A contrastive analysis of refusing an offer in english and vietnamese

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

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Abstract
It’s really difficult to refuse someone when he or she offers you
something or to do something, especially when you’re busy or you don’t
want to do. You want to refuse but you don’t 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 don’t have to buy words, so don’t
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

Vietnamese learners of English.

communicative

competence

of


Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese

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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 functionrefusing an offer.


Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese

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Refusing an offer

I) Definition:
According to Vietnamese dictionary, refusal means you don’t
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 don’t
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: You’re very busy. Your colleague offers you to help
him. You don’t 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 don’t want to bother him or you don’t
want to accept his help offer. How can you refuse him?


Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese

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Situation 3: You come to visit your friend’s house. Your friend
offers you some cakes that you don’t 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 don’t 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] Thôi. Chuyện của mình thì tự giải quyết đi. Tôi không
có rảnh rang. ( No. You should solve your problem by yourself. I’m not
free)1 (situation 1)
[ 2] “ Thôi. Về đi. Xe của tôi chứ có phải xe của Bình
đâu?.” ( No. Go away. It’s my bike, not your bike, ok?) (situation
2)
[3] Bánh này dở lắm. Không ăn đâu. ( This cake is bad. I
don’t want to eat). (situation 3)
[4] Thôi khỏi. Tôi không cần anh giúp. ( No. I don’t need
your help. (situation 4)
Some examples of English:
[5] I can’t help you. Don’t bother me. ( tôi không giúp anh/
chị đâu. Đừng làm phiền tôi(situation 1)

[6] Go away. ( làm ơn biến đi dùm đi). ( situation 2)
[7] No, it’s awful. ( Không, nó ghê quá) (situation 3)
1

The part in parentheses in this paper is the equivalent structure in other language.


Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese

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[8] No. go away. ( không, đi đi). (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] Phương à, xin lỗi. Chắc tôi không giúp anh/ chị được
rồi. ( Sorry Phuong, Perhaps I can’t help you) (situation 1)
[ 10] “ Thôi. Muộn rồi. Bình về trước đi.” ( No. It’s too late.
You should go home, Binh) (situation 2)
[11] Không. Cảm ơn. Mình không thích ăn loại bánh này. (
No. Thanks. I don’t like this kind of cake). (situation 3)
[12] I’d really like to help you, but you see I’m so busy in
my project. Sorry, I can’t help you. ( Tôi thật sự rất muốn giúp
anh/ chị. Nhưng anh/ chị thấy rồi đó, tôi rất bận rộn làm kế hoạch
của mình. Xin lỗi, tôi không thể giúp anh/chị được.) (situation 1)

[13] No, it’s alright. I can manage. ( Không, được rồi. Mình
có thể tự xoay sở.) (situation 2)
[14] No, Thank you. ( Không, cảm ơn) (situation 3)
Moreover, unlike native speakers of English, Vietnamese
sometimes likes to use proverbs of philosophy in human life when
they refuse directly:
Ex: Không cần anh giúp đâu. Đèn nhà ai nấy sáng đi ( I
don’t need your help. Half the world not knows how the other half
lives). (situation 4)


Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese

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2) Refusing an offer indirectly:
Here are some responses to three situations indirectly in
Vietnamese and English:
In Vietnamese, we have some examples:
[15] Phương à, thât sự xin lỗi. Dạo này tôi bận tập trung
vào kế hoạch kinh doanh mới, sợ là tới hết năm nay cũng chưa
hết bận nữa. David rất nhiệt tình, hay anh/ chị thử nhờ anh ấy
xem. (I’m really sorry, Phuong. This time, I’m really busy to
concentrate on my new project.I’m afraid I’m going to be busy
until the end of the year. David is really ethusiatic, You can ask
him to help you). (situation 1)
[16] Cảm ơn Binh, mình dắt bộ được mà. …với lại đoạn
này chẳng có tiệm sửa xe đâu. ( Thanks Binh, I can walk to take
it. Moreover, there is no bike repair shop). (situation 2)
[17] Cảm ơn bạn. Tôi ăn chưa quen loại bánh này.

( Thanks. I’m not familiar with eating this kind of cake). (situation
3)
[18a] Cảm ơn anh. Hôm qua tôi tự mở được. Phiền anh, tôi
ngại lắm. ( thanks. Yerterday I can open it. I’m afraid of bothering
you”. (Situation 4)
[18b] Chà, chà anh tốt quá nhưng em nghĩ em tự mở
được. Cảm ơn anh nhiều. ( You’re 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] I’d like to help you, but I’m really busy in my new project.
Sorry. ( Tôi rất muốn giúp anh/chị nhưng tôi bận làm kế hoạch mới rồi.
Thông cảm nha). (situation 1)


Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese

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Or [19b] Sorry, I’m really busy this time. ( Xin lỗi, dạo này tôi bận
lắm). (situation 1)
[20] I really appreciate your concern but I can solve this by myself.
Thanks anyway. ( Tôi đánh giá cao sự quan tâm của bạn nhưng tôi có thể
tự giải quyết. Dù sao đi nữa cũng cảm ơn). (situation 2)
[21] Well Thanks, it look delicious. But I’m really full. Next time, I’ll
try it. ( Nhìn ngon quá nhưng mà tôi no quá. Lần sau tôi sẽ cố gắng thử).
(Situation 3)
[22] Oh, Thanks. You’re so generous, but I’m familiar with it ( Bạn
thật sự hào phóng làm sao, nhưng tôi quen với việc này rồi).(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 don’t want to lend you my money”,
informant can say “Sorry, My mum hasn’t sent my money yet” to inform
that he doesn’t 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, it’s 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

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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

“You’re so kind”, “you’re a wonderful person…” or “I’m 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/ chị nhờ Advid thử coi vì “trong khốn khó mới biết bạn hiền”.
( 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 other’s offer by combining both
direct and indirect speech act.
Here are some responses for four situations above:
In Vietnamese:
[24] “Anh Phương à,Như đã giải thích hôm trước, tôi đang
có dự án cần hoàn thành gấp nên không thể giúp anh được. Dù
không trực tiếp tham gia nhưng tôi có thể nhờ một người khác
phụ giúp anh/chị”. Dạo này anh khỏe không? ( Phuong, As I
explained last time, I have had a project in emergency so I can’t
help you. Though I don’t take part in, I can have someone else to
help you. How have you been). (situation 1)
[25] Cảm ơn Bình rất nhiều. Mà Bình về đi vì muộn lắm rồi.
Mình tự dắt bộ được. Với lại đoạn đường này không có tiệm sửa
xe đâu. ( Thanks Binh. You should go home because it’s too late.
I can take it. Moreover, there is no bike repair store here).
(situation 2)


Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese

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[26] Cảm ơn bạn. Thật sự mình chưa quen ăn loại bánh
này. Với lại mình còn no lắm. Mình không ăn nữa đâu. Lần sau
nhất định mình sẽ ăn thử. ( thanks. I’m not familiar with this kind
of cake. I’m still full. I can’t eat more. I’ll try next time). (situation
3)
[27] Cái cửa này hôm qua em mở được. Chắc hôm nay sẽ
mở được. Anh khỏi giúp em đi. Không sao đâu. Có gì em gọi anh
sau. Thôi cũng trễ rồi, anh về phòng ngủ đi. Chúc anh ngủ ngon.
( I can open it yesterday. Today I can open. You don’t need to
help me. Don’t worry for me. I will call up you later.. It’s too late,
you should return your room. Good night.). ( situation 4).
In English:
[28] In fact, I’d like to help you, but I’m really busy in my
new project. Sorry. I can’t help you. I think David can help you.
( Tôi rất muốn giúp anh/chị nhưng tôi bận làm kế hoạch mới rồi.
Xin lỗi, tôi không giúp anh/chị được.

Tôi nghĩ David giúp anh/

chị được đó) (situation 1)
[29] No, thanks. It’s too late now, you should go home. I
really appreciate your concern but I can solve it by myself. See
you later. ( thôi cảm ơn bạn. trễ rồi bạn về đi. Cảm ơn bạn đã
quan tâm nhưng mình tư giải quyết được). (Situation 2)
[30] Thanks. It looks delicious but I’m really full so I’ll have
to pass it. ( Cảm on nhé. Nhìn ngon quá nhưng mình no quá rồi.
đành bỏ qua nó thôi.). (Situation 3)
[31] You’re so kind but I’m familiar with it. You don’t need to

help me. I can manage it. Thanks ever so much. ( anh tốt quá
nhưng tôi đã quen với nó rồi. không cần giúp tôi. Tôi xoay sở
được. cảm ơn nhiều nhé.). (Situation 4)


Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese

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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
No

refusing words
I don’t need your help,
You don’t need to help me…

Table 2:
Negative word
No

Thanking
Thanks,
thank you,
thanks ever so much

Table 3:
appreciation
I’d like to help you

reasons
Excuses/apology
But I’m too busy to help Sorry ( situation 1).
you

In Vietnamese:
Table 3:


Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese

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Negative word
Thôi

Thanking
Cảm ơn

Không

Cảm ơn

Khỏi cần

Cảm ơn

Không cần đâu

Cảm ơn

The structure of indirect speech act:
In English:
Table 4
Addressee terms
Phương à,

Excuses/apology
Thành thật xin lỗi

reasons
Tôi bận

quá,

không giúp anh được
rồi.( situation 1).
Table 5
Thanking word

Reasons/

explaining

why

accepting
Thanks.

I can manage it.

Thank you.

But I can do it by myself.

Thank you very much.

But I’m really full.

Table 6

not


Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese
Positive appreciation

13

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

You’re 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 I’m really full. I’ll try it next time.( situation 2)

Oh, What a pity!

