Nghiên cứu về bài phát biểu nhận giải của người mỹ và người việt nam trong các lễ trao giải thưởng điện ảnh

The main purpose of the study is to reveal some similarities and differences in acceptance speeches made by American and Vietnamese people at movie award ceremonies. The paper first presents theoretical background on some relating issues including public speaking, politeness and speech acts, with a view to supporting ideas for the later analysis. Then the paper goes further into the procedure of collecting and analyzing data. The qualitative method is employed as the main tool to conduct the research. Data are collected from 20 American and 20 Vietnamese acceptance speeches in movie award ceremonies from 2009 to 2014. A detailed investigation and analysis of the format, thanking strategies and language use in acceptance speeches has been conducted. Results of the study illustrate certain similarities and differences in American and Vietnamese speakers. In addition, the results state that cultural factors, especially the assumptions of formality in two cultures affect significantly those differences.

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

A STUDY ON ACCEPTANCE SPEECHES OF

AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE AWARDEES

AT MOVIE AWARD CEREMONIES

Supervisor: Phan Thị Vân Quyên, M.A

Student: Nguyễn Thị Kim Huệ

Course : QH2010.F1.E18

Hà Nội - 2014

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ BÀI PHÁT BIỂU NHẬN GIẢI CỦA NGƯỜI MỸ VÀ NGƯỜI VIỆT NAM

TRONG CÁC LỄ TRAO GIẢI THƯỞNG ĐIỆN ẢNH

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Thạc sĩ Phan Thị Vân Quyên Sinh viên: Nguyễn Thị Kim Huệ

Khóa: QH2010.F1.E18

Hà Nội – Năm 2014

ACCEPTANCE

I hereby state that I: Nguyen Thi Kim Hue, student of QH10E18, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (721) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the Library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Signature

Nguyen Thi Kim Hue

Date: June 2014

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor,

Ms Phan Thi Van Quyen, for her valuable suggestions, enthusiastic guidance and encouragement; without her help, the research would not be done

Besides, I also wish to thank all librarians at the Centre of Library and Information in Vietnam National University, Hanoi, for their helps for referential materials

Last but not least, my sincere thank goes to my family and my friends who inspired and supported me on the completion of the paper

ii

ABSTRACT

The main purpose of the study is to reveal some similarities and differences in acceptance speeches made by American and Vietnamese people at movie award ceremonies

The paper first presents theoretical background on some relating issues including public speaking, politeness and speech acts, with a view to supporting ideas for the later analysis

Then the paper goes further into the procedure of collecting and analyzing data The qualitative method is employed as the main tool to conduct the research Data are collected from 20 American and 20 Vietnamese acceptance speeches in movie award ceremonies from 2009 to 2014

A detailed investigation and analysis of the format, thanking strategies and language use in acceptance speeches has been conducted Results of the study illustrate certain similarities and differences in American and Vietnamese speakers In addition, the results state that cultural factors, especially the assumptions of formality

in two cultures affect significantly those differences

iii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 2 Use of thanking strategies in acceptance speeches 26 Chart 1 People who are thanked in acceptance speeches 30

Table 4 Honorifics in Vietnamese acceptance speeches 36

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES iii

REFERENCE v

APPENDICES v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study and research questions 2

1.3 Significance of the study 2

1.4 Scope of the study 2

1.5 Organization 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Public speaking 4

2.1.1 Definition and classifications of public speaking 4

2.1.2 The organization of the speech 5

2.2 Overview of acceptance speech 5

2.3 Face and Politeness 6

2.3.1 Face 6

2.3.2 Definition of Politeness 7

2.3.3 Politeness strategies 8

2.3.4 Address forms and politeness 9

2.3.5 Honorifics 10

2.4 Speech acts 11

2.4.1 Definition and classification 11

2.4.2 The relationship between speech acts and culture 12

v

2.4.3 Thanking as speech act 12

2.5 The movie award ceremony 13

2.5.1 The movie award 13

2.5.2 The movie award ceremony 13

2.6 Previous studies 14

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 15

3.1 Selection of subjects 15

3.2 Research methods 16

3.3 Procedure of data collection 16

3.4 Procedure of data analysis 17

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 18

4 1 Findings of the study 18

4.1.1 The format of acceptance speech 18

4.1.2 Thanking strategies 22

4.1.3 Use of language 33

4.2 Discussion 38

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 43

5.1 Conclusion 43

5.2 Implications 44

5.3 Limitations of the study 45

5.4 Suggestions for further research 45 REFERENCE

APPENDICES

1

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

The history of motion picture has its origin from Australia where the first feature movie was produced in the early 20th century and has gradually developed into the motion picture industry as we see today Nowadays, many countries put much emphasis on the industry as a means of popularizing their country’s image to other parts of the world The production of a motion picture is not an easy but a demanding process which requires the cooperation among all divisions from directors, actors, script writers to make-up, light and sound managers Therefore, although actors and actresses are regarded as ―key design component‖ attracting a large number of fans (Donahue 1987), no one can deny the important role of other members in the crew, who are often ―behind the scene‖ And then the movie award ceremony came into existence with the aim to honor the filming crew for their effort to produce a movie This kind of ceremony increasingly proves its attraction to people working in the film industry as well as the public Many famous movie award ceremonies are often broadcast and viewed by millions of people all over the world As for many people, receiving a prize at the award ceremony is an unforgettable memory because their attempt for the movie is widely recognized Also in the ceremony, those winning the prizes have opportunities to deliver the acceptance speech, which expresses their thanks to all who support them during the movie-making period

