Interview with Vicki┃Learn American English Pronunciation On the Go

Rachel: You're listening to the Rachel's English podcast, made especially

for non-native speakers, where we study the way Americans really speak. My  

goal is for you to listen to this podcast every  week and sound more natural when speaking English  

and improve your listening comprehension. In today’s episode, we're speaking with my friend and  

fellow YouTuber, Vicki Hollett. Vicki has a long history of teaching English as a second language,  

and today, she’ll share some grammar tips and insight into American culture. Vicki, could  

you tell everybody who’s out there listening a little bit about yourself? I know that you've been  

teaching English for a long time. I know that you have published books. Can you fill in the details?

Vicki Hollett: Yeah, sure. I'm British. British by birth,  

but these days I live in Philadelphia, in the  United States. I'm a business English teacher.  

Originally, I was a business English teacher. Then, I 

started writing textbooks for  Oxford University Press and Pearson,  

and I'm also these days a video producer.  I make videos with my husband for the  

Simple English Videos channel. That was  luckily how I came to meet you, Rachel.

Rachel: Yes. I've definitely been in a handful of videos on that channel,

and you've been in several videos on my channel as well.

Vicki Hollett: We're very lucky to have one another so close, I think.

Rachel: We are. How did you get into business English

way back when that happened?

Vicki Hollett: I started off as a language 

teacher in Algeria first, and then I started  working in Japan. I was working at a school  

that had a lot of business English students  and had the opportunity to work with them. I  

felt very at home with business English teaching, because I'd grown up in a family bakery business,  

and I always enjoyed talking shop, and  it enabled me to carry on talking shop.

Rachel: What is the  

difference between teaching business  English and just teaching English?  

Is it just about content only?  Or are there other differences?

Vicki Hollett: A lot of people think that it's  

about specialized vocabulary, but actually, that's not the main thing. In business English, language  

tends to be more purposeful. It's about getting your job done. It's not about passing an exam,  

but it's more about accomplishing jobs and tasks.  It's about getting deals and working together so  

you can finish on time and on budget. There's a lot of team work that goes on in business English.  

That's very important. That means that there's a lot of it that's about relationship building as  

well. I think language for getting on well with other people features large in business English.

Rachel: That's interesting.

Vicki Hollett: Yeah. I really liked it, and still like it.

Rachel: But you don’t teach anymore  

directly? You're doing exclusively Simple English Videos? Is that right, or are you still teaching?  

Vicki Hollett: Sometimes,  

I teach business English students online. I  still keep my hand in with it. I like to do  

some online teaching, because it keeps  me up-to-date and it reminds me of the  

important things and the things that students need. Otherwise, I think you can forget a bit.

Rachel: I completely  

agree. I've been teaching once a month live with my Rachel's English’s Academy, and prior to this,  

it had been a while. I had taken a break  from teaching, and every time that I'm in  

a class working with a student, I just get  so reenergized about it and just get all  

sorts of ideas about what I really have  to say in order to help somebody improve.

Vicki Hollett: That's right.  

There's nothing like having  the students in front of you.

Rachel: Right. I, as you know, teach only pronunciation

and conversation skills on my channel. A lot  

of people are interested in grammar, and I  know that you are a great grammar teacher.  

One mistake that I frequently see when  people email me or comment on social  

media is a mistake like this. I'm interesting in English. Or I'm interesting in learning English.

Vicki Hollett: Ah, yeah. It's a very common mistake. What's  

happening there is, you've got two adjectives. Interesting and interested are both adjectives.  

We use interested to say how we feel, but we use interesting to describe the person or thing that  

causes the feeling. For example, we could say, I'm interested in this book. It's an interesting book,  

and it's quite a funny mistake when students say, I'm very interesting in this book,  

because of course, they'd have to be a character in the book to be interesting in the book.

Rachel: Right. If you're saying  

I, if the sentence starts with I, I am, then you should be saying interested with the -ed ending.

Vicki Hollett: Probably, yes. When you're describing  

how you feel, you want to use that -ed ending. Other mistake students can make with this is,  

in some languages, interesting can mean important or big, but it doesn't in English. It's really  

worth learning this -ing and -ed pattern,  because it applies to lots of other adjectives  

as well. The opposite of interested is bored. Bored and boring. Then, you've got surprised,  

surprising. Embarrassed, embarrassing. Fascinated, fascinating. Amazed, amazing. There are lots of  

them. Try and learn that pattern. -Ed, how we feel. -Ing, the person or thing that causes  

the feeling, and you've got a pattern that's  going to be useful in lots of different ways.  

