication that can be dealt with in an English class in Vietnam: - Safe topics - Types of error in speech - Differences in Vietnamese and English small talks - Preferred patterns of politeness - Verbal taboos Suggestions for further research The study of “keeping face” at the first encounter focuses on verbal politeness The following aspects need further research: - Paralinguistic and extralinguistic factors used at the first encounter - Address forms used in small talk at the first encounter 41 BIBLIOGRAPHY Austin, J.L (1962) How to things with words, CUP, London – Oxford, New York Bock, D.L (1970) Culture Shock – A Reader in Modern cultural Anthropology, Alfred A Knoft, Inc New York Brown, G & Yule, G (1983) Discourse Analysis CUP Brown, P & Levinson, S.C (1987) Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usages CUP Bruner & Richard, J.C (1987, 1985) The context of Language Teaching CUP Clyne, M (1994) Intercultural Communication at work New York: Cambridge University Press Cottrill, L (1991) Face, Politeness and Directness University of Camberra Damen, L (1987) Culture Learning – The Fifth Dimension In The Language Classroom Addison – Wesley Publishing Company Ellis, C (1996) Culture Shock – Vietnam Time Edition Pte Ltd Singapore 10 Gee, J.P (1999) An Introduction To Discourse Analysis, Theory and Method London & New York 11 Gies, M.L (1995) Speech Acts and Conversational Interactions Cambridge University Press 42 12 Goffman, E (1997) Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior Garden City, NY: Anchor Books 13 Holliday, Hyde & Kullman, J (2004) Intercultural Communication London & New York 14 Hybels, S and Weaver, L Communicating Effectively McGraw-Hill 15 Kramsch, C (1998) Language and Culture Oxford University Press 16 Leech, J.N (1980) Language and Tact Pragmatics and Beyond Series Longman 17 Levine, D.R & Adelman, M.B (1993) Beyond Language – Cross-Cultural Communication Regents/Prentice Hall Inc 18 Longman Group UK (1992) Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture Longman House 19 Lyons, J (1975) Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics CUP 20 Nguyen Quang (1996) Một số phạm trù giao tiếp văn hoá Việt - Mỹ hoạt động giao tiếp Tập san Ngoại Ngữ số 21 Nguyen Quang (1996) Một vài suy nghĩ hình thức xưng hô ngôn ngữ Nội san Ngoại Ngữ số 22 Nguyen Quang (1998) Intercultural Communication Vietnam National University – Hanoi 23 Nguyen Quang (1998) Trực tiếp Gián tiếp dụng học giao văn hoá ViệtMỹ Tập san Ngoại Ngữ số 24 Nguyen Quang (1999) Các tương tác trực tiếp, gián tiếp lịch dụng học giao thoa văn hoá Tập san Ngoại ngữ số 25 Nguyen Quang (1999) Cross-Cultural Study on Complimenting and Responding to Compliments in American English and Vietnamese, Ph.D Thesis 26 Nguyen Quang (2001) Sắc thái quyền lực giao tiếp ngôn ngữ Tập san Ngoại ngữ số 27 Nguyen Quang (2002) Giao tiếp giao tiếp văn hoá Nhà xuất Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội 28 Nguyen Quang (2003) Intracultural and Cross-culture Communication VNU Press 29 Nguyen Van Do (1996) Politeness Phenomena in Vietnamese and English Cultures and some Implications in Teaching Language M.A Thesis Hanoi Foreign Studies University 43 30 Pham Minh Thao (1997) Nghệ thuật ửng xử người Việt NXB Văn hố thơng tin 31 Richards, J et al (1992) Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics Longman 32 Saville-Troike, M (1986) The Ethnography of Communication – An Introduction Basil Backwell 33 Searle, J R (1969) Speech Acts CUP 34 Tomalin & Stempleski, S (1993) Cultural Awareness Oxford University Press 35 Valders, J.M (ed) (1995) Culture Bound Cambridge CUP 36 Wardhaugh, R (1985) How conversation works Basil Black well Punlisher Ltd UK 37 Wright, A (1987) How to Communicate Successfully Cambridge University Press 38 Yule, G (1996) Pragmatics CUP APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE This survey questionnaire is designed for my research into “An English-Vietnamese CrossCultural Study of Keeping Face at the First Encounter” Your assistance in completing the following items is greatly appreciated You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your assistance Please tick (v) where appropriate - Your nationality:……………………………… - Your age: • Below 20 • Above 20 • Above 30 • Above 40 • Above 50 • Male • Female - Your gender: 44 - Your marital status: Married Single - Your occupation…………………………………………… - Are where you spend most of your time: Urban Rural - Acquisition of language(s) other than your mother tongue (Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor) IV Do you think it is advisable to mention the following topics at the first meeting so as to be safe? Please tick (v) in one of the following columns: Column means: Column highly advisable means: advisable Column means: all right Column means: unadvisable Column means: strongly unadvisable Ord 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Topics Age Politics Weight Salary Work Weather Material life Religion Sex life News Studying Music Health Pets Family The cost of particular items 45 17 Other 18 19 20 V people’s affairs Sports Place of birth Place of residence When you first meet your business partner in the office, how would you talk to him/her about your and/or his/her work? a He/She is of higher status: ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… b He/She is of equal status: ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… c He/She is of lower status: ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… VI When you first meet your new neighbor in the street, how would you talk to him/her about your and/or his/her family? a He/She is 10 years older than you: ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… b He/She is your age: ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… c He/She is 10 years younger than you: ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… 46 IV: When you first meet your new friend at a party, how would you talk to him/her about sports? b That person is male ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… b That person is female ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you very much for your assistance! 47 CÂU Hỏi khảo sát Chúng lập bảng câu hỏi khảo sát nhằm phục vụ cho đề tài nghiên cứu Một số khác biệt giao văn hoá Anh Việt việc giữ thể diện lần đầu gặp gỡ Chúng biết ơn Quí vị bớt chút thời gian trả lời câu hỏi sau giúp Xin Quí vị tin không nêu danh tính Quí vị trờng hợp dới hình thức Rất cám ơn giúp đỡ Quí vị Xin Quí vị đánh dấu (v) điền vào chố thích hợp: - Quốc tịch Quí vị: - Tuổi tác Quí vÞ: -o Díi 20 o Trªn 20 o Trªn 30 o Trªn 40 o Trªn 50 - Giới tính Quí vị: Nam Nữ - Tình trạng hôn nhân Quí vị: Đà có gia đình Cha có gia đình - Nghề nghiệp Quí vị: - Nơi Quí vị sống lâu nhất: Thành phố Nông thôn - Những ngoại ngữ mà Quí vị biết: (Giỏi, khá, trung bình, yếu) 48 I Theo Quí vị, có nên đề cập đến đề tài sau lần đầu gặp gỡ an toàn không? Xin hÃy đánh dấu (v) vào cột sau: Cột nghĩa là: nên Cột nên Cột đợc Cột không nên Cột không nên Thứ tự 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 II Đề tài Tuổi tác Tình trạng hôn nhân Thu nhập Nghề nghiệp Học hành Thời tiết Tin tức Thể thao Cựôc sống vật chất Gia đình Tôn giáo Chính trị Đời sống tình dục Giá vật dụng Chuyện ngời khác Âm nhạc Sức khoẻ Thú cảnh Nơi bạn sinh Nơi bạn c trú Khi lần đầu gặp đối tác làm ăn văn phòng, Quí vị nói/hỏi chuyện với anh ấy/chị đề tài công việc? a Khi anh ấy/ chị có vị trí cao Quí vị? 49 b Khi anh Êy/ chÞ Êy cã vÞ trÝ ngang b»ng víi Q vÞ? c Khi anh Êy/ chÞ Êy cã vÞ trÝ thấp Quí vị? III Khi lÇn đầu gặp ngời hàng xóm phố nơi Quí vị sống, Quí vị nói/ hỏi chuyện với anh ấy/chị đề tài gia đình? a Khi anh ấy/chị lớn Quí vị 10 tuổi b Khi anh Êy/chÞ Êy b»ng ti QuÝ vÞ c Khi anh Êy/chÞ Quí vị 10 tuổi IV Khi lần đầu gặp gỡ ngời bạn quen bữa tiệc, Quí vị nói/hỏi chuyện với anh ấy/chị đề tài thể thao? c Ngêi ®ã la nam giíi 50 b Ngời nữ giới Xin chân thành cảm ơn giúp đỡ Quí vÞ! 51 ... the first encounter However they are beyond the scope of this study The study only focuses on the verbal aspects and the data analysis of politeness and safe and unsafe topics The study is limited... communication at the first encounter 25 Situation a To business partner of higher status in the office b To their business partner of equal status in the office C To their business partner of lower status... can strongly influence on the way the speakers talk and express their ideas They can also have great impact on the choice of topics in communication The second explanation can lie in the way the

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