Some major ways to give and interpret english compliments

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
 NGUYEN MONG TUAN COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL
EXPERIENCED INITIATIVE
SOME MAJOR WAYS TO GIVE AND INTERPRET ENGLISH COMPLIMENTS
Writer: Le Thi Ngoc Anh
School's post: Teacher
School: Nguyen Mong Tuan comprehensive school
Experienced initiative: English
THANH HOA 2016
TABLE OF CONTENT	 	Page
1: INTRODUCTION	 	 
1.1. Rationale 	 	 4
1.2. Aims of the study	 5
1.3. Scope of the study 	 	 5
1.4. Significance of the study	 	 6
1.5. Method of the study	 	 6
2: DEVELOPMENT	
2.1: LITERATURE REVIEW	 9
2.1.1. Definition of compliments	 	 9
2.1.2. Types of compliments	 	 10
2.1.3. Some syntactic and semantic features 	 	 	 10	
of formulae compliments
2.1.4. Implicit compliments and indirectness	 	 11
2.1.5. Critical Approaches to Translation	 12
2. 2: INTERPRETING FORMULAIC COMPLIMENTS 14
2.2.1. Discrepancies in the translation of compliments:	 14
 different syntactic structures and lexis, different pragmatic effects
2.2.2. Omissions and reductions in translation 	 	 	 16
2.3: INTERPRETING IMPLICIT COMPLIMENTS	 	 
2.3.1. Compliments not concerning the addressee directly 18
2.3.2. Compliments involving a comparison	 20
3: CONCLUSION
3.1. Recapitulation	 	 22
3.2. Concluding remarks	 22
3.3. Limitations of the study	 	 23
3.4. Suggestions for further studies	 	 	 24
4: REFERENCES	 	 	 25
 1: INTRODUCTION
1. 1.Rationale
	Compliments are speech acts that are primarily aimed at maintaining, improving, or supporting the addressee’s face (Goffman 1967). They can in fact be used for a variety of reasons: to express admiration or approval of someone’s work/ appearance/ taste; to establish/ confirm/ maintain solidarity; to replace greetings/ gratitude/ apologies/ congratulations; to soften face-threatening acts such as apologies, requests and criticism; to open and sustain conversation; to reinforce desired behavior.
	As Winston Brembeck points out, “to know another’s language and not his culture is a very good way to make a fluent fool of one’s self” (as cited in Nguyen, 1996, p.38). This comment has highlighted the importance of the understanding of a culture beside a good command of its language. In that sense, students of English should be aware of Anglicist cultures apart from the learning of their language. Compliment-giving and responding behavior is used to negotiate social identities and relations. As a consequence, inappropriate choice of responses can lead to a loss of face. The preferred sequel to compliments is acceptance, but in American English, for instance, two thirds of the time respondents to compliments do something other than overtly and fully accept them (e.g. mitigate, deflect or reject, request interpretation; Herbert 1990).
	The study aims to investigate the interpretation of some aspects relating to the texture of linguistic politeness in compliments. Starting from the premise that critical approaches “would not be concerned so much with issues such as mistranslation in itself but rather the politics of translation, the way in which translating and interpreting are related to concerns such as class, gender, difference, ideology and social context”. (Vo, 2007). 
	All the aforementioned reasons have encouraged the researcher to work on this issue in hope of gaining insights into the compliment issue.
1.2. Aims of the study
Firstly, the researcher would like to explore the ways to give compliments of British and Americans. 
Secondly, the success of these compliments with the addressees would be measured.
Finally, interpreting of these compliments is compared to the original ones.
This paper concentrates on compliments in some British and American conservation in order to answer two essential research questions:
1) What are the popular ways to give compliments in Britain and America?
2) To what extent are these speech acts successful with the addressees (i.e. speech acts that achieve the aim of creating good rapport and solidarity, or even, in some cases, some other more covert illocutionary aims)?
3) How are these speech acts translated in interlingua conversations?
1.3. Scope of the study
* Field of study
The main focus of this study is on “critical approaches to interpreting compliments”. This means that the study covered only compliment, not other dimensions of linguistics or culture. 
* Number of targeted languages 
To draw an interpretation of compliments, research would be central to these two target languages: English and Vietnamese. 
