Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 0

Running head: REFUSING AN OFFER IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese

A Contrastive Analysis

Nguyen Thi My Ngan

HCMC University of Education

Contrastive Analysis Course 2010

Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu
December, 2010
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 1

Abstract
Its really difficult to refuse someone when he or she offers you
something or to do something, especially when youre busy or you dont
want to do. You want to refuse but you dont know how to say let your
friends or your listeners feel satisfied and contented. Or when your boss
offers you a promotion but you feel you have no ability, how can you
refuse? I hope this paper will help students understand the differences of
refusing an offer in Vietnamese and English to become more proficient in
their studying of English.
Based on literary works either published or uploaded in the internet
and English speaking materials written by native speakers, this paper
studies refusals of offers to enhance the efficiency of the teaching and
learning of this speech act in English and Vietnamese, create the
tactfulness and flexibility in language use for both Vietnamese learners of
English and English-speaking learners of Vietnamese with the maxim
declared in a Vietnamese proverb: You dont have to buy words, so dont
let them hurt the feeling of others.
Moreover, investigating the politeness strategies of refusals and
finding the similarities and differences in two languages can help the
Vietnamese learners overcome the difficulties caused the interfere of two
cultures when they face the sticky cases of refusing offers. It also helps to
enhance and improve language communicative competence of
Vietnamese learners of English.
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 2

Literature review
Refusal is characterized as a response to one of the speech acts,
request, invitation, offer and suggestion, rather than as an initiating act. It is
a speech by which a speaker denies to engage in an action proposed by
the interlocutor (Chen, Ye and Zhang, 1995)
The speech act of refusal occurs when a speaker directly or
indirectly say no to a request or invitation. Refusal is a face-threatening act
to listener/requestor, inviter, because it contradicts his or her expectations,
and it often realized through indirect strategies. Thus it requires a high
level of pragmatic competence (Chen, 1996).
Until now, there have been some works studying about refusals.
Nguyen Phuong Chi studied some ways of refusals: nonverbal like shaking
the head, brushing something aside, having a dirty look and verbal.
Pham Thi Van Quyen studied the refusals of requesting in Vietnamese in
comparison with English basing on some available situations. Nguyen Thi
Hai studied the refusals in conversations with actions request, ask,
beg, advice, invite, thank, compliment, congratulate in
Vietnamese.
In this paper, I will give some examples of the English and
Vietnamese refusals of offers in different situations. In the whole paper, I
just focus on verbal refusing an offer. I include three types of offer refusals:
direct, indirect, both direct and indirect. Then I show some similarities as
well as differences in refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese. The final
part of the paper, I will explain the pedagogical implications of this function-
refusing an offer.
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 3

Refusing an offer
I) Definition:
According to Vietnamese dictionary, refusal means you dont
want to accept the things you was given or offered (page 1036). For
example, you refuse an offer, an invitation, a duty, ect. In Oxford
Advanced dictionary, the noun refusal is an act of saying or showing
that you will do not give or accept something.
Offer means an act of saying that you are willing to do something
for somebody or give something to somebody (Oxford dictionary, page
1052).
Refusing an offer here means you are not willing or reject to do
something when someone offers you to do. It also means you dont
accept the offer help of someone.
The communication strategies are affected by many factors,
particularly Culture, especially face and politeness.
II) Types:
In this paper, I use four situations for three main types of refusing
an offer in English and Vietnamese. I take the examples from the study
by Ly Quy Khuong and Tran Thi Phuong Thao, 2004 . Here are four
situations which I use to analyze how the listeners refuse:
Situation 1: Youre very busy. Your colleague offers you to help
him. You dont have time to help him, how can you refuse him?
Situation 2: You bike is broken. Your friend offers to help you to
take it to bike repair store. You dont want to bother him or you dont
want to accept his help offer. How can you refuse him?
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 4

