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December 2009
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 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 ! 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 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 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”. 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. 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.
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
