Luận văn PHÂN TÍCH SO SÁNH lời CHÀO TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT

ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN

KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ

PHÂN TÍCH SO SÁNH LỜI CHÀO TRONG TIẾNG
ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT
(A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ON GREETING IN
ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE)

Gi¸o viªn híng dÉn
Sinh viªn
M· sinh viªn
Líp

: ThS. NguyÔn ThÞ DiÖu Hµ
: Lª ThÞ Ph¬ng
: DTF0857060051
: Cö nh©n Anh K31

THÁI NGUYÊN, THÁNG 5 NĂM 2012


THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ON GREETING IN
ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Dieu Ha MA.
Student: Le Thi Phuong

Student Code: DTF0857060051
Class: English Bachelor K31

THAI NGUYEN, MAY 2012


Acceptance
I hereby state that I’m Phuong and I come from English
Language Academic class, being a candidate for the degree of
Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accepts the requirements of the College
relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper
deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper
deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study
and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established
by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper.
Signature
Phuong
May, 2012


Acknowledgements
I would like to express my special thanks to my supervisor, Ms. Dieu Ha
MA. (Foreign Languages Faculty, Thai Nguyen University) for her invaluable
guidance and instructive comments throughout this study.
I am greatly indebted to my best friend, Le Thi Hang for her helpful
suggestions and constructive ideas, which enlightened the arguments in the study.
I also wish to acknowledge my friend, Le Thu Phuong who is learning in
Hanoi University for handing out questionnaires and collecting them, which have
been useful for the accomplishment of the paper.

I also wish to thank informants, Vietnamese and English native speakers,
for spending their precious time completing the questionnaires
Finally, and the most, I owe my deep thanks to my parents, who gave me
constant support and enormous encouragement throughout procedure of study.
ThaiNguyen, May 2012
Le Thi Phuong


Abstract
First impressions are a really important aspect of social culture. The first action in
communication - greeting others in the correct way is fraught with various do's and
dont's of etiquette. It is a fact that Vietnamese usually are timidly in
communication and this is proved clearly through the result of the questionnaire.
First, Vietnamese people do not talk directly about their problems which they
concern but it is said that Vietnamese is curious because they always ask about
personal problems in conversations whereas Westerners do not. Second,
Vietnamese carefully distinguish the greeting by relationships and emotion while
foreigners – English people greet together on time like good morning, good
afternoon, good evening. Third, about gestures, Vietnamese often tend to avoid
gestures which touching body directly such as hugging, kissing when meeting.
However, those gestures are common and preferable in English. Therefore,
salutation terms used in a foreign language do not resemble that in our mother
tongue and greeting behaviors vary between cultures. Any lack of socio-pragmatic
knowledge is likely to lead to awkward situation or misunderstanding in
intercultural communication. This paper aims at doing a contrastive research in
English and Vietnamese greetings to help English learners avoid this
sociopragmatic failure and succeed in interaction with native speakers. The first
point will be dedicated to Vietnamese greeting, English greeting and then a
contrast between Vietnamese and English greeting (similarities and differences).
The last point will be a discussion and implication on learning and teaching

English.


Table of contents

List of tables and charts
Table 1: The importance of greeting and the usage of greeting gestures
Chart 1: The percentage of greeting forms in term of frequency (Vietnamese
subjects)
Chart 2: Greeting forms in term of position (Vietnamese subjects)
Chart 3: Greeting forms in term of context (Vietnamese subjects)
Chart 4: Frequency of greeting gestures in use (Vietnamese subjects)
Chart 5: Greeting gestures in term of gender (Vietnamese subjects)
Chart 6: Greeting gestures in term of communicative environment (Vietnamese
subjects)
Chart 7: The use of topic in Vietnamese greeting culture (Vietnamese subjects)


Chart 8: The percentage of greeting forms in term of frequency (Anglicist subjects)
Chart 9: Greeting forms in term of position (Anglicist subjects)
Chart 10: Greeting forms in term of context (Anglicist subjects)
Chart 11: Frequency of greeting gestures in use (Anglicist subjects)
Chart 12: Greeting gestures in term of gender (Anglicist subjects)
Chart 13: Greeting gestures in term of communicative environment (Anglicist
subjects)
Chart 14: The use of topic in greeting culture of English native speakers


