NGHIÊN cứu GIAO văn hóa về CÁCH DIỄN đạt sự LO LẮNG TRONG TIẾNG ANH mỹ và TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT

In these days society, the prevalence of technology and internet has pushed people from different continent close together. The need of intercultural interaction has increased among those who learn foreign language as a second one. Expressing emotions and feelings such as sadness, happiness or worry is the basic demands of people. However, the way people from different countries express these emotions is different from separated cultures. Originating from that fact, this study is conducted to make the comparison between American and Vietnamese in the way they show their worry. Furthermore, recently, there has appeared a new kind of entertainment, reality show, which reflects exactly what people think and behave in their daily life. Coming up with this phenomenon, the researcher makes up her mind to carry out the study basing on the way contestants in two versions of The Voice in the US and in Vietnam express their worry and nerve before each battle. The paper will convey the preference in expressing a worry of both American and Vietnamese contestants and then make the comparison between two cultures. In the last part of the research, some implications for language teaching and learning, as well as translating activities will be suggested.

In these days society, the prevalence of technology and internet has pushedpeople from different continent close together The need of intercultural interaction hasincreased among those who learn foreign language as a second one Expressingemotions and feelings such as sadness, happiness or worry is the basic demands ofpeople However, the way people from different countries express these emotions isdifferent from separated cultures Originating from that fact, this study is conducted tomake the comparison between American and Vietnamese in the way they show theirworry Furthermore, recently, there has appeared a new kind of entertainment, realityshow, which reflects exactly what people think and behave in their daily life Coming

up with this phenomenon, the researcher makes up her mind to carry out the studybasing on the way contestants in two versions of The Voice in the US and in Vietnamexpress their worry and nerve before each battle

The paper will convey the preference in expressing a worry of both Americanand Vietnamese contestants and then make the comparison between two cultures Inthe last part of the research, some implications for language teaching and learning, aswell as translating activities will be suggested

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE

Statement of acceptance ii

Acknowledgement iii

Abstract iv

List of tables, figures viii

PART A- INTRODUCTION I Rationale for the study ……… 2

II Scope of the study 4

III Objectives of the study 4

IV Significance of the study 5

V Research methodology 6

VI Organization of the study 7

PART B- DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES I Overview of previous studies 8

II Theoretical preliminaries 10

1.Speech acts 10

1.1 Definition 10

1.2 Classification 11

1.3 Expressing a worry as a speech act 13

2 Politeness and politeness principles in communication 14

2.1 Definition of politeness 14

2.2 Positive and negative politeness 14

2.3 Politeness principles 14

3 Directness and indirectness in communication 15

3.1 Directness and indirectness 15

3.2 Some socio-cultural factors affecting the choice of directness and

indirectness in communication 16

4 Politeness and directness/indirectness in expressing a worry in

American English and Vietnamese 17

III The context of what is in relation to the study 18

1 Reality show 18

2.The Voice- a successful reality show 19

2.1 Overview 19

2.2 Format description 20

2.3 Judging panel 21

CHAPTER II: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION I Findings 23

II Discussion 30

III Concluding remarks about major cross-cultural similarities and differences 38

PART C- CONCLUSION I Summary of findings 41

II Implications 42

1 Implication for teaching and learning a foreign language and culture 43

1.1 Implications for teachers of language 43

1.2 Implications for learners of language 44

2 Implications for translation and interpretation 44

III Limitations of the study 45

IV Suggestions for further studies 45 BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Utterances of American contestants in The Voice US

Appendix 2: Utterances of Vietnamese contestants in The Voice Vietnam

LIST OF TABLES, PICTURES AND FIGURES

PICTURES PAGE Picture 2.1: Kaplan’s diagram about way of thinking

Picture 2.2: The international “The Voice” logo

Picture 2.3: Coaches of The Voice US season 1

Picture 2.4: Coaches of The Voice Vietnam season 1

15 20 21 22

Figure 3.1: Use of worry expressing strategies by American

contestants in The Voice US

Figure 3.2: Use of worry expressing strategies by Vietnamese

contestants in The Voice Vietnam

32

34

Table 3.1: Use of worry expressing strategies by contestants in two

reality show: The Voice US and The Voice Vietnam

Table 3.2: Use of worry expressing strategies by American contestants

in The Voice US

31 31

Table 3.3: Use of worry expressing strategies by Vietnam contestants

in The Voice Vietnam

Table 3.4: Use of strategy 1 by American contestants and Vietnamese

Table 3.9: Frequency of preferred worry expressing strategies for

American and Vietnamese contestants

PART A - INTRODUCTION

I Rationale for the study

“To have another language is to possess a second soul”

~Charlemagne~

The soul in this immortal saying of Charlemagne does not only refer to the

language itself, but also to culture of the country giving birth to that language becauseculture can be seen as the soul of a country and language is the key to open the door ofthat soul In other words, it is undeniable that language plays an integral part of culture

it is the mirror reflecting a nation’s culture and tradition, in which speech acts isconsidered as means to express people’s feelings and emotions In fact, many languagelearners have encountered culture shocks or even the relationship break-up when theycommunicate with foreigners owing to the misinterpretation of the message

Nguyen Quang (1998,p.2) states that, “One cannot master a language without profound awareness of its cultural background and in both verbal and non-verbal communication, culture makes itself strongly felt” According to him, in the

international environment, cultural disagreement is happened frequently Let’s look at

a very simple example to have a general view about the issue:

- Minh: Oh my god! I’ll surely die this semester!

(Ôi trời ơi, kỳ này mình chết chắc rồi!)

