POLITE REQUESTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
Running head : POLITE REQUESTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
Polite requests in English and Vietnamese
A contrastive analysis
Khuat Kim Ngan
HCMC University of Education
Contrastive Analysis Course 2010
Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu
December 30, 2010
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POLITE REQUESTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
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Polite requests in English and Vietnamese
A contrastive analysis
I.
Abstract
Language is one of the dispensable components in our life, like air, food and water. Because
it serves many functions in conversational situations, we use it everyday to meet our
demands in such aspects as greeting, giving opinion, refusing, offering, making
requests…etc, which are all considered as food to help you to survive and grow perfectly in
life. Without all or just one of them, it would be difficult for you to control your life. In this
contrastive analysis, I would like to focus on the function of making requests in English and
Vietnamese. I hope that it will be helpful for you to figure out the differences as well as the
similarities of this issue.
POLITE REQUESTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
II.
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What is speech act?
The theory of speech act is developed by two philosopher of language, John Austin and John
Searle in the 1950s and 60s. According to their research, language is not just used to mention
the fact i.e what is right and what is wrong. More importantly, people use language to serve a
particular function, or in other word, when we speak we “perform physical acts”. For example,
language helps us to convey a large number of conversational intentions such as to give
orders, to make requests, to give warnings…etc.
There are two types of speech acts which are classified by Searle (Searle 1969, 1975):
indirect and direct.
+ Indirect speech act refers to the illocutionary meaning i.e the meaning that goes beyond
what you have said
+ Direct speech act conveys the locutionary meaning or the factual meaning
III.
An overview of speech act of request
1. Definition
A request is a speech act which its function is to ask someone to do/not do something or to
express the need or desire for something. In everyday conversation, people normally use
language in order to achieve certain communicative intentions. Therefore, requests are widely
used by people all over the world for various reasons such as asking for help, seeking
support, obtaining information…etc.
Generally, a speech act of request is a essential part in our life because it is a necessary
need that helps us to survive. Normally, one cannot be successful without the help of other
people. Without requests, life would be more and more difficult and challenging because
people would have to do everything on their own.
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2. Classification
Making requests is a speech act. In English, the speech act of making request is divided into
two types: direct requests and indirect requests. The latter is divided into two smaller parts:
conventionally indirect requests and non-conventionally indirect requests. This table below
will help you to figure out exactly and in a detailed way this classification.
Direct
requests
Imperatives
Tell me the way to X!
Performatives
Unhedged
I’m asking you to tell me the way to X!
Hedged
I want to ask you the way to X!
Want statements
I wish you’d tell me the way to X!
Locution derivable
Where is X?
conventionally
Availability
Have you got time to tell me the way to X?
indirect
Prediction
Is there any chance to tell me the way to X?
requests
Permission
Could I ask you about the way to X?
Willingness
Would you mind telling me the way to X?
Ability
Could you tell me the way to X?
Hints
I have to meet someone in X.
nonconventionally
indirect
requests
POLITE REQUESTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
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3. Illustration
This table will show you how making requests work in English. Normally, the utterances are
different but they all convey the same meaning. In English, people often produce indirect
requests.
Sentence
IV.
Speech act
Direct or indirect
The floor is very dirty
Request
Indirect
Could you clean the floor?
Request
Indirect
Would you mind cleaning the floor?
Request
Indirect
Are you in charge of the floor?
Request
Indirect
Please clean the floor!
Request
Direct
I request you to clean the floor.
Request
Direct
The Contrastive analysis of requests in English and Vietnamese
1. The similarities
It is not difficult to realize the similarities between making requests in English and
Vietnamese. First of all, I would like to mention the similarities in term of sentence structure.
In both English and Vietnamese, utterances are divided into three types: interrogative, which
is mostly used; imperative and declarative. Normally, people can apply these types for one
conversational situation. For example, when someone would like the other to do something
such as to open the window, he/she can use language in different ways to convey the
conversational intentions.
These different ways can be:
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Could you please open the window? (Bạn mở cửa sổ dùm mình được không?) 
Interrogative
POLITE REQUESTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
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Open the window, please. (bạn làm ơn mở cái cửa sổ dùm mình.) Imperative
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It’s too hot here! (Ở đây trời nóng quá!) Declarative
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2. The differences
Mentioning the differences, I would like to talk about the classification of speech act of request
in these two languages, English and Vietnamese.
The speech act of request in Vietnamese is a very broad and general term. In comparison
with that in English, it includes others speech acts such as giving advice, giving
invitation…etc. To make it easy for you to understand, I will show you how Vietnamese
speech act of request is classified.
A. COMPETITIVE REQUESTS
a) Ordering
Ex:
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Cấm hút thuốc ở khu vực này.