Greeting in Vietnamese and English

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
When humans appear on earth, communication has become a daily action in
life and it is regarded as a useful mean for people to connect and exchange
together, nowadays with the fast development of international trade, the global
economy and the globalization of foreign language usage, everyone knows that
people from different cultures have their own cultural perceptions, beliefs, values
and social customs which greatly determine their communication ways. In other
words, different culture backgrounds will make a different result of intercultural
communication. It is this diversification that causes misunderstanding,
unsatisfactory interaction or even unpleasant physical backgrounds and leads to
difficulties or failures in the communication between people from different cultural
backgrounds.
At present, English has become an international language with users
increasing rapidly day by day and language learning as well as teaching has been
paid more and more attention. Furthermore, Vietnam government has many
opened-door policies so the number of people who intend to become more
competent in English and plan to go abroad for study and work are going up fast.
In addition, every year many foreign companies are set up in Vietnam and travelers
going to Vietnam are also more crowded. Thus, the need of learning Vietnamese as
well as Vietnamese culture is bigger and bigger. However, people have fairly good
knowledge of linguistic; they still feel difficult to communicate in a natural way
and even face up with the culture shock and communication breakdown in crosscultural communication. Therefore, learners must have mutual understanding and
awareness of cultural differences to be successful cross-cultural communicators.
English is the compulsory subject in almost schools in Vietnam so the
requirement of language teaching and learning is higher and higher. Learners will
be taught at four main skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) in school
time but many people who are good at four skills feel afraid of or failure in

8

Greeting in Vietnamese and English

communication. The main cause is valuated highly is social language so we should
note to improve this one. In other words, we should know what to do in different
contexts because it is clear to see that different cultures have different
communication.
According to Goffman (as cited in Li, 2009:1), greetings provide the means
of the opening conversation appropriately, establish and maintain social
relationship. Thus, greeting plays a key role in making a good first impression and
successful conversation. In Vietnamese proverbs, greeting is compared with “Mâm
cỗ” (banquets and feasts) which has especially important meaning in society: “Lời
chào cao hơn mâm cỗ” (greeting is higher than banquets and feasts) so we can
recognize that Vietnamese are extremely serious in greeting. Besides, greeting is
used for not only communicating but also measuring human’s quality (Le Quang
Thiem). In addition, the result of research on how to greet of English by Eienstein
and his colleagues (1996), many foreign language learners apply this language's
convention to use in other languages that will cause more difficulties and get easily
misunderstand. Nonconformity is due to many reasons; one of the reasons is the
influence of mother tongue.
From the above reasons, it can be said that intercultural communication will
be large challenges. Up to now, there are many studies which focus on intercultural
encounter of people during their foreign language learning. However, studies on
finding out the greeting in English and Vietnamese have been far and few between.
Therefore, to fill in this gap, I decided to carry out the study as “A comparative
analysis on the greeting in English and Vietnamese” in order to explore the
similarities and differences between two languages. This study was divided into
three main parts (five chapters) as follow: part one is introduction, part two is some
information backgrounds relating to greeting and part three is to give the results in

terms of forms, gestures, communicative topics of greeting and then it would be
hoped that some suggestions as well as strategies are given to help foreign
language learners avoid this pragmatic failure and succeed in interaction with
native speakers.

9


Greeting in Vietnamese and English

1.2. Aims
This paper has been carried out to find out:
•
•

The similarities of greeting in English and Vietnamese.
The differences of greeting in English and Vietnamese in terms of forms, gestures,

•

and communication topics.
Some strategies in greeting and some implications for language learning and
teaching.
1.3. The scope
To make the most of the real conditions for research and ability of the
researcher, it is not my ambition to mention all issues of greeting in English and
Vietnam so this study focus only on contrasting the greeting in Vietnamese and
English in order to find out similarities and then differences between two
languages in terms of forms, gestures, and communicative topics. From that, you
will have a deep look in greeting in Vietnamese and English.

1.4. The significance
This study was intended to:

•

Make a list of greetings and their use in English and Vietnamese as learning
materials and reference, and provide the language learners with identities - English
and Vietnamese culture. These positive and dynamic characteristics are stressed
and developed.

•

Help form a process from identify, understand, receive to use the salutation
suitability and acceptability in terms of language, culture and communication in a
specific context, with a specific object. From that you can achieve specific goals
through a curtain communication strategy by yourself.
Research results are applied in practice of language teaching and learning to make
teaching and learning more exciting, effective, and creative. Then, we feel more
confident and get more successfully when communicating with native people.