- Tommy: ??? (being confused)

Obviously, the Vietnamese boy in the conversation does not have anyimplications about the death in his saying All he wants to do is to show his worryabout the bad result of this semester so that his friend can share with him

Unfortunately for this boy, the way he adopts the hyperbole to express his feeling notonly fails to receive the sympathy from his buddy but also makes the Western friendconfused The fact is that Eastern people in general always try to avoid mentioningsomething that makes them feel uncomfortable by using meaning transferences.Meanwhile, the Western culture prefers directly expressing their emotions or feelings.Hence, the cultural differences can explain for the communication breakdown in manysituations like this

It can be seen from the example that expressing a worry is one of thespeech acts that are easiest to lead to miscommunication between English learners andnative speakers due to the lack of cultural awareness Nevertheless, while others aswishing, or complaining are received much attention from scholars and researchers,expressing a worry is ignored despite its frequent use The problem here is that it isquite difficult to do a study on the way people show their worry, as they tend to hide itmost of the time With the prevalence of mass media nowadays, many reality showshas become not only a source of entertainment for everyone but also a mirror reflectingmany aspects of people lives including feelings expression and communication When

a reality show becomes popular worldwide and is franchised to different version, itmust be adapted flexibly so that it can be suitable to the audiences in the target nation.That is also true to the reality show The Voice US version and Vietnamese one.Therefore, the way contestants in these two versions express their worry is different

Originating from the concern of the issue, the researcher think that it is better todig deeper into the way British and Vietnamese people expressing a worry by

analyzing two different versions of a famous reality show named The Voice US and The Voice Vietnam Only by doing that, can the researcher fulfill her hope of breaking

the iceberg between two cultures All thing considered, the researcher comes up with

her paper‘s title “A cross- cultural communication study of expressing a worry in

English and Vietnamese”.

II Scope of the study

Expressing human’s emotions and feelings is one of the issues attracting theattention of linguists and experts It requires any linguist who cares about this topic tospend time and attempt so that he or she can approach the issue sufficiently However,owing to time constraint and the limited ability of the researcher, this paper onlyfocuses on the verbal form of worry expression in spite of the fact that nonverbal formplays a significant role in showing an emotion

Furthermore, due to the limited condition of the researcher and because shewould like to approach the speech act in a new way, the researcher plan to carry out the

survey basing on the feeling of contestant in one of the most famous reality show The Voice The study also conveys the response of contestants from both American and

Vietnamese versions In addition, the scale of the research limits the survey in just 12episodes of each version The information collected from the survey will be analyzedcarefully and sincerely by the researcher

III Objectives of the study

This study aims at investigating into preferable way people from American and

Vietnam express their worry via two reality shows The Voice US and The Voice Vietnam Also, the study is conveyed with the intention of making the comparison

between contestants of two versions and the vary of worry expressions in English andVietnamese Moreover, the researcher is interested in analyzing the data and thengiving useful suggestion for the communicators so that they can avoid unwantedmistake

Specifically, the paper is intended to address the following questions:

1) What are the preferable ways American contestants use to express a worry?2) What are the preferable ways Vietnamese contestants use to express a worry?

3) What are the similarities and differences between contestants from the USA andVietnam in the preferable way of expressing a worry?

IV.Significance of the study

After being accomplished, the paper, first and foremost, is expected to be usefulfor the researcher herself By carrying on the study, the author hopes to raise herawareness about cultural behaviors through language After studying about expressing

a worry or nerve in English and Vietnamese, the researcher may have understandingabout not only worry expression but also other speech acts such as expressing anger orhappiness, and so on This is particular meaningful for her future job when she luckilyhas an opportunity to work as a translator or an interpreter for a multinationalorganization With equipped knowledge, she can avoid unwanted culture shock ormisinterpreting when communicating with foreigners, especially the Westerners

More than that, the paper is hoped to benefit the English learners as well as anypeople who are interested in investigating into various aspects of speech acts in generaland worry expressions in particular To some extent, the author would be very happy tocontribute her small attempt to the teaching and learning English at the university,especially to the intercultural communication course

With the researcher’s ambition investigating the general understanding about thedifferences and similarities between two cultures in the way they expressing theirworry, the paper, once fulfilled, can serve as a source of reference for those who arefond of digging deeper into the issue and language learners Finally, the paper is hoped

to play as a contributor for narrowing the cultural distance between two countries

V Research methodology

 Selection of subject

Originating from the idea of studying the similarities and differences of a worryexpression between American and Vietnamese as well as their preferable, theresearcher find out that only in last competition like reality television, can contestants’worry be expressed clearly Therefore, she comes up to the decision to employ 12

episodes of The Voice US and other 12 episodes of The Voice Vietnam including the

final and semi-final cycle The chosen samples are all from the latest series in 2012season

 Research methodology

Regarding the purpose of this study, the researcher has found that quantitative isthe most feasible method to deal with the research problems It is because, in the socialsciences, quantitative refers to the systematic empirical investigation of quantitativeproperties and phenomena and their relationships The objective of quantitativeresearch is to develop and employ mathematical model, theories and hypothesespertaining to phenomena

Besides, qualitative method is required in different academic disciplines,traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts.The qualitative aims to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and thereasons that govern such behavior

 Data collection procedures

The data collection procedure is divided into two main phases as follow:

 Phase 1

This phase includes the time researcher spend collecting and watching 12episodes of TVUS and other 12 ones of TVVN In other words, the researcher willwatch all episodes in both version of the latest season and choose the 12 best form eachversion

 Phase 2

In this phase, researcher watches the program in detail and takes notes all thetranscripts of the ideas of contestants which contain worrying emotion.Simultaneously, prominent examples of each way of showing emotion are noted down

to exemplify the researcher’ later analysis

 Data analysis procedures

To answer the research question stated above, data analysis will be carried out.Information from the participants, after being identified, will be categorized Certaintheoretical models presented in Literature review, and their combinations will beapplied as well Some calculation will be made to figure out the most preferableresponse people from each country like to use

VI Organization of the study

The paper includes three main parts as follows:

Part A- Introduction presents the rationale, the aims and objectives, the

significance, the research methodology and the scope of the study

Part B- Development is divided into 3 chapters:

Chapter I: Literature review provides readers with theoretical

backgrounds for the paper Specifically, key concepts and terms related to the topic ofthe study, such as speech acts, politeness or reality show would be explained indifferent views of language scholars and experts

Chapter II: Findings and Discussion analyzes the collected data in

order to answer the above research questions

Part C- Conclusion summarizes the major findings, the limitations of the study

of the most successful reality shows all over the world.

