Addressing terms in English and Vietnamese So sánh đối chiếu

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Titles

Page

List of members

1

List of tables

2

Tables of contents

3

INTRODUCTION

5

1

Rationale

5

2

Aims of the study

6

3

Research questions

6

4

Methods of the study

6

5

Design of the study

6

PART I

PART II

8

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

8

1.1

Definition of addressing terms

8

1.2

English addressing terms

9

1.3

Vietnamese addressing terms

10

CONTRASTING
CHAPTER 2 VIETNAMESE

OF

ENGLISH

ADRESSING

TERMS

AND

AND

10

TEACHING SUGGESTIONS
2.1

Personal pronouns

10

2.2

Personal names

13

2.3

Professional titles

14

2.4

Formal titles

15

1

2.5

Kinship terms

15

2.6

Terms of endearment

19

2.7

Components going with terms of address verbs

19

2.8

Words going with address terms

19

2.9

Demonstrative pronoun

20

CONCLUSION

21

PART III

PART I. INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Nowadays, English is considered as an international language which is a
means of communication in many fields of science, technology, culture,
education and economy. It plays a very important role in helping different
nations to understand each other and get great cooperation.
In interpersonal communications, addressing someone before starting a
conversation is necessarily done because it helps the addressee know that he or

2


she is the second person taking part in the conversation (Bui, 2008). Dewi
(2008) also stated that people use addressing terms not only to determine
addressees but also to show formal and informal manners and consideration for
them. In other words, by employing a certain addressing terms, speakers want to
express his or her feeling or respect, solidarity and intimacy to the addressees.
Both English and Vietnamese languages also have their unique addressing tern
system which can not be translated equivalently. In these two languages, a few
basic addressing terms share the same semantic constants. However, crosscultural researchers find that addressing terms of a society that one system can
not be fully translated equivalently into the language of a society that uses a
different system. What considered polite in one culture may be perceived as

impolite in another. Therefore, communicating effectively in intercultural
circumstances has been found difficulty.
The issue of communicative competence has been the interest and
responsibilities of those who are engaged in teaching of language as a foreign
language. Specifically, teachers of English, particularly teachers in Vietnam,
have paid assiduous attention to the issue of address system. Possibly, that is due
to the students’ lack of knowledge concerning the use of addressing terms. It is
also possible that the students simply apply their mother tongue’s rules
governing the use of addressing terms into English.
To serve our job in the future, we decided to deal with “addressing terms
in English and Vietnamese”.
2. Aims of the study
As the title of the thesis suggests, the study aims at fulfilling the following
objectives:
- To investigate the similarities and differences of English and
Vietnamese addressing terms

3


- To provide suggestions to help teachers can draw students’ attention
when teaching English addressing terms
3. Research questions
- What are the similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese addressing
terms?
- What can teachers draw students’ attention when teaching English addressing
terms?
4. Research methods
- Theoretical methods: According to the aims and the content of this
paper, we searched, collected, read and studied many different documents

related to the study.
5. Design of the study
It includes 3 main parts:
The 1st part is Introduction. It provides the general information about the
paper including Rationale, Aim of the study, Research questions, Research
methods and Design of the study.
The 2nd part consists of 2 main chapters:
Chapter I: Literature review
This chapter addresses a review of the literature related to addressing
terms in English and Vietnamese.
Chapter II: Contrasting of English and Vietnamese addressing terms and
teaching suggestions
This chapter emphasizes the similarities and differences of English and
Vietnamese addressing terms and provides some suggestions on teaching
addressing terms to students.

4


The 3rd part is Conclusion which gives an overview of what the study has
been presented and the base for further research in this aspect.

PART II
CHAPTER 1. LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Definition of addressing terms
There are many documents discussing about addressing terms. Yet, these
documents did not give a finite definition for the term “addressing terms”.
According to Nguyen Van Khang (as cited in Vinh, 2008, Address form
in translation), addressing terms are words used to call oneself and others.
5

