Questions and Answers with Rachel American English and Culture

Fans, this video is for you! Welcome to the first
ever Rachel’s English question and answer video.

I put a posting on Facebook asking for
questions from my fans. Thanks guys, I got

some really great questions, and good ideas
for future videos on pronunciation. So I had

to choose just a few questions to answer.

First: Someone asked about what to say
in response to ‘thank you’. Most people will

say ‘you’re welcome!’ – and I do have a
video on that! But you will hear other phrases,

for example, ‘no problem’. Or you might hear
‘my pleasure’. That’s a little more formal.

Question: why is American English different
from British English? Great question. Well,

language is always evolving, and ours evolved
an ocean away from Britain. So it makes sense

that they would have evolved differently.
But also, I think when the British came to

America, there was some desire to be different.
Noah Webster, who wrote the Webster dictionary,

wanted to reform the spelling of British English,
to simplify that and make it match the sounds

better. Also, in Britain, there was a whole
society structure in place. In America much

less so, and there might have been a desire
to be less formal, and maybe that is where

a lot of our reductions have come from, things
like the Flap T, which aren’t used in Britain.

I don’t know, it’s just a guess!

I got a question about American culture. This
guy talked about having a hard time socializing.

I made a video about how to say hello to someone
you know, check it out if you haven’t. And

I think a lot of Americans are really open
to conversation as a culture, but it depends

on the personality if someone is going to
start a conversation. So if you’re outgoing,

you may have to start the conversation. I
got another question about how to start a

conversation with a stranger, and I think
this is a great topic. I’m going to start

working on a video for it.

Egle, who has been an active fan for many
years, asked me if I gave up being a singer.

The answer is yes, but I don’t usually use
the term ‘give up’. Some of my fans out

there might not know, but I used to be an opera
singer, and I stopped. My last show was in

2009. When you say that you’re giving
      something up, that means that you don’t really

want to stop doing it, but you will. For example,
in the Christian tradition, people will give

something up for Lent: like, I’m going to
give up chocolate for Lent. It’s not because

you hate chocolate, but because you’re going
to give up something you like as part of your

spiritual practice. So I don’t usually say
I gave up singing, because I was ready to.

I didn’t want to keep doing it. My interest
in it as a career had completely gone away

by then. So, I didn’t do it because I had
to, I did it because I wanted to. So I usually

say I quit singing, or, I stopped singing.

This brings me to the next question, why did
I decide to do Rachel’s English? I didn’t

really. I decided to start making some videos
for fun, but I didn’t really think about whether

or not people would actually watch them! I
had no idea it would become this. I don’t

think I was even wishing for that. If you
want to know more about how I got into this,

you can check out an interview I did a while
back.

Here’s a question I got about driving: Can
you start driving when you’re 16? Yes. Actually,

15, and in some states, 14, though for that
first year, you have to have an adult in the

car. But yes, I started driving when I was 16.
And yes we have speed limits! Every single road.

If you speed or get in an accident, you do
get points added to your license, and if you

get to a certain number, then your license
gets suspended and you can’t drive for a while.

But there are ways to take the points off,
like taking a class. I’m actually not

like most Americans, in that I don’t have
a car, I haven’t had one for over 10 years,

maybe even 15 by now.

So I mostly take the bus or a train, or sometimes
I get people to drive me around.

Yulia asked about stressful situations. I
know Yulia because she took a Rachel’s English

class. Hi Yulia! She’s asking about speaking
in stressful situations, when the stress level

is high, it becomes harder to pay attention
to pronunciation. And of course, it’s in a

stressful situation that you want to make
sure you’re understood! I don’t actually think

you can treat the pronunciation without treating
the stress. So, the best way in the moment

to bring yourself down from that stressful
state, is actually to feel your breath and

pay attention to it for a few seconds. So,
I think you have to just for a moment of focus

on your breath to help deal with your stress,
that will help you communicate better. Rather

than thinking of, how can I communicate better!?!?!
That’s just more stressful.

This video is getting long, so I’m going to
wrap it up with one last question. Someone

asked about the process of making a video,
and I do want to explain that because I think

some people will put up a request for a video,
and then get sad when I don’t post it the

next week. But it is a long process! First
I have to choose my topics, do my research

and experimenting, to make sure I know how
I want to explain it. Then I write the script.

That whole process can take a couple of hours,
even for a video that’s just a few minutes

long. Generally I try to do around 20 so I
can film them all at the same time. Then I

reserve a studio. Obviously, this is not my
studio. This is my living room. Also, it’s

obvious that I didn’t take any time to make
sure my hair looked nice or anything, but

I do do that when I’m filming at the studio.
I rent space at YouTube in Manhattan, and

they have a lot of professional lights and
cameras, a good microphone, I bring my own

teleprompter. And I shoot them all. It takes
all day to shoot those 20 videos, and often

I realize when I get home that I’ve messed
something up and I can’t make one of the videos

I had been planning. But, then I edit the
video, and that takes anywhere from 2-8 hours,

per video, depending on
what kind it is.

Once I upload to YouTube there’s still
a lot work to be done.

I have to make the captions, which see here,
and also annotations and links. The whole

takes about 10 hours per video. That’s why
I only do 1 video a week. I used to do two, but

it was just wearing me out. I’d love to do
more at some point, but for now it’s just

not possible. I get many more than 1 video
request each week, and that is why most people

who request a video will not get to see that
video, unfortunately. But I hope at some point

my life changes so I can do 2-3 videos a week.
I really like the editing part. Actually this

is a cool video I made behind the scenes in
Los Angeles at the YouTube studios, so you

can see that to get an idea of what it’s
like.

Friends and fans, thank you so much for your
questions! I’m sorry I wasn’t able to answer

them all. Do me a favor, if you haven’t signed
up for my mailing list, do! It’s the easiest

way for me to keep in touch with you. You
can follow this link, or go to the description

below. Also, be my Fan on Facebook and follow
me on Twitter here. We passed 50,000 fans

the week on Facebook, it was awesome! And
finally guys, I would like to ask you to share

Rachel’s English with your friends, or if
you have a blog, or share it on Facebook, that’s

really how Rachel’s English grows. Thank you
so much for your support!

By guys! See you soon!