1.4. Significance of the study
Once having been finished, this research would bring about decent benefits. First, the research can shed the light on some major ways to give and interpret English compliments. Thus, it provides an insight into Vietnamese and English-speaking cultures, contributing to the mutual understanding between those countries. Moreover, the research would serve as a precious reference for any subject related to Vietnamese and American culture in general and Vietnamese and American punctuality in particular.
1.5. Method of the study
*Approach
The research was conducted as an application of contrastive approach. The contrastive approach, as defined by Wikipedia “the systematic study of a pair of languages with a view to identifying their structural differences and similarities. Historically it has been used to establish language genealogies.” Contrastive Analysis was used extensively in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in the 1960s and early 1970s, as a method of explaining why some features of a Target Language were more difficult to acquire than others. According to the behaviorist theories prevailing at the time, language learning was a question of habit formation, and this could be reinforced or impeded by existing habits. Therefore, the difficulty in mastering certain structures in a second language (L2) depended on the difference between the learners' mother language (L1) and the language they were trying to learn
*Data collection instruments
This study employed conversation studying and interpreting as the main sources for data collection. 
*Data collection procedure
To collect the necessary data, the researchers followed the procedure below.
Step 1: Search the conversations
The conversations, after being found, were piloted by two American participants. The American student were working in AIESEC Hanoi. AIESEC, the world's largest student organization, is the international platform where researcher spent time doing voluntary work. 
Step 2: Revise the conversations
After the piloting conversations, an amendment was made to enhance the accuracy of compliments in terms of linguistics.
Step 3: Interpret the conversations
Finally, the researcher search for the interpretation of the compliments in Vietnamese through experiences in teaching at Nguyen Mong Tuan high school.
*Data analysis
The collected data was processed with the application of interpretive methods, which was used to discuss the results. 
Procedures:
The researcher followed the following procedures to collect and analyze data.
Step 1: search the conversations
Step 2: revise the conversations
Step 3: interpret the conversations
Step 4: code the conversations
Step 5: analyze the conversations
	 2: DEVELOPMENT
 2. 1: Literature Review
2.1.1. Definition of compliments
Compliments are a simple, yet powerful, relationship building tool. There are many different reasons to give a compliment. It is an expression of praise, congratulation or encouragement. Compliments are primarily aimed at maintaining, enhancing, or supporting the addressee’s face (Goffman, 1967) and are used for a variety of reasons, the most significant of which is perhaps to express admiration or approval of someone’s work/appearance/taste. On the basis of several socio-pragmatic studies (Wolfson, 1981, 1984; Manes & Wolfson, 1980; Wolfson & Manes, 1980; Herbert, 1991; Holmes 1988), it is evident that compliments are routine formulae and tend to use a few syntactic patterns and a limited vocabulary that are instrumental in the expression of admiration and praise.
	Compliment-giving and responding behavior is used to negotiate social identities and relations. As a consequence, inappropriate choice of responses can lead to a loss of face. Furthermore, it might also be argued that compliments, although primarily polite speech acts or “face flattering acts” (Manno, 2005), can make complimented feel uneasy or embarrassed, thereby creating a threat for their negative face. 
	On the basis of several socio-pragmatic studies it is evident that speech acts are subject to cultural and socio-linguistic variations (Blum-Kulka et al. 1989). Apart from macroscopic cultural and linguistic differences in the giving and accepting of compliments, some interesting changes can also be observed depending on socio-linguistic variables (age, gender, status, etc.).
2.1.2. Types of compliments
On the basis of several socio-pragmatic studies (Wolfson, 1981, 1984; Manes & Wolfson, 1980; Wolfson & Manes, 1980; Herbert, 1991; Holmes 1988), it is evident that compliments are routine formulae and tend to use a few syntactic patterns and a limited vocabulary that are instrumental in the expression of admiration and praise. Therefore, it can be said that formulae compliments, which share some common patterns when being analyzed, is the first type of compliments.
 The second type of compliments, as	Holmes correctly remarks (1988: 446-447), compliments	most typically attribute a positive quality to the addressee, even when the compliment seems to refer to a third party. This kind of utterance is easily interpreted as a compliment because it praises the recipient in an indirect way as illustrated below:
Mary comments on Tom – Laura’s son: What a healthy boy!
Laura: Thanks. We try our best.
These ones are categorized as implicit compliments.