Namely, they are words, phrases, names, titles or a combination of these used in
addressing someone or something. An address term may be friendly, unfriendly
or neutral, respectful, disrespectful or comradely (Nordquist, 2009). In addition,
addressing terms are “always grammatically optional, but they are often socially
required and they are always socially loaded” (Holmes and Meyerhoff, 2002,
p.77).
Bui Manh Hung (2008) stated that in a conversation, addressing terms
function as a lead-in of a conversation as in “Anh này, anh đã gửi quà cho bác
Đinh giúp em chưa?” or “Darling! Did you call Mrs. Ann for the invitation?”.
They also help to orient the conversation toward a particular person especially
when this person is among a group or a crowd, for example “chị áo xanh ơi, trả
bút cho em” or “Hey, baby”. He also pointed out the social functions of
addressing terms such as establishing and adjusting social relationships and
determining social status between participants of the conversation. For instance,
by addressing “Em ơi” in the sentence “Em ơi, đừng gọi tôi bằng chú” the
speaker has let the listener know what he or she should be called so that they can
build up a good and friendly relationship together. Moreover, the speaker also
shows his friendliness towards the listener. Through the way of using terms of
addressing, the speaker can express his respect, fondness, disfavor or scorn
toward his or her listener.
1.2. English addressing terms
Holmes and Meyerhoff (2002, p28) pointed out many different ways of
addressing people in English depending on the level of politeness and closeness.
Hence, any individual may get very different terms from different
addressers, and some addressers may use multiple terms. For example:
- Surname plus social title: Mr./Ms./Miss./Mrs. Robinson
- Surname plus professional title: Dr./Prof./Judge./Sen./Capt. Robinson

6


- Respect terms: sir, ma’am, miss
- Bare title: coach, professor, doctor , judge , councilor, teacher
- Surname only: Robinson
- Title or kinship term plus given name: Ms. Blanche/ Auntie Blanche /
Granny Rose/ Papa John
-

Bare

kinship

term:

mother/mom/mommy/mama,

dad/daddy/

papa/pop(s)/father, sis(ter), bro(ther), son, daughter, aunt(ie), uncle, grandma,
grandpa
- Given name: Christine/ Christopher
- Standard short form of name: Chris
- Special “nicknames”: Crisco (for Chris), Teddy Bear/Ace/Batgirl
- Stranger generic names: Mac, Bud, Buster, Toots
- General: man, you(guys) , girl(friend), dude, lady, ladies, gentlemen,
folks, babe, sexy
- Epithets/insults: bitch, ho, slut, prick, bastard, slimeball, nerd, dyke,
faggot

- Endearments (sometimes preceded by my) : honey, dear, sweetie, love,
darling, baby, cutie, etc.
1.3. Vietnamese addressing terms
Phan (2006) has listed a number of terms that Vietnamese address each
other, a summary of which is as follows:
- Personal pronouns especially second-person pronouns: bạn/các bạn,
mày/chúng mày, bồ, anh, em, trò, bay/tụi bay, etc.
- Personal names: Hương ơi, ông Huế, etc.
- Professional titles: Cô giáo Thảo, ông luật sư, anh bác sĩ, etc.
7


- Formal titles: Ngày, Ông, quý ông, etc.
- Kinship terms: Mẹ (má, bầm, bu, mệ,…), bố (tía, ba, cha, thầy,…), bà
(nội, ngoại, cố, dì, trẻ), con, cháu, chắt, etc.
- Terms of endearment: cưng, nhỏ, em yêu, etc.
- Insults: con ngây, thằng gù, lão điên, etc.
- Other terms: thằng còi (“ Thằng còi! Lại đây!”), phở (“Phở! Phở!), etc.
CHAPTER 2. CONTRASTING OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
ADRESSING TERMS AND TEACHING SUGGESTIONS
2.1. Personal pronouns
Personal pronoun is a word used instead of a noun that represents a
specific person. Its use depends on number (singular, plural), person (first,
second, third), gender (male, female, neutral) and case (subject, object).
Vietnamese and English personal pronoun must be in agreement with correct
gender and number of people being described. These two following tables will
illustrate the difference between English and Vietnamese personal pronoun.

Table 1: English address forms
English personal pronoun

singular
subject
first

Plural

Object

reflexive

subject

object

reflexive

me

myself

we

us

ourselves

8


second

third

you

you

yourself

you

you

yourselves

masculine

he

him

himself

they

them

themselves

feminine

she

her

herself

neuter

it

it

itself

Table 2: Vietnamese addressing forms
Persons
P1 (addressor)
(English "I/we")

P2 (addressee)
(English "you")

P3 (third person
referent) (English
"he, she, it/they")

