A Comparative Study of Chinese and English Expressions of Thanks and Their Responses

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.201215.476How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Chinese and English, thank you, response, similarity, difference

Abstract

Thanks and their responses play an important role in intercultural communication. Based on the similarities and differences between Chinese and English, this paper makes a comparative study of the similarities and differences between Chinese and English thanks and their responses. The authors have found that in China, family members, husband and wife and good friends seldom utter their thanks to each other, but in a more euphemistic way. On the contrary, English speaking people tend to express their gratitude to others more explicitly. However, it should be noted that the fact that Chinese acquaintances and relatives do not often say “thank you” does not mean that they do not know how to be grateful. In their opinion, to say “thank you” to each other will give you a feeling of being out of touch and unfamiliar. The author believes that in cross-cultural communication, it is necessary to say “thank you” to anyone who has helped them in a timely and loud way. It will not only enhance the feelings of both sides of the communication, but also make the helper feel happy and willing to continue to help as always.

Copyright

© 2020, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Siyu Xie
AU  - Zhengbing Liu
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/12/17
TI  - A Comparative Study of Chinese and English Expressions of Thanks and Their Responses
BT  - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Literature, Art and Human Development (ICLAHD 2020)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 460
EP  - 466
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.201215.476
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.201215.476
ID  - Xie2020
ER  -