Cultural Differences Between Japan and the United States in Uses of “Apology” and “Thank You” in Favor Asking Messages

Abstract

Three studies investigated whether apologies and thanks are used differently when asking favors in the United States and Japan and examined whether their use makes a favor asking message less face-threatening. In Study 1, participants (N = 152) composed an email message for a favor asking situation. Next, participants in Study 2 (N = 634) and Study 3 (N = 417) completed one of four versions of a questionnaire regarding a prototype of an email message. Results showed that (a) more Japanese included apologies in their messages while more Americans used thanks and (b) Japanese considered apologies to reduce some face threats while Americans did not consider thanks to reduce face threats. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

National Cultures and Politeness Strategies in Intercultural Communication Among Japanese and American Characters in “The Last Samurai” Movie: A Cross-Cultural Pragmatic Analysis

“…This affirms the tight bond between language and culture. The results support the studies by Goldenberg et al (1999), Sherman et al (2011), Oetzel et al (2003), Lee et al (2012), Kavanangh (2016), Fukushima (1996, and, Liao & Bresnahan (1996) emphasizing that language and culture affect each other and people coming from different language and cultural background communicate differently. This study is not in line with those by Chen et al (2013), King & Aono (2017) confirming that "East & West" do not differ in language behaviors.…”

“…Literature review shows that intercultural communication (IC) along with politeness strategies have become among favourite research interests among researchers. Such studies by Moon, Uskul and Weick (2019), Lee, Park, Imai & Dolan (2012), Kiyama, Tamaoka, and Takiura (2012) are those investigating the interrelation between culture and language, politeness strategies, in particular. IC vitality in daily lives comes into reality as the world today is characterized by an ever growing number of contacts involving people coming from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.…”

The Effect of Age and Position on Favor Asking

“…The degree of imposition and social power had an influence on favor asking in Saudi Arabic where social distance did not. Lee, Park, Imai, and Dolan (2012) conducted a series of studies on cultural differences between Japanese and Americans in the use of apologies and thanks in favor-asking e-mail messages. The studies were conducted in Japan and the United States.…”

“…A study on cultural differences between Japanese and Americans in the use of apologies and thanks in favor-asking e-mail messages conducted by Lee, Park, Imai, and Dolan (2012). The participants were 74 Japanese males from a large university in Japan and 78 American males from one large Midwestern university in the United States.…”

Socio-pragmatic influence on opening salutation and closing valediction of British workplace email

“…Given the view that people are rarely indifferent to how they are addressed (Tracy and Robles, 2013), it is perhaps of no surprise that recent studies have questioned the extent to which the opening and closing sections of emails should be regarded as simply customary (Lee and Park, 2011;Lee et al, 2012;Lorenzo-Dus and Bou-Franch, 2013). Indeed, subsequent research has exposed the pivotal role played by such linguistic objects in issues of: facework (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 2003); construction of professional identity (Scheyder, 2003); maintenance of workplace solidarity (Waldvogel, 2007); and, within student--teacher interactions, the execution of politeness strategies (Bjørge, 2007;Chejnová, 2014).…”