German compliment responses

Using a conversation analytic (CA) methodology, this study focuses on the preference organization of compliment sequences in German. The paper compares German and American compliment responses given among families and friends. The data show that while rejections and turns containing certain agreement and disagreement features are constructed similarly in German and American English, it is in agreement sequences that the two languages differ. It is suggested that in such sequences, cross-cultural communication can become problematic. I will then present one such example in which a nonnative speaker of English transferred the format of a German compliment response into American English, resulting in communication problems. Finally, I will discuss the implications of these findings for cross-cultural communication, and suggest the incorporation of pragmatics into foreign and second language teaching. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.