Rachel: Right, and that's great,  

because one thing about pronunciation is, we often don’t have clear patterns. Pronunciation  

often has to just be learned on a word-by-word basis. It sounds like, in this case for grammar,  

there is a clear rule and a clear pattern that you can apply over and over.

Vicki Hollett: Yep, that's right.

Rachel: Let me try  

to think of some of the examples you said.  You said fascinating, fascinated. Just to  

make it even more clear, let's come up with  a sample sentence. Fascinated. I could say,  

I'm fascinated in, and let me think of something that I'm fascinated in. I guess right now,  

I would say, I'm fascinated in travel. I'm  planning a trip to Italy. It's been so long  

since I've been abroad, and it's something  that's really important to me. The more  

we put ourselves in unfamiliar situations, I  think, the more we give ourselves a gift. So,  

I'm fascinated in international travel and what it does to your personality and to your mind.

Vicki Hollett: I think you're going to have an amazing trip.

Rachel: Yeah. I hope so. I don’t see how I could not.

Vicki Hollett: You'll be amazed at all the new sights  

and all the new people that you'll meet.

Rachel: Have you been to Italy?

Vicki Hollett: Yes, I have, actually. I've been  

there a couple of times. When I was writing books, I used to travel a lot, because I would go and  

give talks to teachers about the books. Of course, another one you could practice is embarrassing,  

because if students say, I am very interesting in this book, that's an embarrassing mistake.

Rachel: It is embarrassing.  

The thing is embarrassing, but you don’t  feel embarrassing. You feel embarrassed.

Vicki Hollett: That's right.  

Rachel: I feel  

embarrassed about the mistake I  made. That mistake was embarrassing.

Vicki Hollett: That's right.

Rachel: Vicki, what other grammar mistakes do you notice in your students?

Vicki Hollett: Well, there are lots, of course. One  

that comes to mind, a very common one, is explain. My students will say, can you explain me? Now,  

that's another embarrassing mistake, actually, because we can't explain a person. After the  

word explain, we say what we're explaining. If we want to say who we're explaining something to,  

it goes after the thing we're explaining.  We explain something to someone. If you say,  

he explained me, it means the thing he explained is you. That sounds very funny. I guess you could  

say, my mother has been trying to explain me for years, but it's not normally a sentence. It's a  

very odd sentence. We explain or we explain something or we explain something to someone.

Rachel: The mistake that your students make,  

which is, will you explain me, should actually be, will you explain it to me? We need it and to.

Vicki Hollett: Or you could just say, will you explain?

Rachel: Yes. Or, will you explain it?

Vicki Hollett: Yep. Or, will you explain it,  

the something? Or will you explain it to me? But not will you explain me. That doesn't work.

Rachel: No. Okay, awesome. That's a great tip, and  

I love that we not only heard the tip from Vicki. We not only heard the mistake, but we learned how  

to fix it. We learned the way it should be.  How long have you been living in America?

Vicki Hollett: I've been here now for about 17 years.

Rachel: Have you lived in Philadelphia that whole time? 

Or have you lived all over?  

Vicki Hollett: When I first came, I had a job in Boston,  

and I'd go there and work there sometimes, but mostly I've lived in Philadelphia or just outside.

Rachel: Okay. We're picking up a siren in the background, 

which is okay. It's just the reality  

of living in the city. I know that I have  construction going on right down the street.

Vicki Hollett: I know. This is a crazy house to be making videos in, actually,   

because we're right in the  

heart of Philadelphia where we live now,  in Center City. There are often sirens and—

Rachel: Buses. You're right by a bus route.

There have been times where Vicki and I have been filming,  

and we'll have to wait for the bus to stop, let people out.

Vicki Hollett: And the plane to fly overhead.

Rachel: Yes. That's just the  

reality of living in a city. You've lived a little  bit in Boston, but most in Philadelphia, right?

Vicki Hollett: Yes, that's right.

Rachel: Do you have any—if you could give advice  

to somebody who’s moving to the United States who wants to know, what is it like to live in America?  

What are Americans like? What is the culture like? 

What can you say about Americans in general? What  

would you be able to say to them about what it's like moving to America as an adult?

Vicki Hollett: I think the biggest difference for me was,

I encountered a different style of politeness.

Rachel: Interesting.

Vicki Hollett: Americans and  

Brits are both polite, equally  polite. It's just that the styles  

of politeness are different. There are  two aspects of politeness. There's one  

which is, you want to be friendly and open  and warm and agreeable. There's another side  

to politeness which is that you want to let people go about their business and not interfere.  

