CONVERSATIONAL FORMULAS - Jesseniova lekárska fakulta

SOCIAL COMMUNICATION – CONVERSATIONAL FORMULAS
PhDr. Božena Džuganová, PhD., Ústav cudzích jazykov, Jesséniova lekárska fakulta UK, Martin
Slovakia has opened to the world. It has become a member of European Union. Many scientists,
researchers, professors but also students cooperate with partners from abroad. This brings besides
good knowledge of English also to become familiar with rules of social communication, to avoid
possible failures arising from different cultural background knowledge the speakers do not share.
This paper has to help the Slovaks to get rid of shyness and become more confident in contact with
foreigners.
1. Modes of addressing people
Daily we come into contact with various people. These can be unknown
people in the street we can address randomly when we need some information
or our colleagues at work. Addressing people with first name, e.g.
Ján / Mária does not depend on how well or how long we know each other.
There must be a suggestion and agreement to start to use the first names in
mutual contact. Usually the suggestion comes from an elder person to a
younger one or from a person of higher status to person of lower social
status, or from a woman to a man. Otherwise we continue in addressing
people with Miss, Mrs or Ms, Mr followed by the name of the person we are talking to for the whole
life. English society is called to be conservative, but we Slovaks are much more conservative in
addressing people. We need a small ceremony to be able to begin to use the first name of our business
partner, or colleague.
Unknown people we address with a title pán/pani that corresponds with English sir/madam. Sir
and madam are never followed by a name except in the special case when sir is a title as Sir
Alexander Fleming. When sir is a title we always use it the first name only, and we say Sir Alexander,
never Sir Fleming. Sir and madam used alone show respect for position or seniority.
Some people have difficulty with professional titles like Doctor or Professor. A medical practitioner
in Britain is usually called just Doctor when we are speaking to him. Any other kind of Doctor, such
as Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Pedagogy, Doctor of Natural Sciences we never address them by
the only word Doctor. We can speak to him/her formally as Doctor Green, or whatever his/her name
is, but Doctor by itself always means a medical man. As for Professor, in Britain a professor is nearly
always a university professor and if you know one you can call him Professor with or without his/her
name, according to how formal or informal you want to be. In Slovak language the title pán/pani has
always to precede the titles doctor or professor and that looks like this: pán doktor / pani doktorka,
pán professor / pani profesorka. We do not distinguish if somebody is a Doctor of Medicine or Doctor
of Philosophy or Doctor of Natural Sciences.
While administrative and commercial titles like Director, Engineer or Manager are never used as a
form of address in English, in Slovak on contrary they are used in addressing people, e.g. pán riaditeľ,
pán inžinier or pán manžér.
When on a official meeting we have to address an audience of mixed people (of different status, age,
both men and women), politeness requires first to address the one presiding over the meeting, for
instance Mr Chairman or Madam Chairman, and then to continue with Ladies and gentlemen! Dear
friends!
2. Greetings
The most common formal every day greetings are: Good morning! / Morning! (used up to 12.00
a.m.) Good afternoon! / Good evening! / Evening! These greetings can also be followed with person’s
surname and several other polite phrases, as for instance, – Good morning, Mr Green. Lovely day,
isn’t it? – Yes, it is.

