Contrastive Analysis - Refusing an

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Abstract

Rejecting proposals of others is common in our daily life. However, it is such a

difficult thing to do. We want to say no, but do not know how to propose not

only without offending people but also preventing us from being guilty. Finding

an effective plan for refusal is not simple at all. Whoever refuses the offers

need to be very delicate, to "choose" the suitable word for a reasonable person

to be considered a polite person in communication. Politeness is an essential

thing in civilized society and also a realistic objective in the language of

communication. To delve into the issues, I decided to choose the topic A

contrastive analysis of refusing offer in English and Vietnamese. I hope this

paper will help learners understand the semantic-structural features of refusing

an offer in English and Vietnamese so that they can improve their communicative

competence in English. This paper is done after analysis and summarizing the

information and materials from books and other sources of previous studies.

Introduction

Vietnam is a country of growing integration and development opens to the foreign

investments. The use of a second language which is English is becoming

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increasingly popular and necessary. English and Vietnamese are two different

languages in many aspects so that it will appear misuse, especially in

communication. Therefore, we need to understand the characteristics of the two

languages to make use of them to be more precise. In society there are special

circumstances where communication especially requires participants to use their

words carefully to communicate, specifically it is about refusing an offer. If

you do not understand and use language skillfully, it will cause confusion and

show disrespect to the other person in the communication. As Vietnamese have the

idiom "Courtesy costs nothing so that we need to choose our words carefully to

please each other". Saying politely requires speakers to pay attention to

objects which they communicate. Refusing an offer needs to be done in a polite

way and avoid causing the other person to feel dislike or feel disrespected. To

go deep into the matter, we will compare and contrast the behaviors of refusing

offers in English and Vietnamese to see the similarities and differences to

highlight it. This essay will focus on analyzing the rejection in both direct

and indirect ways between the two languages.

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Literature Review

According to the Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics

[tr.342], speech act is: 'an expressing for the unit as a function of

communication. This is the social action (requires the alignment and

interaction) includes 3 main categories, denoted by the verb in the spoken

language.

Speech act is shown when people refuse an offer both in the direct and indirect

way. According to Tanck (2002:2), refusal is a face-threatening act to the

listener/ requester because it contradicts his/her expectations and is often

realized through an indirect strategy.

There have been some studies about the rejection so far. Nguyen Phuong Chi

discussed this topic in 2004, focused on behaviors in general language to

achieve communicative behavior which is refusing an offer in Vietnamese (with

reference to acts of refusal in English and other behaviors in Vietnamese) in

terms of strategic language and cultural characteristics of this language.

Nguyen Phuong Chi surveyed some refusals: unspoken ways as shaking the head,

waving the hand, rolling eyes ... and spoken ways in words. Pham Thi Van Quyen
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had a research about rejecting the request in Vietnamese collated with English

based on a preset number of situations. Nguyen Thi Hai did a research about the

act of refusing in communication with the actions "demand", "require", "beg";

"dissuade"; "thank"; "compliment", "praise" and "ask" in Vietnamese. Luu Quy

Khuong and Tran Thi Phuong Thao examined about the choice of words and

communication strategies of the British and Vietnamese people when refusing a

request for help with different communication objects in 3 specific situations.

Contrastive Analysis - Refusing an offer

Definition

According to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, "refuse" is "saying you do not

want something which is for you." The compilers from Vietnamese dictionary also have similar

conceptions with English linguists about refuse, which is "refuse is the act of not accepting what

is given or is required". That is, when making an offer, the speaker wishes: "I want you to

perform this action" and also said: "You can do and you will do it". This contrasts with the

mindset of the other who wants to refuse, he "does not want to do that," and believes that "I do

not have to do that and will not perform that action."

Thus, we can see the speech act of refusing an offer is "saying to the requester

that you are not getting anything or doing anything which is mentioned in the

offer." The communication strategy is driven by many factors, especially

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cultural factors. Like all acts of other languages in daily communication, the

speech act of refusing an offer can be used either directly or indirectly,

depending on the purposes and circumstances of communication.

Types

Refusing an offer directly

In English

- Go away.

- No, its terrible.

