Ақпараттық бейiндегi студенттердi даярлау барысында

160 
Вестник Карагандинского университета 
UDC 811.111=111(045)"312"(100)(=11/=8)-052 
I.N.Martynova  
I.Y.Yakovlev Chuvash State Pedagogical University, Cheboksary, Russia 
(E-mail: irinamartynova08@mail.ru) 
Peculiarities of concept «politeness» in Russian and English languages and its 
influence on forming foreign and cross-cultural competence 
The article in question represents the results of a practical research of various ways of expressing politeness 
in the Russian and English linguistic communicative cultures depending on the context and the country of 
residence of the English speaking respondents. An analysis is done of different approaches to defining polite-
ness in Russian and in English on the basis of the cultural background. The results are contrasted and com-
pared, explained and analyzed with the description of their cultural specifics and also their possible reasons. 
In conclusion the ways are explained that can be used in teaching foreign languages to secondary school and 
university students as a part of forming linguistic and intercultural competences. 
Key words:  concept, politeness, culture, influence, stereotypes, foreign competence, cross-cultural compe-
tence, survey. 
 
Politeness is an inseparable part of any nation’s culture and being an element of communicative con-
sciousness can be studied as a communicative category which has its own mental value [1; 12]. 
Communicative politeness is a key requirement of effective communication. Using it we demonstrate 
our cultural behaviour. Politeness as a communicative category is universal, that is it can be witnessed in be-
haviour of all the people in the world. However it manifests itself differently in different cultures. That is 
why teaching politeness at a foreign language lesson becomes so important. It is one of the corner stones of 
intercultural competence, one of the many that enable people with various ethnical, cultural and linguistic 
backgrounds communicate with each other effectively [2; 34]. 
In the English language politeness in communication is expressed both lexically and grammatically. A 
combination of these variants can also be observed.   
First it is necessary to give a definition to the word «politeness». This lexical unit was derived from the 
word «polite» that is why one should begin with defining it. Definitions from several dictionaries were com-
pared: 
1.   Longman: 
Polite I. behaving or speaking in a way that is correct for the social situation you are in, and showing 
that you are careful to consider other people's needs and feelings; 
II. you make polite conversation, remarks etc. because it is considered socially correct to do this, but 
not necessarily because you believe what you are saying [3]. 
2.  Oxford learner’s dictionaries: 
I.  having or showing good manners and respect for the feelings of others; 
II.  socially correct but not always sincere [4]. 
3.   Macmillan dictionary: 
I.  someone who is polite behaves towards other people in a pleasantway thatfollows all the usual rules 
of society [5]. 
4.   Cambridge dictionary: 
I.  behaving in a way that is socially correct and shows understanding of and care for other people's feelings; 
II.   socially correct rather than friendly [6]. 
The definition analysis of the lexical unit «polite» has shown the following semantic features were re-
vealed: rules of behaving in the society, observing rules and regulations, using good manners (socially cor-
rect 2, follow rules of society 1, behaving in a way that is socially correct 3, show good manners 1); taking 
into account and respecting feelings, emotions and other needs of an interlocutor (to consider other people's 
needs and feelings 1, respect for the feelings of others 1, show understanding of and care for other people's 
feelings 1). These features can be used in defining the nucleus of the concept «politeness». 
It is worth mentioning that sometimes the British express politeness in the ways which are seldom em-
ployed in other languages. 

