“Do you have a pen?” “Yes.”

This study investigates how the cross-cultural variation between Spanish and Chinese interactional styles influences the interlanguage pre-request sequences in Spanish produced by Chinese-speaking learners. Ninety-four university students, including 40 Chinese learners of Spanish at intermediate and advanced levels, 24 native Spanish speakers and 30 native Chinese speakers, performed 10-item open role-plays that elicited requests. Results revealed that learners exhibited negative transfer concerning cross-cultural differences, but did not always make positive transfer in aspects of cross-cultural similarities. Notably, learners and native Chinese speakers differed from native Spanish speakers in their production of the pre-requests asking about the recipients’ availability and their responses to the pre-requests inquiring about the existence of certain belongings. Furthermore, in comparison with native speakers, learners more frequently used the pre-requests asking for a favor. The findings of this research highlight cultural diversity in speakers’ pre-request sequences and pragmatic transfer at the interactional level. Additionally, the study brings attention to the issue of verbosity in intermediate and advanced learners’ sequential organization.