🇺🇸 4989 American Life Home Thread

Japanese Language Listening
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Here’s my summary from last year.

#22 自分を見失い期、到来

Intro: Recently, she’s had difficulty getting out of bed so she decided to get up early & go to a zumba class. She feels better, but having got up early she feels sleepy later in the day.

自分を見失い期、到来: Here she talks about her recent slump - she’s anxious and worried for a number of reasons but it’s her visa status which is one of the primary causes. Because of it, she can’t work and do other things that people around her can do. Through a bit of negotiating she was able to briefly access a special scholarship aimed at Hispanic immigrants which enabled her to work at the university & this was a time she felt really good about things but that opportunity has come to an end and she’s depressed and anxious about the future. However, she’s going to try her best to keep a positive outlook for similar opportunities. Talking about, writing about these concerns helps to organise her thoughts on these issues. She recognises that it’s her husband who has the biggest struggles - studying, finding work, working, seizing chances as they come, shouldering the responsibility for their current life. She wants to make more of an effort to be happy.

My favourite: Here she talks about her favourite incense. She thinks Americans prefer (scented?) candles but she likes incense. It difficult to buy locally so she gets it through Amazon. In Japan she often got it and other things from “Ethnic Shops” such as Malaika but these kind of shops are only in bigger towns in America and are more expensive than their Japanese equivalents. Anyway, she’s into the Nag Champa scent at present and the brand she likes is called Goloka. She likes to light incense when she’s in a good mood. To make herself feel even better she wonders? So when she gets up and goes into the living room and sunlight fills the room and it’s a yay the weather’s good kind of day & she’s opening windows to let the fresh air in & making herself some coffee; or after cleaning, when she wants to relax after dinner with a glass of wine; or after getting back from being away.

混乱する2 単語 Here she talks about two English words she constantly mixes up - “artificial” and “artisan”. She gives some Japanese translations eg 人工 for artificial; 職人 for artisan. She thinks her confusion is the result of them both starting with “art”. Anyway, she used go to the supermarket and see food labeled “artisan” and think they meant “artificial” and couldn’t understand why a fake food would be so expensive. She finally resolved the problem after going to a cafe with a friend where the icecream was said to be artisan and without artificial flavourings etc.

What I miss about Japan: new section called “ What I miss about Japan”. These days she can get most Japanese goods through Amazon or if she drives to a town about an hour away where there’s a large Japanese supermarket. But those goods are often comparatively expensive and the quality is not as good. Anyway, next time she returns to Japan she’s thinking of buying a larger コロコロ roller (used for cleaning) since you can only get the smaller ones in America

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Episode 22

Listened to this while very tired so probably didn’t catch everything

My favourite: personally I prefer scented candles to incense I’m not a big fan. I like candles that smell like some delicious treat like the ones I have now are black cherry and sugar plum pudding :face_savoring_food:

What I miss about Japan: interesting to learn about this I had no idea they were popular like that in Japan. I’ve never really used lint rollers much for clothes let alone the floor and sofa :thinking: I can see how it would be kind of relaxing to roll the floor while watching TV, and much less noisy than a vacuum

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Decided to give this one a listen when driving home from work. I only got up to the part where she talked about what she was missing. I was trying to shadow it, the pace is quite nice for that.

Things I Miss

I also use those floor rollers a lot. They’re perfect for the heated carpet. I guess I took for granted that they were widely available.

How old is the podcast?

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iirc the first episodes here in this club are from 2018, carrying on to the newer ones still being released now

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ep 22

Intro: I missed the zumba thing so that made a lot more sense after reading Lisaveeta’s summary

自分を見失い期、到来:

It sounds tough to be so limited by what she’s allowed to do or not (mostly not) by her visa. I really feel for her and would wish immigration policies in the various countries I’ve lived in actually made sense and allowed people who want to work to work.

But even when people occasionally are shocked by the burdensome realities of immigration policy in otherwise welcoming countries - the reason it doesn’t get better or at the minimum more streamlined and logical imo is it’s not exactly something that makes it into campaign promises at election time - only stricter and more hostile policies generally attract attention at elections. So you get tiers upon tiers of different immigration tracks and rules and conditions that shift with each election.

Thanks!

Love the music she chose for the new “what I miss about Japan” section, fulfilling the auditory stereotype for Japan (like the stereotypical rowdy guitar Intro she has for アメリカあるある😅)

I have never heard of a コロコロ for floors!