Thanking is a popular way to show speaker’s gratitude towards someone, or a complimentary response Thanking is also the most commonly used speech act in all languages to show speaker’s politeness However, each country with its unique culture has its own expressions and formulas to express gratitude or politeness

Early research has explored various ways in thanks and response to thanks in some English-speaking countries but very few took a deep investigation into the thank-you speech delivered in the movie award ceremonies All the above-mentioned

2

conditions have offered the researcher a chance to carry out a study on ―acceptance

speeches of American and Vietnamese awardees at movie award ceremonies‖ The

researcher would like to focus on the similarities and differences of acceptance speech between American and Vietnamese people as seen from the cultural pespective

1.2 Aims of the study and research questions

First, the study was aimed to find out the widely-used patterns of acceptance speech made by both the American and the Vietnamese at award ceremonies Next, the researcher wants to look for features of language and thanking strategies in acceptance speeches of American and Vietnamese awardees Then, the paper was to explore some similarities and differences in expressing the acceptance speech between American and Vietnamese people

In brief, the research was an attempt to answer only one research question:

What are the similarities and differences in acceptance speeches made by American and Vietnamese awardees at movie award ceremonies?

1.3 Significance of the study

In spite of the small scale, the study is expected to be particularly useful for students or anyone who are interested in differences in speech act performance between cultures To be more specific, the researcher hopes the results will give students an in-depth understanding of how the American and the Vietnamese express their gratitude when receiving an award so that students can avoid cultural shock when they attend or watch a Vietnamese or American movie award ceremony Moreover, students, who intend to study abroad, would benefit from the research in acquiring some techniques of public speaking in general and preparing an acceptance speech in particular

1.4 Scope of the study

Due to time constraints and scope of a graduation paper, the researcher only focuses on the verbal aspect of acceptance speeches at movie award ceremonies,

3

namely the Golden Globe Awards, Oscars, Canh dieu vang and Bong sen vang The study places emphasis on the format of the acceptance speech, thanking strategies and the use of language in acceptance speeches

The study cannot investigate all speeches made at those events but highlight the most outstanding samples with rich information The researcher decides to collect samples from ceremonies taking place in the last five years (from 2009 to 2014) The extracted samples will be classified into different categories for further analysis

1.5 Organization

The research is divided into five parts, each of which serves a specific function: Chapter 1 – Introduction – describes reasons for the study, and point outs research questions, objectives, scope and structure of the study

Chapter 2 – Literature Review – presents theoretical background of the study, including basic concepts and discussion of previous studies

Chapter 3 – Methodology – discusses subjects of study, research methods employed to conduct the study, as well as procedures to collect and analyze data

Chapter 4 – Findings and discussions – analyses and discusses the findings from data collected, and work out the relationship between findings and theoretical background Chapter 5 – Conclusion – summarizes the main findings in Chapter 4, draw some implications, indicates limitations of the study and offer suggestions for further studies

4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter 2 presents an overview of the general literature on the nature of public speaking and acceptance speech In the chapter, the notions and classifications of related issues including politeness and speech acts are discussed At the end of the section be illustrated previous studies

2.1 Public speaking

2.1.1 Definition and classifications of public speaking

According to Lucas (1998), public speaking is the process and act

of speaking or giving a lecture to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain a listening audience It can be inferred from the definition that public speaking is that one or more speakers directly deliver a message to a group of listeners Admittedly, public speaking is ―an art of communication‖ which needs to be guided by a sense of integrity, especially in our world of cultural globalization

Based on the main purpose of speech, Ian McKenzie (2012) describes four types of speeches: informative speech, persuasive speech, demonstrative speech, and entertaining speech The informative speech serves the function of providing useful information to the audience When making an informative speech, the addresser can not only deliver facts, statistics, and algorithms, but also explain something to the audience so that they can understand a certain concept Meanwhile, the demonstrative speech is more concerned with the instruction of how to do something like how to write an essay, or how to make a cake The persuasive speech aims to convince people

to take some kind of action or to change in the way they think, the way they do something, or to start doing something that they are not currently doing In some persuasive speeches, the speaker may share his or her opinion on a topic and try to persuade listeners that the opinion is right The entertaining speech places emphasis on pleasure and enjoyment that amuses the audience by telling stories, jokes and

2.1.2 The organization of the speech

In public speaking, the organization of the speech is especially vital because if the speech is well-organized and coherent, the audience will find it easy to ―follow the progression of ideas‖ and totally able to understand the whole speech

Lucas points out three main parts of the speech, including introduction, body and conclusion With regards to the beginning, it serves to gain first impressions of the audience and create interest for them A good introduction can also address the topic, build up the presenter’s goodwill and overview the body Concerning the body, it is considered the most important part in the speech In the body, all main points are developed in a certain order, for example, chronological, spatial, causal, problem-solution or topical order The last part, the conclusion, is still of concern, with ―great care to leave a strong final impression‖ In the conclusion, the speech is commonly summarized with the restatement of main ideas, or is added a quotation or a dramatic statement

2.2 Overview of acceptance speech

Lucas defines acceptance speech as ―the speech that gives thanks for an award‖ Generally speaking, acceptance speech is a speech delivered on accepting an award or getting promotion As the definition suggests, acceptance speech is usually made in such events as science, movie and music award ceremonies, or in inauguration