Number

nó, hắn, y

Singular

Tôi
Tao

mày, mi

Ta

mi

tớ

cậu, bạn, trò

Mình

bạn
mình

chúng tôi

các bạn

chúng tao
Ta/ chúng ta

chúng mày, bây, chúng
bây ,tụi mày, tụi bây

chúng tớ

các cậu

mình, chúng mình, tụi
mình

các bạn

chúng nó, chúng,
họ,

Plural

As these two tables can be seen, Vietnamese has more forms of personal
pronouns than English more. There is a variety of second-person pronouns
9


expressing different levels of intimacy, politeness or insolence. For example,
Vietnamese often use “ bạn / các bạn” to formally address those who are at the
same social status. However, the use of these pronouns is very limited. It
depends on the context, and the social relationship between the interlocutors. On
the contrary, in English, there is only one second-person pronoun that is “you”
and it can be used in every communicative circumstance.
Besides, in Vietnam personal pronoun, there are five common pronouns
for the first person singular reference and the corresponding plural form fore
singular forms by adding “chúng” to them. The third person reference include
four commonly used pronouns in the singular form and three in plural. As the
result, Vietnamese personal pronouns can reveal the social relationship between

the speaker and the person being referred to the difference in age and the attitude
of the speaker toward the hearer. In English person pronoun, there are only 2
forms for the first person: I (singular) and we (plural) the third person includes
three singular forms such as he, she and it and only one plural form – they. In
the first and second person, they exist in to neutral dyadic pairs (I - you and we
-you) which are regarded as prefabricated units because they are used to
communicate in any context and with everyone not containing any information
of gender, age or social and family relationship as well as the formality of
communication. The third person is only used to refer to the difference of gender
but age between the speakers and listeners in any dimensions of the
communication.
For grammar, Vietnamese personal pronoun, unlike English personal
pronoun does not have transformation form subjective form to objective form so
Vietnamese one can be used as both subject and object in sentences. In English
personal pronoun, there is a clear distinction between subjective and objectives
forms of addressing. Each subjective form also have its own relevant objective
form.

10


For example:
Anh ấy yêu tôi .

He loves me.

Tôi yêu anh ấy.

I love him.

In Vietnamese personal pronoun: the subject are the same with the object:
anh, ấy, tôi. In English pronoun: “she” has the objective form - “her”, “I” has the
objective form – “me”.
Therefore, in teaching especially in teaching translation, teachers should
ask students to pay assiduous attention to the social relationships between the
participants of the conversations as well as the speaker’s attitudes towards his or
her addressee in order to get full understanding of the conversation.
2.2. Personal names
Both the English and the Vietnamese use names to address people. Firstly,
Vietnamese never use names to address their relatives. For example, they never
call their mother by names. By contrast, English sometimes call their family
members using names. Secondly, on daily communication, Vietnamese use first
names to address another and only use last name to refer to the third – person
while in England, people use last name very often. They can call “Miss Smith”
(the last name is of the husband), for example, to politely address a married
woman. Finally, Vietnamese speakers refer to themselves and others name
where it would be strange if used in English, eliminating the need for personal
pronoun altogether. For instance, consider the following conversation:
Hoa: Hồng đang làm gì vậy ?
Hồng: Hồng đang goị Thanh. Hoa có biết Thanh ở đâu không?
Hoa: Không. Hoa không biết Thanh ở đâu cả.
A normal translation of the conversation into English would be:

11


Hoa : What are you doing?
Hong: I am calling Thanh . Do you know where he is?
Hoa: No. I don’t know where he is.
While referring to oneself on the audience by name would by considered

strange in English people always use surname with the titles such as Ms, Miss,
Mrs and Ms in formal context on Just use “I and you ’’ in any context, in
Vietnamese it is considered friendly and Is the preferred way to communicate
with close friends. However, Vietnamese with a lower rank can not refer to their
superiors by name in a kinship context.
Hence, teachers’ responsibility is helping students get more knowledge
about the culture of the two countries so that students will not be confused and
have wrong evaluation of the other culture.
2.3. Professional titles
In English and Vietnamese, professional titles are often employed to
confirm formality between interlocutors. It will be all right in both languages to
use professional titles alone or with names. However, in Vietnamese addressing
system, there are occupation such as giáo sư (professor), bác sĩ (doctor).
Moreover, there also exists occupational title with proper name, such as “Giáo
sư Trung”, “Thầy giáo Hùng”, ”Giám đốc Hoa”. They are can be used as the
second and third personal reference. Nevertherless, English addressing system,
unlike Vietnamese one, they use a neutral dyad “I and you” when talk to each
other. It does not depend on their own occupation following with their surname
as the third person in formal content like “professor John”.
Thus, students should be explained carefully about this difference so as
not to be considered awkward in their interaction with English people.
2.4. Formal titles

12


In very formal circumstances, Vietnamese use some formal titles to
address people, especially when the addressees are superior to them. Among the
terms often used are “ông” and “ngài”. Formal titles like “sir”, “Mr”, “Mrs”,...
are often employed in official contexts as well.