I Overview of previous studies

In the modern society when the world is becoming smaller with the prevalence

of technology devices and high-quality transportation, people from different continentshave more chances to exchange business activities as well as cultural beauty to eachother In this context, the demand for interacting and communicating cross-cultural isincreasing As stated in the previous chapter, language is the reflection of a nation’sculture, which enables a person, regardless to his nationality, to express himself All ofpeople’s feelings in daily routine can be shown through their cultural behaviors or inother words, the speech acts Thus, speech acts and their variation have attracted a lot

of attention from both experts and those who are keen on language and culturestudying

In the international field, originating from the need of investigating culturalbehavior of people through languages, many linguists spent time and efforts exploringthe first speech acts theories Since the 1960s of the twenty century, John L Austin, aBritish philosopher of language, developed his observation of the relation between

people’s behaviors and language to speech acts theory through his work titled “How to

do things with words” Since then, many other specialists and linguists followed Austin

to build and complete the theory of speech acts and many relating issues such as

politeness or directness Specifically, there can count for “Speech acts” (1969) by Searle; “Universals in language usage: Politeness phenomenon” (1978) by Brown and Levinson; “The Logic of Politeness: or Minding your P’s and Q’s” (1973) by Lakoff;

“Linguistic communication and speech acts” (1984) by Back and Harnish; or

“Understanding Ways: Communicating between cultures” (1994) by O’Sullivivan.

These works and studies put the first bricks to the modern philosophy of language ingeneral and the cross-cultural studies in particular

In the territory of Vietnam, intercultural communication studies on Vietnamese interaction were somehow limited before the renovation as the politicaland diplomatic policies of the countries Yet, with an open policy and thenormalization in diplomatic relation between two countries since 1995, Vietnamesestudents were offered a lot of opportunities to study in the US through scholarships orexchange students programs Therefore, the number of studies and researches on thecross-cultural communication and speech acts has been dramatically increasing.Among these studies, there are noticeably the studies conducted by two linguists fromthe University of Languages of International Studies, VNU, Pr Nguyen Quang with

American-“Intercultural Communication” (1998) and Pr Ngo Huu Hoang with “A cultural study of Thanking and responding to thanks in English and Vietnamese in comparison and contrast” (1998) Besides, at ULIS, VNU, many undergraduates have

cross-chosen speech acts as their subject to study in BA graduation papers, including

“complaining and responding a complaint” (Giang, N.H, 2012), “refusing an invitation” (Loan, N.T, 2010), “giving congratulation” (Linh,N.T.H, 2007),

“promising” (Chung, T.T, 2004), so on and so forth All of these paper focus on the

similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese

Although the abundance of approaches to speech acts theory and languagebehavior studies, it is noticeable that there has been no study or research on worry andexpressing a worry as a speech act so far With the hope to investigate a new form ofspeech acts which illustrates people’s feelings, the research come up with the idea ofstudying the way people in English and Vietnamese expressing their worry and nerve.

II Theoretical preliminaries

1 Speech acts

1.1 Definition

In general, speech acts are acts of communication To communicate is to express

a certain attitude, and the type of speech act being performed corresponds to the type ofattitude being expressed For example, a statement expresses a belief, a requestexpresses a desire, and an apology expresses regret As an act of communication, aspeech act succeeds if the audience identifies, in accordance with the speaker'sintention, the attitude being expressed

In linguistics, an utterance defined in terms of a speaker's intention and theeffect it has on a listener Speech act theory, as introduced by Oxford philosopher J.L.Austin (1962), was further developed by many other scientists such as the Americanphilosopher J.R Searle (1969,1975), Bach, K.& Harnish,R (1984) and so on

J.L Austin (1962) gives some ideas about speech acts as:

… in order to explain what can go wrong with statements we cannot justconcentrate on the proposition involved (whatever that is) as has been donetraditionally We must consider the total situation in which the utterance isissued the total speech-act if we are to see the parallel between statements andperformative utterances, and how each can go wrong So the total speech act inthe total speech situation is emerging from logic piecemeal as important in

special cases: and thus we are assimilating the supposed constative utterance tothe perfomative." (J L Austin, 1975)

From the origination of Austin, speech act theory has been popularized andvaried in conceptualization and verbalization across culture and language

Some speech acts, however, are not primarily acts of communication and havethe function not of communicating but of affecting institutional states of affairs Theycan do so in either of two ways Some officially judge something to be the case, andothers actually make something the case Those of the first kind include judges' rulings,referees' calls and assessors' appraisals, and the latter include include sentencing,bequeathing and appointing Acts of both kinds can be performed only in certain waysunder certain circumstances by those in certain institutional or social positions

1.2 Classification

The father of speech act theory, John L.Austin, categorizes speech acts as threemain types: locutionary (acts), illocutionary (force) and perlocutionary

i A locutionary act is the act of saying something in the full sentence of “say”

Ex: Nice weather today?”

"In performing a locutionary act we shall also be performing such an act as:

 asking or answering a question;

 giving some information or an assurance or a warning;

 announcing a verdict or an intention;

 pronouncing sentence;

 making an appointment or an appeal or a criticism;

 making an identification or giving a description;

(John L Austin, How to Do Things With Words, 2nd ed Harvard Univ Press, 1975)

F Parker and K Riley (1994) defines:

"A locutionary act is the act of using a referring expression (e.g., a noun phrase)and apredicating expression (e.g., a verb phrase) to express a proposition For

instance, in the utterance You should stop smoking, the referring expression

is you and the predicating expression is stop smoking .”

ii An illocutionary act is an act performed in saying something, the act identified

by the explicit performative

For example:

Kenneth Parcell: I'm sorry, Mr Jordan I'm just overworked With my

page duties and being Mr Donaghy's assistant, there's not enough hours

in the day.

Tracy Jordan: I'm sorry about that But just let me know if there's any

way I can help.