6

ceremonies Based on Lucas’s classification, the acceptance speech belongs to the kind

of speaking on special occasions

In terms of structure, the acceptance speech can be considered as a variant of a thank you speech; when it comes to the expression of gratitude, the former is more symbolic than the latter

Delivering acceptance speech, the speaker thanks the awarding individual or organization He or she also gives thanks to those who support him or her to achieve the award Moreover, in some award events, the awardee could talk about their feelings of gaining the award or the experience and work to get that award

Acceptance speeches can differ in length In a multi-award ceremony like the Oscar, winners are given ninety seconds to make their speeches However, at other times, the winner may be the single awardee of the event and have more time to speak

Acceptance speech is one kind of public speaking which depends on various elements, but two of the most important are politeness and speech acts The kind of speech is often delivered in formal context, so the aspect of politeness is perhaps of much concern as a means to show the speaker’s gratitude to the audience Aside from politeness, speech acts is the field that is equally important and therefore need the same consideration

2.3 Face and Politeness

2.3.1 Face

Goffman (1955) believes that face is the positive social value a person effectively claims for himself by theline others assume he has taken during a particular contact According to Brown and Levinson (1987), face could be defined as the public self-image of a person It refers to ―the emotional and social sense of self one has and expects everyone else to recognize‖ In other words, face can be said as the sense of social identity of a speaker

7

Based on Brown and Levinson’s theory, face could be categorized into two types, namely negative face and positive face Negative face is ―the need to be independent to have a freedom of action and not to be imposed by others‖ A person’s negative face will tend to show deference, emphasize the importance of the other’s time or concerns, and even include an apology for the imposition or interruption In contrast, positive face is ―the need to be accepted, even liked by others, to be treated as

a member of the group and to know that his or her wants are shared by others‖ (Brown and Levinson: 1987) A person’s positive face will tend to show solidarity, emphasize that both speakers want the same thing

2.3.2 Definition of Politeness

Up to now, the notion of politeness has remained the source of controversy and debate, which encourages many scholars to find different approaches to define

politeness Lakoff (1973), known as one of the pioneers for politeness theories,

suggests an understanding of politeness as a way to ―reduce friction in personal interaction‖ Under the view of speech act, the traditional notion takes consideration into the speaker’s intention in order to avoid interpersonal conflict Leech (1983) approaches politeness from the same perspective as Lakoff that politeness is a type of behaviour that allows the participants to engage in a social interaction in an

atmosphere of relative harmony As for Brown and Levinson, politeness is ―a

redressive action taken to counter-balance the disruptive effect of face-threatening acts‖ (FTAs) The notion gives priority to the addressee with the action aimed to protect their face Yule (2002) defines politeness as the means employed to show awareness of another’s public self-image In other words, politeness can be seen as the response of one person to another in the social interactions Accordingly, politeness can be accomplished in situations of social distance or closeness

8

2.3.3 Politeness strategies

From the theory of Brown and Levinson (1987), a politeness strategy can be seen as a strategy used to prevent a violation the hearer’s face Politeness strategies can be classified in various ways based on different approaches to politeness

Also, according to Brown and Levinson, there are four types of politeness strategies, namely bald on-record, positive politeness, negative politeness and off-record strategy The bald on-record strategy can be seen in situations when the speaker makes no effort to ―minimize the threats to the hearer’s face‖ In this strategy the speakers do the FTA in the most direct, clear and unambiguous way because they believe that that there are occasions when some constraints force people to speak very directly The positive politeness strategy shows the speaker recognizes that the hearer has a desire to be respected It also confirms that the relationship is friendly and expresses group reciprocity In negative politeness, the speaker shows his or her deference towards the hearer; that means there is a distance in the relationship between the addresser and addressee The off-record strategy refers to indirect statement which

is not explicitly expressed

Taking account of the power difference and the distance between participants, Scollon and Scollon (2001) propose another politeness classification with three main kinds: solidarity politeness, deference politeness and hierarchical politeness Solidarity politeness can be acknowledged when communicating partners express or feel closeness to each other It means the distance between participants hardly exist, so it can be said that solidarity politeness is often shown among close friends, colleagues or familiar people This is in sharp contrast to deference politeness In the kind of politeness, participants appear to be ―equal or nearly equal‖ and ―treat each other at a distance‖ Obviously, deference politeness can be used to maintain the distance between participants and then can be seen among those who do not have close relationship with each other The last type, hierarchical politeness, can be seen in

9

situations that participants recognize and respect the difference in social status between them and that place one in super-ordinate position and the other in a sub-ordinate position

Based on the conversational-maxim approach, Lakoff (1973) describes three specific strategies called maxims: Don’t impose, Give options and Make other feel good To put it differently, she provides a range of politeness from formal politeness, informal politeness to intimate politeness Unlike Lakoff, Leech (1983) further points out a cost-benefit scale related to both the addresser and addressee, including the Maxim of Tact, Generosity, Approbation, Modesty, Agreement and Sympathy

 Tact: Minimize the cost to Other; Maximize the benefit to Other

 Generosity: Minimize the benefit to Self; Maximize the cost to Self

 Approbation: Minimize dispraise of Other; Maximize praise of Other

 Modesty: Minimize praise of Self; Maximize dispraise of Self;

 Agreement: Minimize disagreement between Other and Self; Maximize agreement between Other and Self

 Sympathy: Minimize antipathy between Other and Self; Maximize sympathy between Other and Self

To sum up, despite the universality of some politeness strategies, culture is the determinant factor that governs the preferred use of politeness strategies Indeed, some strategies which are popular in one culture may be hardly used in another culture Hence, it is definitely important to place cultural values under the investigation of politeness strategies

