1
00:00:11,234 --> 00:00:20,900
G'day, guys! Welcome to this episode
of Aussie English. I have a special
guest with us today and you'll have
to guess where she from. Aiko. So,
thank you for coming onto the
podcast!

2
00:00:31,901 --> 00:00:24,660
Thank you. Thank you for having me.

3
00:00:35,661 --> 00:00:39,266
So, tell us a bit about your back
story. I would love to know you know
where you grew up what it was like
and how you ended up living in Hawaii
and having an English podcast now or
an English speaking podcast,
obviously.

4
00:00:50,267 --> 00:01:30,260
Yes, ok, I am from Japan. My name is
Aiko Hemingway. and I grew up in
Japan. I came to the States when I
was 23 and then when I came to the
States I didn't really speak English
that time and I went through very
hard times in the US because of my
English accent because no one
understood me and I couldn't
understand what American people were
saying and also I couldn't build any
sentence is in English because I
didn't have practical English
education in Japan. So, I went
through like a lot of difficult times
here and after three years of being
in the U.S I became really
interesting sounds.

5
00:01:41,261 --> 00:02:32,588
So, and then I moved to L.A. Ok, so
first of 10 Northern California and I
went to a small village specifically
for going to a community college
there because they don't have
Japanese students. So, I was able to
speak English all the time. And so
for three years my English became
pretty good. And then I went to
university in L.A. so, I moved
to L.A. and noticed that there are so
many Japanese people in L.A. and that
they don't really speak English. So,
I'm like oh maybe I can start helping
them from my experience. So, then I
became passionate about, you know,
coaching them how to build sentences
and how to pronounce certain words in
English and then I became more
fascinating about English sounds. So,
I went to UCLA and studied
linguistics there.

6
00:02:43,589 --> 00:03:46,080
So, I became very interested in
phonetics there and then UCLA had a
really good program for international
studies so, it's like music, right?
So, I studied the intonation there
became really, really passionate more
about phonetics. So, since then I
have been helping my Japanese clients
in the U.S. who are working in
English environments. And also I have
helped pretty famous person in Japan
to improve that person's
pronunciation and also so, like, my
clients are like business owners who
want to work with American people in
the U.S. Yeah. So, the reason why I
moved to Hawaii was... I just wanted
to live in Hawaii. So, I was in L.A.
and then my husband and I lived in
Vancouver, Canada, for his job and
then we had a wedding in Hawaii. And
that was the first time for us to
visit Hawaii really, really, really,
really loved it.

7
00:03:57,081 --> 00:04:51,820
So, after we went back to Canada we
went back to L.A. and they were like
ok, so, we went back to Canada and
then we went back to L.A after his
job was over and we started talking
about maybe we should move to Hawaii
just to see how it's like living in
Hawaii. So, we're planned for three
years. So, we moved to Hawaii like
two and a half years ago. So, we
really love it. So, one thing that,
one thing, like a big thing or why we
were able to move to Hawaii was that
I changed how I worked. So, now I
work from home. I don't have to worry
about getting a job in Hawaii because
the wage is not so good as comparing
to the living cost in Hawaii so,
really expensive to live here. So, I
heard that it's not really good to
find a job in Hawaii. So, I started
changing how I worked so it worked.
So, I just use my laptop and the
internet so, I can just walk from
anywhere.

8
00:05:02,821 --> 00:04:53,090
That's the best kind of job, huh?

9
00:05:04,091 --> 00:04:59,356
Yeah. So, that's how we move to
Hawaii. Yeah. We really love our
lifestyle right now.

10
00:05:10,357 --> 00:05:20,470
Far out! So, what was it like going
all the way back to sort of the start
of that because I got quite a few
questions. What was it like growing
up in Japan with learning English or
not learning English at school? Was
there a big emphasis put on learning
English or any other foreign
languages in primary school or high
school or the equivalents of those
schools in Japan?

11
00:05:31,471 --> 00:06:13,390
So, when I was in Japan usually we
started learning English as a second
language from like a junior high
school and I think they started
learning English from elementary
school now, but I'm not sure because
I left there long time ago. So,
mainly we focus on the grammar. And
sometimes speaking but mostly just
reading and writing and the biggest
thing is the translation, we see that
English sentences and then translate
them into Japanese or vice versa. So,
that's like for me I didn't like it
at all because grammar is not my
thing, I still don't know how grammar
works.

