A contrastive analysis of requests in English and Vietnamese
In process of communication in a community, request is one of the most important speech acts. In fact, it is used a lot in all aspects of life such as social interaction, working, studying, language teaching, etc.
Especially, when teaching and studying language, many Vietnamese teachers and students find difficulty in understanding the similarities and differences between requests in English and Vietnamese. They cannot appropriately express requests in English regarding to structure, meaning, culture, etc.
These practical difficulties are the reason why I conducted the study called '''A contrastive analysis of requests in English and Vietnamese'''
The topic of requests in English and Vietnamese has been studied by many researchers. However, we hope to distribute some more knowledge and experience relating to the contrastive analysis of two different languages: English and Vietnamese so that people can show their requests politely considering factors: structure, meaning, culture, etc.
Literature review
Speech act
There is an example '''It is so cold'''. In some particular situations, this statement can be understood with different meanings. It can show the state of weather in the winter or a request to switch the heating on, etc. This example can be considered as speech act which relates to specific meanings made by speakers. The study of speech acts was pioneered by J.L Austin (1950s). He discusses that language shows not only information, fact or single idea but also specific functions to serve speaker'''s intention in practical circumstances.
Yule (1996) agrees on Austin'''s theory about speech act. According to him, people '''perform actions''' through what they say rather than produce '''grammatical structures and words'''. Those actions can be making a suggestion, promise, giving a command or invitation, etc. (Searle 1976).
Searle (1969) also states that speech acts can be performed directly or indirectly in connection with their structures.
For example
Direct speech act: '''Turn on the light''' (request)
'''Go to the restaurant for dinner''' (suggestion)
Indirect speech act: '''Can you turn on the light?''' (request)
'''Why don'''t we go to the restaurant for dinner?''' (suggestion)
Indirect speech act is widely used with regard to politeness in process of communication (Leech, 1983), make speech act of the speakers more interesting or emphasize the purpose and meaning of the utterances (Thomas, 1995)
Request as speech act
According to Nguyen Van Do (1999), a request is defined that speakers express their desires to receive particular actions from listeners, while listeners are asked to do those actions. He also states that nature of a request is that listeners do actions under no constraint, however, it depends on their kindness, volunteer and responsibility.
However, Searle (1969) discusses that speakers can request listeners at normal level (asking for help) or at higher level (be determined to request) so that actions have to be completed by listeners.
In addition, requests are considered to contain many meanings made by intention of speakers. There are many factors that make requests speech acts. According to Blum-Kulka (1989), aim of request (point of view, language, outside impacts like geographical distance, laws and rules) is one important factor and social meaning relating to impacts of culture is another.
A contrastive analysis of requests in English and Vietnamese
Requests in English
Structures. In English, many structures are used to show requests which relate to two kinds of speech acts of making request classified including direct and indirect ones
Request Structure Examples
Direct Imperative Open the door!
Do your homework please!
Please buy some vegetables at the market for me!
Use word '''request''' I request you to do your homework now.
Indirect Modal verbs (can, could, would) Can/could/would you open the window?
Can/could/would you tell me the way to the A supermarket?
If clauses + present tense
'''Is it Ok if'''''', '''Do you mind if'''''' Is it Ok if you cook dinner today?
Do you mind if I borrow your mobile phone?
If clauses + past tense
'''Would it be Ok if'''''', '''Would you mind if'''''' Would it be Ok if you do the washing up?
Would you mind if I turn on the light?
Would you mind + gerund.
Would you mind cleaning the floor?
Wonder + if is followed by a modal I was wondering if I could borrow some money?
I was wondering if you would mind letting me use your car?
Yes/No question Do you have time to cook dinner?
Is there any chance to tell me the way to the cinema?
Will you go to bed now?
Won'''t you lend me a pen?
Use hints, not requests The floor is very dirty.
Are you in charge of the floor?
Usages. Requests are used for speakers to ask for information, help from listeners; or ask listeners to do a specific action
E.g. Could you give me her phone number? (Ask for information)
Would you mind carrying these heavy bags? (Ask for help)
Keep quiet! (Ask a specific action)
Politeness. Indirect speech act of requests are more polite to be used in communication that makes listeners respected. However, in familiar relationships such as that of friends, family or in the situation of an older speaker requests a younger listener, direct ones are used. In addition, '''please''' can be added at the beginning or end of direct request sentences to make it more polite (E.g. Please keep quiet!/ Keep quiet please!)
Requests in Vietnamese
Structures. In Vietnamese, requests are created by structures of imperative (E.g. Im l'''ng n''o!) and interrogative (E.g. Anh s''' r'''a ch''n sau b'''a t'''i ch'''?)
In addition, '''c''u c'''u khi'''n''' which has some words such as '''h''y, '''''ng, ch'''''' at the beginning and '''''i, th''i, n''o''' at the end of the sentence is also used to make requests.
E.g. H''y gi''' im l'''ng!
'''''ng l''m '''n v'' em b'' ''ang ng'''!
H'''c b''i ''i!
Usages. Requests in Vietnamese can be used for a variety of meaning and intention of speakers such as:
Making request for help
E.g. T'''t qu'''t gi''m m''nh nha!