2.3.4 Address forms and politeness

According to Nguyen Vu Hoang Van (2009), address forms are words used to addressee or call the hearer or speaker in the communication Forms of address can be employed to reveal politeness, both positive and negative politeness, in interpersonal

10

communication Across cultures, proper terms of address are normally used to express the speaker’s respect and politeness towards people who are older and of higher social status

Nevertheless, due to culture differences, each language has its own system of addressing terms And according to Nguyen Quang (2004), some address-form systems show typical features of communication such as the independence and hierarchy; some also show the social status, age, attitude and emotion of interlocutors The system of address forms in Vietnamese is quite complicated Address forms used

in almost all interactions are mainly family-based like ―ông‖, ―bà‖, ―anh‖, ―chị‖, ―cô‖,

―chú‖ Interlocutors themselves have to depend on a range of factors such as relationship, age, gender, social status in order to choose appropriate address forms In American English, forms of address consist of units namely ―I‖, ―you‖, ―we‖, ―they‖, which can be utilized with everyone and in any situation regardless of the formality

2.3.5 Honorifics

Based on the definition of Oxford Dictionary, an honorific is a word or phrase that expresses respect to a person Honorifics are often used for addressing people of higher social status or people who do not have close relationship with the speaker It can be said that honorifics are the special linguistic phenomon which only appears in some languages in the world Honorifics are frequently observed in some Asian languages such as Vietnamese, Japanese and Korean as those cultures appreciate social relations between interculators in communication

Vietnamese people, according to Tran Ngoc Them, have the tendency to show status in social or family relations through the use of honorifcs In Vietnamese culture, honorifics such as ―xin‖, ―thưa‖, ―ạ‖, ―dạ‖, ―được‖, ―vâng‖ are commonly used to help speakers show respect toward hearers and raise the formality and politeness of conversation Vietnamese people are also very flexible in using honorific words; they can use different honorifics on diffferent conversational situations

11

2.4 Speech acts

2.4.1 Definition and classification

Based on the definition from Lingualink Library, a speech act is ―an act that a speaker performs when making an utterances‖ In other words, a speech act is considered as when we say something, we concurrently do something

In English, speech acts commonly include smaller categories namely apologies, complaints, compliments, refusals, requests and thanks

The speech acts theory was first introduced by J.L Austin (1962) in which he hypothesized that the utterance of a sentence is composed of three different acts, including locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act

 Locutionary act is the act of saying something which is meaningful and can

The theory was then developed by J.R Searle (1969), who pointed out several functions of speech acts such as declarative, directive, commissive, representative and expressive

 Declarative: a speech act that changes the state of affairs in the world such

as naming a baby/ship, resigning, dismissing, and accepting

 Directive: a speech act that serves the function of getting the hearer to do something such as requesting, ordering, demanding, and begging

 Commissive: a speech act that commits speakers to doing some future actions such as promising, offering, and swearing

12

 Representative: a speech act that describes states or events in the world such

as stating, claiming, reporting and announcing

 Expressive: a speech act that shows the speaker’s feelings and gratitude about something such as thanking, apologizing, and congratulating

2.4.2 The relationship between speech acts and culture

Speech acts and culture are not separated but be related to each other It is widely recognized that different speech acts are perceived in different meanings or have different linguistics realizations in different cultures

According to Meier, the underlying cultural values and beliefs play an important role in speech act performance Speech acts in each language, to such a great extent, reflects the culture of one country; therefore, through the investigation of one kind of speech acts performance, many scholars have sought the answer to the cultural-related questions of why people say something, how they perceive a certain speech act or what factors affect their speech acts performance

2.4.3 Thanking as speech act

Oxford Dictionary defines thanking as an action of expressing gratitude, appreciation, or acknowledgment for a gift, favor, service, or courtesy In MacMillan Dictionary, thanking is to tell someone that you are grateful for something they have done or given for you

According to Austin’s speech act theory, thanking is a kind of illocutionary act which a speaker performed it by uttering certain words When saying words like some thanking phrases, the speaker performs a specific purpose in his/her mind, mainly showing the hearers his/her gratitude

Bases on Searle’s classification, thanking is classified into Expressive The speaker has the feeling of gratefulness or appreciation and expresses his/her feeling through an expression of thanking

13

Thanking is one of the most utilized speech acts in human interactions Each individual gives thanks in many occasions and situations in his/her daily life interactions with family members, friends, classmates, acquaintances and strangers

2.5 The movie award ceremony

2.5.1 The movie award

The movie award is the prize that film-related associations give to movies, individuals or organizations for their significant contribution in many aspects of the movie industry The prize is periodically awarded through the normal form of voting with the winners having the largest number of votes The film-related associations here can be the Academy of Motion Picture Art, the Film Society or the Film-Critics Society in many countries

There are different ways of classification of movie awards based on different criteria The common categories of movie awards are for directors, photographers, actors, actress, screen play and soundtrack

2.5.2 The movie award ceremony

The movie award ceremony is the formal event held to give the prize to winners

In the ceremony, winners are invited to come to the stage and be awarded certificates

or campaign medals which depend on the principle of the ceremony After that, they often have to deliver their speech accepting the award

In the past decades, there have been an increasing number of movie award ceremonies taking place in many countries in the world and spreading their popularity

in the public Each kind of award ceremony has its own characteristics and assessment criteria on which the judgment board can rely to decide which person or movie will be the winner

