Comparison on Making Polite Requests in English an Essay Example For Students

Comparison on Making Polite Requests in English an Essay d in ChineseAbstract: Polite requests play an important role in daily communication. Different culture has various ways of making request. In order to get ridof misunderstanding, it is necessary to clarify the different politeexpression of making request in diverse culture. This paper chooses tocompare English and Chinese polite request making. Key words: Politeness; Request; English; ChineseIntroduction With the development of mass media andinformationtechnology,communicative borders are removed and people become closer and closer. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the different lifestyles ofvarious cultural community. However, the main reasons ofsuccessfulcommunication does not only include how well a language is spoken, but alsosome personal and cultural elements. When considering social context, non-verbal communication plays an important role in language learning. A veryinteresting topic in this large field is politeness, since forms ofpoliteness are often misinterpreted and lead to misunderstandings. So Ichose to have a closer look at the differences between politeness inChinese and English. Politeness is known as a courteous manner that displays respects, showdeference in society where people live and communicate together (OEDonline). Furthermore, according to Brown and Levinson (1978), politenesstheory is the speakers expressions use toward receiver in soft manner ofFace Threaten Acts (FTAs) to saving face of addressees. There are four mainstrategies in politeness theory as: bald-on record, positive politeness,negative politeness and off record. Bald- on record, a type is commonlywith people known each other very well and very comfortable in theirenvironment, is reduce the impact of FTAs. Off record is removing thespeakers from any imposition whatsoever (Zhan, 1992). Positive politenessis redress directed to addressees positive face (Brown and Levinson,1978, p.101), while negative politeness is making a request less intrudeinto a persons private. Alternatively, request is a type of speech of act where the speaker askor demand from the hearer to perform an act which is for the benefit of thespeaker. A request has two parts: head act and modifiers. Head act is themain utterance which conveys a complete request and can stand by itselfwithout any modifiers for express demand. The head act is follow bymodifiers that moderate or exaggerate the impact of the request on theaddressee. For example, Could I borrow your dictionary, please? whereCould I borrow your dictionary is head act and please is modifier. So, every culture, every language has different ways to making requestsin politeness. Therefore, the scope in this research is compared thedifferences expression of politeness requesting in two languages: Englishand Chinese. Following to House and Kasper (1981), their research claimedthat speakers prefer to choose negative politeness strategies than positivepoliteness because when the relative face threat is high because negativepoliteness strategies are easily compensation than positive politenessstrategies. To evaluate the difference of politeness in making request intwo languages English and Chinese, the research will analysethreedifference situations in classroom, at restaurant and at home. Discussion In English grammar, in order to make a polite request, people usuallyuse the modal verbs like can, could, will, would to allow the speaker toask their need by asking for or giving permission, and so on. The formationof making a polite request is: (Leech, Cruickhank, Ivanic, 2001)Modal Verb (Could/ Can/ Will/ Would) + Subject + Base Verb +. ?For example, Can you give a book? So, in this sentence, can is a modal verb, you is subject and giveis base verb. In Chinese grammar as like as English grammar, speakers useoptatives verbs (e.g. ?,,?)to express wishes, making a request, and havepermissions. Follow to the grammar rule, the optatives verb put before themain verb and add? question particle at the end of the sentence: (Wang,1996)S + Opt. Verb + Main Verb + Obj. + (e.g. ) Or in an affirmative-negative question, the negative adverb should beput between the optatives verb instead of the main verb: (Wang, 1996)S + Opt. Verb + ? (Negative Adv.) + Opt. verb + Main Verb + Obj. ?( e.g. ) Additionally, in imperative sentences or interrogative sentences Englishis adding the conventional expression please to make their requests morepolite and to make soften their utterance text (E.g. Please give me a book!or Could you give a book, please?) (Leech, Cruickhank, Ivanic, 2001)On the other hand, Chinese grammar has many strategies to making a requestin politeness by using reduplication of verbs, using particle, usingstructure verb+ . Most of these strategies have one purpose which ismake the soften tone of speech of act (Zhan, 1992). Retired Volunteers EssayAt home: (Huang Zhengcheng, 1996)Chinese:,::::,::,? :?!EnglishDavid: Dad, I m going to post office to send a letter. Do you want to buyanything?Chen: Please give me some stamps. David: How many do you want?Chen: Five. Lili: David, could you buy for me some envelopes?David: How many do you want?Lili: Ten. Please, can you get me a copy of China Pictorial as well?David: O.K For this situation, the speaker speak to his family members to tell themwhere he going. He shows his respect to his father by using honorific form?, while in English, the speaker just address you. The father reply byusing imperative sentence to demand his wants. In Chinese, the elder peopleor high status, or the close relationship has more power; therefore theyoften command to the youth or powerless people via imperative sentences,such as . However, English people useindirectformviainterrogative sentences tends for more polite like Please, can you get mea copy of China Pictorial as well?At restaurant: (Wu zhongwei, 2003)Chinese1: , !: , 1: . : , 2: :,3:,:?,,1:!EnglishCustomer 1: waiter!Waiter: Yes, sir! Are you ready to order?Customer 1: Id like a bottle of beer. Waiter: Excuse-me, Madam, what do you want to drink. Customer 2: Ill have a cup of coffee. Waiter: And you?Customer 3: A glass of coke, please. Thank you. Waiter: O.K. please wait a while, your order will be ready in a minute. Customer 1: Can I pay the bill, please? The difference between Chinese and English in this situation is usingaddresses. The service boy uses , , to address the elderly peopleand children; whereas in English way the waiter uses social status sir,madam for respect the customer. To reply polite the asking of waitersorder, customers add conventional polite expression please or Id like/Ill have. In other words, Chinese customers use verbs ?, ? to suggesttheir requests. Besides some verbs, Chinese people also use ?, theparticle ?, , reduplicated verb to give an order. Because ofinfluenced of Chinese culture, customers have more power, so they give acommand through the imperative sentence ! without the conventionalpolite expression. Conclusion To sum up, the goal is to compare different expression of Chinese andEnglish languages in order to have polite requests or orders to addressee. After researching and comparing two languages, even though English andChinese request can be used with interrogative and imperative sentences,but there are many strategies of politeness in the Chinese language becauseChinese are affected in Chinese culture and grammar. Chinese people applydirect request form in the small size of face-threatening act, whileEnglish speakers use indirect form in either small or big of facethreatening act. Although Chinese and English have some different way toexpress the politeness in making request, but both two languages have onepurpose that is softening the tone of speech between requesters andaddressees by keeping a proper distance, since politeness is an importantrole in the smoothly and efficiently communication. Reference List:Brown, P. S, Levinson. (1978). Politeness: Some Universals in LanguageUsage. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press. House, J. Kasper, G. (1981). Politeness Markets in English and German inConversationRoutine. The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter. Huang, Z. C. (1996). Chinese for today, book 1 2nd ed. HongKong: theCommercial Press Ltd. Kane, D. (2006). The Chinese Language: Its History and Current Usage. Singapore: TuttlePublising. Lu, Y. (2009). Cultural Differences of Politeness in English and Chinese. Asian Social Science56 154-1156. Leech, G.;Cruickshank, B. Ivanic, R. (2001). An A-Z of English Grammar Usage. Malaysia: Longman. Wang, Y. (1996). Practical Chinese Reader Companion. United States ofAmerica: Cheng Tsui Company. Zhan, K. (1992). The Strategies of Politeness in the Chinese Language.