Unit 3
Daily Communication (II)
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Case Analysis
Compliments and Compliment Responses
Gift-giving and gift-receiving
Exercises
Compliments and Compliment
Responses
• Main point: Chinese modesty
• Social functions of compliments
• Differences between Chinese compliments
and English compliments
• Cultural assumption
• Expressions for gratitude in English and
Chinese
• Common expressions for apology in
English
Compliments and Compliment
Responses
• Compliments and compliment responses are
an essential part of daily verbal
communication.Various expressions of
compliment and compliment response
manfifest the cultural variations and
different cultural roots.
Chinese Modesty
• Oh, it’s an ordinary dress I bought in China.
• Should I blush, or should I tell him you
don’t really mean it?
• Growing flowers is my hobby, but I’m not
much good at it.
• I really know so little about the subject.
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Social functions of compliments
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Creating or reinforcing solidarity
greeting people
expressing thanks
congratulation
encouraging people
softening criticism
starting a conversation
getting over embarrassment
Differences between Chinese
compliments and English
compliments
• The Semantic formula
• The Syntactic Formula
• Common responses formula in E- and Ccompliments
The Semantic Formula
• English:
• This was a great meal.
• Bill, you look so nice
today.
• I love your dresses.
• About 80% adj.
16%verbs
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Chinese:
你的房间不错。
你待人真好。
你该受表扬。.
Mainly adj. Adv. verbs
The Syntactic formula
English:
• NP is/looks adj. 53%
e.g.You are so efficient.
• I like/love NP. 16.2%
e.g. I really like your
hardwood floors.
• PRO is (really) (a)
ADJ NP (14.9%)
That’s really a beautiful
car.
• Chinese compliments
• You V ADV.41%
你干得不错！
• (You)NP is ADV Adj
35% 你穿这件外套真
漂亮。
• PRO is ADJ NP (9%)
那是一幅不错的画。
• PRO (you) V NP Y
5%你该受表彰。
• PRO (I) V (like) NP
4%.我喜欢你的房子。
Common Responses Formula in
English and Chinese
Compliment
• Chinese
• American English
• A: This is really a nice
sweater.
• B: I’m glad you like it.
• A: You did a good job.
• B: Thank you/Thanks.
• A:Your sweater is very
good.你的毛衣不错。
• B: I bought is only for
ten yuan.才花了我十
元钱。
• A: You did the job
very well.你干得不错。
• B: That’s the result of
joint efforts.大家努力
的结果。
Compliment
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I do envy you. You are so beautiful!
I do think that’s charming.
I must say the soup is really very good.
I should say this shirt matches your trousers
fabulously.
Its’ an unforgettable experience.
It’s lovely!
It’s so brilliantly beautiful!
Oh, how nice.
Compliment
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Oh, isn’t that lovely! Oh, wouldn’t that be nice!
That’s a very nice hairstyle you’re wearing.
The hat suits you very well.
You have a good taste.
You look really wonderful in that blue skirt.
You look very smart.
Informal Compliment
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I like the design!
I love your coat!
I must take my hat off to you for your good show.
I say, I like your brooch.
I’ve got to hand it to you; you really did a good
job.
Informal Compliment
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Just look at it. Isn’t amazing!
Mm! You look great.
Wonderful! /
You really look sharp today.
Your presentation is smashing.
Now that’s absolutely super!
Formal Compliment
• I really must express my admiration for
your competence.
• I think you deserve the highest praise.
• If I may say so, the crispy fried duck is
delicious.
• I like to express my admiration for your
generosity.
• May I say how charming you look?
Responding to Compliments
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Do you really think so?
I’m very glad you like it / think so.
It’s very nice of you to say so.
Oh, thank you , but I have a lot to learn yet.
Thank you, but it’s not really all that good.
Thank you very much for saying so.
That’s very kind of you.
Responding to Compliments
• Informally
• Oh, I’m flattered.
• Oh, thanks!
Responding to Compliments
• Formally
• How very kind of you to say so.
• That’s very kind of you, but in all truth I feel
the credit should go to Mr Harrod.
• I appreciate your remarks, but I honestly don't
think it was anything to shout about.
Simulation game:Dinner Party
Simulation game:
Dinner Party
• The students are divided into groups of five or
six, one is supposed to be the host or hostess
who is holding a dinner party, and the other
would be either the Chinese guests or English
speaking guests. Provide some probable
problem situations as concerned with
compliments, politeness , hospitality, gifts, and
some offensive questions etc.
Cultural Assumption
• You have lost weight.
• You’ve put on weight./You’ve gained
weight.
Expressions for gratitude in
English and Chinese
• English:
• Thanks/Many thanks/Thanks a lot./Thank
you very much./Thank you very much
indeed./I really don’t know how to thank
you enough./I’m thankful to you for all your
kindness./ I greatly appreciate your timely
help
Formulaic responses to the
expressions above
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Not at all.
You’re welcome.
Don’t mention it.
It’s my/our pleasure.
That’s all right.
That’s okay.
(It doesn’t matter and Never mind are
responses to apology.)
Common expressions for apology
in English
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Excuse me.
Will you excuse me for a few minutes?
Excuse me for my smoking here.
I’m sorry…
Sorry about that.
Sorry for not phoning you.
I’m very /so /terribly/awfully/extremely
sorry for that.
Formulaic
responses
• It doesn’t matter
at all.
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Never mind.
No harm done.
No problem.
Forget it.