Kenneth: Actually, there is one thing Tracy: No! I was just saying that! Why can't you read human facial

cues?

(Matthew Hubbard, "Cutbacks," 30 Rock, April 9, 2009)

The illocutionary act is performed through the communicative force of anutterance We may utter a sentence to make statement, an offer or for some othercommunicative purposes

iii A perlocutionary act is the act of an action or state of mind brought about by, or

as a consequence of, saying something

Searle (1975,p.60) also develops the theory of the distinction between direct and

of an utterance on a particular occasion Indirect speech act are cases in which oneillocutionary act is performed indirectly by way of performing another”

According to Searle, speech act can be grouped into some main types:

i Expressives: the expression of joys, disappointment, likes and dislikes The

form of expressives may be diverse even within one language

ii Representatives: speech act can be judged for truth value Representatives may

vary in terms of how hedged or aggravated the assertion might be Thesevariations are often expressed by the use of modal words

iii Directives: the acts which get people something Their function can be realized

by a wide range of forms like imperative sentences, questions, or even statementwhose illocutionary force is that of directive

iv Commissives: Acts that represent a promise or refusal for action

v Declaratives: acts that bring about a new state of being

1.3 Expressing a worry as a speech act

A worry or nerve is the feeling of unsafe or unprotected People may worryabout something going to happen to them, for example a contest or an examination or aunwanted events Although everyone need to express the feeling of worry, the waypeople experience this emotion and the way they show out of it is different and variesfrom culture to culture As the classification of speech acts mentioned above, it can beseen that a worry expressing is an expressive act in which the speaker shows theirfelling directly or indirectly relying on their cultural control

According to the classification of Austin, expressing a worry undoubtinglybelongs to the illocutionary act with the illocutionary force of expressing emotion Anworry can be expressed differently in terms of verbal and non-verbal communication indifferent cultures and traditions

2 Politeness and politeness principles in communication

2.1 Definition of politeness

Politeness is the way people treat others I can be seen as the basic to theproduction of social order, and a precondition of human co-operation (Levinson, 1987).According to Oxford Advanced learner, politeness is “having or showing goodmanners and respect for the feelings of others” Many theories have developed to givethe basic understanding about politeness

Richard, J.et al (1998,p.281) claims that politeness means (a) how languagesexpress the social distance between speakers and their different role relationship; (b)how face –work, that is, the attempt to establish, maintain and save face duringconversation

2.2 Positive and Negative politeness

The concept of politeness can be understood flexibly through various cultures.However, linguists categorize it into positive politeness and negative politeness

i Positive politeness: referring to the person’s negative face which tends to show

deference, emphasize the importance of the other’s time or concern, an apologyfor the imposition or interruption

ii Negative politeness: relating to the person’s positive face which tends to show

solidarity, emphasize both speakers want the same thing and that they have acommon goal (Yule, 1996, p.62)

2.3 Politeness principles

Being polite is an action that requires the speakers show his respect to thepartners However, to become polite in all situations is far from easy Robin Lakoff(1990,p.38) make principles of politeness so that people can follow to “save their

 Don’t impose: avoiding or asking permission or apologizing when doingsomething that others don’t want to do.

 Offer options: expressing oneself in such a way that one’s opinions or requestcan be ignored without being contradicted or rejected

 Encourage feelings of Camarderie: assuming that with a close friend, oneshould be able to discuss anything Almost any topic of conversation is a fairgame

3 Directness and indirectness in communication

3.1 Directness and Indirectness

When expressing any emotion or feeling status, different person tends to usedifferent way, its may be direct or indirect expressing The fact is that each culture hastheir own way of thinking, which is illustrated in Kaplan’s diagram:

Picture 2.1: Kaplan’s diagram about way of thinking

From the diagram, it can be seen that English people often express their thoughtdirectly while Oriental people in general and Vietnamese in particular have tendency ofusing indirect saying

3.2 Some Socio- cultural factors affecting the choice of directness and indirectness in communication

Nguyen Quang, 1998, p.112 identifies 12 factors governing the choice of directand indirect in communication that are translated into English by Ngo Huu Hoang inhis MA thesis as as follows:

i Age: the old tends to be more indirect than the young does

ii Sex: female prefers indirect expression

iii Residence: The rural population tends to use more ID than the urban ones

iv Mood: while angry, people tend to use more ID

v Occupation: those who do social sciences tend to use more ID than those who

do natural sciences

vi Personality: the extroverted tend to use more ID than the introverted

vii Topic: while referring to a subtle topic, a taboo, people usually opt for ID

viii Place: when at home, people tend to use more D than when they are at another

places

ix Communicative environment: when in an informal climate, people tend to

express more directly

x Social distance: those who have closer relationship tend to talk in a more

directly

xi Time pressure: when in a hungry, people are likely to use an indirect expression

xii Position: when in a superior position, people tend to use more D to their

inferiors

4 Politeness and directness/indirectness in expressing a worry in

American English and Vietnamese

As discussed earlier, expressing a worry is included in language activities andexists in communication as an inevitable need Unlike angry, sad or happy emotions,the degree of politeness or directness of a worry expression cannot be figured outclearly In other words, the border of the difference in showing worry feeling betweenAmerican and Vietnamese people is quite fragile However, because of belonging totwo spectrum of the globe, each culture preserves their own beliefs and values, notexcept for the way they showing their concern and worry

In most case, both American and Vietnamese have their needs of expressingfeelings in general and worry in particular They tend to share their concern withsomeone that they are familiar or who makes them feel safe and sound, someone thatthey can believe However, the way each culture shows a worry is somehow different

In one hand, Westerner people are believed to highly appreciate individualismand privacy, follow negative politeness They are generally more direct, open and freer

to express their feelings They will not try to mask their emotion and much lessconcerned with other face In worry expression, the American try to share theirproblem directly with the hope of finding out the solution to the problem To them,honesty is usually more important than preserving harmony in interpersonalrelationships