Movie award ceremonies celebrate film-makers’ successes and therefore motivates individuals and organizations so that they continue their dedicated work and

14

then push the whole industry forward The ceremony is also of great benefit to later generations as it establishes a history of achievement that young fans can back on to see how films were judged by contemporary critics and viewers Indeed, every time when a movie award ceremony is going to be held, it immediately becomes the burning topic in many newspapers, magazines, in daily discussion and gossips It is because the movie industry captures so much attention from the public The viewers are usually curious about actors, actresses in movies they have been seen and even directors, photographer, script writer in the film crew; and the ceremony is a great chance to showcase film-makers to the public People want to know who winners are, and more importantly, they want to see what awardees say when they receive prizes

2.6 Previous studies

Acceptance speech has been the subject of concern to scholars over some decades Early studies involve speeches made by famous politicians, but later research extended the scope and objects of study to speeches of people in various professions namely scientists, educators, singers and actors Some recent research has concentrated

on the structure and language used in acceptance speech

In 2013, Rebecca Rolfe, at the Georgia Institute of Technology, made a study of acceptance speeches delivered by actors, actresses and directors in the past 60 years of Academy Award She analyzed and pointed out the patterns of expressing gratitude in those speeches, and the result of the research was assessed as a good interpretation of thanking

To the best knowledge of the researcher, acceptance speeches have not been paid much attention on previous research and analysis in Vietnam Thus, it is hoped that this study will work more on features of acceptance speeches to fill the gap in the field of public speaking

15

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This section aims to describe the selection of subjects as well as research tools employed to work on for the study The process of collecting and analyzing data, including certain stages are also represented in the chapter

3.1 Selection of subjects

With regards to the choice of the movie award ceremony, the academic level and significance of each award ceremony to each culture are taken into account so that they are equally examined Based on these criteria, Oscar and Golden Globe Award are selected for the category of the award ceremonies for American English and ―Canh dieu vang‖ and ―Bong sen vang‖ for Vietnamese

In the USA, a country popularly recognized as having the world’s largest motion picture industry, the Academy Award Ceremony (often known as Oscar) is a glorious one that everyone in the field of feature movie expects to participate Along with Oscar, the Golden Globe Award plays an essential role in the American movie industry Although taking place just before the Oscar, the Golden Globe Award still receive great attention from the public and become one of the topics of universal interest due to its unique attraction

In Vietnam, ―Canh dieu vang‖ and ―Bong sen vang‖ are the two most popular movie award ceremonies that are of great concern to Vietnamese Winning one category of the award ceremonies are often considered as a success in someone’s career

Forty samples of acceptance speech made at the ceremonies have been selected with equal numbers: twenty Vietnamese speeches and another twenty American speeches

16

3.2 Research methods

Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used for data analysis because the researcher believes that the combination of the two methods will lead the result to be more exact and objective

Of those two methods, the qualitative method is the most feasible one and is mainly used to carry out the study This method involves the analysis and interpretation of observations in order to discover underlying meanings and patterns of relationships Qualitative method would provide the researcher with word data on the particular speeches studied In other words, the qualitative method is expected to offer rich descriptions of acceptance speeches, find out classifications of types of phenomemna and entities, and seek explanations of factors that govern patterns of using language and strategies in the speeches

3.3 Procedure of data collection

Within the scope of a bachelor thesis, the researcher decided to use observation

as the main method of data collection The process of collecting data involved two stages as follows:

Stage 1:

All videos of the afore-mentioned award ceremonies in the last 5 years from

2009 to 2014 were downloaded from the Internet As for American’s ceremonies, videos with subtitles were more favored so that it would be easier for the researcher at the following phase

Stage 2:

All acceptance speeches made at the ceremonies were written down in order to identify the characteristics of the language used in these speeches by Vietnamese and American awardees

17

3.4 Procedure of data analysis

The process of analyzing data took place over two stages:

Stage 1:

The mostly-observed parts in acceptance speech, along with verbal features were sorted out into some types and labeled The frequency of features’ occurrence in American and Vietnamese’s speeches was to be counted and then transferred to the percentages The charts or tables were used to present the data mentioned before

Stage 2:

From these diagrams, the preferred patterns and characteristics of acceptance speech by Vietnamese and American people were recognized These findings were the base for making comparison and contrast to see the similarities and differences between acceptance speeches in two cultures

18

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In Chapter 4, the researcher discusses and analyzes all data collected in order to seek the answer to the research questions This section presents characteristics of an acceptance speech in terms of format, language and thanking strategies Based on the result, a cultural-based explanation is given to clarify the similarities and differences in the acceptance speech of American and Vietnamese people

4 1 Findings of the study

4.1.1 The format of acceptance speech

The collected speeches are one of the two formats as follows:

Format No.1:

(1) Expressing thoughts &feelings

(2) Thanking people who support the speaker

(3) Ending the speech

Format No.2:

(1) Greeting

(2) Expressing thoughts &feelings

(3) Thanking people who support the speaker

(4) Ending the speech

It can be observed that there are four main parts in acceptance speeches, namely greeting, expressing thoughts and feelings about being awarded, thanking people who support the speaker, and ending the speech

(1) Greeting

Some awardees tend to begin their speeches with greetings Here are two mostly used ways of greetings in acceptance speeches:

19

a Dear distinguished guests/ Welcome distinguished guests

- “Kính thưa quý vị, các anh chị và các bạn.” (Nguyễn Thái Hòa)

