Nghiên cứu về giao tiếp liên văn hóa: Việc đáp lại lời than phiền giữa người Việt Nam và người Anh

entle way that the Vietnamese use to 
more easily ease Vietnamese’s anger.
 Cultural values in responding to complaints
Some of the most dominant similarities and 
differences when responding to other’s complaints 
in social interaction between Vietnamese people 
and British people have been discussed in the 
previous part. However, it is only one side of a two 
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– sided coin whose fulfillment calls the importance 
of understanding thoroughly cultural values such 
as politeness and impoliteness, group harmony and 
individualism in across cultural context.
Responding to complaints appropriately seems to 
be one of the most effective means of communication 
that might establish and maintain social relationship 
among people in different cultural backgrounds. After 
discussing, we can conclude that there are a lot of 
similarities and differences in British and Vietnamese 
complaint responses and both of them are useful 
information that helps communicators understand 
more about cross – cultural communication. 
Specifically, British communicators used Rejecting 
strategy more than Vietnamese ones, who tended 
to combine strategies in responding to complaints. 
This is because each country has difference cultural 
backgrounds.
As explained earlier, there are some cultural 
features such as the collectivist orientation, a high 
PDI and a long – term orientation which has effects 
on the way Vietnamese people respond to complaints. 
Vietnamese people believe that when being 
complained, especially by a high – status person, 
combinations strategies is considered as the effective 
ways to avoid impolite and save the Hearer’s face. 
In contrast, affected by individualism, a low PDI, a 
short – term orientation, British people are regarding 
as agreeing with some negative strategies to show the 
belief in their own identity. Additionally, they seem to 
communicate with each other in a direct way with self 
– assertiveness. The frequency of single strategies is 
higher than those of combination strategies in British 
people; therefore, compared with the Vietnamese, 
British people are too straightforward. 
In cross cultural communication, the Vietnamese, 
especially foreign language learners, should pay 
much attention to pragmatic transfer in order to 
adapt themselves easily to the new environment. 
Moreover, responding to complaints is regarded as 
a problematic social speech act; consequently, the 
Speaker and the Hearer need to raise awareness of 
importance of understanding the cultural values of 
each country comprehensively because carrying an 
inappropriate complaint response strategy might 
cause misinterpretations, misunderstandings and even 
arguments in cross cultural communication. Thus, 
communicators should widen their knowledge on the 
cultural values of different countries so that they might 
achieve success in cross cultural communication. 
Especially, the relationship between communicators 
affecting their choice of language was paid much 
attention in the current study. For instance, there were 
some interlocutors like complaints from parents, boss, 
friends, younger sisters/brothers, colleague or even 
subordinates. Additionally, the researcher provided 
not only reasons for similarities and differences in 
the choice of strategies but also cultural values in 
responding to complaints.
Overall, the researcher has been successful 
when answering all four stated research questions to 
find out which are favored strategies of the British 
and Vietnamese together with figuring out some 
differences and similarities between the habits of 
responding to complaints in British and Vietnamese 
ways. Some suggestions for British and Vietnamese 
people were revealed to avoid misunderstandings 
and displeasure, and to improve communicative 
competence between the Speaker and the Hearer in 
the conversation. 
5. IMPLICATION
The relationship between a Vietnamese and British 
might be on the edge of rocks if they lack understanding 
about each other’s traditions or values; therefore, the 
study aims to shorten the distance between the two 
countries and minimizing misunderstandings when 
people from Vietnam and Britain communicate with 
each other. As for those who are in a multicultural 
environment or those who frequently communicate 
with the British or Vietnamese, this paper gives hints 
for communicators to take these cultural differences 
into consideration in order to achieve success in their 
communication targets.
In terms of English language teaching, for the 
purpose of successful intercultural communication, 
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learners should be taught what strategies are favored 
in target language, and how to use them effectively. 
Moreover, language instructors are likely to offer 
students an orientation toward the adoption of 
communication strategies in order to improve 
communicative competence. Therefore, students 
may master the target language and use it natively 
and naturally. 
6. CONCLUSION
 In sum, the purpose of the study was to figure 
out the British and Vietnamese‘s strategies in 
responding to complaints and to give those who are 
potential communicators in British – Vietnamese 
communication some recommendations to improve 
their competence of dealing with complaints. Firstly, 
the paper has realized British people have a tendency 
to use strategies which are short and straight, while 
Vietnamese ones are keen on employing strategy 
combinations which are more detailed and thus, more 
sincere in their perspective. Then, after analyzing 
the responses in each case, the researcher made a 
conclusion that no one can affect the strategies used 
by the British except for their boss. Meanwhile, 
Vietnamese people are impacted by different types of 
interlocutors. With their close relations, they are more 
casual while communicating with more powerful 
people; they would show their sincere respect and 
repentance. Next, different situations have effects 
on how the respondents choose their language style. 
Where they find it is necessary to show repentance, 
they would sincerely apologize while where they find 
it is not, they would show their attitude to protect their 
face. Ultimately, cultures reflect on the behaviors of 
its people./.
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A STUDY OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION: RESPONDING TO 
COMPLAINTS BETWEEN VIETNAMESE AND BRITISH PEOPLE
DIEM THI THU THUY
Abstract: In the light of theoretical background of speech acts, complaining is an inevitable part 
of our daily life and in a multicultural environment nowadays. It is more important to enrich 
communicators who have different cultural background with essential knowledge about how to 
deal with complaints. The study is aimed at investigating the preferred strategies that the British 
and Vietnamese use to verbally respond to complaints. Furthermore, it intended to figure out 
whether there exists difference in the way they use those strategies and in accordance with 
different situations and difference interlocutors. For the purpose of investigating the dimensions 
thoroughly, both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied in data analysis procedures. 
The results revealed that there are thirteen strategies used when the Vietnamese and British 
respond to complaints and there are actually several differences in their choice of strategies. 
It is also concluded that there are some cultural notes and discussions suggested for those who 
are living, studying and working in a multicultural environment consisting of the British and 
Vietnamese. 
Keywords: respond to complaints, multicultural environment, British, Vietnamese.
Received: 31/5/2017; Revised: 16/6/2017; Accepted for publication: 30/8/2017