Questions and Answers: Volume 37

Podcast Transcript

In the north, things are getting colder, snow is starting to fall, and the days are getting shorter.

It is also the season for gift-giving.

As I can’t personally give all of you a customized gift, I can do the next best thing and answer your questions.

Stay tuned for the 37th installment of questions and answers on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Let’s get started. Alan Massaro on Facebook asks Gary, You have to pronounce many foreign names and places. What do you do to make sure you’re getting them right? Love the show!

Alan, you get a special sticker on your homework because this is the one question I have been waiting for someone to ask.

This is actually one of the most difficult things I do, and it is something that I have to go through at least once per episode, if not multiple times.

So, for starters, I’m not sure I always get it right. That being said, I do try very hard to get it right, at least as well as I can, given that I speak English.

If the word comes from a very common language, such as Arabic, Spanish, or Chinese, the simplest and easiest thing to do is to put the word in Google Translate and let it pronounce it. I’ll also usually see what it sounds like in English.

Google Translate is not always correct.

The next option, if available, is to check the IPA pronunciation. IPA stands for International Phonetic Alphabet, and you might have seen this at the beginning of some Wikipedia entries. If the article has the IPA pronunciation, I can cut and paste it and put it into a site called IPA-reader.com.

If Google Translate and the IPA pronunciation agree, then I’ll usually go with that.

However, sometimes, there is no IPA pronunciation available. In those cases, I’ll try to find another source. This will often mean finding a YouTube video where someone uses the word.

Some online dictionaries provide pronunciations as well.

Where it really gets confusing is that sometimes there are different pronunciations floating around.

I think I’ve gotten better at it over time, but even if I can get the correct pronunciation, I still have to actually say it, which is often the sticking point because some sounds are just hard to say in some languages. In such cases, I just sort of do the best I can.

The point is, there is a lot more that goes into getting a correct pronunciation than most people realize. There have been rare cases where I have spent the better part of an hour trying to find someone saying a word

Thomas Nicolaysen on Patreon asks, With the holiday season upon us, I was wondering about gifts. What is a meaningful or useful gift you have received? Maybe something that you use when you travel, do photography, or record your podcasts?

Generally, I don’t like technical gifts. This is mainly because if I need something for photography or podcasting, I want something very specific, and unless you happen to know a lot about those subjects, and most people I know don’t, then you aren’t going to get the right thing.

I usually get stuff like clothing or household items because I usually forget to buy that sort of stuff for myself.

Jordan from the Discord server asks, I have an inside baseball question; do you record different ads for different localities? For example, are there ad reads you do for ads that will only air for listeners in the US, and others only for listeners in the UK, and so on, or is every sponsor the same globally?

The answer is no. This is because almost every advertiser is just looking to advertise in one country. About 80% of this podcast’s audience is in the United States, which is the market that almost every advertiser is targeting.

If it is a digital product that can be downloaded, there’s no real need to run different ad reads.

If you are listening in a different country, the ads you hear will be very different. Some listeners outside of the United States and Canada will hear mostly inserted ads that are not read by me.

If you are in the US and Canada, you might hear mostly ads read by me.

Dog on a Swing on the Discord Server asks a similar question, Hey Gary, do advertisers have any say In what type of episodes their ads will appear in? I imagine some companies wouldn’t want to see their products associated with the Bataan Death March, but would be happy to be in front of an episode on Roller Coaster or Pumpkins.

The answer is no, and in fact, the subject has never even been brought up. I think most advertisers know what they are getting themselves into when they advertise on this podcast and they realize that even if the subject isn’t a cheery one, it will at least be handled in a responsible way.

Also, even if they wanted to just appear on certain episodes, I couldn’t really do that because I often don’t know what I’m going to be doing on an episode on till a day or two in advance.

The only exception to this is if someone is doing a baked-in ad on a fully sponsored episode. I’ve only done a handful of these since the show began.

Carl Freuden from Facebook asks, We’re on a one-day cruise stop at Villefranche-sur-Mer, halfway between Monte Carlo and Nice. Given such a short stop, which city would you choose to visit and why?

Carl, the good news is that you can’t really make a bad decision here. Both Nice and Monaco would be good options.

If I were you, I’d go to Monaco, if for no other reason than you can say you visited Monaco, which is an independent country.