- “Xin kính chào quý vị khán giả.” (Tina Tình)

b First + let + name(s) of speaker(s) + say hello to the distinguished audience

- Lời đầu tiên xin cho Vân Trang được gửi lời chào tới toàn thể quý vị khán giả, ban tổ chức, ban lãnh đạo cũng như là ban giám khảo của Liên hoan phim Việt Nam lần thứ 18 đang có mặt tại khán phòng ngày hôm nay ạ (Vân Trang)

- Lời đầu tiên cho phép Hiếu Hiền được gởi lời chào trân trọng tới quý vị đại biểu, quý ban giám khảo, cũng như tất cả các cô chú, các anh chị em đồng nghiệp rất thân thương (Hiếu Hiền)

(2) Expressing thoughts and feelings about being awarded

In acceptance speeches, speakers often share their emotions and thoughts about receiving the prize The feelings are mostly being honored, surprised and happy, or the mixture of such emotions Some people directly show their emotions, while others express in a more indirect way For example:

- Oh my! Oh my god! Oh wow! Really, really, really, really, really, truly wow (Melisa Leo)

- Did I really earn this or did I just wear you all down? (Sandra Block)

- Thực sự giờ Nhung run quá …Giờ Nhung không biết nói gì luôn, giờ Nhung vui quá và cũng run quá.(Y Nhung)

- Em nghe cái giải thưởng này, thực sự em xúc động quá, không biết nói gì cả (Minh Hương)

(3) Thanking people who support the speaker

This can be considered as the main part of any acceptance speech because the purpose of the speech is to express gratitude to all people who supported and

20

collaborated with the speaker The people who often get thanked include the organizations giving awards, directors and producers, the cast and crew, family and friends In acceptance speeches, speakers often spend most of the speech for this important part In addition to thanking, the speakers also express love, tell stories related to those who are thanked The strategies the awardees employ to express their gratitude will be discussed in detail in the later section of the study For example:

- I want to say thank you to Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman and everybody at Playtone and the amazing Danny Strong with their foolproof script and the wonderful actors, Ed and Sarah and Woody (Julianne Moore)

- Và tôi xin bày tỏ sự cảm ơn chân thành đối với việc đánh giá cao của ban giám khảo đã dành cho sự nỗ lực cống hiến của anh em làm phim chúng tôi (Trần Quốc Trọng)

- Có lẽ, đầu tiên Maya xin được chia sẻ cảm xúc này tới gia đình của mình, bố

mẹ, anh chị em là những người đã luôn luôn ủng hộ cho Maya trên con đường nghệ thuật của mình (Maya)

(4) Ending the speech

The part serves the function to give the signal of the end of the speech, so a final note of thanks is normally delivered Although it is the last thank, it plays an essential role in the speech to fully express the speaker’s gratitude The speaker often makes the last impression brief by saying ―Thank you‖ or ―Thank you so much‖ For example:

- Thank you so much (Christopher Plummer)

- Xin trân trọng cảm ơn (Vũ Hoài Nam)

At the end of the speech, some awardees may also show their own hopes, make promises of trying hard in the future, or encourage others But such those cases are not commonly observed For example:

21

- Here's hoping that someday in the not too distant future the misfortunes of Fantine will only be found in stories and never in real life.(Anne Hathaway)

- Nhung sẽ cố gắng suốt trong con đường nghệ thuật nữa.(Y Nhung)

- Mình hi vọng rằng những người mang một niềm đam mê với bất kì một cái nghề

gì thì cũng cố gắng lên nhá.(Tina Tình)

Frequecy of use of two formats in acceptance speeches

The table below presents the preferred formats of acceptance speeches by Vietnamese and American people:

Table 1 Use of formats of acceptance speeches

American speakers Vietnamese speakers

It can be seen from the table that there is a striking difference in the percentages

of using two formats of speeches in Vietnam and America Obviously, Americans tend

to choose only format no.1 - the format without greeting because all Americans observed apply that format into their acceptance speeches On the contrary, Vietnamese people are more likely to employ format no.2 Nearly two-thirds of Vietnamese people deliver their speeches using format no.2, as opposed to about one-third using format no.1 It is noticed that the difference between two formats lies in the very first part of acceptance speech That more Vietnamese use the format no.1 means that they have a habit of beginning their speeches by saying hello to the distinguished guests and audience Unlike Vietnamese people, Americans seem to go directly into main parts of the acceptance speech: they express their feelings and thank others

22

4.1.2 Thanking strategies

It is widely recognized that making movie involves group work, and being successful in the movie industry depends on the collaborations and support of many people Consequently, the movie award ceremony is considered as a good chance for most awardees to show their gratitude and love to everyone And the thanking part is

of great significance to an acceptance speech, taking the longest time of the speech Each winner employs his/her own thanking strategies, which can convey their gratitude in the most effective way However, some frequently used strategies of showing gratitude have been noted down as follow:

 Strategy 1: Names of those who get thanked + for their contributions (reason for thanking them)

This strategy often begins with some useful thanking phrases like ―I want to thank‖, ―Thank you to‖, I’m grateful to‖ along with the names of people who are thanked Then their efforts to help the awardee, both material and mental contributions, are listed For example:

- Thank you to the entire production team Joey, Riza, and Joe, thank you for being not only collaborators, but taking a risk on this movie, truly (Leonardo DiCaprio)

- Và xin cám ơn một đơn vị quân đội mà chính là đơn vị đã cung cấp những người lính để tái hiện lại cảnh chiến đấu ở Thành cổ Quảng Trị, đó là trường sĩ quan Lục quân I, không kể ngày đêm đã điều động cho chúng tôi những người lính để làm những cảnh chiến tranh tại 81 ngày đêm (Hữu Mười)