So, not impose. In both cultures, they're both important, but in America, there's a heavier  

weight on the being friendly, and in the UK,  there's a heavier emphasis on the not imposing.

Rachel: I got it. That makes  

sense. I don't know a lot about British  culture. I haven’t been there too much,  

but from what I understand,  that does make sense to me.

Vicki Hollett: Yeah. If you're from a  

culture like the UK, then you might think, why is this stranger talking to me? I often hear  

from my students. They'll say, this American friendliness, is it fake? I have to say, no,  

it's not fake. It's just a different style of  politeness. I tell them to relax and enjoy it,  

because it means it's very easy to make friends in the States and to enjoy new social interactions.

Rachel: Do you feel  

that your students find it hard  to know how to respond to that?

Vicki Hollett: They do. I think sometimes  

they misunderstand it, and it depends  what culture they come from. If they  

come from a culture like the UK, where  you let people go about their business  

and you try not to interfere, then when they  come to the States, then they could think,  

oh, these people are so friendly. They're too friendly. It's not real. They can't believe it,  

and they don’t recognize that it's actually  just a different style of politeness. It's  

not that one’s right and one’s wrong. It's that places are different and people are different.

Rachel: Yeah. I remember,  

I was with two German friends when I was  living in New York. They were visiting me,  

and we were at this ice cream waiting to  order our ice cream. Someone said to me,  

I love your hair. I said, oh, thanks. That  was it. That was the whole interaction.  

Then, they said to me later, they said, is that normal to have someone just compliment you like  

that? I said, yeah. That's pretty normal to  have someone just say, I love your shoes,  

or great bag or whatever. To them, that seemed pretty strange that this person commented on  

something about my looks, particularly my  hair. We were deciding, what did he love  

about my hair? I'm pretty sure it's because I'm going gray, and against my black hair, the gray  

is very noticeable. Most people will cover  that up at my age, and I think he was saying,  

I think it's awesome that you're not dyeing your hair. At least, that's my interpretation of it. We  

had a good laugh about that, about someone just complimenting you out of the blue that you've  

never spoken to, you're never going to speak to again. I said, no, that's pretty normal.

Vicki Hollett: It is, and it's something that really surprises my students,  

and it surprised me when I came to the States as well.  

What's going on there is, because America  emphasizes the friendly, open, warm, agreeable  

side of politeness, compliments are a big part of it. Saying you like something. Now, in  

the other side, if you look at the  other side of that, compliments could  

be a threat or a bit of an insult. Let  me explain, because that sounds strange.

Rachel: Yes, please do.

Vicki Hollett: Okay. If I pay you a compliment,  

then I'm making a judgement about you, and you could feel, what right have you got to make a  

judgement about me? You don’t know me. It's about imposing versus being warm and friendly. You don’t  

want to impose in one culture, and you want to be warm and friendly in another. But yes,  

compliments are very funny. I've had  a lot of Asian students in the states,  

and they find it very, very strange as well, and I have to give them advice like, if an American  

pays you a compliment, say thank you and then pass on, because they don’t know how to respond.

Rachel: Right. Yeah, I was going to say, there  

are probably people out there who have thought, this has happened to me and I didn't know what to  

say back. A simple thank you can be all you have to say. You don’t need to say more than that.

Vicki Hollett: Having said that, though, they have done some research on how Americans 

respond to compliments. Actually, most  of the time, they don’t say thank you.

Rachel: What do they say?

Vicki Hollett: I know your mother told  

you to say thank you, but actually,  you don’t. What tends to go on is,  

they will deflect the compliment, and  they have various ways of doing it.

Rachel: I can see that.

Vicki Hollett: They might repay  

the compliment. I tell my students to say, oh, I like your dental work or something like that.

Rachel: So, when someone pays you a compliment, 

you can compliment them back on something.  

Vicki Hollett: Yeah. Compliment them back,  

or you might just comment. Oh, I love  your bag. Yes, I bought it in a sale.

Rachel: Yes. I would recognize that, you're right,  

as a very common response. If someone compliments something of you, you might say where you got it.

Vicki Hollett: Yes. So, thank you is one response,  

but very often, Americans don’t, and they have other ways of deflecting those compliments.

Rachel: Okay. For a student or  

someone who is new in the U.S. and they think it's too hard to think in the moment of what to say,  

thank you is definitely still acceptable. It  would not seem strange if that was the response.

Vicki Hollett: That's the best and  

simplest response if you don’t know what to say.

