00:00
Welcome to Kevin's English Room Podcast!
Cast, cast, cast, cast!
- Yay! - Yay!
We're back with the original opening!
- Yay! - Yay!
- Okay. - Alright.
- What up, man? - So we've got, uh...
Facts today.
- Well, we've got another Facts! - Yes.
Wow! We didn't get-- This is the second time you've got a Facts, right?
- Yeah, second time, yes. - Right. We-- I--
I'm-- I didn't know that. I didn't know we had Facts.
- Oh, really? - But you've been receiving them?
- Yeah. - This week?
- Yes. - So, uh...
Alright! Let's go!
So, um...
"I'm so jealous of Kevin's mouth and facial expressions.
He's moving in Japanese, too, right?
How can he move so much?"
- That's a question? - That's a question.
Okay!
She sent it by Facts.
Okay.
That's a lot of work, to send one Facts.
- Right. - You know?
You have to get the-- You gotta write down on paper.
You gotta get the number. You gotta set it on the Facts machine.
And you-- They gotta make sure I answer it right.
- Yeah. - Right? I have to be there.
I have to actually be there to receive it.
- Oh, really? - Yeah.
- Right? - You can just push the dial-- number and...
- The other person-- You don't need answers from the other side? - No, you can just do it.
- No. - Oh, I thought you did.
Alright. Well, never mind. But...
- Yeah. - Alright.
- What a question. - Yeah.
- Does my mouth move a lot? - Yes, it does.
- More than you or Kakechi or like... - I think so.
- Really? - Like...
Like, not only your mouth, but the whole face.
Like, you know, cheeks, eyes, eyebrows, nose and ears, maybe.
Ears?
Ears?
I'm sure not ears, dude.
Well, I don't know why this happens.
Does a lot of American people do that?
Yeah.
So it's more of a...
More of an American stuff.
Rather than Kevin stuff.
- Yeah, maybe. - Maybe.
But, you know, I do understand when you speak English, you're moving your face.
Yeah.
- I'm sure I do. - I'd understand, but...
I'm sure I do.
Even when you're speaking Japanese, your face are moving around.
Do I?
I think so.
- Really? - Yeah.
Like...
- Like, really? - I think so.
More than average?
- Japanese people? - Yeah.
I think so.
Well, it's not like I'm trying to move my face.
It's not like I'm forcing it.
- It just comes naturally. - Okay, so you don't...
- I don't... - Do nothing.
Right, it's just my natural state of being.
Just moving my face when I'm talking.
Facial expressions, right?
So I guess it's more natural for me to communicate with...
03:01
A little bit of a more exaggerated facial expression because of me being in the United States.
You know how people in the United States have a...
Have a much more variety of expressing with their facial expressions.
Yeah.
- Yeah. - What's that?
I just ate my... I just ate a piece of bread that was on my arm.
Okay.
I thought you started eating yourself.
Yeah, there was a chunk of bread on my arm.
Yeah, I ate bread for breakfast.
The chunk of the bread was on my arm, so I just...
Okay, thank you for explanation.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, the audio has to get it, so I have to...
Okay.
But your facial expression is...
Is the average level in the United States?
I'm... Yeah, I...
You know, not that I've checked.
Not that I've scaled myself in the environment, but I...
Yeah, I think it's an average.
Average.
Yeah, I don't think... I don't think I'm more overly facial expressionist
than any other people in the United States, you know?
Do you think when you look at drama, when you look at like TV series,
American TV series, do you feel the same way?
That their facial expressions are very fond?
Yeah, like especially like comedy shows, you know, they are a bit too much.
A bit too much.
Yeah.
Like, you know, using their face.
Yeah.
Like, because it's comedies.
But if it was human drama, I don't think they do too much facial expressions.
But more than Japanese, I think.
Okay.
A little bit off track, but you know, Three Idiots?
Yeah.
The movie Three Idiots.
That was an Indian movie.