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You know… I never put two and two together that that’s stereotypically American but yeah :joy::joy:

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Back in episode #20 Utaco talks about sneakers, how she never used to wear them in Japan but how she started wearing them since living in America, and how she knows some Japanese women in Japan who don’t even own a pair. (This episode would have been produced prior to Covid).

Fast forwarding to 2025, in a recent episode from Sayuri Saying, Sayuri talks about sneakers. Interestingly, she comments on the ubiquity of sneakers now in Japan (this is 7 or so years after Utaco’s podcast and post-Covid).

I’m in Tokyo right now and surreptitiously checking out people’s footwear on the trains and Sayuri is right - sneakers are everywhere! Times change.

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Oops sorry forgot last weekend

Week 23

:studio_microphone: Episode: 023
:hourglass_flowing_sand: Time Count: 30:25

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Typo alert:
Should say :studio_microphone: Episode: 023

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Another summary from last year. I’m pretty much in agreement with what she says about accents.

#23 英語：アクセントって？

Intro: Last week’s sluggish state has been thrown off & she’s busy again catching up with friends, busy with various tasks.

英語：アクセントって？: Here she talks about how there are many and varied types of English accent - Indian English, for example, has - in her opinion - a strong accent. Before coming to America, she hadn’t given much thought to accents in English. She notes everyone has an accent & that where you grew up & where you currently live will have an impact on it. If you have an accent, sometimes you will encounter people who will make fun of it or be unable to understand you. In her own case, she had embarrassingly thought that people with different English accents weren’t native speakers - for example, she mistook one British YouTuber for a non-native speaker! But because she’s always lived in Hispanic areas in the US, she finds Spanish-accented English easy to understand. Japanese speakers of English - even if they speak fluently - often have strong accents she notes and for whatever reason (education? Lack of opportunity?) Japanese generally struggle to learn English. In comparison, Europeans and South East Asians generally seem to be able to speak English well.
Even though she recognises that everyone has an accent, her own Japanese accent on English still bothers her despite it having improved. Having an accent is okay provided you can be understood but if other people can’t understand you or take time to get used to how you speak it’s a problem. She thinks you should try to practise those areas of pronunciation you find difficult and she gives the example of how her husband (whose level of English far surpasses hers) is working to get as close to standard American pronunciation as possible. She also talks about a Chinese friend who has put a lot of effort into correct pronunciation with the result that her English is very easy to understand. Of course, working on your grammar and vocabulary are also important.
The topic of accents came up in her ESL class & the teacher and her classmates seem to agree that having an accent wasn’t that big a deal but Utaco feels differently - she feels that she should continue to work on all areas of her English.

What I Miss about Japan: in this new section which she just started last episode, she talks about Japanese 100円 shops. The American equivalents are really poor in quality - even Japanese stores like Daiso are not as good in America as they are in Japan. And the quality of goods made in China are better in the Japanese 100円 shops than in their American equivalents. Just thinking about going on a buying spree in a 100円 shop in Japan excites her & she dreams of filling a suitcase with them even though she’s trying to be a minimalist. It’s been 3 years since she was last in Japan & she keen to check out what they’re selling now & will be definitely visiting a Daiso or Seriya when she next returns.

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Useful vocabulary for this topic:
訛り（なまり）(n) accent (of one’s speech)
流暢（りゅうちょう）(adj-na) fluent (language skill)
聞き取りやすい（ききとりやすい）(exp) easy to understand

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Thanks for posting that while you’re away :1st_place_medal:! And @nemurineko for the vocab. I need to get going on this episode!

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Thanks, but not a problem since I’d already done the work! :heart:

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Week 24

:studio_microphone: Episode: 024
:hourglass_flowing_sand: Time Count: 30:59

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Posting this on a bus from 徳島 to 岡山 after relistening to the episode. (I get motion sickness on buses if I read too much so I’m mostly doing listening or looking out of the window).
On the subject of patience - I think it’s culturally determined. Japanese shoppers like Utaco, might be impatient in supermarket queues, but there are plenty of places where they are positively queue buddhas!

