HCMC University of Pedagogy – English department

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF
COMPLIMENTS IN AMERICAN
ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
Student: Dang Thi Thao Nguyen
Class: 4A06
Instructor: Ph.D Nguyen Ngoc Vu

December 2009
American English and Vietnamese compliments 1
When a student gets a high score, his teacher usually says: “Good job!”. When a
child automatically cleans up the room after playing, her parents are likely to say: “You
are very good”. When you go to school wearing a new shirt, you probably hear from
your friends: “That shirt looks nice on you”. Those utterances are called compliments
which are used to show that someone likes someone else’s appearance, belongings, or
work etc. Due to different cultural background and social values, English and
Vietnamese native speakers have different norms of complimenting as well as
responding to compliments. In this essay, I will discuss the notion of compliment made
in American English and Vietnamese in terms of topics, formulas, and responses.
First thing first, let have a look at the definition.
Definition of compliment
Cambridge dictionary defines a compliment as “a remark that expresses
approval, admiration or respect”. In linguistics, Holmes (1986, p.446) wrote “A
compliment is a speech act which explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone
other than the speaker, usually the person addressed, for some ‘good’ (possession,
characteristic, skill, etc.), which is positively valued by the speaker and the hearer.” So,
through compliments, people can build up solidarity by providing positive evaluation,
appreciation for good deeds, praise for achievement, or worsen relationship by
intentionally or unintentionally abusing compliments, which make the complimenters
somewhat too flattering.
Mark Twain once said, “I can live for two months on a good compliment.” No
matter what language is used, a good compliment helps to express speakers’ good will
American English and Vietnamese compliments 2
towards the hearers. We may say complimenting is an art and complimenters are artists
who should know what can be the subject for a compliment.
Topics for compliment
Previous researchers have found out that some common topics that people
worldwide would like to comment on include appearance / possession, and ability /
accomplishment.
Appearance and possession
Both English and Vietnamese speakers tend to start a friendly conversation by
giving compliments on how the other looks, especially when that person has something
different such as a new haircut. Belongings such as cars, dresses, bags, or houses, etc.
are also a suitable subject for compliment.
Example:
Gee. You really look good today. (Bruder & Tillitt, 1985, p.68)
That dress looks good on you.
What a lovely home you have! (Bruder & Tillitt, 1985, p.67)
Hey. I really like your new car (Bruder & Tillitt, 1985, p.68)
What a cute baby! (Bruder & Tillitt, 1985, p.68)
Vietnamese also give compliments similarly. Below are some Vietnamese
equivalents to the above examples
Example:
a’) Hôm nay nhìn tươi tắn quá nha!
b’) Áo mới đẹp đó !
American English and Vietnamese compliments 3
c’) Nhà bạn rất đẹp!
d’) Xe mới hả? Đã nha!
e’) Con chị nhìn thấy ghét quá!
However, compliments on appearance of babies or small children should be
treated with care in Vietnam. Traditionally, Vietnamese people, especially the elderly,
regard compliments using positive adjectives on a good quality of a young child may
bring bad luck to him/her. So, when American can comfortably say “Oh, your baby is
so cute”, Vietnamese commonly say “Con chị nhìn thấy ghét quá” (literally means Your
baby is not cute at all) or typically of Northerners, “Nói trộm vía cháu, độ này nó mập
lắm” (means My child has gained a lot of weight).
Ability and accomplishment
While compliments on appearance and possession can be given almost to
everyone with little attention to their age or social position, those on ability and
accomplishment have to be used more strictly. In both American and Vietnamese
culture, it is usually the older and higher in rank that can evaluate and comment on the
performance of the younger and lower position. Possible complimenters are employers,
teachers, parents, or friends. In this case, these positive remarks act as an
encouragement, a praise, or appreciation to the complimentees’ effort.
However, regarding this common topic, a slight difference still exists between two
languages. English native speakers have a tendency to give credits directly to the
result, the product achieved through hard work, whereas Vietnamese’s compliments
focus more on talent and ability. For example, when a host prepares a good meal, an
American English and Vietnamese compliments 4
English speaking guest will say “The meal was delicious”. In the same situation, a
Vietnamese guest will say “Chị nấu ăn ngon quá!” (You cook so well!)
Formulas of compliment
Formulas of compliment drew much concern from linguists. According to Maines
and Wofson (1981), nine popular ways to give compliment are:
NP is/looks really ADJ. (Your blouse is beautiful)
I really like/love NP. (I like your car)
PRO is (really) (a) ADJ NP. (That’s a really nice wall hanging.)
You V (a) really ADJ NP. (You did a really good job)
You V (NP) (really) ADV. (You really handled that situation well.)