In the other hand, Vietnamese, as part of the Oriental culture, highly respectpositive politeness They tend to be more preserved The Vietnamese are always politeeven if only superficially To them, a personal worry should be kept in their mind and

if they want to share it to another, that person must be their relative or close friend.People always try to hide their true feeling behind a smile The way a Vietnameseperson talking about their problem is also identical Indirectness and politeness is

highly valued in this society Instead of going straight into the problem, they keepgoing around and around

In conclusion, worry expressing is American and Vietnamese appears different

in different situations Thus, culture shocks are highly potential if communicators areunaware of the differences of cultural values, norms of politeness and directness Toenhance the success of communication, there appears no other way except thatcommunication participants get themselves fully provided with the knowledge of thecultural differences

III The context of what is in relation to the study

1 Reality show

Reality show is a new term appearing when the mass media and entertainmentexplode When people ‘quality of life is improved, most of them would like to enjoymore programs with high intellectual value In order to meet the demand of themajority of audiences, producers rapidly think about the programs that not onlyentertain the hardest audiences but also give them the real experiences The feelingsthat contestants and judge panels experience are also the feeling that people can have intrue life

If we surf on the internet with the key word is reality show definition or what is reality show?, we can find out many sources providing the definition or understanding

about these concept In Wikipedia, the term reality show is defined quite detail and

easy to catch as a television programming genre that presents unscripted and humorous situations, documents actual events and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors Reality television offers viewers a glimpse into the lives

of people that might otherwise not be seen It can also be seen as a platform for the subjects of the programs, to clear up misconceptions, and show their story or

struggle Although Wikipedia is considered an unauthorized online encyclopedia, it

seems to be successful in offering a very detailed and comprehensive definition

Besides, according to Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary,

a reality show is a type of television programming that aims to show how ordinary people behave in everyday life, or in situations, often created by programme makers, which are intended to present everyday life With this clear and concise definition, it is

clear that reality show can perfectly reflect life routine and behavior of people indifferent situation, including showing a worry

2 The Voice- a successful reality show

2.1 Overview

The Voice is a singing competition held in form of a reality talent show on NBCtelevision network Based on the reality singing competition The Voice of Holland, theseries was created by Dutch television producer John de Mol and is executive by Mark

Burnett The original name of this show is The Voice of Holland (TVOH) but when is

“imported” into other countries, it is shortened to The Voice with name of eachcountry, i.e The Voice US or The Voice Vietnam

The Voice is firstly broadcasted in Netherlands in 17th of September 2010 andThe USA is the first nation buying its copyright So far, The Voice has experiencedthree seasons in Netherlands and USA

The Voice logo features a microphone in a “V” gesturing hand with the titledlettering of “The Voice” This also represent the victory that is worth for the talent ofthe winner It is the international logo of the show

Picture 2.2: The international “The Voice” logo

2.2 Format description

The series consists of three phases: a blind audition, a battle phase, and liveperformance shows Four judges/coaches, all noteworthy recording artists, chooseteams of contestants through a blind audition process Each judge has the length of theauditioner's performance (about ninety seconds) to decide if he or she wants that singer

on his or her team If two or more judges want the same singer (as happens frequently),the singer has the final choice of coach

Each team of singers is mentored and developed by its respective coach In thesecond stage, called the battle phase, coaches have two of their team members battleagainst each other directly by singing the same song together, with the coach choosingwhich team member to advance from each of individual "battles" into the first liveround Within that first live round, the surviving acts from each team again competehead-to-head, with public votes determining one of two acts from each team that willadvance to the final six, while the coach chooses which of the remaining three actscomprises the other performer remaining on the team

In the final phase, the remaining contestants compete against each other in livebroadcasts for the public's vote The coaches have the power to save one contestant thathad not received the public's vote that week As of season two, these contestants wouldgive a last chance performance to win their coach's save However, in deciding whomoves on to the final four phase, the television audience and the coaches have equalsay 50/50 With one team member remaining for each coach, the contestants competeagainst each other in the finale where the outcome is decided solely by public vote.

2.3 Judging panel

From the first phase to the last one of The Voice in any version, there are fourjudges or coaches who accompany with contestants They will guide members in theirgroup, help them fulfill their talent and improve their skills Unlike other television

show, The Voice attracts a large number of audiences by its particular rule in which the

judges ‘duty is not simple that they will give comments to each performance but theywill choose their group members and guide them

In The Voice US, the judging panel includes a singer-songwriter Christian

Aguilera, a singer- rapper Cee Lo Green, lead singer of American poprock band Maroon 5 Adam Levine and a country music Blake Shelton All of themhave reputation across the border of the US

Picture 2.3: Coaches of The Voice of US season 1

In The Voice Vietnam, firstly broadcasting in 2012, the judging panel involves

four famous names of the country entertainment industry, including “king of Vietmusic” Dam Vinh Hung, “queen of dance/pop” Thu Minh, Ho Ngoc Ha and Tran Lap-lead singer of Buc Tương band

Picture 2.4: Coaches of The Voice Vietnam season 1

CHAPTER II: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter provides an insightful and detailed data analysis after conducting the research Accordingly, the interpretation of these data is also offered to address the research questions in the rationale part.

