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!
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
That's the best kind of job, huh?
Yeah. So, that's how we move to Hawaii. Yeah. We really love our lifestyle right now.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Oh, wow!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
But I hope you're getting paid, right?
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.
You're very clever.
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.
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?
So, I discovered that English spelling is really confusing and I should now follow the rules, right? The spelling rules to pronounce it.
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.
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.
Yeah. It goes, it depends, right? Some people will. Some people won't. Which is even more confusing.
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".
Really?
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.
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.
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.
Far out! And so is that what led you to an interest in linguistics and wanting to study linguistics?
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.
The T flap, right?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Really?
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.
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?
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.
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?
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?
No, I don't think I do, but I'll have to check it out. The American accent guide, is it?
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.
Oh, awesome!
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.
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?
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.
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?
So, he said "you're saying fucked".
So, it sounded like you were saying the fuckeds or something.
Yes, the fucked is, and I kept saying the word, see you're laughing at me too!
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.
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.
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".
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?
Oh my gosh. Yeah, totally. So in the U.S. It'll be okay because it'll be like it can't.
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
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.
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:/
So, in the US people pronounce it /kaent/, but I think I was pronouncing it a C word without knowing.
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?
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.
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.
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.
And you were pointing at the thing I hope.
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!".
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.
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.
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.
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.
These public speaking clubs, right? Where you get up and practice speaking in front of a group of people.
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.
Jezz, Aiko! You're just making it harder and harder for yourself, just keep raising the bar!
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.
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?
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.
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.
Yeah, but then I remember watching Pat Flynn's video and that's where he was talking about how he hated his voice.
This is Pat Flynn's from the passive income podcast for anyone interested, is a business podcast.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Oh, brilliant!
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.
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?
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.
So, it's like reverse engineering it. Got you, got you!
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?
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.
Brilliant. So what's the name of those things that people can find you?
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.
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!
Yeah. Thank you very much!