Situation 3: You come to visit your friends house. Your friend

offers you some cakes that you dont want to eat. How can you refuse
her?
Situation 4: You have just moved to a new flat several days. You
have difficulty in unlocking the door. Your neighbor offers to help you.
You dont want, how can you refuse?
After each example in one language, I use the parentheses to
explain the equivalent structures in another language.
1) Refusing an offer directly
According to conversation theory, speech act was made appropriate
to termination of their own speech is direct speech act. Consider the
following examples to see the differences between two languages easily.
Some examples in Vietnamese refusals:
[1] Thi. Chuyn ca mnh th t gii quyt i. Ti khng
c rnh rang. ( No. You should solve your problem by yourself. Im not
free)1 (situation 1)
[ 2] Thi. V i. Xe ca ti ch c phi xe ca Bnh
u?. ( No. Go away. Its my bike, not your bike, ok?) (situation
2)
[3] Bnh ny d lm. Khng n u. ( This cake is bad. I
dont want to eat). (situation 3)
[4] Thi khi. Ti khng cn anh gip. ( No. I dont need
your help. (situation 4)
Some examples of English:
[5] I cant help you. Dont bother me. ( ti khng gip anh/
ch u. ng lm phin ti(situation 1)
[6] Go away. ( lm n bin i dm i). ( situation 2)
[7] No, its awful. ( Khng, n gh qu) (situation 3)
1
The part in parentheses in this paper is the equivalent structure in other language.
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 5

[8] No. go away. ( khng, i i). (Situation 4)

From the example 1 to example 6, the listeners or offered
people refuse directly, bluntly and indelicately. These ways of
response may hurl the informants feelings or make them be
shocked. However, the number of these sentences is not much.
Khuong and Thao say that almost informants suppose the use of
delicate, tactful and polite language still have more effect in
refusal strategies. Considering these examples to understand
more:
[9] Phng , xin li. Chc ti khng gip anh/ ch c
ri. ( Sorry Phuong, Perhaps I cant help you) (situation 1)
[ 10] Thi. Mun ri. Bnh v trc i. ( No. Its too late.
You should go home, Binh) (situation 2)
[11] Khng. Cm n. Mnh khng thch n loi bnh ny. (
No. Thanks. I dont like this kind of cake). (situation 3)
[12] Id really like to help you, but you see Im so busy in
my project. Sorry, I cant help you. ( Ti tht s rt mun gip
anh/ ch. Nhng anh/ ch thy ri , ti rt bn rn lm k hoch
ca mnh. Xin li, ti khng th gip anh/ch c.) (situation 1)
[13] No, its alright. I can manage. ( Khng, c ri. Mnh
c th t xoay s.) (situation 2)
[14] No, Thank you. ( Khng, cm n) (situation 3)
Moreover, unlike native speakers of English, Vietnamese
sometimes likes to use proverbs of philosophy in human life when
they refuse directly:
Ex: Khng cn anh gip u. n nh ai ny sng i ( I
dont need your help. Half the world not knows how the other half
lives). (situation 4)
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 6

2) Refusing an offer indirectly:

Here are some responses to three situations indirectly in
Vietnamese and English:
In Vietnamese, we have some examples:
[15] Phng , tht s xin li. Do ny ti bn tp trung
vo k hoch kinh doanh mi, s l ti ht nm nay cng cha
ht bn na. David rt nhit tnh, hay anh/ ch th nh anh y
xem. (Im really sorry, Phuong. This time, Im really busy to
concentrate on my new project.Im afraid Im going to be busy
until the end of the year. David is really ethusiatic, You can ask
him to help you). (situation 1)
[16] Cm n Binh, mnh dt b c m. vi li on
ny chng c tim sa xe u. ( Thanks Binh, I can walk to take
it. Moreover, there is no bike repair shop). (situation 2)
[17] Cm n bn. Ti n cha quen loi bnh ny.
( Thanks. Im not familiar with eating this kind of cake). (situation
3)
[18a] Cm n anh. Hm qua ti t m c. Phin anh, ti
ngi lm. ( thanks. Yerterday I can open it. Im afraid of bothering
you. (Situation 4)
[18b] Ch, ch anh tt qu nhng em ngh em t m
c. Cm n anh nhiu. ( Youre so kind but I think I can open
it. Thank you very much. (situation 4)
In English, we have some examples for refusing the offer for 4
above situations:
[19a] Id like to help you, but Im really busy in my new project.
Sorry. ( Ti rt mun gip anh/ch nhng ti bn lm k hoch mi ri.
Thng cm nha). (situation 1)
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 7