It is worth noticing that the order of parts of the speeches of Strategy 1 is not fixed but can be changed by speakers To be more specific, names and contributions of those thanked are to be presented first, and some thanking phrases will be said later For example:

23

- To my mother who's here tonight, who taught me and my two older brothers demanded that we respect ourselves And what we in turn learned was that we were then better able to respect others Thank you for that, Mama (Matthew Mcconaughey)

- Vĩ Văn cũng gửi tới mẹ đang xem truyền hình ở nhà và gia đình Mẹ ơi, chính

mẹ là động lực giúp cho con có thể bước tiếp, cho dù rất là khó khăn, khó khăn

vô cùng, và công việc diễn xuất của con, làm nghề diễn viên vô cùng áp lực, và nhiều lúc muốn cảm thấy muốn quỵ ngã và mất phương hướng Nhưng hôm nay, con đã được giải này, con muốn gửi lời cám ơn mẹ rất nhiều Chính mẹ là động lực giúp con bước tiếp (Hứa Vĩ Văn)

 Strategy 2: Names of those who get thanked + for their contributions + telling stories related to them

Similar to Strategy 1, Strategy 2 includes some thanking phrases, names and their contributions; but it also adds some stories or information about people who get thanked At award ceremonies, some awardees not just thank people but also share their thoughts or unforgettable memories about those who are thanked For example:

- Thank you, Mom and Dad, for turning me on to such a groovy profession Oh,

my dad, my mom, they loved show biz so much I remember my mom getting all

of us kids to entertain at her parties, you know, my dad sitting me on his bed and teaching me all of the basics of acting for a role in "Sea Hunt." They loved show biz so much and I feel an extension of them, you know, this is honoring them as much as it is me (Jeff Bridges)

- Đúng là phút xúc động không nói nên lời nhưng mà dù sao con tim tôi vẫn buộc tôi phải nói lời biết ơn, lời cám ơn chân thành nhất tôi xin gửi đến đạo diễn, NSƯT Đặng Tất Bình Vào một ngày anh Bình đã mời tôi đến, và nói rằng, cậu

có dám gánh cùng tôi cái trái núi này không, nếu anh em mình chùn chân thì

- I want to also share this with our other nominees, the amazing writers that I’m

in great company with, among which David Russell right there is a great friend, gave me great notes, helped me so much, watched my rough cut, helped me with what should be cut (Spike Jonze)

- Và em xin chia sẻ niềm vui này đến tất cả các anh chị em trong ê-kíp đoàn làm phim đã cùng em cực khổ suốt gần 3 tháng trời ở ngoài Bắc với thời tiết là, trong gần 10 o C để hoàn thành bộ phim (Quách Ngọc Ngoan)

 Strategy 4: Telling stories + “thank-you” phrases

The speaker tends to tell a whole story related to all the people that he/she needs to thank And he/she ends the story with ―thank-you‖ phrases For example:

I always wanted to discover some new continent and I thought I had to go this way And then I was introduced to Quentin Tarantino who was putting together

an expedition that was equipped by Harvey Weinstein and Lawrence Bender and David Linde And he put this script in front of me and he said, "This is where we're going, but we're going the other way." So Brad Pitt helped me on board and Diane Kruger was there And Mélanie Laurent and Denis Menochet and Bob Richardson, Sally Menke, and Adam Schweitzer and Lisa Kasteler And everybody helped me find a place Universal and The Weinstein Company and ICM And Quentin, with his unorthodox methods of navigation, this fearless

25

explorer took this ship across and brought it in with flying colors And that's why I'm here And this is your welcoming embrace, and there's no way I can ever thank you enough But I can start right now: Thank you (Christoph Waltz)

 Strategy 5: Names of those who get thanked

In the strategy, the speaker only list names of people who he/she wants to thank; and he/she does not mention any contribution or reason for thanking For example:

- To the Academy, thank you (Jared Leto)

- To Catherine, Cara, Cameron, and Dillon, all my love And to Mansour, feel better, man Thank you very much Appreciate it (Michael Douglas)

- Xin cảm ơn ban giám khảo, cảm ơn Hội Điện Ảnh Việt Nam (Đào Duy Phúc)

Frequency of use of thanking strategies in acceptance speeches

In an acceptance speech, the speaker often employs more than one strategy to gives thanks to others He/she may use different strategies for different people in his/her speech Following is the proportion of occurrence of thanking strategies in Vietnamese and American acceptance speeches:

26

Table 2 Use of thanking strategies in acceptance speeches

American speeches

Vietnamese speeches Strategy 1

(Names of those who get thanked + for their

contributions)

Strategy 2

(Names of those who get thanked + for their

contributions + telling stories related to them)

Strategy 3

(Sharing the award with/ Sharing the happiness

with + names of those who get thanked + for their

in order to express their respect to about 31.2% and 28.8% of people, respectively Also, from the table, it can be seen that American speakers use thanking strategies more diversely than Vietnamese counterparts Although other three strategies including Strategy 2, 3, 4 are less employed in speeches of both two cultures, Americans use those strategies more frequently Strategy 2 is used for thanking nearly 11.8% of people, Strategy 3 for 3.2% and Strategy 4 for 2.2% On the other hand, only

27

3% of people are thanked by Strategy 2; and 3% for Strategy 3 Especially, Strategy 4

is not used in any Vietnamese speeches

* Who are thanked?