12
00:06:24,391 --> 00:07:18,220
That's one of the things that I
really think I dislike about learning
languages at high schools and primary
schools no matter. It sounds like
wherever you are in the world it's
the same kind of thing where it's
very few....You meet very few
students who actually engaged in
those classes and developed a passion
for languages in high school. It
seems like all of the language
learners that I meet who are learning
English tends to be "oh, I went to
school but I hated it" and then only
later on when I sort of developed an
interest again or maybe for some
reason I ended up in Australia
studying or whatever that I actually,
you know, learned the language and
actually enjoyed the process. So, was
it the same kind of thing? Was it
very monotonous and the same...It
seems like Asia seems to be very, I
don't know how to put it, but like
they're very, very focused on the
grammar and you know being perfect
with doing those exercises, but they
put very little emphasis on the
actual communication being more
important than being perfect and
speaking more often, it seems like
that's what I hear from Chinese
students and Japanese students in
particular.

13
00:07:29,221 --> 00:07:42,889
Yes, I totally agree actually, yes.
So, in the classroom. So, when I was
in junior high school we didn't have
a native speaker. So, we just learn
the grammar with the teacher and we
had some audio, that time was like a
cassette or something.

14
00:07:53,890 --> 00:07:54,058
Oh, wow!

15
00:08:05,059 --> 00:07:53,480
So, we have the audio and then we
just listen to the conversation. It's
like a skit, right? It's already laid
out the conversation is really
unnatural for me.

16
00:08:04,481 --> 00:08:04,866
They always seem to be unnatural,
right? It'll be so clearly spoken...
"how are you? I'm good, thanks!" And
you're like this is just not how
people speak. You know, you're
setting them up to fail to begin
with.

17
00:08:15,867 --> 00:08:50,350
Totally, it wasn't fun at all! So, I
didn't really like it. I didn't
really learn it, but I decided to
come to the U.S because I wanted to
speak English and then I just came
here and then turned out like I
really realized that ok, so my
English ability is not really good
because I learned English for six
years in Japan, but I couldn't even
greet, like someone said to me like
''Hey, how are you?", but the
pronunciation was so fast. It was
just so simple sentence, right? How
are you? But I didn't understand it
so, I was so disappointed!

18
00:09:01,351 --> 00:09:19,840
I felt the same way from high school
in French where I had studied from
year 7, which is when you're 12
turning 13 all the way through, I did
my exams, I got an ok score in
French, but I remember still even
after six years being relatively
limited in the kinds of conversations
and the fluidity that I could speak
with and so. Do you feel like it is a
bit of a waste of time quite often or
at least not necessarily a waste, but
it's kind of misspent? You know, like
it's it's so inefficient.

19
00:09:30,841 --> 00:09:46,590
Yeah. Yeah. I think that word
inefficient would be how you
describe, you know, language learning
at school, right? I totally think so
because, so I had six years of
English education in Japan and then
they came to the States and that it
took me about one and a half years
for me to be actually like, for me to
become pretty good at conversations.

20
00:09:57,591 --> 00:10:19,320
So, what did you do? Once you'd
obviously had some kind of a...well,
six years of background in English
so, it wasn't totally foreign to you,
so you got to America and you
obviously, you know, if you had
writing in front of you, you could
understand, you could work out what
it was, but what was the process like
once you got there and realized ok,
maybe I'm not as prepared as I
thought I was for being fully
immersed in an English speaking
country? What was the process once
you got there for improving your
English? Did you go to classes or get
private lessons or did you do it all
on your own online?

21
00:10:30,321 --> 00:10:55,920
At the time I was going to a
community college there. I got
admitted from the college because I
had enough score on TOEFL,  but that
doesn't mean I can speak or I can
hear what the American people say and
understand. So, what I did was I took
pretty easy classes and then I'm
really good at math. So, I took some
math class and then I started
becoming a tutor.

22
00:11:06,921 --> 00:11:01,130
That's pretty clever, because I take
it with maths a lot of it is numbers
which is the universe or you don't to
worry about English as much.

23
00:11:12,131 --> 00:11:32,786
That's true. And then also music, I
play piano and that of course that
music is universal language too. So,
I started tutoring native speakers of
English, like local, local people
there and then I helped them with
their math or playing piano and then
they helped me with English. So, it
was kind of like an exchange. So I
was tutoring at the Learning Center
in the community college.

24
00:11:43,787 --> 00:11:33,936
But I hope you're getting paid,
right?

25
00:11:44,937 --> 00:11:47,942
Yes so, I was getting paid so I was
able to work on campus, even though I
was an international student there
and then yeah so, it was good, I was
getting paid and then I was learning
English that way.

26
00:11:58,943 --> 00:11:48,968
You're very clever.

27
00:11:59,969 --> 00:12:37,141
That was awesome, I don't know how I
came up with that idea, but I just
started doing it and then and then I
made so many mistakes. Pronunciation
wise, building sentences wise, so my
tutees, you know, people who were
taking my tutoring service helped me,
sometimes they started just laughing
at me, and then slowly I figured out
my pronunciation problems and then
also "oh I should say it this way,
otherwise they'll laugh at me", so I
should say this way so they don't
laugh at me, you know, something like
that. I slowly discovered the
pronunciation and also the sentences
that way.