Or [19b] Sorry, Im really busy this time. ( Xin li, do ny ti bn

lm). (situation 1)
[20] I really appreciate your concern but I can solve this by myself.
Thanks anyway. ( Ti nh gi cao s quan tm ca bn nhng ti c th
t gii quyt. D sao i na cng cm n). (situation 2)
[21] Well Thanks, it look delicious. But Im really full. Next time, Ill
try it. ( Nhn ngon qu nhng m ti no qu. Ln sau ti s c gng th).
(Situation 3)
[22] Oh, Thanks. Youre so generous, but Im familiar with it ( Bn
tht s ho phng lm sao, nhng ti quen vi vic ny ri).(situation 4)
These involve the politeness strategy in language. Politeness is a
popular phenomenon to every society, every aspect of interaction. Without
politeness, life loses the good relationship between human to each other.
Politeness is a culture issue which has the features of each community.
Every society, every country has its own politeness principles. However,
evaluating which statement is true, how to speak politely, which level is
formal is regulated by each specific culture.
In reality, sometimes we can achieve the effect by using this speech
act instead of using other speech act. This is an indirect speech act.
Indirect speech act strategies based on ability to express something
indirectly and its contents are shown by the definition Direct speech act
(Searle, 1975). By refusing No, I dont want to lend you my money,
informant can say Sorry, My mum hasnt sent my money yet to inform
that he doesnt want to help his partner.
There are many opinions in the use of direct or indirect speech act.
Some authors say that brief and condensed way of indirect speaking will
help to express the own personality of the speakers. Moreover, its perhaps
more politely than direct way of speaking. Consider two examples to
realize the politeness in these utterances:
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 8

Khuong anh Thao( 2004) says that most of surveyed examples in

Vietnamese start with gratitude and give the explanations for their
refusals or otherwise. While English sentences often start with phrases
Youre so kind, youre a wonderful person or Im awfully sorry, but...,
then reasons or promise of accepting the offer in the future. This ends with
gratitude. Besides that, interestingly, as I have mention above, Vietnamese
would like to use some sentences with the philosophy of human life that
are familiar with Vietnamese to response indirectly.
For examples:
[23] Anh/ ch nh Advid th coi v trong khn kh mi bit bn hin.
( You can offer David to help you because hard times show whether a
friend is a true friend. (Situation 1).
3) Refusing an offer both directly and indirectly:
The speakers can response the others offer by combining both
direct and indirect speech act.
Here are some responses for four situations above:
In Vietnamese:
[24] Anh Phng ,Nh gii thch hm trc, ti ang
c d n cn hon thnh gp nn khng th gip anh c. D
khng trc tip tham gia nhng ti c th nh mt ngi khc
ph gip anh/ch. Do ny anh khe khng? ( Phuong, As I
explained last time, I have had a project in emergency so I cant
help you. Though I dont take part in, I can have someone else to
help you. How have you been). (situation 1)
[25] Cm n Bnh rt nhiu. M Bnh v i v mun lm ri.
Mnh t dt b c. Vi li on ng ny khng c tim sa
xe u. ( Thanks Binh. You should go home because its too late.
I can take it. Moreover, there is no bike repair store here).
(situation 2)
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 9

[26] Cm n bn. Tht s mnh cha quen n loi bnh

ny. Vi li mnh cn no lm. Mnh khng n na u. Ln sau
nht nh mnh s n th. ( thanks. Im not familiar with this kind
of cake. Im still full. I cant eat more. Ill try next time). (situation
3)
[27] Ci ca ny hm qua em m c. Chc hm nay s
m c. Anh khi gip em i. Khng sao u. C g em gi anh
sau. Thi cng tr ri, anh v phng ng i. Chc anh ng ngon.
( I can open it yesterday. Today I can open. You dont need to
help me. Dont worry for me. I will call up you later.. Its too late,
you should return your room. Good night.). ( situation 4).

