恐縮: a considerate request and a response to praise
Compare requesting a document check from a busy person with feeling humbled after warm praise, keeping the function and timing of each response.
Introducing a request to someone who is busy
恐縮 (きょうしゅく) expresses an apologetic or humbled feeling. “お忙しいところ恐縮ですが、書類をご確認ください。” asks the busy listener to check a document while acknowledging the trouble caused by the request.
Read お忙しいところ with ご確認ください: the speaker considers the listener's burden while asking for a check. A completed check or an act of wrongdoing is not supplied.
Feeling humbled after receiving praise
“温かいお褒めの言葉をいただき、恐縮しています。” says that the speaker feels humbled by warm praise. Receiving praise is the occasion for this response.
Preserve お褒めの言葉をいただき rather than reversing the roles and having the speaker praise the listener. The response here is a humble feeling upon receiving praise.
Identify the request and the occasion for the response
The first example introduces a request with 恐縮ですが; the second responds to praise with 恐縮しています. The surrounding request and occasion identify the function of the same expression.
Do not always translate 恐縮 only as an apology for wrongdoing or only as thanks. These examples concern requesting a check and responding to praise, without adding an admission of a past wrong.
What occasions 恐縮 in each example?
Show the answer and why
The first acknowledges the burden of asking a busy person to check a document. The second responds humbly to warm praise. Neither reports a completed check or an admission of wrongdoing.