Teachers had better encourage students to study the cultures of the tow
nations so as to have appropriate interpretation of formal titles from one
language to the other.
2.5. Kinship terms
Kinship terms, according to E. R. Leach, are “category words by means of
which an individual is taught to recognize the significant groupings in the social
structure into which he is born’’ (as cited in Leach,1958). All languages in the
world have kinship terms, which are clearly highlighted in addressing forms of a
language. Without exception, all kinship terms make use of factors such as age,
sex, generation, blood, marriage in their society. Both English and Vietnamese
languages also have their own kinship terms, which can not be translated into
each other equivalently. Both they have defined their own set of kinship terms
and the roles they serve in the society. There are both similarities and
differences between English and Vietnamese kinship terms through the
following table 3 and table 4.

Table 3: Lineal relations
Relation to ego

English term

paternal grandfather
maternal grandfather

grandfather

Vietnamese term
Reciprocal
Ông nội
Ông ngoại

cháu
cháu

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paternal grandmother
maternal grandmother

grandmother

father

father

mother

mother

elder brother
younger brother
elder sister
younger sister

brother
sister

Bà nội
Bà ngoại

cháu
cháu

Ba, cha, tía, bố
Mẹ, má, u,
bầm
Anh trai
Em trai
Chi gái
Em gái

con
con
em
Cha, má, bố, mẹ…

son

son

Con trai

Cha, má, bố, mẹ…

daughter

daughter

Con gái

Cha, má, bố, mẹ…

son’s son
daughter’s son
son’s daughter
daughter’s daughter

Cháu trai (cháu
grandson
nội or cháu
ngoại)
Cháu gái
granddaughter
(cháu nội or
cháu ngoại)

Ông bà nội, ông bà
ngoại
Ông bà nội, ông bà
ngoại

Table 4: Collateral relations
Relation to ego

English term

Vietnamese term

father’s elder brother

father’s younger brother
mother’selder brother
mother’s younger brother

uncle

Bác
Chú
Bác
Cậu

father’s elder/ younger
sister
mother’s elder/ younger
sister
father’s brother’s son (elder
/ younger)
father’s sister’s son (elder /
younger)
mother’s brother’s
son(elder / younger)

aunt

Bác, cô

Reciprocal
Vietnamese
Cháu

Cháu

Bác, dì
cousin

Anh em trai bà
con
Anh em trai họ
hàng

Em, anh, chi

14


mother’s sister’s son(elder /
younger)
father’s brother’s
daughter(elder / younger)
father’s sister’s
daughter(elder / younger)
mother’ brother’s
daughter(elder / younger)
mother’s sister’s
daughter(elder / younger)
brother’s son
sister’s son
wife’s sibling’s son
husband’s sibling’s son
brother’s daughter

sister’s daughter
wife’s sibling’s daughter
husband’s sibling’s
daughter

Chị em gái họ
hàng
Chị em gái bà con

nephew

Cháu trai

Chú, cô

niece

Cháu gái

Cậu, dì

mother’selder brother ‘
wife
mother’s younger brother’
wife

aunt

Bác

Cháu

father’s elder brother’ wife
father’s younger brother’
wife

aunt

Mợ

Cháu

thím

Father in law (paternal and Father in law
maternal)
Mother in law (paternal and Mother in law
maternal)

Elder/ younger brother’s
wife
Elder/younger sister’s
husband

Bác

Ba, cha bố
chồng/vợ

Con

Mẹ, má chồng/ vợ

Sister

Chị dâu
Em dâu

brother

Anh rể, em rể

Em, chị, anh

15


Elder/ younger brother in
law (paternal and maternal)

Brother

Anh/ em chồng
(vợ)

Elder/younger sister in law
(paternal and maternal)

sister

Chị/ em chồng
(vợ)