In English:
[28] In fact, Id like to help you, but Im really busy in my
new project. Sorry. I cant help you. I think David can help you.
( Ti rt mun gip anh/ch nhng ti bn lm k hoch mi ri.
Xin li, ti khng gip anh/ch c. Ti ngh David gip anh/
ch c ) (situation 1)
[29] No, thanks. Its too late now, you should go home. I
really appreciate your concern but I can solve it by myself. See
you later. ( thi cm n bn. tr ri bn v i. Cm n bn
quan tm nhng mnh t gii quyt c). (Situation 2)
[30] Thanks. It looks delicious but Im really full so Ill have
to pass it. ( Cm on nh. Nhn ngon qu nhng mnh no qu ri.
nh b qua n thi.). (Situation 3)
[31] Youre so kind but Im familiar with it. You dont need to
help me. I can manage it. Thanks ever so much. ( anh tt qu
nhng ti quen vi n ri. khng cn gip ti. Ti xoay s
c. cm n nhiu nh.). (Situation 4)
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 10

In example 23 and 27, we can find that these are not only the
refusals; they are also the greetings in everyday life.
III) The Contrast between English and Vietnamese in refusing
offers:
Based on the above examples and the examples in the surveys of
Khuong and Thao (2007), Let see some differences in syntactic structure
by the following tables and also consider the word use.
The structure of direct speech act:
In English :
Table 1
Negative words refusing words
No I dont need your help,
You dont need to help me

Table 2:
Negative word Thanking
No Thanks,
thank you,
thanks ever so much

Table 3:
appreciation reasons Excuses/apology
Id like to help you But Im too busy to help Sorry ( situation 1).
you

In Vietnamese:
Table 3:
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 11

Negative word Thanking

Thi Cm n
Khng Cm n
Khi cn Cm n
Khng cn u Cm n

The structure of indirect speech act:

In English:
Table 4
Addressee terms Excuses/apology reasons
Phng , Thnh tht xin li Ti bn qu,
khng gip anh c
ri.( situation 1).

Table 5
Thanking word Reasons/ explaining why not
accepting

Thanks. I can manage it.

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

Table 6
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 12

Positive appreciation Reasons/ explaining Thanking word

why not accepting

I really appreciate your but I can solve this by Thank any way
concern myself
A nice offer but I can open it Thanks
Youre so kind but I can manage Thank you.
Thank you very much
Thanks a lots.

Table 7:
Compliments/ exclamations Expressing the regrets

It looks delicious But Im really full. Ill try it next time.( situation 2)
Oh, What a pity! I wish I didnt eat anything before I come here.
( situation 2)

Table 8:
Calming words Reasons/ explaining why not
accepting
Dont worry Its better now. ok ( Situation 1)
Never mind Let me try. (Situation 4).

And some here are the structures of some sentences of refusing an

offer in Vietnamese:

Table 9:
Thanking words Reasons/ explaining why
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 13

not accepting
Cm n Bnh Nhng mnh c th t dt xe v
c. ( situation 2)
Cm n bn Ti cha quen loi bnh ny.
( situation 3).
Cm n anh nha Hm qua ti t m c, chc hm
nay t m c.

Table 10:

The sympathies with the The replacing actions

interlocutor
Cng tr lm ri, Bnh v trc i mnh dt c m. ( situation 2).

Bn lm g sc m m i. ( situation 4)

Table 11:
Thanking words Philosophy of human life.
Cm n Nhng n nh ai ny sng i
anh . ( situation 4)
Nhng n nh ai ny sng Bnh
. ( situation 2)

Table 12:
The person who refuses gives the Reasons/ explaining for the
anxiety/ worry anxiety or worry
Mnh ch s Lm phin Bnh thi.( situation 2)
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 14

Em khng mun Anh m hi v nhng chuyn lt

vt ny (situation 4).

The structure of both direct and indirect speech act:

In both English and Vietnamese, the rate of these kinds of sentences
is really rarely. ( Khuong, 2007).
In English:
Table 13:
We can show the structure of situation 1 in direct and indirect
speech act of refusing an offer like this
Addressee reasons Refusing promise asking for
term words information
See example 24 above.

Table 14:

Negative Thanking Reasons/ explaining

words/phrases words why not accepting
No Thanks But I can manage
No Thanks Its too late now. I think
you should go home.
( situation 2).

Table 15:
Appreciations Refusing words Thanking
Youre so generous But I dont need Thanks any way
Thanks
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 15

Thank you

In Vietnamese:
We can show the structure of situation 1 in direct and indirect
speech act of refusing an offer like this
Table 16
Appreciation Reasons excuses Promise/advise

See example 28 above.

Table 17
Negative Thanking words Reasons/ explaining
words/phrases why not accepting
Thi c ri Cm n Bnh Mnh t dt b
xe c ri.

