A SURVEY OF THAI CHINESE LEARNERS USING CHINESE GREETINGS AND CONGRATULATIONS

Abstract

The study aimed to survey Thai Chinese learners whether they use Chinese blessing language correctly or not, how much they understood Chinese blessing language, and find out the reasons why they could either use Chinese blessings language so well or make mistakes using them. In this study, questionnaire was used to investigate, analyze and summarize the data. It was found that the reason Thai Chinese learners used Chinese blessing language so well was because the blessing language was familiar and not complex for them use, learn and understand. At the same time, that Thai Chinese learners made mistakes using Chinese blessings was caused by native language and cultural differences among users. Furthermore, Thai Chinese learners found the unique idioms or four-character words in Chinese blessing language rather difficult for them because Thai blessing language usually does not use four character words.  For this reason, it is one of the main reasons why Thai Chinese learners made errors in using blessing words.