In Vietnamese:

- Thi, khng cn u ( No, I dont need that)

- Thi, i ch khc i. (No, go away)

The clear, direct, and sometimes rude reply certainly hurt the listener; they

will get "shocked" because of being mortified. However, the number of such kind

of reply takes up very little. The majority of informants said they would use

gentle language, easy-listening and more polite, but still achieve the purpose

of refusal.

In English:
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- No, thanks. I dont like this kind of soup.

- I really want to help you but I am so busy right now. So sorry.

In Vietnamese:

- Trang i, xin li nha khng gip c bn ri. ( hey Trang I am so sorry I can

not help you).

- D con cm n c nhng con khng n c cay . ( Thank you so much but I

can not eat spicy food).

Refusing an offer indirectly

In English:

Refusing by giving nostalgia attached the reason for refusal (r + R: regret +

Reason)

Would you like to go to my house for dinner tonight?

Id love to but unfortunately, I am having my Japanese class.

Refusing by giving a dilemma situation

The invitees seem harness between the willing to participate in the activity

listed in the invitation and the obstacles that cannot make the will. Finally,

they have to refuse it.

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How about going to a dance club tonight?

Id love to, but I am not good at dancing.

Refusing by giving reasons for the refusal and suggesting another time (R + S:

Reason + Suggestion)

Like to go to the movie theater tonight?

I am having Korean class. Maybe another time, though.

Refusing by giving a reason or a situation to evade the accept of the

invitation (R: Reason)

Would you like to have a drink with me?

I am having a meeting after 30 minutes, so Im afraid

Refusing by offering an alternative proposal (AS: Alternative Suggestion)

Would you like to eat out with me?

I had it already so I am full now. I think we could have a drink at the coffee

shop.

In Vietnamese:

Refusing an invitation indirectly by giving a reason or a situation to

avoiding accepting invitation (R)

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To Vietnamese people, while giving reasons or explanations, it is not necessary

to say that they reject or accept the invitation. The reason given in the answer

can help the listener to understand the implications of the speaker. For

example:

A: Ti nay mnh i chi i, i coi phim hoc i ung c ph g . (Lets go out

tonight, go to the movie theater or the coffee shop maybe)

B: Ti nay tui phi nh hc bi thi. ( I have to study for the test at home

tonight)

B has to study for the test at home tonight which means going out is impossible.

This is also the message the speaker wants to give to the listener.

Refusing an invitation indirectly by giving an unfavorable presupposition

encyclopedia to the action stated in the invitation (-PRES .: Negative

Presupposition)

A: Sng sm ch nht mnh i nh cu long i. (Lets play badminton on Sunday

morning)

E: Anh qun l em ght dy sm vo cui tun ri . (Dont you remember that I

hate getting up early at the weekend?

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The invitee assumed that the inviter knew that she hates to get up early on

weekends so that she makes a rhetorical question to indirectly refuse the

invitation.

Lets have a look at another example:

A: Lets have a milk tea, shall we?

E: They are all made from China, Im afraid

The invitee shows her concern about the milk tea which is not good for the

health. The inviter needs to understand that the invitation was declined in a

very convincing way.

Refusing by suggesting another occasion and giving reasons for not accepting

the invitation.

A: Anh dt em i ung c ph nh anh bit qun mi m d thng lm. (How about

going to the coffee shop I have just found a lovely one).

E: Cm n anh nhng m khi khc nha anh, em sp c bui hp. (A: Thank you

but lets leave it another time; I am having a meeting soon)

Like the British, sometimes to let the rejection "more audible" though

indirectly, the invitee says thank you before making any rejection.
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Refusing by offering an alternative proposal (AS: Alternative Suggestion)

A: i ung c ph i. (Lets have a coffee)

B: Tri nng qu i n kem cho mt. (It is so hot lets eat ice cream instead).

Similarities and Differences between Vietnamese and English in

refusing an offer

From the analysis above, lets have a look at the structure of refusal in English and

Vietnamese to have a clearer view about the topic.

The structure of direct speech act:

In English:

Table 1

Negative words Refusing words

No You dont need to help me

Table 2:

Negative word Thanking

No Thanks,

thank you,

thanks ever so much

Table 3:
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Appreciation Reasons Excuses/apology

Id like to help you But Im too busy to help you Sorry.