Table 18:
Thanking words Reasons/ explaining Promising/ wishing
why not accepting
Cm n bn Ti n cha quen loi Ln sau ti nht nh
bnh ny lm s n th
Cm n anh Chc em t mi c Khuya ri, chc anh
ng ngon nh.

In both English and Vietnam`ese, these kinds of both direct and

indirect sentences are very rare but sometimes people still like to use them
in refusing an offer.
The similarities
Refusal speech act varies in directness with situation and culture but
there are some similarities in refusing an offer between English and
Vietnamese. Both try to abide the Cooperative Principle and Politeness
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 16

Principle in three main types of refusing an offer (direct, indirect, both direct
and indirect).
From the previous examples, therefore, to refuse an offer, the native
speakers of English as well as Vietnamese learners of English have many
ways of responding. They can use direct or indirect speech act or they can
combine both direct and indirect.
Vietnamese and English both employ the directness types. The first
one is direct refusal such as No way, no thanksin English, thi, khi
in Vietnamese. The next is ability of negation speech act which means the
speaker doesnt have ability to accept the offer. These speech acts can be
I cant in English, ti khng th gip anh..in Vietnamese. The third is
indirect speech act which means refusal is performed through the other
speech such as Im really busy this week in English or ti c th t m
n c in Vietnamese (situation 4).
Both English and Vietnamese refuse an offer by giving the reasons
why not accepting or offering other occasions (see the given examples
above)
Politeness is the norm that people of different culture backgrounds
must obey and uphold because to satisfy others face is to save your own
face. Therefore, both Vietnamese and English prefer to the indirect refusal
speech act in offer than the direct refusal speech act. Using direct or
indirect speech act in life of Vietnamese and English both depends on
many factors: age, gender, relationship, social status
Some main differences between Vietnamese and English in
refusing an offer
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese mainly differ in
practical strategies of word use and syntactic structure.
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 17

About intercultural verbal styles, Viet Nam and some other Asian
countries like China, Korean, Japan belong to high-context
communication. The meaning or intention is conveyed through the context
and the non-verbal channels (pause, silence, tone) of the verbal
message. They dont tell directly. Moreover, Vietnamese are influenced by
agricultural culture and Confucianism. Therefore, they focus on the
delicateness, consideration in their language use to maintain the affection
and gratitude of their friends, their neighboursThese results in a
diversified and various addressing system which depends on age, social
status, hierarchy And this system of address of Vietnamese has more
complex terms in kinship than English does such as anh,em, ch, bc,
d,c, tao my, huynh, ch emWhile English people are more direct
and blunt in expressing their thought and they just use personal pronoun
I, You for their partners in any conversation. For example:
Ch v i. Chc em khng gip c ch ri. ( situation 1)
Lm sao tao gip my c trong khi tao cng ang bn ti mt ti
mi. ( situation 1)
I sympathy for your difficult situation but I cant help you.(situation 1)
Im too busy to help you. ( Situation 1).
Additionally, according to Khuong and Thao survey (2007)
Vietnamese tend to use model particles such as , , nh, nh, thi, nha
to express the speakers nuance.
Cm n Bnh nh nhng mnh t dt xe c (situation 2).
In Vietnamese culture, the face of Vietnamese involved the respect
of hierarchy, the status admission of interlocutor. Therefore, politeness
behavour is not only personal politeness strategies but also forcefully is the
clever choice in vocabulary. Some words d, , xin, tha often appear in
Vietnamese speech act of refusal when they talk to the older people
(parents, grandparents, teachers).
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 18

Ex: D, em khng mun lm anh m hi v cnh ca ny u.

