7. Apologies and replies

E：english people apologize more often and on more occasions than the Chinese people. “excuse me” “I’m terribly /awfully sorry” “it’s O.K., It’s all right” or “Never mind”

8. Invitations and replies

E: when they want to invite relatives, friends or colleagues to dinner, they send a formal letter of invitation a week or so in advance. Invitation:

Dr and Mrs Thomas Mathew Benton

request the pleasure of your company

At lunch

Friday, the eleventh of November at one’s o’clock

The Willows, 109 River Avenue

Reply:

Mr John Colan Hobart

Accepts with pleasure the kind invitation of

Dr and Mrs Thomas Mathew Benton

For luncheon on Friday, the eleventh of November at one o’clock

The Willows, 109 River Avenue

Informal invitation:

Dear Mrs Benton

John and J would be very happy if you and Mr Benton could come to dinner on Saturday the twentieth at seven o’clock. We do hope that you could join us.

Sincerely yours

Mrs Hobart

Reply

Dear Mrs Hobart

Mr Benton and J shall be delighted to accept your kind invitation to dinner on Saturday the twentieth at seven o’clock. We shall be looking forward to seeing you and John

Sincerely yours

Mrs Benton

Native speakers of English normally prepare food and tableware according to the number of people at table. It is important for them to know whether the invitation is accepted or not. The person who has received the invitation is expected to indicate definitely whether the invitation is accepted or not.

Chinese: to respond to invitations, to postpone the acceptance of an invitation until it is reinforced, is inappropriate when we interact with English speakers.

9. Miscellaneous social amenities

9.1 The term “please”

E: use it more frequently than Chinese.

9.2 Gift giving and responses

E: at many occasions, English people just give a card, a bunch of flowers, a bottle of wine, or a bottle of perfume. Don’t give them expensive gifts, for they will not know how to return the kindness. And when they receive the gifts, they will unwrap it in the giver’s presence and say a few good words about it . such as “this vase is very nice, I’ll get some flowers for it/ this is really what I want/what beautiful flowers, I’ll put them in the sitting-room.”

9.3 Conversations at the table

E: these are the best dishes we can supply. Please feel at home and help yourselves. We should compliment with the following sentences:

This is really delicious/this meat is beautifully tender/this dish is very tasty

Response with

Thank you. I’m glad that you like it/ would you like some more of this dish/thank you/ yes, please/ no, thank you.