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 Abstract It’s really difficult to refuse someone when he or she offers you something or to something, especially when you’re busy or you don’t want to 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 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 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 not give or accept something Offer means an act of saying that you are willing to something for somebody or give something to somebody (Oxford dictionary, page 1052) Refusing an offer here means you are not willing or reject to something when someone offers you to 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 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 tự giải Tơi khơng có rảnh rang ( No You should solve your problem by yourself I’m not free)1 (situation 1) [ 2] “ Thôi Về Xe tơi có phải xe Bình đâu?.” ( No Go away It’s my bike, not your bike, ok?) (situation 2) [3] Bánh dở 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 ( không giúp anh/ chị đâu Đừng làm phiền tôi(situation 1) [6] Go away ( làm ơn biến dùm đi) ( situation 2) [7] No, it’s awful ( Khơng, ghê q) (situation 3) The part in parentheses in this paper is the equivalent structure in other language Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese [8] No go away ( không, đi) (Situation 4) From the example 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 không giúp anh/ chị ( Sorry Phuong, Perhaps I can’t help you) (situation 1) [ 10] “ Thôi Muộn Bình trước đi.” ( No It’s too late You should go home, Binh) (situation 2) [11] Không Cảm ơn Mình khơng thích ăn loại bánh ( 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 muốn giúp anh/ chị Nhưng anh/ chị thấy đó, tơi bận rộn làm kế hoạch Xin lỗi, tơi khơng thể giúp anh/chị được.) (situation 1) [13] No, it’s alright I can manage ( Khơng, Mình 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 sáng ( 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 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 xin lỗi Dạo bận tập trung vào kế hoạch kinh doanh mới, sợ tới hết năm chưa hết bận David nhiệt tình, hay anh/ chị thử nhờ anh 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, dắt mà …với lại đoạn 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 ( Thanks I’m not familiar with eating this kind of cake) (situation 3) [18a] Cảm ơn anh Hôm qua tự mở Phiền anh, ngại ( thanks Yerterday I can open it I’m afraid of bothering you” (Situation 4) [18b] Chà, chà anh tốt em nghĩ em tự mở 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 above situations: [19a] I’d like to help you, but I’m really busy in my new project Sorry ( Tôi muốn giúp anh/chị bận làm kế hoạch Thông cảm nha) (situation 1) Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese Or [19b] Sorry, I’m really busy this time ( Xin lỗi, dạo bận lắm) (situation 1) [20] I really appreciate your concern but I can solve this by myself Thanks anyway ( Tôi đánh giá cao quan tâm bạn tơi tự giải Dù cảm ơn) (situation 2) [21] Well Thanks, it look delicious But I’m really full Next time, I’ll try it ( Nhìn ngon q mà tơi no Lần sau cố gắng thử) (Situation 3) [22] Oh, Thanks You’re so generous, but I’m familiar with it ( Bạn thật hào phóng làm sao, quen với việc 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 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 “trong khốn khó 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 giải thích hơm trước, tơi có dự án cần hồn thành gấp nên giúp anh Dù không trực tiếp tham gia tơi nhờ người khác phụ giúp anh/chị” Dạo 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 nhiều Mà Bình muộn Mình tự dắt Với lại đoạn đường khơng 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 10 [26] Cảm ơn bạn Thật chưa quen ăn loại bánh Với lại no Mình khơng ăn đâu Lần sau định 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 hôm qua em mở Chắc hôm mở Anh khỏi giúp em Khơng đâu Có em gọi anh sau Thơi trễ rồi, anh phòng ngủ 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 muốn giúp anh/chị bận làm kế hoạch Xin lỗi, không giúp anh/chị Tôi nghĩ David giúp anh/ chị 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 ( cảm ơn bạn trễ bạn Cảm ơn bạn quan tâm tư giải được) (Situation 2) [30] Thanks It looks delicious but I’m really full so I’ll have to pass it ( Cảm on Nhìn ngon no q đành bỏ qua thơi.) (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 quen với khơng cần giúp tơi Tơi xoay sở cảm ơn nhiều nhé.) (Situation 4) 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 tự dắt xe ( situation 2) Cảm ơn bạn Tôi chưa quen loại bánh ( situation 3) Cảm ơn anh nha Hôm qua tự mở được, hôm tự mở Table 10: The sympathies with the interlocutor Cũng trễ rồi, Bình trước Bạn làm đủ sức mà mở The replacing actions Để dắt mà ( situation 2) Để ( situation 4) Table 11: Thanking words Cảm ơn Philosophy of human life Nhưng “đèn nhà sáng” anh ( situation 4) Nhưng “đèn nhà sáng” Bình ( situation 2) Table 12: The person who refuses gives the Reasons/ anxiety/ worry Mình sợ explaining for anxiety or worry Làm phiền Bình thơi.( situation 2) the Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese Em không muốn 15 Anh đổ mồ chuyện lặt vặt (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 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 16 Thank you In Vietnamese: We can show the structure of situation 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 Thanking words Cảm ơn Bình Reasons/ explaining why not accepting Mình tự dắt xe Table 18: Thanking words Cảm ơn bạn Cảm ơn anh Reasons/ explaining Promising/ wishing why not accepting Tôi ăn chưa quen loại Lần sau định bánh ăn thử Chắc em tự mởi Khuya rồi, chúc anh ngủ ngon 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 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 “tơi tự mở 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 18 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,cơ, 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 Chắc em không giúp chị ( situation 1) Làm tao giúp mày tao 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 tự dắt xe (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 19 Ex: “ Dạ, em không muốn làm anh đổ mồ cánh cửa 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 Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 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 “ no mẹ ơi” or refuse their lover “ em không ăn nữa, no 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, bận 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 Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 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 Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 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 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 Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 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 Refusing an offer in English and Vietnamese 26 References Beebe, Takahashi, & Uliss-Weltz Beebe, L.M., Takahashi, T., & Uliss-Weltz, R (1990) Developing communication Competence in second Language NY: Routledge Brown, P and S C Levinson (1987) Politeness: Some Universals in Language Use Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Lạc D.T., Hoà N.T., (1993) Phong cách tiếng Việt Ha Noi: NXB Giao duc Vietnamese linguistic semina, ( 1993) Việt Nam - Những vấn đề ngôn ngữ văn hoá, Hà Nội: NXB Giao Duc Kagan, S (1988).Cooperative 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