(Situation 3)
As I have referred above, Vietnamese often use philosophy of
human life in refusing an offer while English rarely use.
We know that English-speaking countries belong to low-context
communication; the meaning is expressed through explicit verbal
messages to help the listeners understand easily. Peoples speech acts
are also embedded in the cultural background. The doctrine of collectivism
and social hierarchy influenced Vietnamese, so people try to be
harmonious and self-restrained in the social communication. English
people are influenced by individualism and equality, so their association is
more simple and direct. Li Honglin ( 2007) says that the variety of speech
acts is influenced by the social distance, social power, and difficulty of
acquired behavior. However, these factors dont enjoy same status in
Vietnamese and English speech act of refusing an offer. Social power
plays an important role in Vietnamese, so does the social distance in
American English. According to Li, The cross-linguistic differences are due
to basic differences in cultural values. Social hierarchy is typically
illustrated in the aspects of superior and inferior social ranks, parents and
children, teachers and students. Social distance is typically displayed in the
relation of close relatives or friends and ordinary friends or strangers.
Additionally, English people are not sensitive to social rank. English
may use the same type of refusal speech acts to refuse anyone,
regardless of his social status. However the selection of refusal speech
acts based on social distance is quite different. The more distant the social
distance, the more indirect the refusal speech acts. English possibly would
use more assistant speech acts and rhetorical utterances to weaken the
frankness of refusal. For instance, consider the situation 3: the speaker is
offered to eat something. If his workmate offers him, the English may
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 19

refuse like this No, thank you. I just ate before coming, Thank you, but
Im not hungry. If his workmates mother offers, the refusal speech acts
may be Its very nice of you, but Im full, Thank you. It smells delicious.
But I have just had meal, Oh, thanks. Ive eaten already. And Im full now.
I cant eat any more. The later refusal speech acts have the associative
and rhetorical utterances such as Its very nice of you, It smells
delicious. Those utterances alleviate the refusal impact. Vietnamese is
just on the opposite. They consider the social order, so the refusal bases
on relationship, social status, agethat result in the speech act of refusing
an offer of Vietnamese is quite different in each situation. That means
directness of the speech act of refusing an offer varies and depends on
whom they speak to in each situation such as friends, parents, lover For
example, Vietnamese refuse their friends tao khng n u, or refuse
their mother con no lm ri m i or refuse their lover em khng n ni
na, no lm ri. And therefore, the addressee words also change such as
tao, em, con while English just use I or me. This contributes to make
Vietnamese have more nuances.
Moreover, according to Dngs surveys, In indirect refusal of an offer,
although both English and Vietnamese refuse an offer by giving the
reasons, the reasons of Vietnamese are brief and they dont attach
anything more. But sometimes, the English try to replace the reasons by
dilemma which make the refusing be softer and the partner doesnt lose
face or feel hurled or offence. A remarkable point is that the English tend
to attach the regrets of not accepting the offer while Vietnamese are rare to
use them. Consider the following examples:
Oh,What a pity! Im really full now. I cant eat any more.
I have categorized the forms of refusing an offer in English and
Vietnamese by 18 tables above. Considers these 18 tables we can see the
syntactic structure of some sentences of refusing an offer in English is
 Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 20

mainly different in word order. Each culture uses different word order to
express their thoughts. For instances, If we look back the examples of
situation 1, we can see While Vietnamese tend to use the politeness mode
of refusing an offer like Addressee term+ apology+ reasons, English
tend to use question attentiveness strategy. They try to employ different
refusal strategies in other that the problems in questions can be solved. A
mode of polite refusing an offer is I would like to+ reasons+ apology.
An example in Vietnamese:
Phng , thnh tht xin li, ti bn qu chc khng gip anh
c.( situation 1).
An example in English:
I would like to help you but Im really busy. Sorry
Therefore, the contrastive analysis of refusing an offer in English and
Vietnamese shows that there are no consistent similarities in any functions
between Vietnam and English. From the above examples and the analysis
of their structures, we can draw some conclusions about the differences
between two languages:
Firstly, refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese also has a few of
common characteristics in structures and contents of the general refusals,
but it also has some own characteristics.
Secondly, a sentence of refusing an offer in English is simpler and has
fewer variants than its equivalent structure in Vietnamese.
Thirdly, a sentence of refusing an offer in Vietnamese is more
complicated than its equivalent structure in English.
Last but not least, a great number of variants of refusing an offer in
Vietnamese make it have more nuances in structure than its equivalent
structure in English. This helps the language learners to express more
nuances in their thought when they have a conversation.
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 21