As stated in the previous chapter, the research questions will be resolved in thispart of the study by employing quantitative and qualitative research methodology It isobviously that contestants in all television shows in general and in The voice inparticular always feel worried and stressed when joining in a competition However,the way people show their feelings differentiates in different continents Forcontestants in The Voice of America and The Voice of Vietnam, they often use somestrategies that have similarities and differences from each other The border of thesestrategies is usually not clear enough because the contestants’ choice of mixing variousstrategies can be found throughout the research

What is more, unlike other speech acts, worry or nerve often puts people in thesituation of confused and disorder, especially when they are in front of the do-or- diesituation like a fierce competition that can decide their future This can make them fallinto speechlessness And in order to get rid of these nerves, contestants in The Voicetries to either directly express their feelings or hide them by talking round about

After watching and analyzing the reality show The Voice in both American andVietnamese versions, the researcher can draw out some notice that in worry or nerveexpressing, people often tend to talk directly and indirectly This means that in manycases contestants in The Voice show their worry as the way to get the sympathy ofaudiences while others would like to hide their nerves and try to show how confident

contestants as the strategies to express their worry before going into a big competition

in their life as following:

1 Strategy 1: Directly showing the nerves

2 Strategy 2: Hiding the true feeling

3 Strategy 3: Explaining the current situation

4 Strategy 4: Looking forward to a bright prospect

5 Strategy 5: Showing strong determination

 Strategy 1: Directly showing the nerves/worry

It is the way contestants freely express their worry before the competition Infact, it is considered the most common and natural way when people standing in front

of a big milestone in their life as such this singing contest Interestingly, as observed,this strategy is preferred by Vietnamese contestants:

 Hôm nay tham gia vào vòng thi giấu mặt của The Voice thì bản thân mình cũng cảm thấy rất hồi hộp vì các thí sinh ai cũng hát hay cả (Hoài Trinh- Vòng thi Giấu Mặt-Gala 1)

 Sau đây, để lên sân khấu và trình bày cac khúc mình đã lựa chọn thì mình đang rất là run và hôi hộp vì không biết huấn luyện viên nào sẽ lựa chọn mình (Hoài Trinh- Vòng thi Giấu Mặt-Gala 1)

 Vài phút sắp tới mình chuẩn bị bước lên sân khấu thì mình cảm thấy rất là run

và hồi hộp (Đào Bá Lộc- Vòng Thi Giấu Mặt- Gala 1)

 Mình sắp phải lên dĩa rồi, sự thật là mình rất lo lắng và khá là căng thẳng bởi

vì sự biểu diễn từ trước tới giờ của mình so với lúc đi thi và lúc tập thì khác nhau khá là nhiều (Trần Phương- Vòng Thi Giấu Mặt- Gala 1)

 Cảm giác bây giờ thì … rất là hồi hộp (Hoàng Triều-Vòng Thi Giấu

Mặt- Hiện tại Dung rất là run và chỉ biết tự động viên chính bản thân mình phải làm hết sức mình.(Phương Dung-Vòng Thi Giấu Mặt- Gala 2)

 Trước khi bước lên sân khấu để biểu diễn thì mình thấy hồi hộp lắm vì lần này

có rất nhiều người hát hay và mình sẽ cố gắng để biểu diễn hết sức của mình (Tư Nghi- Vòng Thi Giấu Mặt- Gala 2)

 Trước khi bước lên sân khấu để biểu diễn thì mình thấy hồi hộp lắm vì lần này

có rất nhiều người hát hay và mình sẽ cố gắng để biểu diễn hết sức của mình (Quốc Huy- Vòng Thi Giấu Mặt- Gala 4)

 Trái với rất nhiều người thì mình cảm thấy rất hồi hộp và lo sợ (Châm Vòng Thi Giấu Mặt)

Anh-However, the American competitors are not exceptions but it is a little bit lesscommon than in Vietnamese ones

 I was so nervous I forgot my words! When I get nervous…( Tarralyn-Blind Audition- Ep.1)

 I’m scared and nervous (chuckles) It’s making me teary-eyed because because It’s just… (crying) I’ve waited a really long time … To have my shot and it means a lot (sobs) (Cherie-Blind Audition- Ep.2)

 It’s scary and nerve-racking, knowing that, like, they’ve had more training and experience than me (Raquel- Blind Audition- Ep.2)

 I’m scared that my nerves will get the best of me, because I grew up listening to these people on the radio And now to sing in front of them… I can’t even wrap

my mind around it (Julia- Blind Audition- Ep.2)

 I’m vervous but I’m kind of …because It’s scary (chuckles) (Dia-Blind Audition- Ep.2)

 I’m so excited I’m nervous I’m terrified This is my chance to take my career to

 I’m not beautiful by any means There is nothing about me that’s beautiful so I’m nervous about it (Jared- Battle Round-Ep.4)

 This is an amazing opportunity I’m only 16 years old and It’s kind of racking, because I haven’t performed it a lot Oh, my God! I’m excited and nervous and going to crazy my head at the same time.(Raquel- Battle Round- Ep.5)

nerve- I’m a little nervous just because, you know, I grew up singing in the church, so I mean, when we would sing, it was about giving people the holy ghost, and this

is a totally different platform (Serabee-Battle Round- Ep.5)

 God, it’s so nerve-racking to sing in front of …(Cherie- Battle Round-Ep.6)

It can be seen that even under the pressure and experiencing the worry, theAmericans tends to be find some jokes or kidding like chuckling to alleviate their hardfelling

 Strategy 2: Hiding true feeling

“True feeling” here is the worry or the nerves or the pressures competitors have

to experience in each round of the competition However, in contradiction to the firststrategy when people express their worry in front the camera In this strategy, instead

of discuss about what they feel at that moment, contestants would like to direct theconversation into their confidence when participating in the Voice This strategy isoften apply in American candidates:

 It’s the chance for me to continue to go for my dream and perhaps this time leave being remembered for my talent.(Frenchie- Blind Audtion- Ep1)

 Well, it better be my time to shine, considering I don’t have too much more years to worry about shining… I would like to be the winner of this competition… (Joann- Blind Audition- Ep.1)

 I’m gonna do a good job (Angela- Blind Audition- Ep.1)

 I’m confident in my voice and my style, and I’m just gonna go out there with all the energy in the word (Casey- Battle Round- Ep.4)

 Yeah, yeah I got so much energy that you just want to just throw it out there, you knowb (Tyler- Blind Audition-Ep.4)

Unfortunately, Vietnamese people are not as confident as the American ones This is not too difficult to understand because Asian people in general and Vietnamese

in particular are said to lack confidence and appear to be a little bit shy In Vietnamese version, the degree of confidence in contestant is faint and not clear It is mostly

expressed in form of determination

 Lần này mình muốn cố gắng hết sức mình để đem đến cho khán giả một giây phút lắng đọng và cố gắng chinh phục 4 vị huấn luyện viên (Phuong- Blind Audition- Ep 1)