10


Greeting in Vietnamese and English

1.5. Limitations
Because of the limited time, the study will certainly limit the authenticity of
the data and then the pragmatic effect of the expected results. Furthermore, the
study regarded the English language as a mother tongue so no distinction will be
made between American English, British English, Australian English, and so on as

well as no distinction of language among other regions in Vietnam. In addition,
when carrying out questionnaire, some people do not try best for the test so it is
difficult to access people’s competence and degree of understanding greeting
accurately.
1.6. Organization
The main text consists of five chapters as follow:
Chapter I, Introduction, presents the rationale, scope, aims, significance
and limitation of the study.
Chapter II, Literature Review, provides some related information to the
topic of the study (Language and culture, Intercultural communication, Greeting –
the definition of greeting, greeting in Vietnamese and greeting in English, Greeting
gestures - What gesture, eight common greeting gestures, and previous studies).
Chapter III, Methodology, shows participants, instruments, procedures of
data collection, and procedures of data analysis.
Chapter IV, Results and Discussion, gives specific figures as well as some
comments in aspects (forms, gestures, and conversation topics) of the study
Chapter V, Conclusion, draws summary of the study and proposes some
suggestions for further research.

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Greeting in Vietnamese and English

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Language and culture
2.1.1. What is language?
In the 7th edition of Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, language is
defined as “the system of communication in speech and writing that is used by
people of a particular country or area’’ (Hornby, Gantenby, & Wakefield,

2005:862).

In

addition,

on

website

/>
language183528.html, Language is stated that “Any means of conveying or
communicating ideas; specifically, human speech; the expression of ideas by the
voice; sounds, expressive of thought, articulated by the organs of the throat and
mouth”. Therefore, language can be consider as a communicative mean which
helps people change information, share thoughts or emotions, etc together. In other
words, language is the same as the most special product which is different from
other animals and has a main purpose of human communication.
Besides, language is evaluated on another aspect, according to Kramsch
(cited in Thuy, D., 2010:1) language is “the principle means whereby we conduct
our social lives”. Also, Kress, G. in book ‘Language and culture’ (1993:5) shared a
view of language like “a product of cultural and social factors”. Thus, language has
not only communicative function but also the role of reflecting culture so it simply
understands that learning a language is accumulating culture.
In brief, language has many different definitions which are based on other
points of each person or a group. However, we can obviously recognize that
language is an important medium of human communication and culture is
expressed through language.
2.1.2. What is culture?
The concept of culture surely is very familiar in our life and it is also

showed in many ways by many famous researchers and scholars. The word
‘culture’ has origin from the Latin ‘colere’, translatable as to build on, to cultivate,
and to foster. In the early stages, ‘culture’ often referred to ‘nature’. Then it was

12


Greeting in Vietnamese and English

pointed to something constructed willingly by men, while ‘nature’ was given in
itself.
As for Lustig & Koester (2006), basing on the link of culture and
communication, “Culture is one that allows us to investigate how culture
contributes to human symbolic process”. As language is said in above part, it
serves for a main purpose of communication and particularly, this definition
showed that culture and communication (symbols which people use) have the close
relation. Thus, language and culture have interaction each other.
On the other hand, culture is defined by Nguyen Quang (1998:3) as “a share
background (for example, national, ethnic, religious) resulting from a common
language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes, and values”. He
compared culture like ‘an iceberg’, in which the hidden part is much larger. That is
also reason why most of the influence of culture on one person cannot be seen
clearly so it is very difficult for many people to realize cultures deeply and
encounter in communication.
Interestingly, in the book ‘Introduction to cross cultural communication’,
John H. Bodley introduced culture from many aspects as follow:
a. Topically defined, culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or

categories, such as social organization, religion or economy.
b. Historically defined, culture is social heritage, or tradition, that is passed on to

future generation.
c. Behavior defined, culture is shared, learned human behavior, a way of life.
d. Normatively defined, culture is ideas, values or rules for living.
e. Functionally defined, culture is the way humans solve problems of adapting to
the environment or living together.
f. Mentally defined, culture is a complex of ideals or learned habits that inhabit
impulses and distinguish people from animals.
g. Structurally defined, culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideals,
symbols, or behaviors.
h. Symbolically defined, culture is bases on arbitrarily assigned meanings that are
shared by a society.
In summary, it cannot exactly say how many definitions of ‘culture’ there are.
A book with 200 pages devoting to different definitions of culture was published in