Daughter in
law
Son in law

Con dâu

Daughter’s husband
Son’s husband

Anh, chi, em

Ba, mẹ

Con rể

In both English and Vietnamese kinship systems addressing forms are
used to emphasize people who are related by blood and marriage (collateral and
lineal). Both they are also based on the relation of blood and marriage to choose
the appropriate terms to address each other in communication. In both
languages, kinship systems differentiate between generations (the difference
between a child and a parent) and between sexes (the difference between a
brother and a sister). Moreover, both the two kinship systems distinguish
between relatives by blood and marriage.
In contrast to English kinship terms, there exist more specific and
complex kinship terms in Vietnamese, most of which do not have equivalents in
English language. Kinship and family relationships in Viet Nam are more
accurately described as an intricate network and complicated pattern of

relationship, which English ones are less complex, full and fastidious.
Therefore, teachers must draw a distinction between English and
Vietnamese kinship terms in order that students can avoid translating
Vietnamese kinship terms into English.
2.6. Terms of endearment

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Both English and Vietnamese often employ term of endearment like
“honey”, “bear”, “sweetie”, “love’’, “darling”, “baby”, etc to express the
fondness and affection. In Vietnamese, adjectives are sometimes used as terms
of endearment, whereas in English ,nouns and nouns plus “-ie” suffix are usually
employed.
2.7. Components going with terms of address verbs
In Vietnamese, addressing terms will be more respectful and formal if it
goes with some of the following performative verbs: “bẩm”, “lậy”, “thưa’’, etc
as in “bẩm ông”,”lạy cụ”, etc. They are actually performative verbs, but in these
situation, they are not used to performactions. Vietnamese often use this style of
addressing when taking to their superior or people who have high social status.
By contrast, English does not have such verbs.
Consequently, in teaching, teachers have to make it clear that students do
not to have to find such verbs in English when addressing.
2.8. Words going with address terms
In both English and Vietnamese, some non-meaningful words such as
“hey”, “ê” , “này”, etc can be used alone for addressing .
Besides in Vietnamese, the meaningful words can be added often the
address terms to express the intimacy, closeness, informality, for example “chị
ạ”, “anh ạ”, etc. In English, only the word “the” can go with addressing terms as
in “the Smith”.

2.9. Demonstrative pronoun
Demonstrative pronoun is used to distinguish the particular objects or
people that are referred to form other possible candidates (this, that, those,
these). More interestingly, it is a special addressing term that exist only in
Vietnamese addressing form, especially in love relationship such as “đằng”,
17


“đấy”, “này”, etc for the speaker and “đây”, “ấy”, “đằng ấy” for the hearer. If
can be used independently (not follow with noun) to refer somebody as the first
and second person. For instance:
Boy: Cho đằng này hỏi đằng ấy một câu nhé?
Girl: Dạ, đằng ấy cứ hỏi đi ạ.

As for English language, demonstrative pronoun is also to demonstrate
people but must follow with a noun when referring someone. For example: this
teacher, that person in the following conversation:
Mary: Do you know that person over there?
Peter: Yes, he is my brother in law.

PART III. CONCLUSION
From the above analyses of the similarities and differences between
English and Vietnamese addressing terms, it is concluded that using suitable
addressing terms depends on the power, solidarity and formality of dimensions
in the relation between addresser and addressee so changes in the character’s
18


feelings and attitudes toward each other relationship are conveyed through

changes in addressing. As mentioned above, English and Vietnamese have some
similarities as well as differences in the use of addressing terms. So as to help
students understand and be able to use the addressing terms correctly, besides
making a contrastive analysis of the two languages, teachers should let students
expose as many authentic materials as possible such as English films, story,
books and newspapers. In addition, as teachers of English, we should combine
teaching languages with cultures so that students apprehend and have an open
and approachable view about the other languages and cultures.

REFERENCES
1. Bui, M.H. (2008). Ngôn ngữ học đối chiếu. Ho Chi Minh city:
Educatipn Publishing House.

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2. Dewi, D.Y.F. (2008). A contrastive study between English and
Indonesian

address

system.

Retrieved

January

5th,

2015

from

/>3. Holmes, J. & Meyerhoff, M. (Ed.). (2002). The Handbook of language
and Gender. Blackwell Publishing.
4. Nordquist, R. (2009). Term of address. Retrieved January 5th, 2015from
/>5. Phan, T.T.T. (2006). Hô ngữ Tiếng Việt. Ho Chi Minh city: University
of Education Press.
6. Pham, T.V. (2008). Address forms in translation. Khoaanh. Retrieved
January 5th, 2015 from .
7. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2015). English personal pronouns.
Retrieved January 5th, 2015 from
/>8. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2015). Vietnamese pronouns.
Retrieved January 5th, 2015 from
/>
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