 Cảm giác của mình lúc này là rất là run, hồi hộp, trong đó có một chút phấn chấn Xiết chặt tay, hít thật sâu, bước lên sân khấu và hát hết sức (Trang Quoc Cuong- Blind Audition- Ep1)

 Hiện tại thì mình đang cố gắng hết sức để lấy lại sự bình tĩnh để thể hiện thật tốt (Dao Ba Loc- Blind Audition- Ep1)

 Phương sẽ cố gắng để thể hiện tốt phần thi của mình (Bui Ha Phuong – Blind Audition- Ep1)

 Strategy 3: Explaining current situation

This strategy is given the priority by American contestants because theyconsider singing as their whole life career For them, the passion with singing is notonly to fulfill their spiritual needs but also to meet their material demand Each onecoming to The Voice tells about their situation as a motivation pushing them to the top

 When I go onstage, I just want to think about all the years I’ve spent working hard to get to this moment right now I think the competitive side’s coming our

right now, when I just want to get out there and be proud of the performance (Angela- Blind Audition- Ep.3)

 My mom passed away about 10 months ago She was definitely my number one supporter She taught me how to love, she taught me how to forgive, she taught

me confidence and she taught me how to believe in myself My mom was always tight here singing with me And she’s gonna be right there on that stafe with me this time (Jeff- Blind Audition- Ep 1)

 The fact that I live in my wife’s parents’ basement, It’s one of those things that… It is very humbling for me Obviously, soon, we’d love to get out of there and get our own place If things don’t work out here, we’re going back to the basement, which isn’t the most ideal situation (Josh- Blind Audition- Ep 1)

 As of right now, I am living out of a 1992 toyota camry station wagon It has a

cd player, and a tape player, so don’t be jealous….

 Vài năm trước thì mình đã mắc một căn bệnh rất khó chữa và mình phải điều trị trong vòng 6 tháng Những tưởng giấc mơ âm nhạc của mình đã không còn nhưng may mắn là sau 6 tháng thì các bác sỹ nói là mình có thể hồi phục và đó

là một tin vui đối với mình Mình cảm thấy như được hồi sinh thêm một lần nữa

và kể từ đó thì mình tích cực luyện tập hát (Ngọc Luân- Vòng Thi Giấu Gala 2)

Mặt- Strategy 4: Looking forward to a bright prospect

Looking forward to a bright implicates the optimistic attitude of contestantsfrom two countries As analyzing from the show, the researcher found out that peoplefrom both hold confidence in their mind but it seems that the optimistic attitude ofVietnamese people is not as clear as the American ones:

 Mình phải cố gắng hết sức trong cuộc thi này, phải vượt qua được và đem niềm hạnh phúc về cho bố tôi (Kim Cương- Vòng Thi Giấu Mặt – Gala 3)

 Khi bước cùng Bá Lộc từ thảm đỏ vào thì mình cảm thấy rất là lo lắng nhưng

mà dù cho một chút lo lắng đó, nó cũng không ảnh hưởng gì đến ý chí của mình hôm nay và mình chắc chắn là mình sẽ dành phần thắng (Hữu Thuận – Vòng thi Đối Đầu- Gala 5)

 Mình nghĩ rằng mọi thứ bây giờ đã sẵn sàng, và điều mà mình cần nhất bây giờ

là sự cổ vũ từ gia đình và bạn bè và mình tin mình sẽ không làm mọi người thất vọng (Hoàng Mạnh- Vòng Thi Đối đầu- Gala 5)

 I would like to be the winner of this competition just to prove to my children :

No matter what age you are or where you come from, that anything is possible

in this word, anything (Joann- Blind Audition- Ep.1)

 When I walk through those doors, I have to get everything out of my mind and just focus on what I’m doing, cause this has been a dream since I’m 4 years old Hopefully, this could make my dream come true (Raquel- Blind Audition- Ep.2)

 This is important to me mainly because I am definitely the king of “almost” (exhales deeply) Just a lot of almost big things happen in my career (sing) (Tim-Blind Audition-Ep.2)

 Strategy 5: Showing strong determination

Everybody coming to The Voice brings with him/her a big dream to become thewinner However, before each round, the feeling of nerve, worry is inevitable and toavoid letting other know that they are worried; contestants try to show theirdetermination for winning, especially for the American ones

 It only takes one note, and if you go flat, you get pitchy, you’re done for There

is no second chance This is it It’s do or die (Nakia- Battle Round-Ep.4)

 And dude, I want to be in that live show With six kids to take care of, I need something big to happen (exhales sharply) (Josh- Battle Round- Ep.4)

 Performance, singing, the whole package has to come together It’s do or die, tonight is the night.(Justin- Battle Round- Ep.4)

 I have to win this competition so that I can have a career (Tarralyn-Battle Round- Ep.3)

 I can’t picture myself doing anything else (Raquel- Battle Round- Ep.5)

 The fact that Adam gave me the second chance makes me really want to make him proud, really makes him feel likle “I made the right decision by turning the second time” I want to win right now That’s what I want to do (Casey-

 Truly, this round is a do or die situation (Tim- Battle Round- Ep.3)

 It really is a moment where you’re just like… Is this is this a dream?

