e. Expressing the R’s feeling

35



e. Expressing the R’s feeling

This strategy stands at the second place in order by both English and Vietnamese

informants. The Anglophone employs this strategy at a little higher rate than the Vietnamese

(14.8% ans 12,7% respectively). The verb “like”, “appreciate” with the adverb “really” are

often used in both English and Vietnamese:

-



Thanks. I really like it.



-



Thank you. We really appreciate it.



-



Cảm ơn nhé. Mình rất vui vì món quà này. (Thanks. I am very happy to have this

present).



-



Cảm ơn sếp. Em rất thích món quà này. (Thank you, sir. I like it so much).



As we know, all the strategies above are employed by both groups of informants. However,

the choice of these strategies differs from partner to partner.

1. Close friend



36



Vietnamese: To close friend, Vietnamese informants choose the strategy “thanking” most

(65.78%). The strategy “expressing the R‟s feeling” stands at the second place with 17.1% and

“token refusal” is used at a little lower rate (15.79%) than “expressing the R‟s feeling”.

“Complimenting the gift” is employed a much lower: 1.33% while no one chooses the strategy

“Complimenting the G” when they receive presents from their close friends. It seems that

Vietnamese people do not prefer to be formal to people who have the close relationship with

them.

Anglophone: Like Vietnamese people, strategy “thanking” is also used at the highest rate

(57.16%) followed by strategy “Complimenting the gift” at 21.42%. “Complimenting the G”,

“token refusal”, “expressing the R‟s feeling” come next with the same rate:7.14%. In this

situation all strategies are employed.

2. Brother/ sister



Vietnamese: Like the previous situation, strategy “thanking” still keeps showing its dominant

place in the order (54%). However, for family members of the same rank, this strategy is used

at the lowest rate in comparison the use of it with other communicating partners such as close

friend, employer and employee. Vietnamese people seem to feel formal if saying “thank you”



37



to their close family members like brother or sister. Strategy “token refusal” is the second

highly used at 23%, followed by strategy “expressing the R‟s feeling”: 16.1% and next is

“complimenting the gift” with much lower rate: 6.9%. Like the previous situation, strategy

“complimenting the G” is not resorted.

Anglophone: “Thanking” is still the most chosen with 58.33%. The following strategy belongs

to “expressing the R‟s feeling” at 25%. Strategy “token refusal” comes next with a little lower

rate: 16.67%. Surprisingly, “Complimenting the gift” and “complimenting the G” are not

employed in this situation.

3. Employer



Vietnamese: This is the communicating partner for whom the Vietnamese informants use

“thanking” at the highest rate (75.75%) in comparison with the use of this strategy with other

communicating partners. It also makes up the biggest percentage in comparison with other

strategies in this situation. “Complimenting the G” stands at the second place with 10.11%

followed by strategy “complimenting the gift” and “expressing the R‟s feeling” equally at

7.07%. Nobody chooses the strategy “token refusal” in this situation.



38



Anglophone: Interestingly, to employer, “thanking” is used at the lowest rate (42.88%) in

comparison with the use of this strategy with other communicating partners although it is still

the most preferable strategy in comparison with other strategies in this situation. The

following strategy belongs to “expressing the R‟s feeling” at 28.56%. “Complimenting the G”

and “complimenting the gift” come next with the same rate 14.28%. Like Vietnamese

informants, strategy “token refusal” is not resorted to by the Anglophone informants.

4. Employee



Vietnamese: Vietnamese informants keep using “thanking” at the highest rate: 74.2%, much

higher than other strategies. “Token refusal” comes second with 9.7%, followed by

“complimenting the gift” with 4.3% and “expressing the R‟s feeling” with small rate: 1.8%.

“Complimenting the G” is not employed in this situation.

Anglophone: In this situation, “thanking” is used at the highest rate (61.92%) in comparison

with the use of this strategy in other situations. It also keeps showing its dominant place in

comparison with other strategies. “Complimenting the gift” stands the second place with only

14.28%, followed by “complimenting the G” and “token refusal” with the same rate: 9.52%.

Only 4.76% of Anglophone informants employ the strategy “complimenting the G”.



39



From all above graphs, we can clearly see that the informants have chosen different strategies

for different communicating partners although receiving is not an FTA.