2.1.3. Some syntactic and semantic features of formulae compliments
	Research on compliments, no matter in which language, has incontrovertibly shown that they are quite formulaic in nature. The most interesting results for American English are those that emerge from the studies by Manes and Wolf- son (Manes and Wolfson 1980; Wolfson and Manes 1980). With reference to the research, most patterns of the compliments are the following:
1. NP is/looks (really) ADJ	Your sweater is really nice.
2. I (really) like/love + Noun phrase	I like your car.
3. PRO + is (really) + (a) ADJ + Noun phrase	That’s a good question.
4. You V (a) (really) ADJ + Noun phrase	You did a great job.
5. You V + Noun phr. + (really) ADV	You sang it very well.
6. You have (a) (really) ADJ + Noun phrase You have a beautiful cat.
7. What (a) + ADJ + Noun phrase!	What a pretty shirt!
8. ADJ + Noun phrase!	Good shot!
9. Isn’t + Noun phrase + ADJ!	Isn’t that ring pretty!
Formulaicity is also to be observed in the limited choice of vocabulary. Manes and Wolfson observed that low specificity adjectives such as “nice” and “good”, among semantically positive adjectives, cover together 42% of adjectival occurrences in compliments. If “beautiful”, “pretty” and “great” are added to the group, the percentage increases to reach two thirds of all adjectival compliments. Among verbs, “like” and “love” are the most frequent and occur in 90% of verbal compliments.
2.1.4. Implicit compliments and indirectness
	As pointed out	 above, the majority of scholars agree that compliments are formulaic in nature, with frequently repeated syntactic patterns and lexical material. Yet, as Boyle advocates (2000), compliments are not necessarily formulaic and in certain genres there is a marked preference for implicit forms (cf. also Herbert, 1991:383). By implicit compliments Boyle means two different speech acts: one that refers to the addressee’s achievement, whose recognition strongly depends on indexical knowledge; and one that compares the addressee to someone he/she thinks highly of. The expression of praise rests on a comparison, whose interpretation depends on the addressee’s knowledge of the object of the comparison.
	Indirectness in performing speech acts is one of the objects of Thomas’s study (1995: 120) that claimed that it was both costly and risky. It is costly because an indirect utterance takes longer for the speaker to formulate and for the hearer to process; it is risky because it is not always successful. Indirect compliments include the desire to make one’s speech more interesting (in some cases also less interesting by deflecting attention from one’s speech), to strengthen the illocutionary force of one’s message and to achieve competing perlocutionary goals.
2.1.5. Critical Approaches to Translation
	With reference to the article “Critical Applied Linguistics: Concerns and Domains” by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Dai Quang (2007), critical approaches to translation are included in other domains of textual analysis to critical applied linguistics. “Such an approach would not be concerned so much with issues such as mistranslation in itself but rather the politics of translation, the way in which translating and interpreting are related to concerns such as class, gender, difference, ideology and social context”. (Vo, 2007). He also pointed out that critical applied linguistics “is based on an ethics of difference and tries in its practice to move toward change” and that “the need to unsettle local cultural hegemonies through the challenges of translation all point to the need for an approach to translation based on an ethics of difference” (Vo, 2007).
2. 2: Interpreting Formulaic Compliments
2.2.1. Discrepancies in the translation of compliments: different syntactic structures and lexis, different pragmatic effects
	The translation of compliments sometimes shows discrepancies across the two languages involved. This may be due to systemic differences between the languages at stake, to cultural preferences and to idiosyncratic choices. In many examples, the trend seems to be towards the expression of compliment on performance in the English original and on personal traits in the Vietnamese translation. In this concern, it is perhaps fruitful to recall the results Creese (1991: 53), authors agree that the largest topic category in American English is appearance, for British English it seems to be ability. As will be shown, however, it appears that in Vietnamese compliments on appearance or on qualities are preferred to those on performance.
Some examples would shed some light in this issue.
Situation 1: Mary and Peter are watching the scene that has just been performed by Julie, an actress starring as a nurse in the new film.
English
Mary: That’s great.
Peter: Yeap, you were wonderful.
Julie: Thanks. I tried my best
Vietnamese 
Mary: Bạn diễn rất hay.
Peter: Ừm, bạn diễn rất tuyệt.
Julie: Cám ơn. Mình đã cố gắng rất nhiều.