Peculiarities of concept «politeness»… 
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For example, in order to sound polite Britons often resort to indirect evasive expressions or seems to be 
indecisive in the situations where speakers of other languages would be more straightforward. At the same 
time Americans are usually more direct in the same communicative situation  
Another example is the use of the phrase «thank you» by the British to show gratitude even for minor 
and inconspicuous services in the situations where speakers of other languages don’t find it necessary, e.g., a 
cashier giving changes to a customer and both of them saying «thank you» to each other. On the other hand 
British English allows not to respond to «thank you» in some contexts, while in American and several other 
variants of English one needs to give an answer saying for instance «you’re welcome» [7; 2]. 
In a number of languages consider it polite to refuse a compliment or praise and to criticize or self criti-
cize something or somebody praised. Though in British English it is possible to hesitate a little before ac-
cepting a complement, an active refusal is considered rude [1; 25]. 
In some countries it is obligatory to resort to different form of expressing politeness depending on the 
social status (that might be higher or lower) of the interlocutor. In English there are special forms of address 
which are to be used in certain situations, but there are no strict demands connected with the social status of 
the speaker and the addressee.  
As for the Russian culture, many nations have stereotypes about impolite, rude and arrogant Russians. 
These concepts are wrong. According to M. Honkanen and A. Mikluha, Russians have two separate forms of 
social life: public and private. They might seem to be rude and impolite in public but at the same time be 
kind, caring and communicative [8, 46]. T.V. Larina distinguishes two types of behaviour which are typical 
for the Russians: with unknown people and with close friends/relatives. She states that Russians are mostly 
polite with their close friends/relatives and quite often might be rude and impolite with strangers [9; 56]. 
I.A. Sternin points to the concept «a polite smile» in intercultural communication. He stresses that Rus-
sians are characterized by «social unsmilingness». A smile is not a signal of politeness in the Russian culture. 
Russians are cautious about a purely polite smile of an interlocutor. They call constant smiling a «social 
smile» and consider it a display of insincerity and a reserved character. Russians usually smile only to people 
they know while a smile by an unknown person is a signal to look for reasons of this smile. Despite it a Rus-
sian smile is thought a true display of high spirits or positive disposition to the interlocutor. The idea of a 
smile in the Russian culture is clearly reflected in the Russian proverb «You are stupid if you smile without 
any reasons». Russians also don’t smile to raise one’s spirits or to encourage somebody if there are people 
nearby experiencing difficulties or hardships. These are the main peculiarities of the Russian smile [10; 42]. 
It should be noted however that a smile is not a symbol of politeness for the Russians. A person’s being 
kind is much more importance than presence or absence of a smile on his/her face. It happens so because in 
the Russian mentality politeness is manifested through kindness.  
As in English, there lexical and grammatical means of expressing politeness in Russian. The most 
common phrases showing politeness are «пожалуйста», «спасибо», «не  за  что» and others. As for the 
grammatical structures «не могли бы вы», «извините, не подскажите ли вы…», etc. are the most com-
mon. These expressions highlight frequent using of the negative particle «не» («not») in Russian requests as 
compared with the English language. Nevertheless the English tendency not to use this particle is getting 
widespread nowadays, e.g. today it becomes preferable to say «подождите,  пожалуйста» instead of «не 
могли бы вы подождать». 
To find out associative peculiarities of politeness among speakers of English and Russian an experiment 
was held. The interview method was chosen as the main for this experiment. The respondents were several 
residents of the USA, Canada, Great Britain and Russia. The results of the survey were later used to create an 
associative field of the concept «politeness» in the English language and for the comparative analysis of this 
concept in Russian and English.   
An associative field is a set of associates, i.e. reactions to stimulus words. It is created after results of an 
associative experiment are processed. An associative experiment can be of two types – free and directed. A 
free an associative experiment means that its participants can respond at a stimulus using any word. In the 
case of a directed associative experiment a response is restricted by some predetermined conditions (e.g. the 
necessity to use certain part of speech or constructions). 
Both free and directed associative experiments were used in the study. Two questionnaires were com-
piled for speakers of Russian and English.   
About 60 respondents aged 16 to 72 from the USA, Great Britain and Canada took part in the first sur-
vey. They were suggested to answer the following questions: 
 

I.N.Martynova 
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1. What forms of politeness do you use? 
a) special words (ex. please, etc.) 
b) special constructions (ex. could you..., wouldn't be you so kind...) 
c) both of them 
2. How will you ask for something from: 
a) an unknown person (ex. asking time, way, etc.) 
b) your close friend (ex. asking help in organizing party, etc.) 
c) your relatives 
3. What does «politeness» mean for you? 
This survey was uploaded to the web-sites Facebook, American Chat-Room and British Chat-Room. 
The answer are various though having some ideas in common.  
The first question: 
1. What forms of politeness do you use? 
a) special words (ex. please, etc) 
b) special constructions (ex. could you..., wouldn't be you so kind...) 
c) both of them 
Having analyzed the responses one can say that 64% of the respondents use special words, 26% — spe-
cial constructions and 10% — both special words and constructions. It is shown in Diagram 1. 
D i a g r a m   1  
 