2.3.3 Social factors governing the verbal expressions when giving and receiving

presents

a. Vietnamese informants

1st



2nd



3rd



4th



5th



Social status



32%



40%



24%



4%



0%



Age



48%



28%



24%



0%



0%



Family relation



20%



28%



44%



8%



0%



Gender



0%



4%



8%



88%



0%



Other factors



0%



0%



0%



0%



100%



Rank of importance

Social factors



Table 9: Rank of importance of social factors

As we can see from the above table, most of Vietnamese informants believe that age is the

most important factor influencing the verbal expressions in giving and receiving presents.

Social status is another important factor that is taken into account when Vietnamese people

give and receive gifts (32%) . The next factor is family relation with 20% of the informants

agreeing on it. It shows that Vietnamese people do not pay much attention to selecting their

utterances when they give gifts to their family members or receive presents from them.

Gender does not seem to be the factor that influences the verbal expressions in giving and

receiving presents. Not any informant says this is the factor they would consider when

formulating the utterances of giving and receiving gift.

b. Anglophone informants



40



1st



2nd



3rd



4th



5th



Social status



44%



12%



28%



16%



0%



Age



12%



36%



32%



0%



20%



Family relation



32%



36%



12%



20%



0%



Gender



8%



16%



24%



20%



32%



Others



4%



0%



4%



44%



48%



Rank of importance

Social factors



Table 10: Rank of importance of social factors

As can be seen from Table 10, the English regard social status as the most important

factor that influences the verbal expressions of giving and receiving presents (44%). The next

factor is family relation (32%). Age ranks the third, and gender ranks the fourth. In contrast to

Vietnamese culture, which highly appreciates age, social status is the factor to which the

English give their priority.

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1 Findings in Vietnamese

3.1.1 Communicative strategies in giving presents

The data indicates that “wishes” is the most frequently used for both gift giving

occasions that are analyzed in this research. Vietnamese people believe that the more wishes

they receive on special occasions like birthday or wedding, the more they become true in the

future.

Typical Vietnamese utterances used to give a present: (BT= bản thân; ĐT=đối tượng)

a. On the occasion of birthday:



41



-



Chúc + ĐT sinh nhật vui vẻ.



-



Chúc +ĐT sức khoẻ, may mắn và thành đạt



-



Sinh nhật vui vẻ.



b. On the occasion of wedding:

-



Chúc hạnh phúc.



-



BT + chúc + ĐT trăm năm hạnh phúc.



-



Chúc ĐT trăm năm hạnh phúc, sớm sinh quý tử.



c. On the occasion of house warming:

-



Chúc mừng tân gia.



-



BT + chúc + ĐT làm ăn phát đạt.



-



Nhà đẹp quá. Xin chúc mừng + ĐT.



3.1.2 Communicative strategies in receiving presents.

Vietnamese people consider “ thanking” as the most reasonable and best choice to

satisfy the G when they are offered presents. In addition, “expressing the R‟s feeling” and

“complimenting the gift” are also used to express polite attitudes when receiving presents

from others. “Complimenting the G” and “token refusal” are also used but with small rate.

Typical Vietnamese utterances used when receiving a gift: (BT= bản thân; ĐT=đối tượng)

-



Cảm ơn nhé/ Cảm ơn + ĐT.



-



Cảm ơn nhé. BT + rất thích/ rất vui khi nhận được món quà này.



-



Món quà của ĐT thật ý nghĩa. BT + rất thích.



42



-



ĐT + bày vẽ/ khách sáo quá. Lần này thôi nhé (Lần sau đừng làm thế nhé).



3.1.3 Social factors governing the verbal expressions when giving and receiving presents

Vietnamese informants highly appreciate the factor “age” and “social status” in

selecting the verbal expressions when giving and receiving presents while they think that they

do not need to be formal in their speech to their family members.

3.2 Findings in English

3.2.1 Communicative strategies in giving presents

The data suggest that “wishes” is also the most preferable choice of English informants

in giving presents. However, to Anglophone who seem to be very straightforward in

communicating, “direct offer” is also a suitable selection although the number of English

informants using this strategy is lower than using “wishes”.

Typical English utterances used when giving a gift:

a. On the occasion of birthday:

-



Happy birthday, all the best.



-



Happy birthday. Hope you like it



-



Have a great day/ Have a wonderful day.



-



A lovely/wonderful gift for you.