28
00:12:48,142 --> 00:13:15,130
So, what did you do in order to
overcome that? Because I know we were
talking about this on an interview, I
was on her podcast yesterday and we
were chatting about this or two days
ago and what exactly were we talking
about? I guess that pronunciation
doesn't really always match up with
the writing in English. And how
difficult that is for a lot of
speakers. What did you do in order to
overcome that? Was there any sort of
tricks or tips that you learnt whilst
you were trying to improve your
pronunciation or was it simply a
process of, you know, you just have
to keep speaking and reading and over
time it diminishes in your
pronunciation improves?

29
00:13:26,131 --> 00:13:25,911
So, I discovered that English
spelling is really confusing and I
should now follow the rules, right?
The spelling rules to pronounce it.

30
00:13:36,912 --> 00:13:40,630
I think the most annoying thing right
is that the rules work 80 percent, 70
percent of the time. So, it's like
just often enough that it's really
confusing because, you know, quite
frequently you'll come across words
where that isn't the case.

31
00:13:51,631 --> 00:14:07,780
Right, right. So, there is always an
exception, right? So, in Japan I
learned that the pronunciation of
often you don't pronounce T so you
pronounce it often. So, that's what I
learned. So, that thing was always on
the test. So, I learned that ok, so
you don't pronounce T and then when I
came to the States people pronounce
that often.

32
00:14:18,781 --> 00:14:15,040
Yeah. It goes, it depends, right?
Some people will. Some people won't.
Which is even more confusing.

33
00:14:26,041 --> 00:15:00,252
It is! Yeah. So, I learned something
at school in Japan, but it wasn't the
case in the U.S. So I'm like ok, so I
learned something in Japan, but it's
not the case here so maybe I should
start listening to, just listening to
the real sounds like a how people
speak. And then also I was using the
dictionary there was like a Japanese,
no, it was an English-Japanese
dictionary and then I was checking
the words there and then talking to
someone native speaker. And the
native speaker was like what? That's
a really old and he's like "let me
see your dictionary" and then ''oh my
God, Aiko, you're learning so many
old phrases and words here".

34
00:15:11,253 --> 00:15:01,740
Really?

35
00:15:12,741 --> 00:15:19,175
Yeah, so, at that time I was like...
I was really blown away, I'm like
ok... So, not just the stuff in
Japan, the English education in Japan
it's not so practical, but also we
have been learning something really
old.

36
00:15:30,176 --> 00:15:28,630
Far out! So you almost have to check
the date of the books that you've
been learning from and make sure
they're not from, you know,  like the
70s or something where they may have
used different words or expressions.

37
00:15:39,631 --> 00:16:08,080
Right, right. So, I was like so blown
away that day I just threw away my
dictionary that I brought from Japan
and then I just told myself that's
ok, so I really need to listen to the
real sounds and then I just try to
focus on copying how people around
around me speak. So, that was my like
focus, that shift right there made me
like become aware of the real sounds
and the sentences.

38
00:16:19,081 --> 00:16:13,750
Far out! And so is that what led you
to an interest in linguistics and
wanting to study linguistics?

39
00:16:24,751 --> 00:16:34,550
Well, I guess when I became really
interested in linguistics was when I
was listening to the sound of T
because T changes sound in many
different ways. So, sometimes it's
like water. So, it's not water.

40
00:16:45,551 --> 00:16:35,901
The T flap, right?

41
00:16:46,902 --> 00:17:14,082
Right! And then also sometimes she
disappears like a Santa. If someone
asks me "so, you know Santa?" and I'm
like " do I know Santa? I don't know"
and that person was really surprised.
You don't know Santa? And then later
I discovered that it was Santa, it's
like of course I know Santa! That's
why he was so surprised. I'm like ok,
but I didn't hear a T there, so I
didn't understand it so, it's like
why consonantes change like this? And
I really became interested in
discovering those rules.

42
00:17:25,083 --> 00:17:32,390
I think one of my favorites with T's
is that if it's followed by a R or a
U quite often it's pronounced as a
CH, CH sound, right? Like tree or
adventure. So, that's another one of
those ones where there's more for
thee T. It's crazy.

43
00:17:43,391 --> 00:17:58,910
Yeah. So it was really fun for me. I
didn't think about it when I speak
Japanese because Japanese is my
native language so, I don't think
about all the sound changes. So,
learning a second language is really
difficult because you don't know all
the sound changes, right? So, I
became interested in linguistics so I
decided to study more.