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Greeting in Vietnamese and English

1992. However, since then many other offered additional definitions and
approaches and one apparent thing is that these definitions are all proposed in
order to orient and set target for the researches.
2.1.3. The relationship between language and culture
A nation or country which is small or large has its typical culture and
language so the notion language or culture alone cannot provide us with a clear
understanding on the relationship between language and culture. From that, it
should be made clearly the problem ‘does language influence the culture and vice
versa?’
In the book ‘Introduction to cross cultural communication’, R.A. Huson
(1981) argued:

“as for the relation between language and culture, most of

language is contained within culture” and the point of view is also shared by
Goodenough (1957), which says, “A society’s language is an aspect of culture...the
relation of language to culture is that of part to people”. Thus, it is easy to
recognize that language plays an important role in culture and especially it can be
regarded as the symbolic representation of people because language may contain
many

factors

of

culture–language

reflects

culture.

Furthermore,

when

communicating, we often see culture via language. As a result, language and
culture are interrelated and inseparable.
More specifically, Kramsch (1998) clarified this correlation by emphasizing
three functions of language related to culture as follow:
(1) Language expresses cultural reality
(2) Language embodies cultural reality

(3) Language symbolizes cultural reality
In addition, the relationship between language and culture may be the most
imaginative of all when this one is seen from three metaphors: (cited in the
relationship between language and culture by Weying Jiang, 2000).
(1) From a philosophical view:

Language (flesh) + culture (blood)  a living organism.

14


Greeting in Vietnamese and English

Language and culture make a living organism. Language is flesh and culture
is blood. Without culture, language would be dead; without language, culture
would have no shape.
(2) From a communicative view:
Language (swimming skill) + culture (water) swimming
(communication)
Communication is swimming, language is the swimming skill and culture
is water. Without water, communication would remain to a very limited degree (in
very shallow water); without culture, there would be no communication at all.
(3) From a pragmatic view:
Language (vehicle) + culture (traffic light)  transportation
(communication)
Communication is like transportation: language is the vehicle and culture
is traffic light. Language makes communication easier and faster; culture regulates,
sometimes promotes and sometimes hinders communication.
Consequently, language and culture have an inextricable relationship. The two
cannot exist without each other. Therefore, one cannot understand or appreciate the

one without the knowledge of the other.
2.2. Intercultural communication
According to Samovar & Porter (1991:10) “intercultural communication
occurs whenever a message is produced by a member of one culture for
consumption by a member of another culture, a message must be understood” (as
cited in Intercultural communication). In this case, intercultural communication
used the definition of communication for emphasising on the communication
between people from different cultures.
With a little bit of difference, by combining the meaning of the terms
‘culture’ and ‘communication’, as for Lustig and Koester (2005:52) hypothesized
that “intercultural communication occurs when large and important cultural
differences create dissimilar interpretations and expectations about how to
communicate competently”. Similarly, Allwood in the book “Intercultural
communication” shared intercultural communication as “the sharing of information

15


Greeting in Vietnamese and English

on different levels of awareness and control between people with different cultural
backgrounds, where different cultural backgrounds include both national cultural
differences and differences which are connected with participation in the different
activities that exist within a national unit”. As a result, intercultural communication
seems to offer the degree of difference that can occur among people not only from
different cultures but also from similar culture. The individuals are very different
from one another are most intercultural whereas those in which the individuals are
very similar to one another are least intercultural.
To sum up, when people from different cultural backgrounds meet each
other they need to exchange ideas, information etc., between them, which is called

intercultural communication. Actually, the potential for misunderstanding and
disagreement is great if the cultural conventions of the participants are widely
different so it is important to study intercultural communication.
2.3. Greeting
2.3.1. The definitions of greeting
Because of depending the author’s own views and their own areas of
research so there are many different ideas about greeting.
Schegloff & Sacks (1973) in “An Evaluation of Greeting Exchanges in Textbook
and Real life setting” viewed that greetings are considered as a speech event
constituted by two parts side by side such as greeting-greeting:
A: Hello

B: Hi

Or greeting – request for information:
A: Hi

B: Do you have a class today?