Please don’t worry.
That’s quite all right.
I quite understand.
It’s not your fault.
It’s nothing.
Please don’t blame yourself.
There is no reason to apologize.
It’s really not necessary.
Activity 3
Differences in Accepting the Gifts
• In the West, it is regarded as polite to open
_______as
soon as they are given to you to
gifts
appreciation In China, the
express ___________.
situation is quite the________.
reverse Normally
we Chinese feel that if you open the gift as
soon as it is given, you might
embarrass
___________the
person who gives the gift
greedy So
and you might be thought _________.
Chinese people tend to open the
after the visitors have left.
gifts_______
Differences in Accepting the Gifts
• What’s more, many people send gifts
without wrapping
_______ them, and if they wrap
them
,
they
usually
tell
the
what is inside
receiver_______________,
and the receiver
will ________the
sender and put the gift
thank
unwrapping
aside without __________
them since they
already know what is inside.
Differences in Bringing Gifts
two
usual present _______
• In China,it is quite _______to
bottles of wine rather than one. Apart from being
more generous even numbers of gifts
fruit
good luckAs to types of gifts, _______
suggest_________.
is common one to bring with when visiting a
family.
Differences in Bringing Gifts
• However, things are quite different in the West.
Guests invited to dinner in the West frequently
one
bring _____bottle
of wine with them . One is quite
enough, two are of course welcome but
unusual
_______and not expected. As they are expected to
be consumed at the meal bringing two might
even give the impression that the giver is a
heavy drinker who fears she will not have
______
fruit
enough to drink. Taking ______to
such an
occasion is unusual . Traditionally gifts of fruit
are thought of as only appropriate for visits to
ill.
people who are_______
中国人对礼品真的不感兴趣吗？
• 中国的送礼讲究：
--名目繁多：婚丧节庆、生儿育女、乔迁、
升学等
--礼品贵重
礼多人不怪
（孔子得子，鲁国君送鲤鱼示贺，孔子大
为感激，去取其子名为鲤）
• 时至今日，中国人送礼似乎更重实用及
贵重。
• 欧洲人基本维系了“礼轻情意重”的送
礼初衷
--不太讲究礼品的实用与昂贵（画册/针线
包）
--包装务求精美，观赏价值与文化品位
--介绍当地的印刷精美的画册是属于比较高
雅和珍贵的。（国际交往中）不送食品
与生活用品与本厂生产的产品（而送带
有该公司标志的钢笔或画册），觉得将
产品作礼品来送有失对客人的尊重。
例子
• “代表团对此次访问满意吗？昨晚当我们
送礼时，代表团为什么没有一个人打开
礼品看一看呢？对我们来说，只能理解
为对我们的礼品不感兴趣，或者有什么
意见。”（荷方人员对中国住荷大使）
• “荷兰人为什么要当场查看我们的礼品
呢？难道是对我们的礼品不放心？”
欧洲人最怕听中国人说哪两个
字
• “客随主便” (Up to you)
• 点饮料: 随便/什么都行、团长说“茶”，
所有人都说“茶”
• agenda：订菜（中餐/西餐）“什么都可
以，看他方便就是了”
--外方人员：“我怎么能根据我的喜好来安
排他们的口味呢？”
--参观景点，2个选1，“您看哪儿方便就去
哪儿，不要太费心了，去哪都行。”
• 不知道对方的真正要求是什么, 无所适从
欧洲人的个体性
• 十来人的代表团, 要分5、6批，有的乘飞
机，有的坐火车；有的住单间；有的住
套房，有的非不吸烟楼层不住；有的客
人提出要与有关部门进行工作会谈，有
的要去博物院，自由市场….
牛排与方便面
• 中国代表团往往会感谢当地接待方说：
“你们的国家非常美丽，你们的人民很
友好，你们的接待很周到。”外方人员
并不领情，“为什么都是这么几句话呢？
难道没有一点不同的感受？”
• “老三篇”外，三点建议：资料的中文
翻译，牛排老一点，加些方便面，外方
人士对中国的文化与历史的了解多一点。
令对方非常感谢，认为这种不同的声音非
常难能可贵。
Research Topics
• Compare the invitation differences between
Western culture and Chinese culture. Pay
particular attention to the differences between
“genuine invitation” and “false invitation” in
American culture.
• Compare the similarities and differences between
the Chinese way and the American way in gift
giving and gift-receiving.
• 补充阅读
Exerciese
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1. Sometimes the Chinese way of showing
modesty may be condidered as fishing for
compliments.
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2.The social functions of Chinese and
English compliments are roughly the same.
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3.In informal situations ,a large number of
complements are used to make people feel
comfortable.
Exerciese
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4.The cultural assumption of compliments
is the same between cultures.
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5.Adjctive and verbs are often used to
convey compliment message in English,
while adjectives,adverbs and verbs are often
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used in Chinese.
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6. English compliments often begin with the
word “you” while Chinese compliments
often start with the word “I”.
Exerciese
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• 7.Chinese people give more compliments in daily
life than Americans.
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8.Americans tend to be self-effacing in their
compliment responses.
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9.Compliments on othe’s belongings are
sometimes an indirect way of request in American
culture
• 10.If a guest compliments something in another
person’s home, the Chinese host or hostess will
probablygive that thing to the guest.
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Questions for Discussion
• 1.discuss the different semantic formulas in
English and Chinese compliments
• 2 What is the cultural assumption ? Please
give an example to illustrate your point