44
00:18:09,911 --> 00:18:50,030
It's particularly difficult for you
guys, right? From people who speak
Chinese or Japanese or Thai because
the Asian languages tend to be the
most different from English, right?
So it's not like you're a German
speaker who's learning English
that's, you know, that's a foreigner
learning English, but that's no where
near the same kind of language
acquisition journey, right? As
someone from Japan learning English
because you've got a complete
different alphabet, different
pronunciation rules, intonation,
rhythm completely different writing
system. So, was that overwhelming at
times and did you kind of, did you
notice other people who came from
different backgrounds, you know, say
Germans or people from Europe
learning English them sort of making
rapid improvement whilst you were
sort of, you know, taking a little
longer to wrap your head around some
of these things?

45
00:19:01,031 --> 00:19:02,776
Right. Yeah I think you're totaly
right, it takes more time for
Japanese to learn English, comparing
to like you know people who speak
German or Italian or Spanish, I think
at one point I was frustrated and
when I discovered oh Japanese is so
different from English, it's not just
language structure or structure is so
different than the way that we
express is different too, we Japanese
explain the reason and then we talk
about conclusion, but in English you
talk about the conclusion you state
something first then you're sort of
explaining the reasons.

46
00:19:38,104 --> 00:19:46,596
So that would be like what? I did
this because of this this and this.
Whereas in Japanese you would say
this this and this and therefore I
did this.

47
00:19:57,597 --> 00:20:24,510
Right! So it's the structure is
really different, like how we
communicate in Japanese and very
different from like English. So, it
was really hard for me to adjust my
mind to English because it seems to
be like everything seems to be
opposite. So it's not just the
language structure but pronunciation
is pretty opposite, like a where we
focus on, the rhythm, intonation
seems to be like pretty opposite.

48
00:20:35,511 --> 00:20:47,300
So, what's sort of the biggest advice
you would have if you could give
yourself advice when you were going
through the process of improving your
pronunciation, for example, in
English to all the other Chinese,
Japanese, Asian people listening to
this podcast and anyone else too who
is having trouble with pronunciation,
were there any real sort of insights
that you can appreciate now after
having done it that would have made
that journey faster?

49
00:20:58,301 --> 00:21:11,705
Oh there are so many things that I
can talk about to improve
effectively, but one thing the first
thing that I usually teach Japanese
people to improve their pronunciation
is to breathe, like how they breathe
is very different from how Japanese
people breathe.

50
00:21:22,706 --> 00:21:22,853
Really?

51
00:21:33,854 --> 00:22:12,610
So, yes! So, for example a because of
the tongue position, the back of the
tongue position is very different
because of the culture. So, Japan is
such a small country so personal
space is really small and so
therefore the language needs to be
spoken quietly in Japan. So, when you
speak Japanese we instantly reduce
the vibration inside of the mouth.
So, the back of the tongue is pretty
high up so you don't vibrate the
sounds so, therefore you will speak
pretty quietly so, but in English,
especially in America, because the
country is so big, you want to speak
loudly, more loudly. So, it's a
really challenging thing for Japanese
because a lot of Japanese people come
to the U.S they are told to speak
louder, but in Japan we are told to
speak quietly.

52
00:22:23,611 --> 00:22:40,360
That's one of those interesting
things I hadn't thought of really why
that would be the case, but yeah you
do as an Australian meaning a lot of
Japanese people quite often they are
quite reserved and sort of quiet.
They're not the loud, boisterous,
annoying, you know, people like an
American who is in Australia, righ?
You tend to be able to find them as
soon as you walk in the room you'll
hear them screaming and shouting in
the back. So, was that really
difficult cultural thing to overcome
and then once you did overcome it
though it made a big difference?

53
00:22:51,361 --> 00:24:01,120
Yes, I think so. To change how you
speak, you want to change how you
breathe. So I do like breathing
exercises at the beginning of each,
like private lessons and so I teach
like pronunciation courses and then I
always bring up the breathing
exercise at the beginning and also
like you want to build muscles, like
facial muscles there we're able to
speak English more easily. And then I
go into like a rhythm, intonation and
stress, you know, all that, but one
thing that, I don't know about like
the Korean people or Chinese people,
but one thing that Japanese people
focus on is consonants. They tend to
focus on consonants a lot, but for me
it vowels are more important. So, I
go over vowels more thoroughly before
consonants and so that their
pronunciation becomes more
understandable. So, I think like
Japanese people tend to focus on like
L,N,R or TH sounds, but it's really
like they should focus on more vowels
so, that they can improve a lot
faster.