Monaco is really small, and you can literally walk across the country in about an hour. You can also see all the luxury yachts that are there, check out the Monte Carlo Casino, and pretend you are a high roller for at least a few hours.

If you do go to Nice, I’d suggest visiting the Matisse and the Chagall museums.

Tom Allen from Patreon asks, What is your rule-of-thumb for how “stable” a topic needs to be before you make an episode? Historical stuff is pretty stable — interpretations change slowly, but technology topics that are very important to our lives may evolve quickly. I’m thinking of energy, EVs, AI, humanoid robotics…

It isn’t an issue of stability. There needs to be something to actually talk about. Of the topics you’ve listed, I’ve actually done episodes on most of them, including electric cars and most forms of energy.

I’ve seen lots of theoretical technologies that have been talked about that never really pan out. So, until something has actually been developed, I don’t think there is much to talk about.

I have done episodes on the James Webb Telescope and Starship, both of which were in its early stages when I did the episode, and I’ve done follow up episodes since.

That said, I’ve been researching topics like Artificial Intelligence and quantum computers, but I’m not really sure I’m ready to do an episode that makes sense given the show’s time constraints.

heyfaulk from Patreon asks, I love to hear about the many UNESCO sites, and how many you have visited – please keep it up! As you do so many WWI & WWII episodes, what was the most interesting or moving site you have visited during your travels? Cheers from the Vancouver completionist club!

You can see the complete list of UNESCO sites I’ve been to on my website. As of this recording, I have been to 414 sites around the world.

As far as moving sites related to WWI and WWII, it would have to be either Auschwitz or the American Cemetery at Normandy in France.

That being said, there are a lot of interesting WWII-related sites in Belgium and the Netherlands as well. The museums in Bastone, Eindhoven, Nijmegen, and others are among the best war museums.

Karl Williams on Facebook asks, With Olivia doing the research for some of the episodes, do you let her choose from the list, or is the episode choice solely yours?

She actually has quite a bit of leeway in what ideas she wants to pursue. I do have a master list of show ideas, and some of those do come from that list, but she has also come up with her own ideas.

We meet once a week to go over which episodes will be worked on, so I have an idea of what she’ll be working on and can approve it before she puts in the work researching and writing.

It is a lot easier to write and research an episode if you are interested in the topic, not just doing something because you are told to do it.

Kevin O’Keefe on Facebook asks, It’s a simple but complex question. In the age of AI how can people make money off of just being curious and learning?

I’m not sure why learning and curiosity are things you need to make money from. Curiosity is, by its nature, something exhibited because you are interested in something. If your goal is just making money, then it isn’t real curiosity.

There is certainly nothing wrong with learning something to improve your employability.

That being said, I don’t think that AI is cause for doom and gloom, at least not for people who are willing to learn. Artificial Intelligence might very well replace many white-collar jobs that are busywork, but there will always be a need for people who are knowledgeable and learned.

Also, AI can be used to turbocharge your learning. Some of the initial research I’m seeing on the use of AI as an educational aide has been simply astounding.

Nina Schmidt on Facebook asks, I am a language teacher. Based on your extensive travels, what do you think are the most important phrases someone should know when visiting a foreign country?

Hello, goodbye, yes, no, please, thank you, excuse me, how much is this, and then basic phrases for getting food, lodging, and transportation.

With that, you might not be able to have a conversation, but you will be able to perform basic tourist functions.

Beyond, I’m sure you can think of other scenarios that would probably be worth knowing phrases for.

The final question comes from Elizabeth Lowe on Patreon, who asks, Gary, I’m very reluctant to become a member of the Completionists’ Club, despite all the impressive benefits. I make quilts, which means I sit at my sewing machine for several hours at a time, and I love immersing myself in your episodes. If I become a Completionist, I’ll only have one episode at a time! I currently have only about 150 episodes to go before I join that elite group, but I’m holding back. Love the podcast, and I’ve gotten several friends hooked on it too.

Well, Elizabeth, there is a very simple way to resolve your dilemma.

Once you join the completionist club, you can then begin your journey to Elite Platinum status in the club by listening to every episode twice. If you achieve that, then there is the Diamond Ultra status for those who listen to every episode three times.

Beyond that, you probably need to seek professional help.

That concludes this month’s Q&A episode. If you want to leave a question for next month’s show, you have to join the Facebook group or Discord server, because that’s where I announce it.