I think it's like completely an Indian movie, right?
Yes.
Just everything, the production, the stars, they were all in India, right?
When they move, when they talk, their face is a little bit...
How do you call those?
Like little wobble.
They wobbles a little bit.
Like I'm sure it's a natural thing in India.
I'm not trying to make fun of everything.
It's just I'm sure it's a cultural thing.
It's just like a... I'm sure they're... That's how they speak normally.
But like me, as a culture where...
I grew up in a culture where that doesn't happen at all.
I couldn't keep my mind off of it.
Like every time they did that, I would feel like, oh, it took a little bit of time to take it in.
Really?
Yeah.
What was that?
Moving the necks?
Yeah, like they move the...
Like when they talk, they go a little like wobble head kind of.
Really?
06:00
Yeah.
No?
I didn't even notice about that.
Did that not happen when you were watching the movie?
No?
Did you not realize it?
No.
Maybe that didn't happen.
Well, I'm... No, I think I'm sure they did.
Yeah.
Well, that's funny.
Yeah.
It's a... It happened.
Maybe, you know, I knew it's the Indian movie.
So, you know...
You just accepted it.
Yeah, maybe.
I never thought that, wow, that's a difference.
Yeah.
But, you know, for Japanese people, that happens when we see American movies.
Like what?
American people like you.
What happens?
Like moving your face.
Oh.
That's the same feeling, dude.
So, is it weird?
Does it feel like it's unnatural?
Right.
At first, it's a little bit weird and a little bit unnatural.
Like, oh, like...
Wow.
Yeah, maybe that's the same thing.
Okay, can you elaborate on that a little bit more?
Yeah, like, you know, we have to focus on what they are speaking.
But, you know, my eyes will go to the facial.
So, it's a little bit...
Distracting.
Like, not saying that, but it takes time, a little bit.
Like before, you know, accept.
Like, you know.
Really?
Yeah, that's the same thing when you see Indian movies.
Like, I'm making this face right now.
I think I do this a lot.
Yeah.
I'm sorry about the audio, guys.
I'm sure you can't see.
But, like, I do this a little...
Right.
You do it all the time.
Is this, like, exaggerating to you?
Like a little bit too much?
Not now, me.
Uh-huh.
It's, you know...
But, like, you put yourself in the position of a norwegian Japanese person who doesn't know who I am.
And first time I met you?
Yeah.
Yeah, like, if you do that...
Oh, he's doing something, you know, some weird face.
He's doing a face.
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
Wow.
You know, it's a little bit weird for usual Japanese people.
So that's how they see it.
Yeah, so that's the question, I think.
Ah.
No, that's what they, you know, feel.
Okay.
Like on TikTok, right?
Like, I do a lot of...
Right, right.
Skits on TikTok that involves a lot of emotions and a lot of facial expressions, too.
So...
But now we know, we all Japanese know that American people do all the facial expression stuff.
So we know that.
So if you see you, if we see you, oh, okay, that's that, you know, American stuff.
Okay, okay.
He's from America.
Okay, okay.
And we can understand that.
So the people who watch the TikTok videos or YouTube videos, you know, they feel that
09:03
including your facial expressions, we understand that, oh, he's American people.
Like he's from America.
He's Native American people.
How about, okay, how about this?
If I'm having a meeting with like a Japanese client, like a...
A company.
Right, a Japanese company.
Like a company wants to do advertising with Kevin Selig's room and they're Japanese and I'm talking.
Okay.
Do I have a facial expression that's American or...
Oh.
Okay.
So the question is, do you...
Do I, when I'm talking with a Japanese client, do I, does my facial expressions become Americanized?
Actually, no.
No?
I don't think so.
Okay.
Because when you speak with Japanese company, like meeting, you will be less American.
I do, I do, I feel that.
Do you do that?
Not purposely.
No, not...
It just feels natural.
It just feels more natural that way.
Okay, okay.
Right.