I wish I didn’t eat anything before I come here.
( situation 2)

Table 8:
Calming words

Reasons/

explaining

why

Don’t worry

accepting
It’s better now. ok ( Situation 1)

Never mind

Let me try. (Situation 4).

not

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

Cảm ơn Bình

14

not accepting
Nhưng mình có

thể tự dắt xe về

được. ( situation 2)
Cảm ơn bạn

Tôi chưa quen loại bánh này.
( situation 3).

Cảm ơn anh nha

Hôm qua tôi tự mở được, chắc hôm
nay tự mở được.

Table 10:
The sympathies with the
interlocutor
Cũng trễ lắm rồi, Bình về trước đi

Bạn làm gì đủ sức mà mở

The replacing actions
Để mình dắt được mà. ( situation 2).

Để đó đi. ( situation 4)

Table 11:
Thanking words
Cảm ơn

Philosophy of human life.
Nhưng “đèn nhà ai nấy sáng” đi
anh ạ . ( situation 4)
Nhưng “đèn nhà ai nấy sáng” Bình
à. ( situation 2)

Table 12:
The person who refuses gives the Reasons/
anxiety/ worry
Mình chỉ sợ

explaining

for

anxiety or worry
Làm phiền Bình thôi.( situation 2)

the


Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese

Em không muốn

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Anh đổ mồ hôi vì những chuyện lặt
vặt này (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

term

promise

asking

words

for

information

See example 24 above.
Table 14:
Negative
words/phrases
No
No

Thanking
words
Thanks
Thanks

Reasons/

explaining

why not accepting
But I can manage

It’s too late now. I think
you should go home.
( situation 2).

Table 15:
Appreciations
You’re so generous

Refusing words
But I don’t need

Thanking
Thanks any way
Thanks


Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese

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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
words/phrases
Thôi được rồi

Thanking words
Cảm ơn Bình

Reasons/

explaining

why not accepting
Mình tự dắt bộ
xe được rồi.

Table 18:
Thanking words
Cảm ơn bạn
Cảm ơn anh

Reasons/

explaining Promising/ wishing

why not accepting

Tôi ăn chưa quen loại Lần sau tôi nhất định
bánh này lắm

sẽ ăn thử

Chắc em tự mởi được

Khuya rồi, chúc anh
ngủ ngon nhé.

In both English and Vietnamese, 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

17

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 thanks”…in English, “thôi, khỏi…”
in Vietnamese. The next is ability of negation speech act which means the
speaker doesn’t have ability to accept the offer. These speech acts can be
“I can’t” in English, “tôi không thể giúp anh”..in Vietnamese. The third is
indirect speech act which means refusal is performed through the other
speech such as “I’m really busy this week” in English or “tôi có thể tự mở
nó được” 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 other’s 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

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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 don’t 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 neighbours…These 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, chú, bác,
dì,cô, tao mày, đệ huynh, chị em…While 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:
Chị về đi. Chắc em không giúp được chị rồi. ( situation 1)

Làm sao tao giúp mày được trong khi tao cũng đang bận tối mặt tối
mũi. ( situation 1)
I sympathy for your difficult situation but I can’t help you.(situation 1)
I’m too busy to help you. ( Situation 1).
Additionally, according to Khuong and Thao survey (2007)
Vietnamese tend to use model particles such as à, ư, nhỉ, nhé, thôi, nha…
to express the speakers’ nuance.
Cảm ơn Bình nhé nhưng mình tự dắt xe được (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 “dạ, ạ, xin, thưa” 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

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Ex: “ Dạ, em không muốn làm anh đổ mồ hôi vì cánh cửa này đâu”.
(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. People’s 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 don’t 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


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20

refuse like this “No, thank you. I just ate before coming”, “Thank you, but
I’m not hungry”. If his workmate’s mother offers, the refusal speech acts
may be “It’s very nice of you, but I’m full”, “Thank you. It smells delicious.
But I have just had meal”, “Oh, thanks. I’ve eaten already. And I’m full now.
I can’t eat any more”. The later refusal speech acts have the associative

and rhetorical utterances such as “It’s 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, age…that 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 không ăn đâu”, or refuse
their mother “ con no lắm rồi mẹ ơi” or refuse their lover “ em không ăn nổi
nữa, no lắm rồi”. 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 Dũng’s 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 don’t attach
anything more. But sometimes, the English try to replace the reasons by
dilemma which make the refusing be softer and the partner doesn’t 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! I’m really full now. I can’t 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

21

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:
Phương à, thành thật xin lỗi, tôi bận quá chắc không giúp anh
được.( situation 1).
An example in English:
I would like to help you but I’m 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

22

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 don’t
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 strategies…In 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


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23

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.


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24

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.” (Trăm hay không bằng tay quen), practice makes perfect.
Moreover, if students are given many chances to speak and are
encouraged frequently, they’ll 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


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25

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.