On Wikipedia, greeting is an act of communication in which human beings
(as well as other members of the animal kingdom) intentionally make their
presence known to each other, to show attention to, and to suggest a type of
relationship or social status between individuals or groups of people coming in
contact with each other.
Stolyarow II (2004:1) stated that “an expression of greeting indicates the
willingness to undertake a transaction of some sort, a universal signal (with plenty

16

Greeting in Vietnamese and English

of rich stylistic variations) that directs the other party” attention toward the agent
and at the same time demonstrates the friendly, appreciative conduct the benefits a
peaceful trader”.
According to Goody, E. (1972) greeting has three major functions:
(1) To open a sequence of communicative acts between two persons, irrespective of

their positions.
(2) To be as a mean of defining and affirming, both identity and rank
(3) To be a mode of deference upon or manipulating a relationship in order to achieve
a specific result.
In Vietnamese proverbs, we usually hear that: “Lời chào cao hơn mâm cỗ”,
“Dao năng sắc, nguời chào năng quen”. Here, greeting is compared with ‘mâm cỗ’
in a society which Vietnamese are extremely serious in.
2.3.1.1. Greeting in English
In study of Nguyen Thi Bich Hang (2010), there are some main formulaic
expressions frequently used in informal contexts such as ‘hi’ + (first name) and
‘hello’ + (first name). In addition, people tend to greet each other according to the
time of the day:
Type

Form

Time

Morning

Good Morning +

From

(title/ first name)

to

Or

Mornin’

Examples
midnight - Good morning,
Mary

(short midday

Mornin’ Ms Blue

form)
Afternoon

Good afternoon +

After

midday -Good afternoon,

(title/ first name)

until 5p.m

Or Afternoon
Evening

Good Evening

Mr. Smith
Afternoon John

After 5p.m until - Good evening,
people

+(title/ first name)

have

Or Evening

sleep

17

Ms
gone

to Cherry
- Evenin’ Jack


Greeting in Vietnamese and English

In “Contrastive Study of Chinese and English Greeting” which retrieved from
/>Greetings classified according to formality as follow:
+ Formal greetings are used when speakers must be very polite towards the
listeners: “How do you do?”
+ Informal greetings are used in a more relaxing context. “Hello/hi/how are
you?” are acceptable both among strangers and acquaintances whereas ‘hi/ hello’,
followed by “How are things going?/How are you doing?” are generally applied by
close acquaintances or friends.
For example:
- Two acquaintances meet in the corridor of the building of their working
place:
A: Kate, how are you?
B: Fine, thank you.
- Two friends meet in a cinema:
A: Hi, Ashley. How are you doing?
B: Hi, Simon. Pretty well!
Meanwhile, on the research of Eisenstein and Bodman (1988), greeting can
be divided into 8 forms:
The first one is greeting on the runs. This greeting is used for close relationship
such as friends or neighbors. They meet by chance and they do not have much
time to taik so they just say some short words.
For example: two friends meet accidentally
A: Hi, how ya doin’?
B: Hi! Gotta run, I’m late for class. (Or Okay!)
The second one is speedy greeting. This greeting is different from greeting on the
runs about information. It is quite common for colleagues. They greet quickly and
exchange information briefly while they are going to somewhere.
For example: two colleagues greet each other.
A: Hi, how’ve you been?

B: Not bad. ‘N you.

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Greeting in Vietnamese and English

A: Oh, can’t complain. Busy.
B: I know. Me, too.
A: Oh well, gotta take off. See ya.
B: Bye. Take care.
The third one is the chat. This greeting is similar to speedy greeting but enclosed
with a topic for discussion. People usually exchange some information before
saying goodbye or changing into main topic. In this greeting, there are much more
information than two above greeting.
For example: A: Hi!
B: Hi!
A: Howa ya doing’?
B: All right – comfortable – pretty good. Oh! Got that letter, by the
way, that.
I said I was waiting for. I finally got it.
A: Wow! That’s great. That’s pretty good.
B: Look, I’ll see you later.
A: Okay. Bye.
The forth one is the long greeting. The purpose of this kind is to warm up the
relationship after a long time. It includes mixed greetings and talks. It is usually
used for asking healthy or information.
For example: M: Bea! (Bi)
B: Michelle! (Michel)
M: Where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you around.

B: We were away. We just got back. What’s new with you? What
have you been up to?
M: (Michelle reports on neighborhood news in detail) We missed
you. How are you? It’s so nice to see you. Where’d you go?
B: (Bea described her vacation in detail)
M: Well, I’m glad you’re back. It’s so nice to see you. I missed
talking to you.