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Con không được làm phiền mẹ khi mẹ đang làm việc
b) Making suggestions, asking permission
First of all, I would like to give to the definition. The speech act of making suggestion or
asking for permission is applied when you want others to do or accept things mentioned in the
utterances. Also, it expresses the desire and the hope that these things will be done.
Ex: Making suggestion:
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Mình đi chung xe với bạn nhé!
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Ngày mai mình đi coi phim được không?
Ex: Asking for permission:
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Xin phép hai bác, cho cháu chở Lan đi chơi tối nay.
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Ngày mai con đi Vũng Tàu chơi với bạn được không ạ?
POLITE REQUESTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
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c) Making request
In daily life, people normally apply the speech act of request when they would like others to
do something for them or assist them to do something.
Ex:
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Bạn cho mình mượn cây bút chì được không?
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Anh ơi, anh mở dùm em cái cửa nha.
B. FRIENDLY REQUESTS
a) Giving advice
Ex:
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Cậu nên học hành chăm chỉ lại đi, sắp thi rồi đó.
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Nếu mình là bạn, mình sẽ không đi đến đó.
b) Expressing encouragement
Ex:
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Đừng lo, rồi mọi chuyện sẽ ổn thôi.
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Đừng buồn nữa, con đã cố gắng hết sức rồi mà.
c) Making invitation
Ex:
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Tối mai cậu rãnh không, mình đi ăn hủ tiếu nha, mình biết quán này ngon lắm.
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Mai nhà tớ tổ chức ăn đầy tháng đứa em út, các bạn nhớ đến đông đủ nha.
C. POLITE REQUESTS
According to many researchers, the level of politeness depends on the the way people use
language for communication in daily life. In each situation, there are many different ways to
communicate in general and to make request in particular. Specifically, according to P. Brown
and S.Levinson, the more indirect an utterance is, the more polite it will be. These two
POLITE REQUESTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
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researchers also consider that because making request perform greatly a face-threatening
act, people always care about how to do it in the most polite way in order to save others’ face.
Therefore, when taking part in communication in both English and Vietnamese, we need to
take into consideration these things:
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How difficult, unpleasant or urgent the task is
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Who you are and who you are talking to – the role you are playing and your relationship.
(Functions of English – Leo Jones)
After all, in this paper, I would like to emphasize this part, polite request.
The first thing that I would like to give you a contrastive analysis is how an utterance is made
to be a polite request. Certainly, this is a very complicated problem because when analyzing
language, we have to pay attention to two major forms of language: verbal language and
nonverbal one related to gestures. However, in this analysis, we just focus on the differences
of verbal language in English and Vietnamese polite request.
There are some factors that make an utterance seem to be polite in Vietnamese request.
 Some words which has a strong effect of asking for help or assistance on the listener
such as “làm ơn, nhờ, xin, lạy, giùm, giúp, thương, trăm sự nhờ, …”
Ex:
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Con lạy cụ, cụ làm ơn cho cô ấy ra cho con hỏi một tí. (Nam Cao)
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Lạy ông bà xét lại, chỉ có người trên nhà, chứ thực chúng con không biết đấy là đâu.
(Nguyễn Công Hoan)
Through these examples, you can realizes the position of the two participants in the
conversation. Both examples express unequal relationship. Normally, the higher the listener’s
position, the more polite the speaker will be.
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 Another factor is based on the system of personal pronouns. People tend to use plural
personal pronouns to make requests. For instance, they often use “chúng mình, chúng
ta, chúng tôi, bọn mình..” instead of “tôi, mình..”. when we use “chúng tôi”, the
request will be more objective because it is not just one person but a group to make a
request. If we utter “chúng ta, chúng mình..”, both the speaker and the listener try to do
things mentioned in the utterance. In both cases, the face-threatening act is mitigated.
Ex:
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Chúng tôi muốn nhờ anh một việc nhưng không biết anh có rảnh không.
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Sắp đến tết rồi, chúng ta cùng dọn dẹp nhà cửa đi.
However, the politeness also depends on the formality of the situation and the relationship of
the participants.
Ex:
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Ngày mai tụi bay nhớ chờ tao nha.
In this example, the pronouns “tụi bay” and “tao” make the request less polite and often
used in informal situations.
In English, as we know, we have just seven personal pronouns. Hence, the use of personal
pronouns in English is not as important as the analysis of the context of the conversation, i.e
where and when the conversation takes place, who take part in the conversation.
Before leading you to a deep analysis of English request, I would like to show some example
in which the politeness is arranged in ascending order.
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 Hey, I need a pencil to draw a picture.
Oh, dear, I haven’t got any pencil to draw a picture.
I don’t seem to have any pencil with me today.
 You haven’t got a pencil, have you?
Have you got a pencil, by any chance?
 You couldn’t lend me a pencil, could you?