Rachel: Yes.

Vicki Hollett: And smile.

Rachel: Yeah. A smile goes a long way.

Vicki Hollett: Absolutely.

Rachel: 

Another difference besides the culture  between Britain and America, of course, is  

the language. It's English, but the pronunciation is different, of course. Then, the vocabulary can  

be slightly different. I'm curious, have  you just decided to go ahead and switch  

to using the American word for certain things? 

Or have you decided to stick with the British?

Vicki Hollett: Well, I'm married to an American. At home, I stick to British words, 

and he sticks to American. In the kitchen, I talk about the rubbish bin and  

he talks about the trash can. I put cling film on the food and he uses plastic wrap or Saran wrap.  

We understand one another, but we don’t normally use one another’s words. In normal life, it  

depends who I'm speaking to. If I think someone might not understand me, I use American. For  

example, when I go to the doctors and they ask me for my date of birth, I put the date in the order  

of dates that you have in America, not the order of dates that we use in the rest of the world.

Rachel: And what is the order of dates for America?

Vicki Hollett: Well, you'll say March 6th,  

whereas other people might say 6th March. In British English, we'd say the 6th of March.

Rachel: Okay. Yes,  

in America, we do tend to do month first.

Vicki Hollett: That's right, and that can confuse people,  

I found, if I do it my way round. If I sense  there's a case where somebody is going to find it  

hard to understand me, then I'll try and switch to their system, obviously. A taxi driver. I live on  

Arch Street in Philadelphia, but when I get into a taxi, I say, can you take me to Arch Street?

Rachel: So, you Americanize it?

Vicki Hollett: I Americanize it.  

The other thing I Americanize is when I'm  talking to an automated phone system. I'll  

try to use a bit of American pronunciation,  because otherwise, it doesn't understand me.

Rachel: Can you give me an example? For Arch Street,  

you're pronouncing your R in the American way. If you're speaking to an automated system, what  

other things do you change in order to sound more American so that that machine can understand you?

Vicki Hollett: I think I make my -ah  

sound for A instead of -uh, because we'll do a  very -uh sound very often in British English.  

Or an -aw. I'll called up Sears because we were having a problem with our refrigerator, or fridge,  

as I'd call it in English, in my British English. I called up Sears, and the automated phone system  

said, which department do you want? I said, I want fridges, and it said, we do not recognize  

that request. Then, I said, refrigerators, and  I went straight through to the right department.

Rachel: Yes. Refrigerators,  

with that -er ending sound. Refrigerator.

Vicki Hollett: That's right.

Rachel: We do use the word fridge, but we  

would not use it in a more official situation  like that, where we're naming a department.

Vicki Hollett: Yeah.

Rachel: Vicki, a couple months ago,  

I had the pleasure of being a guest on your  live YouTube show. Is that still going on?

Vicki Hollett: We've changed it a bit,  

Rachel. We were streaming them live,  but we had difficulty ensuring that the  

stream would start on time. Sometimes it  would start, sometimes it wouldn't. Then,  

we had the problem with Skype. I think there was a problem with the Skype call when you were with us.

Rachel: Yeah. The video dragged a little bit.

Vicki Hollett: That's right, and at one point, Jason, Fluency MC,  

just disappeared. His Skype call went down. What we've done now is, we've started recording the  

shows, and then I take them away and I edit them. Then, you get a much better production.

Rachel: I see.

Vicki Hollett: I think the shows are going to be much better.  

The bad thing about it is, it takes me a long time to edit. So, we can't do one every week anymore.

Rachel: Okay. How often are you doing them?  

These are about an hour long, is that right?

Vicki Hollett: That's right, and I've found it took me about three or four days to edit one.

It's a big job. So, I'm aiming to do one a month. That's my goal.

Rachel: And you're still doing weekly videos as well?

Vicki Hollett: That's right. We still do our weekly videos,   

and we publish every Friday.

Rachel: Okay. So,  

Fridays are the day to go to  Simple English Videos on YouTube.

Vicki Hollett: Yeah.

Rachel: What are some of the topics you've done recently?

Vicki Hollett: We did one recently called how to  

think in English, and it's had lots of hits. We're still making lots of videos about vocabulary. I've  

just edited one on grow and grow up. So, lots of the vocabulary that people find difficult.

Rachel: Yeah. Grow up,  

the phrasal verb. People are  always asking for phrasal verbs.

Vicki Hollett: Yes, and I've got  

some more videos in the works for phrasal  verbs. I want to do more on them. Yes,  

we haven’t run out of ideas  yet. I don’t think we ever will.