In Vietnamese:

Table 4

Negative word Thanking

Thi

Khng

Khi cn

Khng cn u Cm n

Cm n

Cm n

Cm n

The structure of indirect speech act:

In English:

Table 5

Addressee terms Excuses/apology reasons

Hey Daniel I am so sorry I am too busy to help you

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Table 6

Thanking word Reasons/ explaining why not accepting

Thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. But I can do it by myself.

But Im really full.

It is ok I can manage it.

I am having a meeting soon.

In Vietnamese:

Table 7

Thanking words Reasons/ explaining why not accepting

Cm n Trang nh

Cm n nhiu nha

Cm n. Nhng mnh phi nh hc bi

Mnh b d ng vi mn ny.

Mnh t lm c m.

The sympathies with the interlocutor The replacing actions

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Tr sa c ngun gc Trung Quc

Lt anh phi i hp ri Ung ci khc i

Mnh i sau nha

The similarities

The refusal of English and Vietnamese bears the similarities expressed by speech

act. When refusing an invitation or an offer, both languages clearly express

goals of respondents in both direct and indirect ways.

Both languages have the expression of diverse languages so that the speaker can

refuse an invitation or request in a variety of ways.

To create a courtesy and not offend the opponent, the majority rejections in

both languages are enclosed appointments reason or another occasion.

Both languages feature politeness so that indirect refusal is preferred or it is

considerate when used with different kinds of subjects by age, gender, rank

The differences

To reject the invitation indirectly, sometimes the English and the Vietnamese

were given a reason. However, the reason of the Vietnamese people rarely

accompanied by something more. That moment, to English sometimes that reason is

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replaced with a dilemma. This seems to make the refusal "softer"; the person is

denied will be less upset. This kind of refusal, despite the differences in the

frequency of use, remains the most common usage of the two languages.

A significant difference in indirect refusal strategies between English and

Vietnamese is that in many cases before giving the reasons for refusal English

people express regret for not having accepted the invitation. This kind of

behavior is quite a high percentage of English usage.

Both English and Vietnamese have indirect refusal invitation by giving an

alternative proposal. However, statistics show that the result of this strategy

is more common in Vietnamese than English: 5% in English compared to 25% in

Vietnamese.

Conclusion

The contrastive analysis of refusing offers in English and Vietnamese shows no

resemblance between them when they both express the same thing: here is the

refusal to an offer or an invitation. Whether it is a universal language,

indirectly refusing an invitation in English and Vietnamese is quite distinct.

Blocks of data collected and the analysis showed that understand the differences

of refusal strategies between two languages help the people who learn foreign

languages are more aware of how to use words to feature politeness in the
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communication even in the most sensitive situation. Instead of the conclusion,

this article may be quoted by R. Jakobson [8, 84] to explain the differences

between English and Vietnamese in refusing an offer: "Languages differ

essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey.

Implications

Most of us are unaware of what is normal, so obvious, so simple in life. We do

not care about the air until we suffocate. We do not see the need to eat if it

does not affect the health and social relations. We do not see the need to learn

to say if it's not annoying, damage to our daily life and relationships in life.

In general, ordinary, only when in trouble with the talk, we should have thought

about talking to the skill of our communication is better. Understand the

differences between English and Vietnamese helps us to use them correctly. In a

more specific aspect, get to know how to refuse an offer in English and

Vietnamese helps us to use them in effective ways; it depends on the objects and

the situation. Therefore, we are more aware of using languages, understand more

about them to make the best use of them in daily life.

Language differences can cause many obstacles to learning languages. Therefore,

teachers need to understand the characteristics of the language to convey the

clearest way to students, help students feel it and learn it in effective

methods. To help students learn a second language effectively, teachers need to

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have some methods of the teaching process.

Firstly, teachers need to understand the feature of the language, which formed

the lectures comprehensible, consistent with the level of the student so that

they can feel excited nad access it easily.

Secondly, teachers need to specify the characteristics of communication and show

how to use that language in daily conversation; speakers need to show their

politeness, respect for their partners in the conversation.

Finally, teachers need to design exercises and activities to help students get

in easily and apply the best way to use that language.