54
00:24:12,121 --> 00:24:17,644
I think you're right and that's one
of the things that I'm always telling
my students too. Quite often most
people are able to do well with most
of the consonants, especially after a
bit of practice, but I think it's the
it's the vowels especially the vowels
that are so close together, right?
And almost sound the same that they
quite often need to work on to try
and distinguish and differentiate
between them when they speak so, that
the listener can get what they're
saying straight away and they don't
confuse different words. So, what did
you do in order to sort of nail her
vowels when you were learning
English? Were there any specific
exercises or ways of practising that
you implemented in order to improve
your comprehension and speaking when
saying these vowels?

55
00:24:42,764 --> 00:25:11,910
Yes. So,  it took about 6 years for
me to realize how important vowels
were. So then when they realized
about it I found a book called The
American Accent Guide and it's by
Beverly Lujan. I brought this book,
do you know her?

56
00:25:22,911 --> 00:25:16,720
No, I don't think I do, but I'll have
to check it out. The American accent
guide, is it?

57
00:25:27,721 --> 00:25:46,444
Yes. So it is a really good book and
then it's written in English and it's
not really written specifically for
Japanese, it's really generalized
pronunciation practise, but it was
amazing, I learned so much and then I
realized about all the vowels in
English and then I became really
passionate about sound in all the
different sounds. So, I called her
and I took private lessons from her
directly.

58
00:25:57,445 --> 00:25:47,930
Oh, awesome!

59
00:25:58,931 --> 00:26:18,130
And then I improved my pronunciation
a lot. And then I realized how come I
didn't do this before? I could have
done this like a long time ago, but I
guess, you know, I didn't realize how
important vowels are. So, that's why
it took six years, but I really
appreciate that i realized that time,
otherwise I would still be like
speaking with Japanese accent.

60
00:26:29,131 --> 00:26:32,020
So, is that the biggest piece of
advice you would have given yourself
if you could rewind or the way that,
you know, the day you put your feet
on the ground in America, would you
have said ''focus on the vowels!'',
you know, just to do me that one
favor do it from today, focus on the
vowels?

61
00:26:43,021 --> 00:27:31,820
Yes, yes, I'd probably by the book
right away. So, I made so many little
vowel mistakes like, for example, I
wanted to say... oh so I was tutoring
math at learning center in community
college in Northern California and
then I said the sentence: the "fact
is bla bla bla" and then my tutee
started laughing hard and then  I
thought oh maybe here they don't hear
me. So I said "the fact is..." really
loudly again and then the people in
the room started laughing at me. Then
I was like why is that? I don't know.
And then and then he told me that
''oh you sound like you're saying..."
I don't know if this is like a really
bad word.

62
00:27:42,821 --> 00:27:38,758
You can say it, you can say it on the
podcast, it's all good. It's
important for people to learn, right?
You know it's contex based, so you're
saying more like the work fuck,
instead of fact?

63
00:27:49,759 --> 00:27:46,240
So, he said  "you're saying fucked".

64
00:27:57,241 --> 00:27:50,860
So, it sounded like you were saying
the fuckeds or something.

65
00:28:01,861 --> 00:27:53,138
Yes, the fucked is, and I kept saying
the word, see you're laughing at me
too!

66
00:28:04,139 --> 00:28:03,970
I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing
with a funny story, right? And it's
important to tell. It's important to
teach people this sort of stuff.

67
00:28:14,971 --> 00:28:24,895
Right, so I was like... that time I
was like so...I was so puzzled, why
are people laughing at me? And that
I'm, you know, I'm very serious just
tutoring someone, right? And then I
didn't realize that I wanted to say
fact, but it became fucked.

68
00:28:35,896 --> 00:29:08,170
And that's why you're right it is so
important because the vows there are
/a/ and /u/ like they're very close,
and /a/ /u/ yet, changing that, you
know, fact/fucked you've completely
changed the pronunciation of the word
and native speakers can pick up on
that straight away. So, yeah you're
right, I had a funny story like that
too, which is in fact I think it is
the same. It's the same vow pair, the
same minimal pair. And I've mentioned
this on the podcast before and I have
to use a rude word in order to
mention this, but I was working in a
restaurant with a girl from Thailand
and she was my manager and I asked
her one day I said "can I go to the
toilet? I need to take a break".

69
00:29:19,171 --> 00:29:50,120
And she said just loudly across the
room "no, you cunt!". I was just
like... Tuu?! I  was like, Tuu what
the hell, dude? And she's like ''you
cunt do that at the moment, you have
to work!". And I was like oh my God,
Tuu... Tuu... alright, just say...
it's got to be an /a/ instead of a
/u/  sound. And that was even closer,
right? It's there the words would be
'can't', which is the you can not,
and the other one is 'cunt', which is
very quick, but it's the same vowel
sound. Anyway, the restaurant went
quiet for a second and looked at her
and we're just like what the hell?
And it just shows how important the
vowels are, right?

