Cultural Codes in Writing Politeness Formulas. A Study in French as a Foreign Language
Cultural Codes in Writing Politeness Formulas. A Study in French as a Foreign Language

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Summary/Abstract: Taking into consideration the problematic of politeness codes in French commercialletters, this article analyzes the way Romanian students write politeness formulas inFrench as a Foreign Language in several written contexts. We deal with the specificity ofwriting commercial letters, as they appear in Business French manuals published inFrance and we discuss a brief theoretical approach to politeness, stressing the specificityof politeness formulas.Our analysis’ object is represented by Romanian students writing productions duringthe evaluation exams of a Business French seminar. This analysis endeavours to verify towhich extent students can fit into the schema of different contexts. Our hypothesis isthat there is a high degree of difficulty in the writing of politeness formulas in FrenchBusiness communication, and in accordance with the French politeness norms. Theresults show that Romanians student have a tendency to make up politeness formulas(influenced by their native language-Romanian- and their first foreign language- English) or to mix several communication styles

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