 
From this diagram we can see that the Britons and the Americans mostly use special words like please, 
thank you, you are welcome to express politeness. 
As for the special constructions the following were pointed out: Could you…, Couldn’t you…, Wouldn’t 
you….  
It is interesting to notice that the use of constructions was stressed mostly by the respondents from 
Great Britain. It can be assumed that for Britons it is important to use not only one word to show their polite 
attitude to somebody but the whole constructions. 
The second question: 
2. How will you ask for something from: 
a) an unknown person (ex. asking time, way, etc.) 
b) your close friend (ex. asking help in organizing party, etc.) 
c) your relatives 
Let us quote some of the answers to this question to illustrate the concept of politeness in English: 
Sorry, what’s time now? Could you tell me the time? Excuse me, can you show me the way to the near-
est shop? I’m sorry, tell me please where I can buy a book. Excuse me, where can I have a snack? 
In most of the responses the initial word was can, with please also mentioned. 
3. What does «politeness» mean for you? 
Some of the responses can give a good insight into the matter. Almost all the respondents characterized 
not the word ‘politeness’ bur a polite person.  
Doing this the British respondents mostly mentioned that a polite person shows consideration,  respect 
for other people; courteous, respectful, considerate and sensitive towards other people; thoughtful of others; 

Серия «Педагогика». № 2(78)/2015 
thinking of others; who is aware of 
rion was named by more than 50% 
teristics (39%): 
A polite person is s
people; a person who uses manners
characteristics (11%): a polite person
Percentagewise it looks as follo
The final step in the data proce
by 154 people and their responses w
In this work a direct cognitive
that with this method all the associa
in their semantic content are united
most stylistically neutral word is cho
The following groups of cognit
Courteous 58: who says «pleas
in a socially correct way 9; 
Tactful 51: show consideration
1, who is aware of other people 4; 
Respectful 35: respect for other
Friendly 2: pleasant 1, friendly
Kind 6: sensitive toward others
Reserved 2: calm and cool 1, re
Respondents from Russia were
1.  Write your immediate associat
2.  Describe a polite person.  
About 50 citizens of Russia 
Vkontakte, the most popular social n
1.  Write your immediate associat
sults are presented at Diagram 3. 
The results suggest that politen
person. For the Russians respect is t
main characteristic feature of politen
The conclusion can be made t
others) while Russian politeness is s
Peculiarities
other people; often use the words «please» and «
of the informants). One response contained a rep
someone, who says «please» and «thank you» an
s, says «please» and «thank you». Only a few r
n is 
reserve), tactful, calm and cool, friendly, kind
ows in Diagram 2: 
essing was their cognitive interpretation. The last
were interpreted.  
e interpretation of associated was employed. It i
ates are interpreted including the single ones. As
d into an integral cognitive descriptor which is f
osen as a name for the formulated cognitive descr
tive descriptors became evident: 
se» and «thank you» 23, who uses manners 7, cou
n 12, considerate 11, thoughtful of others 13, think
r people 15, respectful 20; 
y 1; 
s 5, kind 1. 
eserved 1. 
e offered to answer the following questions: 
tion with the word «politeness». 
aged 14 to 55 took part in the survey. The s
network in Russia. The following results were obt
tion with the word «politeness». 47 answers were give
ness in the minds of the Russian people is kindnes
he background in contrast with the speakers of E
ness.  
that English politeness is oriented to others (dem
subject oriented and concentrates on the speaker a
common 
characteristics
50%
several 
characteristics
39%
other 
characteristics
11%
A polite person
s of concept «politeness»… 
163 
«thank you»; (each crite-
petion of several charac-
nd has respect for other 
responses enclosed other 
d, pleasant). 
D i a g r a m   2  
 
t question was answered 
is important to point out 
ssociates which are alike 
formulated verbally. The 
riptor. 
urteous 19, who behaves 
king of others 10, tactful 
survey was uploaded to 
tained: 
en to this question. The re-
ss and a well brought-up 
nglish for whom it is the 
monstration of respect to 
and his/her kindness.  

I.N.Martynova 
164 
Вестник Карагандинского университета 
D i a g r a m   3  
 
 
97 responses were given to the second question about the description of a polite person. The results are 
presented in Table. 
T a b l e  
реплики-реакции 
количество 
 
1 2 
kind 14 
well brought-up 
6 
ready to help 
5 
tactful 5 
give place in public transport 
4 
attentive 4 
respects others 
4 
smiling 4 
always greets 
4 
reserved 3 
kind hearted 
3 
pleasant to communicate with 
3 
sympathetic 3 
communicable 2 
polite 2 
sensitive 2 
noble 2 
good-natured 2 
well-bred 2 
modest 2 
amiable 2 
knows how to behave himself 
2 
inspiring confidence 
1 
well-read 1 
likes to listen and speak 
1 
gives way 
1 
good word stock 
1 
answers politely 
1 
says «Thank you» 
1 
kindness; 7
well brought-up 
person; 7
respectful 
treatment; 3
gentleman; 3
respect; 2
sensibility; 2
civility; 2
etiquette; 2
person with good 
manners; 2
behavioural 
cilture; 1
smile; 1
acquiescence; 1
reciprocative; 1
never rude; 1
something clear 
and simple; 1
always 
communicable; 1
courtesy; 1
young man in a 
suit; 1
the old; 1
spiritual wealth; 1
attentiveness; 1
love; 1
Crimea; 1
aristocrat; 1 mother; 1
decency; 1