H''m nay c'''u cho t''' ''i nh''' xe '''''n tr'''''ng '''''''c kh''ng?
Ordering
E.g. C'''m h''t thu'''c trong khu v'''c n''y!
Making invitation
E.g. T'''i mai Hoa '''''n d''' sinh nh'''t m''nh nh''!
''i xem phim kh''ng?
Giving advice
E.g. '''''ng lo l'''ng, c'''u s''' v'''''t qua k'' thi m''!
Contrastive analysis of requests in English and Vietnamese
Similarities. Requests in English and Vietnamese are similar in some aspects including structures and politeness of requests.
Structures are considered as one of similarities. Firstly, in both English and Vietnamese, direct and indirect requests in term of speech act are used to show the intentions and messages of speakers. Not only speakers ask listeners to do something in a straight way but they also indirectly ask to make requests more polite and gentle.
Secondly, structures of imperative in English can be translated into Vietnamese that the original meaning of sentence and emotion of speaker does not disappear in some situations such as:
The necessity, importance, urgency is more highly considered than other factors
E.g. Hurry up! We are late! (Nhanh l''n! Ch''ng ta mu'''n m'''t r'''i!)
Request serves as encouragement from speakers to listeners that helps listeners to reduce their anxiety.
E.g. Well done! Do it again! (Gi'''i l'''m! L''m l'''i l'''n n'''a n''o!)
Asking for protection of supernatural powers.
E.g. God help me! (Xin Ch''a h''y gi''p con!)
The speaker is very angry to make a request
E.g. Shut up! Leave my room right now! (Im m'''m! Ra kh'''i ph''ng tao ngay!)
Differences. Requests in English and Vietnamese are also different in some other aspects Firstly, although there are structures of direct and indirect request speech act in English and Vietnamese, it seems that English use more indirect sentences, while Vietnamese use more direct ones.
For example,
In English:
Would you mind leaving me some space? ''' indirect
Can I meet Mr. Jones in the office now? ''' indirect
In Vietnamese:
''i xem phim v'''i m''nh nha! ''' direct ''' Vietnamese people don'''t often say '''B'''n c'' th''' ''i xem phim v'''i m''nh '''''''c kh''ng?'''
Secondly, there are some differences of structure of interrogatives in English and Vietnamese. In English, the use of '''Can, could, may, might, will,'''''' can make indirect requests with many levels of politeness depending on communicational situations. However, in Vietnamese, it is restricted to translate English into Vietnamese those word for word. It can make Vietnamese sentences inflexible and unsuitable. Instead, Vietnamese use '''H''y, v'''i, nh'', ''i, kh''ng,'''''' at the beginning ot the end of the direct request
E.g.
Could you lend me some money? (Cho m''nh m'''''n ''t ti'''n '''''''c kh''ng?)
Would you mind cleaning your bedroom? (Con d'''n ph''ng ng''' ''i)
Could you make me some coffee, please? (Anh pha cho em t''ch c'' ph'' nh''!)
Thirdly, the number of pronouns in English is fewer than that in Vietnamese. In English, only two pronouns '''I-You''' is used to make requests that people have to depend on context of conversation to understand it. Conversely, there is a variety of address terms in Vietnamese such as '''''ng-ch''u, cha-con, m'''-con, con-m''', t''i-b'''n, t''i-ch''','''''' that we can clearly know speaker and listener of request.
For example,
Can you buy some vegetables at the market for me, please?
''' Con ''i ch''' mua rau gi''m m''' nha! (Mother-Daughter)
''' Anh ''i ch''' mua rau gi''m em nha! (Wife-Husband)
Finally, cultural factors affect requests in English and Vietnamese in different ways including age, social status and freedom
While Vietnamese highly consider age and social status in making requests that the politeness and formality of request is changed. English don'''t see them very important because they almost use polite indirect structures of request in all situations.
E.g. In English
Could you lend me your motorbike? (friend-friend/father-son)
In Vietnamese
M'''''n xe nha! (friend-friend)
Ba cho con m'''''n xe m''y '''''''c kh''ng '''? (father-son)
English always respect freedom of other people. Therefore, they try to request gently. On the contrary, Vietnamese speakers tend to force listeners to complete the actions rather than make an usual requirement.
E.g. In Vietnamese
Mai ''i sinh nh'''t m''nh nha!
In English
Would you like to come to my birthday tomorrow?
I wonder if you could come to my birthday tomorrow.
Conclusion
Implications
A deep understanding brings a lot of useful information to apply for many aspects of life to achieve your goal effectively, especially teaching English as a foreign language in Vietnam. Firstly, students''' mistakes in using structures of requests in English could be avoided that they can actively and confidently make requests in all circumstances. Secondly, instructions and lessons about politeness in making requests regarding to different cultures of English and those of Vietnamese make English practical and communicative language rather than theoretical one. Thirdly, students should consider context of conversation as an integral part of communication because there are no clear address terms in English.
In addition, findings inevitably inspire new questions that lead to further research and they may have broader impacts and applications