-



This special gift is for you, my dear friend.



b. On the occasion of wedding:

-



Congratulations.



43



-



Congratulations, all the best.



-



I hope you use + (the name of gift) and remember me.



-



Congratulations. I‟m really pleased for you.



c. On the occasion of house warming:

-



Congratulations. Your house is lovely.



-



(name of gift) + for your beautiful house.



-



I hope you like + (name of gift) for your garden/bathroom.



3.2.2 Communicative strategies in receiving presents.

Like Vietnamese informants, the Anglophone still use “thanking” the most frequently in

receiving presents. The strategy “expressing the R‟s feeling” comes next, followed by

“complimenting the G”. “Complimenting the gift” and “token refusal” are used at very small

rate by English informants.

Typical English utterances used to receive presents:

-



Thank you very much/thanks/thank you.



-



Thank you. That‟s really kind of you/that‟s really thoughtful of you.



-



Thank you. You shouldn‟t have/ you really didn‟t have to.



-



Thank you. It‟s lovely. Just what we wanted.



-



Thank you. That‟s so thoughtful. We really appreciate.



3.2.3 Social factors governing the verbal expressions when giving and receiving

presents.



44



In contrast to Vietnamese culture, “social status” is the factor to which the English give

their priority in selecting the utterances of giving and receiving presents. English informants

seem to be more concerned about external relations than other factors.

3.3 Similarities and Differences

In considering similarities and differences, the discussion will be related to the hypotheses

postulated part 2.2.1.

The first hypothesis is that “age” is the most important factor in selecting verbal expressions in

giving and receiving presents in both English and Vietnamese. As we have seen, “social

status” is considered of great importance by English speakers (ES). Thus, Hypothesis 1 is

supported only by the Vietnamese data.



Hypothesis 2 states that the Anglophone informants favor short and simple utterances whereas

the Vietnamese ones prefer longer and more complex sentences. From the list of some English

and Vietnamese typical utterances in giving and receiving presents above we can see clearly

that English informants often use formulaic utterances which is commonly short and simple

like : “Happy birthday”, “Congratulations”, “Thank you”…..when they give a gift to someone

or receive gifts from the others on special occasions. In the contrary, Vietnamese utterances of

giving and receiving presents seem to be very complex and lengthy. It may be as the result of

that, Vietnamese verbal expressions in giving and receiving presents are not as conventional

and formulaic as English ones. The Vietnamese often express their personal creation in

communicating to others. Hence, both English and Vietnamese data support the hypothesis 2.

Hypothesis 3 states that Vietnamese speakers (VS) are likely to use the strategy “wishes”

when giving presents more often than English native speakers. The data show that the

strategy “wishes” is the most frequently used by both English and Vietnamese informants.

However, if comparing the total number of informants using “wishes” when giving presents

on three occasions analyzed in this thesis, we can see clearly that the number of Vietnamese

informants employing this strategy is higher than English ones (87.67% and 76.78%



45



respectively). The data from English native speakers and Vietnamese people support

Hypothesis 3.

The fourth hypothesis is that both English native speakers and Vietnamese speakers prefer the

strategy “thanking” as receiving presents. It can be easily seen from the table 8: Strategies in

receiving presents that the strategy “thanking” is used at the highest rate by both Vietnamese

and English informants (67.9% and 57.4% respectively) in comparison with other strategies in

receiving presents. The findings which have been discussed support Hypothesis 4.

In summary, the similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese verbal expressions

when giving and receiving presents is summed up as follows:

* Similarities:

- The strategy “wishes” is the most frequently used by both English and Vietnamese

informants when giving presents while the strategy “token refusal” stands the lowest place in

order in both groups of informants.

- Both English and Vietnamese informants prefer to employ “thanking” and “expressing the

R‟s feeling” when they receive presents from others although the number of informants in

both groups using the strategy “thanking” is much higher than “expressing the R‟s feeling”

(we can clearly see it from the table 8: Strategies in receiving presents).

* Differences:

- In general, the Anglophone informants favor short and simple utterances whereas the

Vietnamese ones like longer and complex sentences. This reflects their way of thinking.

According to Kaplan (1972), the mannerism of the English-speaking peoples (e.g the English,

the American) tend to be straightforward and direct while the oriental peoples (e.g the

Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese) are more likely to adopt roundabout and indirect

expressions.