Therefore, in learning language, we consider the different languages

not to base on whether these languages can express what kinds of
meanings, but we consider them base on whether some expressed
languages are forced to have some meanings which other languages dont
need to express without necessity.
IV) Pedagogical implications:
Learning language is a form of activity that involves many of the
cultural and social factors. When the learners practices communication in
new language, the habits in culture become the second characteristics that
can become advantages or disadvantages in their learning and practicing
communication. Vietnamese learners of English have difficulty not only in
the differences in language and non-language factors but also in language
style, approach strategiesIn this paper, we refer to refusing an offer,
one of the functions of English. Therefore, besides the language
competence and the knowledge about culture of country, the teachers of
language need the knowledge about the communicative style or the culture
of the learners. This helps the teachers understand the difficulties of the
learners and adjust the appropriate methods, techniques of teaching to
create the connection between the learning and teaching.
In fact, the differences in language of communicative behaviors can
cause cultural interferences that have negative influences on the teaching
and learning task. Therefore, foreign language teachers should be aware
of these distinctive features to help learners overcome the psychological
and cultural barriers in the teaching and learning process.
Teacher need to make students be aware of specific speech acts
sets and the accompanying linguistic features that are necessary to
produce appropriate and well-received refusals.
This paper gives further relevance to the importance of the
understanding of speech acts across cultures and the fact that the
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 22

understanding or lack there of can hinder or strengthen the communication

exchanges between cultures. This paper could be especially relevant for
teachers of foreign or second languages as it further supports the idea that
language, particularly in speech acts, is laden with culture. Speech acts
include real-life interactions and require not only knowledge of the
language but also appropriate use of that language within a given culture.
Teaching the cultural aspects of discourse is a vital part of our duty as
teachers to aid our students in becoming successful second or foreign
language speakers.
A lack of understanding of politeness strategies in different
languages and cultures can, as with inappropriate use of certain speech
acts, be a cause of cross-cultural pragmatic failure. Situations are
complicated when, as is common today with the use of English as an
international language, speakers using language which is not their native
language may be extremely unsure as to the cultural implications of much
of what they are saying. Thus as a being teacher, I will try to help the
students overcome the difficulties in studying second language, especially
in studying English function of refusing an offer:
Firstly, teacher should give students the simple examples of this
function and explain their use clearly. Many things can happen in
conversation that no one can predict. Teacher should also try to provide
students with some of the common patterns that English speakers use
everyday and also help students to build their vocabulary to include these
patterns and phrases. The teacher also shows functional connection
between refusals and offers and explains to students some useful phrases
of refusing an offer that are often used. Moreover, we should instruct
students when to use three types of refusing an offer appropriately in each
situation.
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 23

Secondly, teacher should draw students attention to politeness and

rudeness of refusing an offer and encourage students employ the
politeness strategies if they want to achieve the success in communication.
This helps improve students language competence.
Last but not least, teacher can design many tasks which provide
students with opportunities to practice them in short exchanges, dialogs
and conversations or teacher can conduct some activities like role play that
make students use the patterns of refusing an offer and helps them
remember these pattern longer. From these activities students not only
practice the patterns, but also practice pronunciation, vocabulary and how
to respond correctly in conversation because Experience is the best
teacher. (Trm hay khng bng tay quen), practice makes perfect.
Moreover, if students are given many chances to speak and are
encouraged frequently, theyll be more confident to speak the second
language in many situations like their mother tongue. Then they relate the
English refusals in the situations to Vietnamese ones to see the similarities
and differences of refusing an offer in two languages. Therefore, confusing
or language transfer between English and Vietnamese can be avoided
effectively.
V) Conclusion
In conclusion, the refusal especially refusing an offer is one of the
most important functions of English and Vietnamese. Some linguists say,
that functions only express the intention or purpose of a speech act, other
think that your social role, the setting, the topic or even the mood you are
in are criteria for choosing the right function to express yourself effectively.
So I can say this contrastive analysis of refusing an offer is really useful
and important in communication and it also has many teaching implications
in learning a second language. From the data of previous surveys, I collect
the statistics of the examples and draw the results. Because of the limits of
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 24

time and the data, I just show the examples of refusing an offer. And from
that I analyze the structure of these examples. I mainly focus on some
basic points that are the syntactic structure and word use to contrast. On
the whole, from this paper, we can see some differences and similarities in
refusing an offer between English and Vietnamese. I hope that this paper
is useful for the students and the teachers of English. Understanding the
interrelation between two languages helps the learners acquire second
language effectively and improve their language everyday.
Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 25

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