English-Japanese dictionaries pair “Would you ~?” with Japanese expressions based on verbs of giving-and-receiving in their modest/respectful form: “~shiteitadakemasenka/kudasaimasenka?” It implies that “Would you ~?” is a request with a high degree of politeness. The purpose of this paper is to show that (1) “Would you ~?” corresponds not only to expressions with a high degree of politeness (with modest/respectful form) but also to those with a low degree of politeness (without modest/respectful form), and (2) the variation stems from a difference in depiction-viewpoints, reflecting different politeness strategies between English and Japanese.

English, which has an objective viewpoint asking the hearer whether he/she has intention on accepting the request, is sensitive to the hearer’s negative face, leading to the use of a past-tense would. The viewpoint ends up employing“Would you ~?”regardless of the kind of relationship the speaker has with him/her. Meanwhile, Japanese, which has a subjective viewpoint that focuses on the speaker’s appreciation of the possible benefits that he/she would have from the hearer, is sensitive to the hearer’s positive face, leading to the use/non-use of the verbs of giving-and-receiving in their polite form depending on the kind of relationship the speaker has with him/her.