tailieunhanh - Is There the Word ‗Please‘ in Vietnamese Language?

Foreigners learning Vietnamese often ask the question if there is a Vietnamese word which is equivalent to 'please‘ in English. An analysis of strategies for translating the word 'please‘ in the Vietnamese translations of the two novels The Life of Pi and Slumdog Millionaire shows that there is more than one way to say 'please' in Vietnamese language. This study indicates that the choice of strategies depends on the context and the role of communication of interlocutors. | VNU Journal of Science: Policy and Management Studies, Vol. 33, No. 2 (2017) 193-202 Is There the Word ‗Please‘ in Vietnamese Language? Pham Thi Thuy* VNU International School, Building G7, 144 Xuan Thuy, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam Received 18 April 2017 Revised 09 June 2017; Accepted 28 June 2017 Abstract: Foreigners learning Vietnamese often ask the question if there is a Vietnamese word which is equivalent to ‗please‘ in English. An analysis of strategies for translating the word ‗please‘ in the Vietnamese translations of the two novels The Life of Pi and Slumdog Millionaire shows that there is more than one way to say ‗please‘ in Vietnamese language. This study indicates that the choice of strategies depends on the context and the role of communication of interlocutors. Keywords: Politeness, strategies for translating ‗please‘, role of communication (vai giao tiếp), context. 1. Introduction into the strategies for translating the word ‗please‘ into Vietnamese in the translations of the two novels The Life of Pi and Slumdog Millionaire – Q&A. ‗Please‘ is one of the most commonly used words in daily English. Thus, when learning Vietnamese, foreigners, especially those from English-speaking countries, often ask how to say ‗please‘ in Vietnamese language. They look it up in the dictionary, and see that ‗please‘ is translated as ‗xin‘, and ‗mời/ xin mời‘ [1:1861]. However, they report that they don‘t hear local people say ‗xin‘ in daily conversations. One might wonder if there is the word ‗please‘ in Vietnamese language. As more and more foreigners coming to Vietnam to do business, the need to understand Vietnamese language and Vietnamese culture is increasing. A proper use of the word ‗please‘ in Vietnamese is really important. In order to find out the answer to the question above, this paper intends to investigate 2. Literature review The word ‗please‘ is a typical marker of politeness in English, according to House and Kasper in Alemi & Razzaghi [2:111]. So