Peculiarities of concept «politeness»… 
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165 
1 2 
neat 1 
careful in his/her words 
1 
decent 1 
diplomatic 1 
courteous 1 
one who won’t hurt 
1 
compliant 1 
orderly 1 
delicate 1 
is not rude 
1 
 
The table indicates that for the Russians a polite person is first and foremost kind and well brought-up 
with kindness being the most salient feature. For speakers of English kindness is in the background (it was 
mentioned only once).  
A polite person in the mentality of speakers of English is someone who respects the others. This charac-
teristic is not the first in the Russian mentality. Only one Russian respondent stated that a polite person al-
ways says «thank you» whereas this feature is rather frequent in the answers of the English speaking re-
spondents.   
It is worth mentioning that the responses of the Russians are more full and diverse comparing to the 
English responses. Speakers of English usually gave single-type answers. It might indicate that the concept 
of politeness is more clear cut in the English language and mentality while in the Russian mentality the ideas 
about this concept are still mostly vague.  
The results of the survey of Russian and English speaking respondents became a basis for a compara-
tive analysis of politeness in different cultures. The general outcome is the following.  
The so called approach strategies aimed at getting communicants closer to each other are more charac-
teristic of the English than of the Russian communication.  
Predominance of these strategies in the English communicative culture manifests itself both in the qual-
itative and quantitative aspects, e.g. the use of the special constructions and markers such as can you…, 
please. These structures are less common in the Russian communicative culture while behaviour of Russians 
is exemplified by a greater degree of naturalness and less rituals. The use of the same special constructions is 
not obligatory with kindness being the main feature of a polite person. This quality is the most important 
manifestation of politeness in the Russian culture.  
In communication speakers of English pay a great attention to the plain of expression while the speak-
ers of Russian — to the plain of content. That is why an important attribute of a polite person in the English 
language culture is the use in speech (depending on the purpose and participants of a communicative act) the 
words «please» and «thank you». For Russians it is not the main feature of politeness. «Communicable», 
«livable», «sympathetic» — these features reveal the content of a communicative act.  
The conducted analysis revealed deep discrepancy in the ways politeness is expressed in the English 
and Russian communicative cultures. These differences must be clearly indicated to Russian speaking stu-
dents studying English. They should be taught not only the vocabulary, but also the very idea of politeness 
for English speaking communities and the contexts in which various forms of expressing politeness should 
be used. The essence of politeness as a mental category should be explained to such students. Otherwise they 
are not likely to succeed in intercultural communication as politeness being also an extra linguistic feature 
will influence greatly their communicative adequacy. Special exercises on politeness as well as other behav-
ioral attributes and analyzing texts in English could become a suitable form of improving students’ compe-
tence in foreign languages.  
 
 
References 
1  Стернин И.А. Практическая риторика / И.А. Стернин. — М.: Академия, 2005. — 215 с. 
2  Формановская Н.И. Культура общения и речевой этикет / Н.И. Формановская. — М.: ИКАР, 2002. — 217 с.  
3  [ЭР]. Режим доступа: www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/polite 
4  [ЭР]. Режим доступа: http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/polite 
5  [ЭР]. Режим доступа: http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/polite 

I.N.Martynova 
166 
Вестник Карагандинского университета 
6  [ЭР]. Режим доступа: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/polite?q=polite# 
7  Беляева Е.И. Принцип вежливости в вопросительных речевых актах // Иностранные языки в школе. — 1990. — № 1. 
— С. 43–47. 
8  Honkanen M. Successful management in Russia / M. Honkanen, A. Mikluha. — Finland, 1998. — 178 p. 
9  Ларина Т.В. Категория вежливости в английской и русской коммуникативных культурах: Монография / Т.В. Ларина. 
— М.: Изд-во РУДН, 2003. — 315 с. 
10  Стернин И.А. Очерк американского коммуникативного поведения / И.А. Стернин, З.Д. Попова. — Воронеж: Истоки, 
2001. — 194 с. 
 
 
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