Based on the theories of cross-cultural communication, this study aims at investigating the similarities and differences in expressing satisfaction towards different co-interactants in the Vietnamese and American languages and cultures. It focuses primarily on the popularity of strategies of expressing satisfaction employed. The author takes into consideration such informants’ social parameters as age, gender, marital status, living area, and knowledge of foreign language(s). | VNU Journal of Science: Foreign Studies, Vol. 31, No. 4 (2015) 25-36 Expressing Satisfaction in American English and Vietnamese (as Seen from the Categorical Dimension of Directness-Indirectness) Nguyễn Thị Thùy Linh* Faculty of English, VNU University of Languages and International Studies, Phạm Văn Đồng, Cầu Giấy, Hanoi, Vietnam Received 18 March 2015 Revised 21 May 2015; Accepted 19 November 2015 Abstract: Based on the theories of cross-cultural communication, this study aims at investigating the similarities and differences in expressing satisfaction towards different co-interactants in the Vietnamese and American languages and cultures. It focuses primarily on the popularity of strategies of expressing satisfaction employed. The author takes into consideration such informants’ social parameters as age, gender, marital status, living area, and knowledge of foreign language(s). Keywords: Cross-cultural communication, expressing satisfaction, directness and indirectness. 1. Introduction∗ view, Nguyen Quang [2 : 2] remarks that, “one cannot master a language without profound awareness of its cultural background; in both verbal and non-verbal communication, culture makes itself strongly felt.” A learner can truly master English only when he is able to have a good understanding of the inter-relationship between culture and language. As a matter of fact, to attain a good command of communication, culture learning apparently turns out to be indispensable. Brembeck [1 : 37] notes that, “to know another’s language and not his culture is a very good way to make a fluent fool of oneself”. The same holds true of the teaching and learning of English. In order to help learners achieve communicative competence, we have to pay close attention to culture awareness and acquisition. That dialectical connection has always been a concern of researchers and it has received more and more agreement. With this in For this reason, the researcher has carried out a small-scale study