Rachel: No. I don’t think I ever will, either.  

With your video on how to think in English,  what is one tip that you give in that video?

Vicki Hollett: One tip is,  

dream in English, but there are various steps  you have to go through to dream in English.

Rachel: I would imagine.

Vicki Hollett: 

It's a great way to practice your English. If you can go to sleep and just dream,

you don’t have to do anything.

Rachel: Are you saying you can make yourself dream in a specific language?

Vicki Hollett: Lots of my students have.

Rachel: That's amazing. I'm  

going to have to go watch this video to get  this tip, because I've never heard of that.

Vicki Hollett: Well, you can't force that step,  

but there are lots of steps that you can take that can build up to being able to dream in English.

Rachel: They can lead you to that reality.

Vicki Hollett: Yeah. That's right.

Rachel: Okay. I'll definitely check out that video.  

That is interesting. We talked about your live class for just a minute. Now, you're saying it's  

not a live class, but it's an hour-long class.  Can you tell people out there a little bit about  

the format and what kinds of things people will learn in this monthly class that you're doing?

Vicki Hollett: Okay. This is very different,  

I think, to a lot of live shows on YouTube,  because it is a show. I'm working with Fluency  

MC, who’s a dear friend of mine who’s  American, but he's now based in Paris,  

in France. He's a rapper. He produces lots of raps that are specially designed for language learners,  

and they're great for pronunciation practice. Almost as good as your videos, Rachel.

Rachel: Oh, thank you.

Vicki Hollett: They are a lot of fun.

What we do in the show is, we'll have games. We'll have a conversation  

that we practice. We have a guest who we bring on who’s got tips and expertise in a particular area  

so you can pick up tips to help you learn English better. And, of course, we finish up with a rap.

Rachel: Right. Fluency  

MC’s specialty.

Vicki Hollett: Yeah. That's right. We write a rap specially for each show,

where we've practiced the language that  

we've been working on during the show, but it's a lot of fun. I enjoy the games a lot as well.

Rachel: Yeah. When I  

was on as a guest, we had a very fun game where Fluency MC and I had to identify  

British words and figure out what they meant in American English, and we didn't always know.

Vicki Hollett: Yeah. We like  

quizzes and puzzles, but we also like  guessing games and things like that.

Rachel: Vicki, as you were speaking, I noticed  

one of the words that you would have to change, the vowel, if you were speaking into an American  

automated phone system. You were talking about the -ah vowel, and you said France. Of course,  

how would you say that if you were  speaking into an American phone system?

Vicki Hollett: France.

Rachel: That's right,  

and that would be perfect. I think  that machine would know exactly what  

you meant. So, France. France. -Ah,  -ah, -ah. That higher vowel, -ah.

Vicki Hollett: That's right.  

That's one of the things I have to  change when I'm talking to a machine.

Rachel: Right. So  

interesting. I love thinking about that. If I was living in Britain, I wonder if I would be able to  

do a very good job altering my accent for the phone system. I guess I would have to learn to.

Vicki Hollett: I bet you'd be really,  

really good at it, because you're  so aware of different sounds.

Rachel: I do really like imitating.

Vicki Hollett: That's right. What  

you're doing with your mouth and all your  vocal cords and that sort of thing. You'd  

be terrific at it.

Rachel: It would be fun to try. All right, Vicki. Thank you so much

for taking time out of your crazy day,  

your crazy video editing  day, to be on the podcast.

Vicki Hollett: It's been a lot of fun,  

and one day, we'll have to go to England together and we can try out your English accent over there.

Rachel: That sounds like  

a great idea. Vicki, people can find you  at YouTube.com/simpleenglishvideos, or...?

Vicki Hollett: That's right.  

Look for Simple English Videos. We've  got, I think, a couple of hundred now.

Rachel: Wow. And your website  

is also Simpleenglishvideos.com. Is that right?

Vicki Hollett: That's right, and we've got a Facebook page and a Facebook group,

and we've also got an English show group as well. So, do come and say hi, everybody.

I read all my messages, and I love to hear from you people.

Rachel: Yeah, there are so many ways to keep in touch with Vicki. She's really doing a great job covering

vocabulary and grammar on her channel. So, be sure to check her out.

Vicki Hollett: I look forward to meeting you all.

Rachel: Okay. Thank you, Vicki.

And thank you to everyone for listening to this week’s podcast.

To see the show notes and links to Vicki’s work, visit Rachelsenglish.com/podcast

and look for this episode.

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