 Now that it’s so close, I want it so bad, so badly.(Lily- Battle Round-Ep.6)

 Winning this battle is everything to me I’m really, man(Curtis- Battle Round- Ep.6)

 Hy vọng là cuộc thi the voice sẽ đưa mình tới ước mơ của mình Cảm xúc của mình khi chuẩn bị bước lên võ đài là mình sẽ cháy hết mình (Lê Vy- Vòng Thi Giấu Mặt- Gala1)

 Trái với rất nhiều người thì mình cảm thấy rất hồi hộp và lo sợ, tuy nhiên thì mình cũng rất vui vì đó là niềm mơ ước của mình từ rất lâu rồi và mình đã chuẩn bị bài hát và tình trạng sức khỏe tốt nhất (Châm Anh- Vòng Thi Giấu Mặt- Gala 3)

II Discussion

With the attempt to address the last question in the previous chapter “What are the similarities and differences between contestants from the USA and Vietnam in the preferable way of expressing a worry?”, the author used the collected data to discover

the preferable strategy of showing a worry feeling of contestants from differentversions After calculating from 87 utterances of The Voice of US and other 85 ones of

The Voice Vietnam, mostly belong to Blind Audition and Battle Round, the researcher

draws a table about the prevalence of each strategy as followed:

American contestants Vietnamese contestants

Table 3.1: Use of worry expressing strategies by contestants in two reality shows: The

Voice US and The Voice Vietnam (%)

Figure 3.1: Use of worry expressing strategies by American contestants in

The Voice US (%)

Strategy 1 Strategy 2 Strategy 3 Strategy 4 Strategy 5

(Note: Strategy 1- Directly showing the worry; Strategy 2- Hiding the true feeling; Strategy 3- Explaining current situation; Strategy 4- Looking forward a bright prospect; Strategy 5- Showing strong determination)

As can be seen from the above pie chart, the first strategy (that is directlyshowing the worry) is the most common one used by the American contestants with55.17% Here are some stark expressions often used to show their worry:

 I’m scared and nervous (chuckles) It’s making me teary-eyed because because It’s just… (crying) I’ve waited a really long time … To have my shot and it means a lot (sobs) (Cherie-Blind Audition- Ep.2)

 It’s scary and nerve-racking, knowing that, like, they’ve had more training and experience than me (Raquel- Blind Audition- Ep.2)

 I’m scared that my nerves will get the best of me, because I grew up listening to these people on the radio And now to sing in front of them… I can’t even wrap

my mind around it (Julia- Blind Audition- Ep.2)

 I’m vervous but I’m kind of …because It’s scary (chuckles) (Dia-Blind Audition- Ep.2)

 I’m so excited I’m nervous I’m terrified This is my chance to take my career to the next level (Frenchie – Battle Round- Ep.4)

 I’m not beautiful by any means There is nothing about me that’s beautiful so I’m nervous about it (Jared- Battle Round-Ep.4)

 This is an amazing opportunity I’m only 16 years old and It’s kind of racking, because I haven’t performed it a lot Oh, my God! I’m excited and nervous and going to crazy my head at the same time.(Raquel- Battle Round- Ep.5)

nerve- I’m a little nervous just because, you know, I grew up singing in the church, so I mean, when we would sing, it was about giving people the holy ghost, and this

is a totally different platform (Serabee-Battle Round- Ep.5)

Meanwhile, the fourth strategy (looking forward a bright prospect) is the leastdesired one with only several times is utilized:

 When I walk through those doors, I have to get everything out of my mind and just focus on what I’m doing, cause this has been a dream since I’m 4 years old Hopefully, this could make my dream come true (Raquel- Blind Audition- Ep.2)

 This is important to me mainly because I am definitely the king of “almost” (exhales deeply) Just a lot of almost big things happen in my career (sing) (Tim-Blind Audition-Ep.2)

This preference can be explained basing on the characteristic of Americanpeople that not only in a singing contest like The Voice, but also in front of anyimportant event happening in an American people life, worrying about a problem isinevitable Directness is the nature of Western people, so it is understandable enoughthat they of show out their true feeling It is highlighted in these above sayings thatmost of the contestants consider the competition as a “do-or-die” situation This is true

country really do not want to forecast or hope about a bright result before it reallyhappens.

Figure 3.2: Use of worry expressing strategies by Vietnamese contestants in The

Voice Vietnam (%)

Strategy 1 Strategy 2 Strategy 3 Strategy 4 Strategy 5

(Note: Strategy 1- Directly showing the worry; Strategy 2- Hiding the true feeling; Strategy 3- Explaining current situation; Strategy 4- Looking forward a bright

The overall picture of Vietnamese contestants is quite different from theAmerican one when the first strategy is the most favored with 35 out of 85 utterances(accounting for 41.18%) In contrast, explaining current situation reveals not to bepreferred by Vietnamese competitors with only 2 out of 85 utterances (only 2.34%).The statistics show that the most preferable is as 17 times high as the least one Therest three strategies are on the average percentage of 24.71% for showing strongdetermination, 17.65% for looking forward a bight prospect and 14.12% for explainingthe current situation.

Below are some illustrations for the strategy 1:

 Vài phút sắp tới mình chuẩn bị bước lên sân khấu thì mình cảm thấy rất là run

và hồi hộp (Đào Bá Lộc- Vòng Thi Giấu Mặt- Gala 1)

 Mình sắp phải lên dĩa rồi, sự thật là mình rất lo lắng và khá là căng thẳng bởi

vì sự biểu diễn từ trước tới giờ của mình so với lúc đi thi và lúc tập thì khác nhau khá là nhiều (Trần Phương- Vòng Thi Giấu Mặt- Gala 1)

 Cảm giác bây giờ thì … rất là hồi hộp (Hoàng Triều-Vòng Thi Giấu Gala1)

Mặt- Hiện tại Dung rất là run và chỉ biết tự động viên chính bản thân mình phải làm hết sức mình.(Phương Dung-Vòng Thi Giấu Mặt- Gala 2)

 Trước khi bước lên sân khấu để biểu diễn thì mình thấy hồi hộp lắm vì lần này

có rất nhiều người hát hay và mình sẽ cố gắng để biểu diễn hết sức của mình (Tư Nghi- Vòng Thi Giấu Mặt- Gala 2)

 Trước khi bước lên sân khấu để biểu diễn thì mình thấy hồi hộp lắm vì lần này

có rất nhiều người hát hay và mình sẽ cố gắng để biểu diễn hết sức của mình (Quốc Huy- Vòng Thi Giấu Mặt- Gala 4)

On the other hand, to compare more about the preference of each strategybetween two reality shows: The Voice US and the Voice Vietnam, season 1, the