In the example, both “You were wonderful” and “That’s great” are compliments that refer to a scene that has just been performed by Julie. Reference is therefore quite easily established. The use of a pronoun is possible because reference is being made to an action or an event that is currently relevant and therefore easily accessible. Participants shared the same context of situation to make sense of what their partners say. The translation of the first compliment in Vietnamese also shifts the focus from the performance, the shooting of the scene, and insists instead on one of the character’s personal qualities. In the Vietnamese version the compliments uttered by Mary and Peter have therefore the same syntactic pattern, whereas they differ in the original. Moreover, the verbs “be” in the original version were translate into “diễn”, an action verb in Vietnamese version.
Situation 2: Peter and Mary give compliment on Hal’s successful presentation of his new proposal to implement business in the company where he works. Hal is praised for his well-argumented talk and the brilliant ideas that he has put forward. 
English
Mary: Well done, Hal.
Peter: Nice job!
Hall: Thanks.
Vietnamese
Mary: Cậu cừ lắm , Hal.
Peter: Bài thuyết trình rất hay!
Hall: Cám ơn mọi người
In the translation, instead, little importance is attached to his performance, for the first compliment (“cậu cừ lắm”) is very generic. Also it is quite vague as it refers to people and not to the performance as it does in the original version. In the original, the first compliment concerns a successful performance, whereas it is turned into a recognition of some stable personal qualities in the translation.
 However, the second compliment reflects rather exactly what bears in the original because both of which refer to the presentation rather than the person. Vietnamese version, yet, prolongs and differs from the original. It uses the full structure (N+be+adj) instead of the noun phrase as in the English version.
Situation 3: Joe was on TV as singer. Joe and Mary are talking about Joe’s performance.
 English	
Joe: You saw me on TV?	
Mary: Listen, I wish you to	
know you’re doing a fantastic job.
 Vietnamese
Joe: Thấy tớ trên TV không ?
Mary: Nghe này, mình muốn bạn biết bạn hát rất hay.	
In the above example as well, in the original the compliment concerns a successful performance, whereas it is turned into a recognition of some stable personal qualities in the subtitles.
2.2.2. Omissions and reductions in translation 
Reductions seem to be more likely than complete omissions in translating compliment, which would drastically subvert the pragmatic texture of an interaction (Hatim and Mason 2000: 438).
Situation 1:
English
Mary: Tucker, what happened to your company?
 Tucker: uh, well, uh yeah. That’s a very good query, Mary. Well done.
Vietnamese
Mary: Tucker, có chuyện gì xảy ra với công ty của cậu vậy?
 Tucker: À, uh thì. Đấy là một câu hỏi hay đấy Mary ạ.
The original contains two compliments which are syntactically different but both of them concern Mary’s behavior, therefore a performance. They are condensed in the translation, where emphasis is placed on Mary’s question.
Situation 2:
	English
Mary: Now tell me what you think of this painting. You like it?
Peter: Wow. It’s very... intriguing, isn’t it?
Vietnamese
Mary: Bạn thấy bức tranh này thế nào? Bạn thích nó chứ?
Peter: Rất hấp dẫn.
The interjection “Wow” is omitted and the adjective “intriguing” is badly translated into Vietnamese. The English adjective shows approval, even though something intriguing may not be fully understood or penetrated (e.g. an intriguing remark). Besides, the English structure (N +be+ A) was simplified by a noun phrase.
2. 3: Interpreting Implicit Compliments
Among non-conventional compliments, one should distinguish between two main sub-classes, those that use indirect phrasings to compliment the interlocutor, which can be considered cases of pragmatic ellipsis and are felicitous only if the interlocutor draws a series of bridging inferences, and those that similarly employ non-routine language and would seem to praise the addressee but turn out to have a different covert illocutionary force when projected on a macro level.
2.3.1. Compliments not concerning the addressee directly 
These compliments in examples are centered on some outstanding deed performed by the addressee or, more loosely, on his/her qualities. In these cases, the compliments are implicitly conveyed for the positive remarks that do not concern the addressee directly but somehow reflect on him/her.
Situation 1: Mary’s mother and stepfather are talking when Mary comes. The compliment is her stepfather speaking to Ted, the boy who is going to take her out.
English
Vietnames
Mary’s mother: Oh, here she comes. Oh, honey, you look beautiful.
Mary’s stepfather: Oh shit look at that! You better be careful, boy!
Mẹ Mary: Ôi, con bé đây rồi. Con yêu, trông con đẹp lắm
 Dượng Mary: Khỉ thật, nhìn kìa! Cậu nên coi chừng đấy!
This is the indirect com