#24 ダンスは世界の共通語。でもやっぱり英語は必要。

(続)アメリカコロコロ情報: she starts the episode talking about how after having started a new topic for the podcast two episodes ago, “What I Miss About Japan” she’s been contacted by listeners to tell her that the lint rollers she desired (the larger T-shaped ones) could in fact be bought in the US (and yes she’s managed to find some on Amazon at a price she can afford). She comments that it’s the same with food items - things that are cheap in Japan are often comparatively expensive in the US. (new vocab: 割高)

ダンスは世界の共通語。でもやっぱり英語は必要 Today she wants to talk about dance: how - as it’s often said - you don’t need words to communicate through it but is this the case? Last week she went to a tap dancing workshop. She used to do tap dancing in Japan but since coming to America, she’s attended classes on and off. Her current instructor is busy so only teaches when she’s free, but this instructor sent round a note saying that a teacher from NY would be holding a visiting workshop in a place about an hour away for Utaco and so Utaco decided to attend - a beginners class and an intermediate/advanced class were offered and Utaco took both & had a great time. She notes that dance is often seen as a common language - in tap dancing for example you talk with your feet. Her most recent instructor also did the workshop & it was great to dance with her too after not having seen her for a while. She’s glad she’s continued with tap dancing since coming to America - it’s made it possible for her to connect with the outer world. Also, with the exception sometimes of when instructors have to give detailed instructions, it’s a space where being able to use English isn’t a priority. At the workshop - even though she couldn’t understand an instruction given - after seeing the others perform the step, she was able to do it second time round. She strongly recommends her listeners to continue their pastimes they pursued in Japan (in her case, dance but yoga etc would also be good) overseas.

アメリカのレジ: Here she complains about the slow service in American shops, how the shop assistants take their time & talk about things other than work. She notes that Americans seem to like to do their shopping in one go but she likes to buy items as she needs them, but when she enters some shops and sees the long queues she sometimes loses heart and gives up. She wonders why when there are 6 registers, only 2 are open even though the queues are long. In Japan, in such cases staff would be called from other work stations to serve the waiting customers. She also laments the time spent by staff packing shopping bags - they’re often slow and don’t do a good job. Interestingly she’s noticed that in more well-to-do areas there’s often someone to scan the items at the register & someone to pack them. She thinks that Americans are comparatively patient, no-one seems to be annoyed at having to wait.

今週のmy favorite: She’s been getting into scrabble. She was introduced to it at an ESL class and as mentioned in a previous episode managed to get her hands on a cheap set at a yard sale, thinking “Yay! Now we can play it at home” only to find out later - to her great disappointment - when she opened the box up that it wasn’t an English version but was in some Scandinavian language 笑！Thinking back, shouldn’t the people who were selling it have told her it wasn’t in English? Anyway, the other day a package arrived from Amazon and upon opening it she found a proper English version bought for them by her very kind husband. They played a game straightaway & she won even though her level of English is lower than his! You can play it as a couple, with your kids, up to 4 players. There are also lots of free phone apps available

やっぱりお寿司が恋しい!: she misses Japanese sushi! You can divide sushi shops in America into two groups - real sushi & American sushi (roll sushi - California roll, Philadelphia roll etc). She thinks the later is tasty but it’s not the same as the real thing. It’s not like there aren’t any sushi shops around - in fact about an hour away from where she lives there are a lot of Japanese people and so the place is comparatively blessed with sushi shops but to get quality equivalent to Japanese sushi, you have to go to expensive shops which she can’t afford to do. A くるくる寿司 shop recently opened but as she’s come to expect the quality of the American shop is lower than that of the Japanese one. Even supermarket Japanese sushi is good. When she next visits Japan, she going to fill up on sushi!Thinking about くるくる寿司, reminds her of 沼津魚がしfrom Shizuoka with outlets in Tokyo and Yokoma, even Hanada airport. Because it’s summer holidays, a lot of her Japanese friends are visiting Japan and she feels envious

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Week 25

:studio_microphone: Episode: 025
:hourglass_flowing_sand: Time Count: 35:03

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Thoughts on episode #25:

  • everyone should have at least one teacher in their life like Carol
  • totally agree that cooking yakiniku in a small apartment would make it stinky
  • Utaco’s suggestion to keep a diary in English to help improve it can be done by writing Langcorrect or Nyan 8 entries;
  • & lastly the practice of supersizing is insidious
#25 オススメ英語上達法

Intro: only two weeks remain of her summer holidays & she wants to make sure she enjoys them! She hasn’t got as much done as she would’ve liked but she’s still had a good time.