70
00:30:01,121 --> 00:29:53,527
Oh my gosh. Yeah, totally. So in the
U.S. It'll be okay because it'll be
like it can't.

71
00:30:04,528 --> 00:30:00,600
Yeah, exactly, exactly.

72
00:30:11,601 --> 00:30:14,845
So it would be easy to use the vowel
like can't, instead of like car,
right? I remember I took a philosophy
class when I was in community college
and there is a philosopher called
Kant, Immanuel.

73
00:30:25,846 --> 00:30:32,340
And we would actually pronounce that
as Kant, in English. Because that's
the pronunciantion difference between
American and Australian English that
/ae/ quite often if certain words in
Australian English will be /a:/

74
00:30:43,341 --> 00:30:40,707
So, in the US people pronounce it
/kaent/, but I think I was
pronouncing it a C word without
knowing.

75
00:30:51,708 --> 00:31:29,740
But that's why it's so important to
have a sense of humor, especially
when you're learning a foreign
language because it's inevitable but
you're going to say words or you're
going to use them in the wrong
context and I do this all the time in
French and Portuguese and there are
so many of those examples where
there's...and it's always vowels,
it's always vowels that get me in
trouble or at least make people
laugh, but what did you do to
overcome that? When people were
laughing at you because I know that
especially again, well people from
all over the world when they're
speaking English they get very
worried about embarrassing
themselves, about making mistakes,
about looking stupid. Obviously, you
know, you don't worry as much about
that anymore. Was that a sort of once
you got over that and you sort of
learned to laugh about it, did that
make a big difference in your
confidence?

76
00:31:40,741 --> 00:32:10,776
Well, I think so, I think I have
enough experience now when when I
pronounce something like a wrong way
I would instantly notice and I crack
myself right away. So, I'm pretty
confident about my pronunciation now
at least,  I still make mistakes, but
at least I know how to fix it. So,
I'm pretty confident, but before I
didn't know anything about it, but
what I did or was just enjoy, I just
enjoyed making mistakes, I just
enjoyed make big laughed at, that
means I made someone laugh, so that's
good.

77
00:32:21,777 --> 00:32:54,813
Exaclty, that's what I meant. Because
it lightens the situation, right? You
can go into a situation with a
stranger you've got to use English
and if you can do something, whether
it's you make a mistake or you say
something that lightens the mood by
making them laugh, obviously it makes
the conversation generally more
comfortable, right? It's kind of more
relaxed. And so I always use that as
that kind of a rule where I say you
know don't be afraid of making
mistakes because it's kind of an
icebreaker, right? It allow people to
relax and realize ok, you know, we're
having fun and then start enjoying
having, you know, both the people
talking to you are going to relax,
but you as well are going to sort of
build some confidence because you
realise it's not the end of the world
when you make a mistake.

78
00:33:05,814 --> 00:33:31,588
Right, right. I had one incident,
though, that that was really bad. I
was assisting an elementary school
teacher and we were in the teacher's
room and she is a music teacher so, I
was preparing some material for her
class and then I asked her are you
going to bring this sheet too? I
know, right? And then she's like
what? Shut up? I didn't understand,
maybe she didn't hear me, so I said
it one more time, more loudly so that
she will hear me.

79
00:33:42,589 --> 00:33:33,111
And you were pointing at the thing I
hope.

80
00:33:44,112 --> 00:33:46,065
So, I asked her again "are you going
to bring this sheet?" and then she's
like shut up! She even got madder at
me, ''you're saying shit!".

81
00:33:57,066 --> 00:33:58,290
That's what I don't understand, the
getting angry part. You know, you
have to have a bit of tolerance and a
bit of patience sometimes, especially
when you could tell that person is
obviously not trying to swear on
purpose.

82
00:34:09,291 --> 00:34:33,780
Yes, but that happened in the
teachers room at the elementary
school here in L.A. So, you know, I
should be more careful, I learned
that, I should be more careful
especially in a serious situation
like this and like it depends on the
place, it depends on the person.
Someone can get really mad at me if I
say something wrongly, right. So
that's one thing and I learned this
so I'm more careful about making
mistakes like this now.

83
00:34:44,781 --> 00:34:57,119
Yeah. So, switching on to the podcast
that you have which is entirely in
English. How on earth did that begin
and did you ever imagine, you know,
all the way back when you just got to
America or even before then, you
know, one; learning English to the
level that you currently speaking at
and two; having a podcast in that
language where you're interviewing
native speakers that's an incredible
achievement.