Yeah, I've never seen you doing like this, these faces when the meeting.
Yeah, no.
Right.
Right, right.
I wonder how my face would be if I'm talking with an American client.
Yeah.
Right?
That would be completely different.
Right.
Right.
Yeah.
Oh.
But why is that?
Because, because like, first time visitors, right?
Most of those clients that I talk to on Zoom are first time visitors.
They've never seen, well, they've seen me on TikTok, but like not in person, right?
The first time talking to me actually face to face on Zoom.
And I feel like I should contact them in the most natural, most acceptable way of style.
You know, like...
Yeah, polite you mean?
Right, I'm being polite.
I'm being, yeah, it's politeness.
Okay.
Like I, the Japanese style, like would feel more natural to the client.
Okay.
Right?
So I'm adapting myself to their expectations.
Right, right.
Yeah, I think that's what I'm doing.
Expectations.
Okay.
Right, right.
You, that's, you know, understandable.
Right?
I'm a very majime guy.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I am.
But if they, you know, if they've seen your TikTok videos, YouTube videos, you know, their expectation would have been American you.
12:06
Got it.
That's, see, that's another...
Sometimes that happens to you.
That's when, that's another factor that I want to talk about.
It's about the, it's about the expectation that takes up a lot of my energy, you know?
Yeah.
Right.
I'm sure many of those people have seen the Nikkei-sensei series on TikTok and how I speak so much with energy.
Loudly.
Right?
Loudly and screaming all the time.
Yeah.
But like, in me, real life, like that doesn't happen.
Like I'm sure that doesn't happen.
I'm sure that happens with all the gaining people on television.
Like they're not, their personal life isn't like that.
Definitely.
Right?
I, me in my podcast, I'm pretty at my natural state.
And sometimes I get really hyper like the ALT, like once in a, once in a while, but it happens.
But like, that doesn't, like, that comes naturally.
Like that comes with contacts.
That comes with the flow of the conversation.
Right?
If that happens, I can get there.
But like that, I can't turn it on like immediately when, when, when I meet somebody.
Like it's not natural for that to happen.
Right?
So, yeah.
When a lot of people, like when I'm, when I'm, when I'm at a cafe, when I'm in the train,
when somebody comes up to me and says, hey, are you Kevin?
Like they, a lot of times they have expectations of me being very, like this energetical person.
Right?
Right?
But me, me, I'm out here like on my, on my headphones, on my smartphone looking down.
Like, very quiet.
That's, that's the natural state of me.
Of course, of course.
Like I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna suddenly just go, "WHAAAA! Thank you!"
Right? That's not gonna happen.
That's not, that's not natural.
Right?
Right.
So.
That's funny.
Yeah.
I get that a lot actually.
Oh really?
Me being expected to be a very ALT-ish kind of a character.
Yeah.
A lot of, a lot of times they'd be like, "Oh, Kevin-san, I didn't know you're, you're..."
You're surprisingly quiet.
Yeah.
Of course.
Right.
Yeah.
Right.
That happens.
Yeah.
That's funny.
It's pretty, it is pretty funny.
Yeah.
It is, it is.
Right.
I actually, when I was, it was six or seven years ago, I met Kojima Yoshio.
Yeah.
In a train, on a train metro.
He was wearing a, like, huge jacket.
Jacket.
Yeah.
And wearing jeans on.
And, you know.
That was weird.
Yeah.
15:00
Because she's not wearing the underwear.
Right.
And he was kind of reading books.
Quietly.
He was so quiet.
And I thought, "Wow, he's quieter than I thought."
Yeah!
And, "Oh, he's wearing something on it."
Right.
That's probably the exact same...
Yeah.
But think about that.
It's natural.
Yeah.
Like, wearing something.
Yeah, it is natural.
Right.
It's a completely natural act that he's doing.
Right.
Right?
Right.
Interesting topic.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Deeper than I expected.
Okay.
All right.
Thanks for listening, guys.
Thank you.