Words of greeting if addressed to some acquaintances are often followed by such expressions as:
I haven’t seen you quite a long time. / Haven’t seen you for ages! / It’s good to see you again! /
How nice to see you again! / I’m glad we’ve met. / How are you?
Hallo is used in an informal way, sometimes followed by the person’s name, e.g.
Hallo, Peter! (I’m) Delighted to see you.
3. Words of parting
Good-bye! /Good-bye for the present! In reply to these formulas of parting the same formulas are used
respectively or no reply is done at all. E.g. “Well, I’m off. Good-bye.” – “Good-bye.”
Bye-bye is really a child’s way to say good-bye. Also used when speaking to friends, it is pronounced
very quickly and has become very common and can be said to anyone.
See you soon! / See you later! / See you tomorrow! are neutral words or parting and can be followed
with other phrases such as: I hope we’ll see some more of you!
Good night! is not only used when going to bed, but also as words of parting late in the evening.
Cheerio is a very informal way of parting and can be used only speaking to intimate friends. So long
sounds as familiar as cheerio.
After parting words we often let other people to be remembered by us, e.g.
Remember me to …. / Give my (kind) regards to …. / Give my love to ….
In reply to these formulas we say Thanks, I will. or Certainly I will.
4. Introducing people
Formal ways of introducing people are: May I introduce Mr N.? / Allow me
to introduce Mr Green to you. / Allow me to introduce you to my friend. /
Let me introduce myself, I’m … / Please, introduce me to your friend. / Will
you introduce me to your friend, please? or Will you, please, introduce me
to your friend. / Mr Green, let me introduce Mr Black. Mr Black. Mr.
Green.
Informal ways are:
Meet my friend Doctor M. / Meet Mr. F ./ I’d like you to meet Doctor Green.
Mrs H., this is Mr P. is unpretentious and yet formal enough for any occasion.
Possible replies are:
How do you do? said by both of introduced persons.
Hallo! / Glad to meet you. / Pleased to meet you.
5. Arresting someone’s attention
Phrases like Excuse me, (please). / Pardon me. / Sorry to … (intrude, interrupt, interfere, etc) but …
are used when we want to attract the attention of a stranger, an elderly person, or a person of higher
rank or position.
Hi!/Hey! are commonly used among friends, young people and children. They are more widely used
in the USA than in Great Britain.
Possible replies: Yes? / Well? / What is it? / What can I do for you? / What do you want?
6. Congratulations and wishes
When your foreign friend has graduated from university, fulfilled doctoral
studies, obtained higher rank or social status, was successful in some
competition, we can congratulate him/her as follows: Congratulations! / My best
congratulations to you on graduation from the university. / My best wishes to
you! / May all your dreams come true! / (I wish you) Good luck !
These are the most general expression used on any occasion but Christmas, the New Year and other
holidays, when we wish Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! and as an answer repeat the same.

If somebody is leaving for holiday, so we wish him/her, e.g. Have a good time! Enjoy your holiday!
A very enjoyable holiday to you!
If somebody is celebrating his/her birthday, we wish him/her Happy birthday (to you)! Or Many
happy returns of the day. The answer is Thank you, Thank you very much or Thanks.
7. Invitations, arrangements, offers
If you want to invite somebody for a cup of coffee or tea, for a lunch, you can do it in the
following way: What about a cup of coffee? / How about having some tea? / What about having a
lunch?
If you want to invite your friend to the cinema or theatre, or to spend a weekend together, you
can do it in the following way, e.g. Have you got anything special on Tuesday? / What are your plans
for Tuesday evening? / May I invite you to the cinema/theatre? / Will that suit you? / Will it be all
right for you?
Some of the positive replies to invitations and offers are: All right. / With pleasure. / Yes, I don’t
mind. / That’s fine. / That’s a good idea. / Not a bad idea./ Yes, I’d love to go to … / I’ll be most
delighted. / Nothing would please me more. / That suits me perfectly.
Some of the negative replies to invitations of offers are: I’m afraid I can’t. / I’m afraid I’m busy. /
I’m sorry, but I can’t.
8. Requests and thanks
Sometimes we have to ask other people for help. This can be done in the following way: Will you
help?/Would you please help me? / Would you mind lending me your dictionary? / Do you mind
lending me your textbook? / May I ask you to … ?/ Could I trouble you to…?
Possible positive replies: Yes, certainly. / Of course. / Sure / Not at all. / Not in the least! / With
pleasure! / You can rely on me.
Possible negative replies: I’m afraid I can’t. / I am sorry I can’t.
For provided help we can thank in one of the following ways: Thank you (very much) for your help.
/ Many thanks. / Thanks a lot. / That’s very kind of you. / You’ve done me a great favour. / Thank you
for the pleasure.
Possible replies: Not at all! / That’s all right! / Don’t mention it! / That’s really nothing! / It was a
pleasure for me to do it.
References
Maher, J.C. (1990): International Medical Communication in English. Oxford University
Press.
Mothejzíková, J. (1991): Functions for Oral Interaction. A Course in Conversational English
for Upper-Intermediate and More Advanced Students. SPN Praha.
Serafimova, M. A. et al. (1974): Conversational Formulas. Izdateľstvo Prosveščenie, Leningrad.
Ilustračné obrázky: http://office.microsoft.com/sk-sk/images