Do you think you could lend me a pencil?
I wonder if you could lend me a pencil.
 Would you mind lending me a pencil?
If you could lend me a pencil, I’d be very grateful.
 Could you possibly lend me your car?
Do you think you could possibly lend me your car?
I wonder if you could possibly lend me your car.
 I hope you don’t mind my asking, but I wonder if t might be at all possible for you to lend me
your car?
According to this classification, you can easily figure out that to make it more polite, people
tend to use interrogative form rather than declarative form.
Like Vietnamese, English people also insert some common word into their utterances to make
it more polite such as “please, hope, possible, possibly”. These words contribute to the
speaker’s politeness and also play an important role in showing that you respect the person
whom you are talking to.
One more thing about the differences between English and Vietnamese polite request I would
like to clarify is the way language works in each country. I will give you an example to help
you understand what I mean clearly.
POLITE REQUESTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
English
Could you possibly lend me your car?
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Vietnamese
Bạn có thể cho mình mượn xe được không?
Bạn cho mình mượn xe nha.
Bạn cho mình mượn xe nhé.
Anh cho em mượn xe được không?
Anh cho em mượn xe nha.
Mày cho tao mượn xe nha.
Con cho ba mượn xe nhé.
As you can see from the table, just one English utterance can be translated into many
Vietnamese ones depending on the context. Obviously, it is because of the difference in the
personal pronouns of these two countries. The personal pronoun “I” can be equivalent to
“tao, ba, em, mình..” and the personal pronoun “you” are equal to “mày, con, anh, bạn…”.
this difference make us easily feel the politeness of Vietnamese request rather than English
request because we can realize the relationship of the participants. For example,”mày-tao”
indicates the friendship, “ba-con” express the relationship in family,etc. When we read an
utterance conveying the requesting intention in English, we can just realize its politeness
through the sentence structure and some words such as “please, hope, possible, possibly”
as I have said earlier, but we cannot know whether they are friends, boss and staff or father
and child.
In term of grammar use, most of polite request in English and Vietnamese are in present time.
In English and Vietnamese, there are many way of making requests but these following
grammar structures is mostly used.
POLITE REQUESTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
English
Vietnamese
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Can you….?
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Bạn có thể ….?
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Do you think you could….?
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Bạn ……….nha.
-
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I wonder if….
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Bạn giúp mình…….nhe.
-
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I hope…
-
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Gíup em làm cái này với.
-
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VII. Teaching application
A deep understanding will help you achieve your goal effectively in many aspects, especially
in learning a foreign language. Therefore, with an insight look into the speech act of request in
English and Vietnamese, I would like to draw out some implication in teaching and learning
for those who are learning these two languages:

English people tend to be polite in formal situation, so teachers’ role is to provide them
with some devices to make their utterances polite when making requests.
For example, Vietnamese students are used to translating word for word. When they
want to express their request “Bạn có thể mở cửa dùm mình được không?”, they often
translate “Can you open the door?”. In this situation, the teacher needs to give them
some word showing politeness to add to their utterances such as “please,
possibly…” or use other structures “Could you…?, Do you think you could…?”

For those who learn Vietnamese, it is necessary to learn personal pronouns. Because
there is a variety of personal pronouns in Vietnamese such as “cô, chú, dì, cậu..”,
people who want to acqiure Vietnamese should be helped to be flexible to deal with
language effectively in each situation.
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VI. Summary and conclusion
So far I have already given you a brief contrastive analysis of polite requests in English
and Vietnamese. Each country has a typically different culture, which results in the
differences in the way people express their politeness when making requests. As I
have mentioned in the first part, language is considered as “food”- a necessary factor
in our life, so we need to learn how to handle with it as effectively as we can. In other
words, if you acquire how polite requests work in each country, you can use it in an
appropriate way so that your desire of requesting can be fulfilled. In general, this paper
is useful for those who have much exposure to English such as students and teachers
because the goal of their work is to acquire and to use English, not just learn to
“translate” a language to another. Finally, I hope that this paper will provide you –
irrespective of teachers or learners – with useful information which assist you
effectively in your work.
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References
Paltridge, B. (1999). Making sense of discourse analysis. University of South Australia.
Mouton de Gruyter (2008). Developing contrastive pragmatics : interlanguage and crosscultural perspectives. Ed. Martin Pütz, JoAnne Neff-van Aertselaer. Berlin, New york.
Lê, T. K. Đ. (2006). Lịch sự trong hành động cầu khiến Tiếng Việt: Chuyên ngành Ngôn ngữ
học. Hochiminh: Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy Press.
Jones, L. (1981). Functions of English. Cambridge University Press.
Rue, Y. J., Zhang, G. Q. (2008). Request strategies: A comparative study in Mandarin
Chinese and Korean. John Benjamins Publishing Company.