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Greeting in Vietnamese and English

B: Aw. Well, we’re back! How have you been doing?
The fifth one is the intimate greeting. This greeting is used for close relationship
between people who know each other well. In this greeting, English often use non
verbal gestures to express their greetings.
For example: a husband and a wife, the husband kisses his wife: well?
A wife: yes
A husband:Great.! You know today i have been promoted to a
manager.
A wife: oh really! Let’s celebrate .
A husband: of course, where do you want to go?
The sixth one is the introductory greeting. It is used for strange people who meet
for the first time. Its major function is to allow the participants to find a
connection. The opening is usually a comment without greeting. This kind of
greeting can recognized at the parties.
For example: A: Nice party.
B: Yes.
A: Who do you know here?

B: Bill. I work with him.
A: Oh. Are you an accountant, too?
B: No, I’m in public relation.
A: Oh. Well, I’m an old friend of Bill’s.
The seventh one is the all-business greeting. It is used for business. It usually
occurs between people who have non-social relationship. People show respect and
consideration by starting their business right away.
For example: Client: Mr. Matone?
Joe Matone: Yes?
Client: I want to talk to you about Puerto Rico.
Joe Matone: Oh? Come in. What about Puerto Rico
The last greeting is the re-greeting. It is used for people who meet each other
many times in a day. It usually consists of some non-verbal gestures or a few quick
words.
For example: one co-worker having known earlier in the day that her co-worker
was not feel well greets again:
A : Lorie? Feel better?

20


Greeting in Vietnamese and English

B: yes, thanks!
2.3.1.2. Greeting in Vietnamese
In Vietnamese life, greeting has an extremely important position and Bich
Hang (2010:9) viewed that “In Vietnam, greetings are diversified due to
participants, age, and social hierarchy. Especially, Vietnamese people attach great
important to social positions.” Moreover, the full length of a most formal greeting
is demonstrated in the book “Introduction to cross cultural communication” as

follow: Honorific + self – addressing + honorific-greeting + title/kinship + (name)
+ honorific; for example, “Dạ cháu xin chào bác Hùng ạ.”
Vietnamese greet has various forms and it can be classified into two types: direct
greetings and indirect greetings
-

Direct greetings
The first form is “Addressee + perfomative verb chào/kính chào + addresser
+ honorific’’. This one usually used in formal contacts and specifically it is
common when people in lower position greet higher position with the purpose
‘respecting elder people’; for example, “Em chào cô ạ!”
The second form is “Perfomative verb chào/kính chào + addresser +
honorific”. We can see that this form is shorter than the first one but it is evaluated
enough formality to express polite attitude; for instance, “Chào Bác ạ”!
Particularly, addressers are not only pronouns but also proper name because of its
close relation third one is “perfomative verb chào/kính chào + addresser”. This
structure is acquainted with equal relationships such as friends and colleagues; for
example, “Chào Bác!”
The last one is “Addresser + honorific” which is also used for intimate cases
but it seems to depend on situation. Thus greeting is hurry and short; for instance,
“Bác ạ!”

-

Indirect greetings
Firstly, using question form to instead of greeting. Vietnamese often use this
form when the relationship has reached a certain level. It also means that when
they know together, asking is the way for them to illustrate their care. For example,
Anh đi đâu về đấy?, the question usually requires answering to have information
but surprisingly, asking which the same is as greeting of Vietnamese is lexical, and

21


Greeting in Vietnamese and English

it need not reply especially it can vary from family matters to working condition
and health as:
* Asking about health: “Dạo này em vẫn khoẻ chứ?/Khỏe không?”
* Asking about work: “Thế nào công việc vẫn tốt chứ?”
* Asking about the on-going action: “Bác đi làm à?/Cháu đi học à?”
Secondly, ‘title/name + question’ is a greeting form which expresses the
addressee’s notice to addresser. Furthermore, in this case, some factors like time,
place, and situation are basics to build question; for example, “Nga à, đi học sớm
thế?”
Thirdly, ‘title/ name + gesture’ form is the shortest greet so it is used for
actually close relationships and hurry circumstances; for example, “Lan!” (Smiling
or ‘V’ gesture).
Besides, in the study by Phan Thi Thanh Truc (2009), Vietnamese Greeting
by using invitations such as “Mời bác xơi nước!, Mời anh xơi cơm!” These
utterances have the performative verb ‘mời’ and it usually happens when someone
visits a Vietnamese family during their meal. They express the hospitality of the
addresser without the intention of inviting the guest. In response to this kind of
greeting, the addressee should turn down this “invitation” and express their
gratitude: “Vâng, cám ơn bác”, “Vâng, mọi người cứ tự nhiên”. In addition, using
compliments is as well as greeting like “Áo mới à? Xinh nhỉ!” By using
compliments, the speaker creates positive feelings for the hearer and thus cements
the relationship. In response, the hearer often asks “Đi đâu?/Đi làm à?” instead of
responds to the compliments by “Cám ơn!” or “Có đẹp thật không?”