Apparently, who are thanked depends largely on the intention of the speaker as only the speaker knows the people that he/she is grateful to In general, those who get thanked usually belong to the following groups:

(1) The award givers

The winners often send thanks to the organization which judges or sponsors for the awards, and to members in the judging board Each type of awards is given by a particular organization In the US, Oscar winners say thank-you to the Academy of Motion Picture Art (known as the Academy), while awardees of Golden Globe Award are grateful to the Hollywood Foreign Press In Vietnam, winners express their thankfulness to ―Hội Điện Ảnh Việt Nam‖ For example:

- I’m so grateful to the Hollywood Foreign Press for this great honor (Jon Voight)

- I would like to thank the Academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics (Mo’nique)

- Trước tiên xin chân thành cảm ơn Hội Điện Ảnh và ban tổ chức đã dành cho nhóm làm phim Những gia đình ở Tràm Chim giải thưởng cao quý này (Vũ Hoài Nam)

(2) The fellow nominees

Many winners, especially Americans, share the honor of receiving the awards with other nominees as a means to show the awardees’ appreciation towards their peer’s effort For example:

- Thank you to the other nominees All these performances were impeccable in

my opinion (Matthew Mcconaughey)

(3) The directors and producers

Admittedly, executive producers and directors are of great significance to the success of a movie They can be considered as the film’s creators, who ensure finance and human resources for the whole film-making process Most awardees who are actors and actresses give thanks to their directors and producers For example:

- I want to thank Natalie Farrey over there She’s in the white dress, our executive producer She’s been with me doing this since page 1 three years ago (Spike Jonze)

- Vân Trang xin trước hết là được gửi lời cảm ơn đến anh đạo diễn Victor Vũ, cũng như là nhà sản xuất và ê-kíp của bộ phim Scandal đã tin tưởng và giao cho Vân Trang vai diễn Ý Linh trong bộ phim Scandal (Vân Trang)

(4) The cast and the crew (or the production team)

It is a fact that most awardees making acceptance speeches thank their crew members, namely cameramen, make-up artists and costume designers Winning actors/ actresses do not forget to express their gratitude to their partners in the cast – other actors/actresses For example:

- And also there are people on films who no one ever talks about that are your heart and soul every day Margie and Geordie who did my hair and makeup, Nicci, who dressed me, and Kate and Laura Mulleavy, who designed the beautiful ballet costumes, Joe Reidy, our incredible AD, first AD, and our camera operators J.C and Steve who gave me so much soul behind the camera

29

everyday you gave me all of your energy… Thank you so much (Natalie Portman)

- And thank you to the best producing team: Bruce, Donna, Jon and to my team

at CAA and IDPR And Bradley, and our entire cast: Chris, Jacki, Bob and our crew (Jennifer Lawrence)

- Và cám ơn nhà quay phim Lý Thái Dũng Cám ơn cả ê-kíp đoàn làm phim Cám

ơn rất nhiều (Hứa Vĩ Văn)

- Cho Đạt gửi lời cám ơn đến tất cả các thành phần, bộ phận trong đoàn làm phim Công nghệ thời trang đã hỗ trợ cho Đạt trong suốt quá trình làm phim (Cao Minh Đạt)

(5) Family members

Winners often give special thanks to their family members including mom and dad, brother and sister, husband and wife, son and daughter Here are some typical examples:

- My daughter Amanda, who always makes me proud And lastly, my suffering wife, Elaine, who deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for coming to my rescue every day of my life Thank you so much (Christopher Plummer)

long Và lời cám ơn đầu tiên thì cho phép Hiếu Hiền xin được cám ơn mẹ và ba Mẹ

ơi, đây là một cái niềm vui rất là bất ngờ con gởi tới mẹ; xin được gởi tới ba đang ở nhà theo dõi qua màn ảnh, và sự thành công của con, con mong rằng đây cũng sẽ là một điều thuốc bổ ba hãy mau chóng khỏe, và ba sẽ sống với con những ngày tháng dài hơn nữa với đứa cháu nội (Hiếu Hiền)

(6) The role they played in the movie

In acceptance speeches, actors/actresses also express their gratitude for their roles that they portrayed

30

- I have so many people to thank for my good fortune in this lifetime, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I know To the family that allowed me to play them, the Tuohy family (Sandra Bullock)

(Note: the Tuoy family was portrayed in ―The Blind Side‖ by Sandra Bullock)

- Alice Ward, your beautiful family that opened your hearts…Thank you so much, opening your hearts to all of us to make this film (Melissa Leo)

(Note: Alice Ward was portrayed in ―The Fighter‖ by Melissa Leo)

- Và trong giây phút này tôi xin được chân thành cảm ơn liệt sĩ Đặng Thùy Trâm, nếu như không có chị, sẽ không có Minh Hương ngày hôm nay (Minh Hương)

(Note: Dang Thuy Tram was portrayed in ―Mui co chay‖ by Minh Huong) The bar chart below illustrates differences in the addressees who get thanked in American and Vietnamese acceptance speeches

Chart 1 People who are thanked in acceptance speeches

oduc

ers

Cast/Crew

Family m

embers

Rol

e portrayed

American speakers Vietnamese speakers

The most noticeable feature of the chart is that award givers, directors and producers, the cast and the crew are thanked most often by both American and Vietnamese speakers It shows that about around 60% to 80% of speakers give thanks

to one of these three entities It is also clear that figures for American speakers are