You have (a) ADJ NP. (You have such beautiful hair)
What a ADJ NP! (What a lovely baby you have!)
ADJ NP! (Nice game!)
Isn’t NP ADJ (Isn’t your ring beautiful?)
The first three are also the most commonly used structures in many countries
worldwide. From the examples in part 2, we can easily see that Vietnamese also follow
these formulaic structures when we want to show our appreciation to hearers.
One difference, however, is that unlike American, Vietnamese rarely use the first
person pronoun but the second person pronoun in their compliments. That is to say they
will not say “I really like your new haircut”. A more appropriate way to express the same
idea in Vietnamese is “Your new haircut is beautiful”.
About vocabulary usage, as in America, some popular positive adjectives used in
Vietnam include “nice, pretty, good, delicious, clever...” etc. However, strangers should
American English and Vietnamese compliments 5
not use adjective “sexy” to compliment on a Vietnamese woman’s appearance in order
to avoid bad impression.
Universally, compliment is a face-saving speech act. Therefore, structure and
vocabulary should be used very carefully, otherwise the compliment may turn out to be
too flattering of impudent to the complimentees.
Compliment response
Difference in responding to compliments is an obvious evidence for the influence
of different cultures in America and Vietnam. As proposed by Tran (2007), there are two
compliment response continua. One is the acceptance to denial continuum which
includes 9 strategies i.e. compliment upgrade, agreement (agreement token),
appreciation token, return, explanation, reassignment, non-idiomatic response,
compliment downgrade, and disagreement (disagreement token). The other is the
avoidance continuum which includes expressing gladness, follow-up question,
(doubting) question, and opting out.
The former continuum is commonly followed in both cultures with American’s
preference to the acceptance end and Vietnamese leaning towards the denial end.
Besides, in both cultures, strategies in the middle of the continua are most used in
combination with other strategies at the two ends of the continua. English speakers
often combine the strategies in the middle with the strategies at the acceptance end the
continuum. American’s common combinations are “appreciation token” with
“agreement”, “return”, and “explanation”. On the other hand, Vietnamese speakers tend
to combine the strategies in the middle with those at the denial end the continuum. Their
frequently-used combinations are “disagreement” with “compliment downgrade”.
American English and Vietnamese compliments 6
On the whole, when responding to compliments, American has a tendency to
accept the compliment more than Vietnamese who prefer rejecting the compliment as a
sign of politeness and modesty.
Pedagogical implication
Having examined three elements of compliments in American English and
Vietnamese under the contrastive view, I would like to discuss some implications for
English language teaching at high school in our country.
Firstly, notoriously known as a compliment-saving culture, Vietnamese learners
should be aware that compliment is a polite speech act which is widely used in
everyday conversation to build up relationship. American people welcome compliments
and feel positive to those who give a good one in a sincere way. Understanding the role
of compliment in social interaction can help learners achieve successful communication.
Thus, teachers should help students familiarize themselves with appropriate topics and
formulas for compliment.
Secondly, the biggest difference regarding compliment in the 2 cultures lies in
compliment response. Coming from a collectivist culture, Vietnamese students have a
tendency to transfer their norms of modesty into interaction with foreigners, which can
easily lead to pragmatic failure. Students should know that showing agreement with the
complimenters or even upgrading the compliment are not a manifestation of arrogance
as in our culture. Vietnamese can first start learning the appropriate ways by simply
saying “Thank you” to compliments. Then they can move on adding some elements of
sophistication by using the “return” strategy.
American English and Vietnamese compliments 7
Last but not least, practice makes perfect. In classroom, teachers should create
natural contexts in which students can apply their linguistic knowledge into reality.
Teachers can choose authentic materials such as books, newspapers, or videos to
show students how native speakers give and respond to compliments, draw students’
attention to the differences and similarities presented above. Then, involve students in
role – play activities. In these activities, teachers should vary the roles and switch
student’s role so that they can have many interaction opportunities with different people
of different age and social status in different situation.
American English and Vietnamese compliments 8
Reference list
Bruder, M. N., & Tillitt, B. (1985). Speaking naturally. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Holmes, J. (1986). Compliments and compliment responses in New Zealand English.
Anthropological Linguistics, 28(4), 485-508.
Manes, J. & Wolfson, N. (1981). The compliment formula. In F. Coulmas (Ed.),
Conversational routine (pp. 115-132). The Hague: Mouton.
Tran, G. Q. (2008). Pragmatic and Discourse Transfer of Combination of Compliment
Response Strategies in Second Language Learning and Usage. Retrieved Dec 6, 2009,
from http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/June_08_gqt.php