2.3.2 Greeting gestures
2.3.2.1 What gesture?
In "Nonverbal communication across cultures" (2008) Nguyen Quang
provided a full definition of gestures as follows:
Gestures can be understood as the movements of arms, legs and body which
are used independently or with words in communication in order to

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emphasize or replace words, to control or display one's feelings and
attitudes, and to express one's thought.
As for Lustig, & Koester (2006:1), it is said that
Gestures are fascinating things, at once wholly expressive and curious
mysterious. The flick of the wrist, the wave of a figure, or simply the
movement of an eyelid can say more than a speech, and sometimes subtle
gesture can express a felling more than words.
In short, gestures perform many functions which may replace speech
(during dialogue or when speech is not used at all), regulate the flow and rhythm of
interaction, maintain attention, add emphasis and /or classify to speech, help
characterize and memorize the content of the speech
2.3.2.2 Common greeting gestures
Around the world, there are hundreds of greeting gestures; however, here
we only consider eight familiar ones as follow:
Handshaking

In the book “Field Guide to Gestures”, handshake is the
way “two people grasp hands and pump”. This one is one of the most popular

greeting gestures all over the world but shaking hand depends on many factors
such as interact ants, environment, and culture. For example, in North Europe and
in business situation – North American it is normal for both men and women to
shake hand whereas in Isamic countries handshaking between men and women is
not acceptable.

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Greeting in Vietnamese and English

Hugging / embracing
Armstrong, N. and Wager, M. stated that hug is performed that “the arms
are wrapped around the torso of a companion; usually, the action is reciprocated”.
We can see this gesture in any place where people leave or are reunited with
another like airports, train stations, restaurants, bar, funerals, wedding, and even
bedroom or kitchen. Although hugging is a quite common gesture of greeting,
people in Islamic countries don’t perform it comfortably with members of the
opposite sex. May be, this one is suitable for family and close friends.
Hand Waving
In the study of Bui Thi Thu Thuy (2005):
This gesture is performed by the hand raised and moved from side to side. This
common gesture of friendly greeting and farewell has its origins as a distress
symbol, since it is one of the simplest and most obvious ways to
make
oneself visible from a distance.
Thus, hand waving is the intimate greeting which is to draw
other’s attention usefully and it is understood worldwide,
specifically people know together.
Bowing

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Greeting in Vietnamese and English

Armstrong, N. and Wager, M. described the bow as “the body is bent
forward at the waist” and “Bowing is a submissive gesture
that shows utmost respect and humility towards the figure
to whom one bows” (2003:4). This action is a formal
greeting in the globe and it is often observed in the theater,
performed by both actor and actress as a greeting at the
beginning of the show or a gratitude to audiences at the end. In contrary, bowing is
uncommon outside the theatre and the countries where sovereigns reign, in
Oriental cultures as Japan, South Korea, etc.

Nodding
“Nodding gesture is a worldwide greeting no matter what age, gender and
social status he/she of” and “in this gesture, the head is moved down with a direct
eye contact and a smile accompanied.”(Thuy, 2005:24). General speaking, the nod
is used commonly for situations when people do not have enough time to talk.
Kissing
Armstrong, N. and Wager, M. illustrated a kiss
that “Puckered lips touch some part of a companion’s
body, usually the lips, cheek, hand, or forehead” (2003:7).
Kissing is various but it is known there are two main
types as public kissing and private kissing. Specifically,
public kissing consists of cheek kissing, hand kissing and so on while private
kissing involves romance especially “French kissing” which is extremely cautious
when kissing in some Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia although we can see a

kiss everywhere.

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