A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF APOLOGY STRATEGIES IN CLOSE FRIEND RELATIONSHIP IN VIETNAMESE AND JAPANESE

Abstract

The act of apologizing can be said to be one of the most common human behaviors in daily life and its linguistic expression can be observed in many different languages such as: Vietnamese, Japanese, English, Chinese, etc. However, in reality, the ways to express apology differ among languages due to differences in culture, customs as well as the level of relationship. This study compared different ways to apologize in Japanese and Vietnamese, focusing mainly on close friend relationship through an online questionnaire survey, in order to point out similarities and differences in status, frequency of using apology strategies. The results show that, in terms of status and frequency of use, Japanese people almost express apologies in all situations, while Vietnamese people often only use apologies in circumstances which cause serious problems and exert great influence on interlocutors. Regarding apology strategies, Japanese people frequently use the strategies such as “expressing apology clearly” and “admitting responsibility”; on the other hand, the strategies such as “explaining/justifying” and “offering compensation” are used more by Vietnamese people.