84
00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:34,430
I had no idea, even just one year ago
I started my YouTube channel about
two years ago and I was really shy,
I'm really introverted. So, I had no
idea, I would start YouTube channel
and then now podcast and then
promoting myself like promoting my
service like this. I had no idea. The
way that I was able to change was
started going to Toastmasters clubs.

85
00:35:45,431 --> 00:35:40,330
These public speaking clubs, right?
Where you get up and practice
speaking in front of a group of
people.

86
00:35:51,331 --> 00:36:42,983
Yeah. So, yeah so my English became
pretty good in the U.S but I was
still shy to speak in front of
people. So, I got tired of being shy.
I wanted to change my life and so,
that was about two years ago, I
decided to change. So, that's when I
started going to Toastmasters club
and then soon after I started
promoting my service to Japanese
clients in the U.S for improving
their pronunciation. So, I started my
YouTube channel. I was like really
nervous speaking in front of the
camera first, but I eventually got
really comfortable. So, I wanted to
challenge more which was to create a
podcast so, that was about six months
ago, I decided to start my podcast.

87
00:36:53,984 --> 00:36:47,223
Jezz, Aiko! You're just making it
harder and harder for yourself, just
keep raising the bar!

88
00:36:58,224 --> 00:37:47,350
Yes, once you start getting involved
in Toastmasters because they
challenge you to step out of your
comfort zone. So, I started,  I got
this mindset where I'm going to
control my own life. I am in charge.
You know, I'm the boss, you know. You
know, that kind of mentality. So, I
started just challenging myself. This
year I have so many plans to just
step out of my comfort zone so, I'm
going to be more comfortable being
uncomfortable. So, this is my goal
this year too, so I had no idea just
two years ago I'll be like talking
like, you know, talking to you like
this or having another guests to my
podcast. So, that's just really
amazing how fast you can change. And.
I really want to tell other people
that they can change too.

89
00:37:58,351 --> 00:38:19,720
What advice would you have? So,
looking over the last year or two
when you started working with
Toastmasters, creating your YouTube
channel and now the podcast, what
were some of the biggest things that
you learned in order to build
confidence and to speak more
confidently in front of people,
right? And to not worry as much
because I'm sure that's something
many of the listeners will be
struggling with it's how to even just
in day to day conversations whether
or not they're starting a YouTube
channel or anything so, do you have
any advice for the listeners who are
currently struggling with speaking
confidently?

90
00:38:30,721 --> 00:39:01,752
Yes, especially for people who are
introverted because I'm introverted
too, just start like going to a
Toastmasters club is one thing they
can do and also they can record their
voice and just listen to how you talk
and how you can fix your
pronunciation or how you behave or
you can videotape and they'll watch
you talk. It's kind of funny to see,
you know, yourself. It's really funny
to see how you talk, right? In the
monitor.

91
00:39:12,753 --> 00:39:18,846
Still takes me time to get used to it
on the podcast when I'm making videos
or whatever, hearing my voice back
it's always like, I hate these little
things that I do, things that I say,
you know, when you say humm and ahhhs
it take a while to get used to it.

92
00:39:29,847 --> 00:39:28,458
Yeah, but then I remember watching
Pat Flynn's video and that's where he
was talking about how he hated his
voice.

93
00:39:39,459 --> 00:39:34,090
This is Pat Flynn's from the passive
income podcast for anyone interested,
is a business podcast.

94
00:39:45,091 --> 00:40:15,450
Yes. Yeah. So, I really love his
work. His attitude towards success
and then you know, he's really, you
know, he's a huge podcaster, right?
And then in one of his videos he was
talking about like I don't like my
voice. It's really painful for me to
edit each episode because I don't
really want to hear my voice. And I
was like ok, so Pat Flynn's has a
great voice and a great program and
he hates his. You know what? I can
hate my voice, but I can still do it.
So, this is the mindset that I get
from watching his videos. So that
helped.

95
00:40:26,451 --> 00:40:53,130
So, I think that's one of the biggest
things, right? Those taking that
pressure off yourself. So, when
you're having conversations with
people if you lack confidence and
it's because you're worried about
sounding silly, make mistakes,
embarrassing yourself, you have to
remember quite often the people
you're talking to don't care, you
know, they just want to communicate
with you and they're not analyzing
your mistakes, they're not counting
the mistakes that you make, you know,
they're not going to be like two
weeks from now. Do you remember that
time I was talking to Aiko and she
mispronounced this word or said this
mistake? No one is ever going to
remember that sort of stuff. So, it's
a massive burden that gets sort of
put away, right? It gets taken off
your shoulders when you realize that
you can kind of speak a bit more
confidently.

96
00:41:04,131 --> 00:41:08,626
Right, right. I kind of got this
mindset from playing piano in front
of people. Whn you play piano you
cannot just play perfectly. So
especially when I get nervous. I miss
a lot of notes, right? And sometimes
I hit wrong notes.