キャロルの話: Today she wants to speak about her good friend, English teacher, life coach, fellow beer buddy, Carol, with whom she went out to lunch with the other day. Carol teaches at the college Utaco goes to & was her first teacher there. Efficiently delivering her lessons with a smile, Carol is definitely Utaco’s “type”. The adult ESL classes she took before her current college were good at the time, but not really serious enough so Utaco thought she’d try college classes, thereby meeting Carol. Utaco really appreciates Carol’s ability to answer her questions - Utaco being the kind of student who really wants to understand the fine points & irregularities of a subject. Her previous teacher - not having being originally trained as an ESL teacher (they had been a police officer before retiring) - couldn’t always answer Utaco’s questions. And to be fair, Utaco has come to realise that her perfectionism has its drawbacks - fear of making mistakes, makes it hard for her to speak but Carol is really able to answer her questions and Utaco appreciates that. College being college, classes are graded & so eventually Utaco had to move up and onto another teacher’s class, but before that, at the end of the term, she had went out to lunch with Carol & another student Monica for the first time. From then, she occasionally dropped by Carol’s office to say hello & they gradually became friends. Then, have moved a little away, Utaco didn’t go to the college for a year but she & Carole kept in email contact and occasionally caught up over lunch. And then when Utaco returned to the area & therefore the college, she went back to dropping by Carol’s office to say hello. And lunch together once a term has become a “thing”.
ESL teachers, Utaco thinks, generally have a broad outlook & respect their students. Both Carol & Utaco like beer so it’s something they can do & talk about together. Turns out Carol lived in Japan for a year & taught English there & perhaps that’s why she was initially interested in Utaco. Carol also likes Asian food and when she said she was thinking of making yakisoba but didn’t know where to buy the sauce, Utaco got her some. She may be a teacher but she loves frank & funny stories. Living in Japan, she often hung out in Roppongi & told the ESL class about being out late dancing & having a good time there, earning herself a reputation among her Japanese students as being a bit of a party animal. Utaco thinks that being a Californian who attended Hawaii Uni might be why carol’s so easygoing. Carol thinks Hawaii is kind of paradise, an opinion she shares with many Japanese people. Utaco hasn’t been to Hawaii but would love to go. She concludes meeting Carol has been a big plus and she’s very grateful to Carol.

アメリカで焼き肉: she’s been enjoying yakiniku. While there are quite a few Korean BBQs, there aren’t any actual Japanese Yakiniku restaurants close to her. However, one opened in San Jose (too far to go regularly) and she went there once and really enjoyed the food and beer. However, 2 years ago she managed to buy a yakiniku teppan (probably Korean) at a recycle shop and thought they could now make their own, but the kind of meat available in America posed a problem - Americans seem to like their meat very lean. However, found she could get suitably priced thinly sliced meat off the bone at the Mexican supermarket (you can get pork there too she adds) which is both fatty and delicious. She also recommends other Asian supermarkets over the expensive Japanese ones where you can also buy boned pork ribs which cannot be got in Mexican or American supermarkets. She got some recently from an Asian store - can’t remember which kind - and they were delicious. Living in a one bedroom apartment, she only cooks yakiniku when she can do so outside as it stinks up the apartment. But eating outside, enjoying the good weather with a beer is the best thing.

英語上達法: she recommends writing in English, what she calls a “free journal” - a practice she encountered in Carol’s class as a great way to improve your English. It’s important just to write - not to get caught up worrying about using the correct grammar or looking up the correct words. She kept that journal for the term with Carol & Carol read over everyone’s journal carefully, adding her corrections and friendly comments. As a Japanese school student, Utaco learnt English grammar and to read English but never to speak it. She never had to think in it, but the free journal became a way to practices these skills - of course as a Japanese person she often ignored Carol’s recommendation to write whatever came into her head and looked up words in the dictionary and searched out alternative ways of saying things (笑) but she still found the exercise beneficial. You can write it for yourself she says, but if you can find someone else to read it & respond that would be even better. Correct English isn’t the aim, communication is, so you could even do it with ESL friends or other Japanese people. If you don’t have anyone, you can send your diary to her.

アメリカあるある: How does everyone feel about the size of the American pringles tube? Is it just her or is the American tube smaller than the Japanese one? Or is it a case of her becoming accustomed to everything being bigger in American that a normal sized Pringles tube feels small? Out of curiosity, then & there she looks up the Japanese size (sour cream flavour - yum! she adds) and finds that the Japanese pringles are 110g but the American one is 158 g making the American one bigger! Is it that she’s got used to American sizing or do Americans use less packaging and Japanese more? Scary thought! If she’s eaten a whole tube of American pringles, she’s eaten 158g!

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Carol sounds amazing and I either want her life or I want to be her friend :joy:

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Remember being quite confused initially about which way around she was talking about when listening to this - got the American Pringles being “small” to her but then couldn’t understand why she was saying they were actually bigger based on how she sounded, so I assumed it was the japanese ones being bigger, which then didn’t fit with my expectation. Took a while to unravel

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I guess if you’re a pringles fan, any tube is going to feel like it’s on the small side.

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