97
00:41:19,627 --> 00:41:15,570
I would imagine if you try to do it
perfectly you're going to make even
more mistakes, right? Because you're
going to be nervous.

98
00:41:26,571 --> 00:42:04,860
Right, right. So, when I play piano
in front of people, I just I just try
to enjoy the moments and there when I
hit wrong notes or when I miss wrong
notes or something, I just pretend
like all of this is the best
performance ever. So, I just don't
show that I just made a mistake. So
no one notice. So, you know, at the
end of the performance people come to
me "oh that was so beautiful!"  I
just don't tell them that I missed so
many notes. So, that's the mindset
that I got from playing music came
from people. So, maybe for me to do
podcast, maybe I should do the same
and then I'll be ok. That kind of
mindset would help.

99
00:42:15,861 --> 00:42:25,290
Far out! So, what's the sort of aim
for the future. Have you... you've
been learning English now for what I
imagine more than 10 years. Do you
ever get to a point where it's like
yeah that's enough, I'm done and I'd
never have to practice ever again or
is there an ongoing journey for you
that you've kind of just, you know,
appreciate is going to last a
lifetime?

100
00:42:36,291 --> 00:43:01,843
Yes, I think it's gonna last a
lifetime. The more I discover
pronounciation tips and all that I
realize that there are so much more
to learn. So, I'm like really
confused because I'm learning so
much, but I realized there is so much
more so that the stuff that I don't
know is like growing, is becoming
bigger and bigger. So, I just keep
learning and then two years ago I
started taking singing lessons and
then I'm going to work on my
breathing and singing more.

101
00:43:12,844 --> 00:43:13,138
Oh, brilliant!

102
00:43:24,139 --> 00:44:21,300
Improve my English pronunciation so,
I can use that skill to coach, you
know, Japanese people to pronounce,
to improve their pronunciation also.
And then this year I have so many
goals in terms of pronunciation. So,
singing and understanding the
breathing is one thing and then also
learning different accents for
example so, I'm learning Australian
accents now and I bought a book about
English accent. So, like you know,
learning British accents and then
later I want to so later this year I
want to learn different accents in
the U.S. So, like southern accent,
northern accent, north east or west
coast accent or Hawaii accent because
I mean Hawaii. And then after that I
want to learn about like the Thai,
no, not Thai,  Indian, Indian accent
because there are so many IT people
from India. So, a lot of Chinese
people come to me hey you know how
can I understand that Indian accents
better? Because they have a different
accent. I mean everyone has different
accent and so I'm trying to learn
more about accents.

103
00:44:32,301 --> 00:44:31,950
So, you're mostly trying to
understand them so that you can, I
mean, learn them so that you can
understand them when people speak and
to be able to help people who need to
interact with people with those
accents understand them as well?

104
00:44:42,951 --> 00:44:57,880
Yes, yes. So, I have some clients in
Japan, in the U.S and some of them
actually teach pronunciation. So,
they have clients who have like
business meetings with people from
India, you know, so something like
that. So I can, you know, so I want
to learn their accents so I can let
them know how to understand Indian
accents.

105
00:45:08,881 --> 00:45:00,073
So, it's like reverse engineering it.
Got you, got you!

106
00:45:11,074 --> 00:45:12,350
Oh, brilliant, Aiko, thanks so much
for coming on the podcast today.
Where can people obviously see your
YouTube channel find your podcast and
contact you if they want to get
lessons?

107
00:45:23,351 --> 00:45:46,326
Yes. So, I have a Facebook page. Yes
so, podcast the YouTube channel. I
have a blog writing in Japanese and I
also have a Twitter account. So, yes
just contact me, you know, if you
need private lessons. And I also
coach, English coaches, mainly
Japanese English coaches who want to
start teaching pronunciation. So, I
have the program also.

108
00:45:57,327 --> 00:45:50,390
Brilliant. So what's the name of
those things that people can find
you?

109
00:46:01,391 --> 00:46:34,070
Ok, so you can, you can find me on
schwagirl.com so that's s c h w a g i
r l.com  I just put schwa because she
was the most important vowel in
English, so people  would know, why
schwa, what is schwa? So it's
schwagirl.com. And then also my
service can be found on
Hatsuonkyosei.com, so that's in
Japanese. So, the website is in
English, but the site name
Hatsuonkyosei.com that's a Japanese
word meaning accent reduction.

110
00:46:45,071 --> 00:46:40,610
Brilliant. I'll have to get all the
links off you, but they will be in
the transcript for any of you guys
listening. So, Aiko, thank you so
much again!

111
00:46:51,611 --> 00:46:42,680
Yeah. Thank you very much!