AISubs v3.7
Hi everyone, I'm Rei Sinie from Nagazaka46.
Today we came to this cafe in Shimokitazawa
to have a conversation by English.
So I'm gonna go here up.
Greece?
Yes, thank you, Greece!
Yay!
Me too!
It's not too sweet!
Ta-dah!
Nice!
Kinda nervous.
Hi!
Hey!
I'm Rei!
Welcome, Rei!
Nice to meet you!
Nice to meet you as well!
Is it okay to sit here?
Please have a seat!
Thank you!
Hi!
I'm Rei!
Nice to meet you, Rei!
Nice to meet you!
I'm Natsu.
Natsu!
Nice to meet you!
And you?
My name is Ari.
Hello!
Hi!
And I'm Maddie!
Maddie!
Hi!
Nice to meet you!
I'm kinda nervous!
No, you don't have to!
Just have fun!
Thank you!
Can I hear about Lancol?
Lancol?
Lancol!
Lancol, basically, it's an English conversation cafe.
And we have many cafes around Tokyo, actually.
And so, at Lancol we have "mates", so kind of like us, here.
Like the "teacher", kind of.
But we don't call us a "teacher", we're more like a "friend".
And then for the "students", they are our "members".
Not "student", "members".
Kind of like "friend", right?
And then we go, every day we go to each of these cafe and we sit at a table and just enjoy talking to each other.
Oh, nice!
Yeah, and do like culture exchange or tell stories or just have a good time and practice English in the process.
So, simply, that's what Lancol is.
Yeah, and also Lancol is actually "len" and "ko".
"ko" from "language", "ko" from "culture".
So it's about "language" and "culture".
As you can see, we're from everywhere in the world, right?
From every corner.
Every corner, every single country, maybe.
So you also get to know about culture, not only language here.
Where did you learn English?
I used to live in California for like five years when I was in elementary school.
I think I almost forgot a lot.
I think you're doing a great job, actually.
That's amazing.
So like, do you travel a lot abroad?
Oh, yes.
I went to Taiwan.
Okay.
Yeah, and like Korea.
And I also went to Portland in Oregon.
Okay.
Yeah, with my family and sister.
Awesome, yeah.
Is there any country that you want to visit next?
Ah, I never went to Europe, so Korea.
So sad.
Yeah, I'm from Europe, actually.
Oh, really?
Which country do you think I'm from?
That's really tough to guess, I know.
Europe is really tough.
Yes, it's really tough.
I guess...
Italy?
Italy!
That's very close, actually.
It's close?
It's quite close.
It's another country with many, many islands.
UK?
It's a good guess, though!
Good guess, yeah.
It's like, next to Italy, it's famous for history.
Very, very long history.
Greece.
Greece?
Yeah, it's like Greece!
Yay!
Yeah, Greece.
And where are you from?
Ooh, what do you think?
Please take a guess!
I thought you had to play the guessing game!
Actually, I'm from Italy.
I'm from an Asian country. It's called Vietnam.
Do you know? Have you heard of it?
The coffee is amazing. Vietnamese coffee is really popular.
Yeah, I heard that.
I recommend.
Okay, I really want to go.
I'm from Japan. I was born and raised in Japan.
But I stayed in California for one year, but five years total in the States.
So, quite similar to you, too.
When you were little or...
No, I went when I was seventeen.
Seventeen?
Yes. So, from high school.
What did you order?
I ordered iced tea.
Iced tea!
What do you prefer, coffee or tea?
Yeah, are you a coffee person or tea person?
Middle...
I like iced coffee, but I drink it in the morning, so...
I'm a tea guy, through and through.
Really?
I love tea.
You're a coffee person?
Definitely, coffee person.
This is my second coffee of today.
'Cause I grew up drinking tea.
So like, I'm Vietnamese, but I'm Chinese- Vietnamese, so like, we drink tea a lot, right?
So like, tea is just water for me.
It doesn't help.
It's easy to drink, right?
'Cause sometimes just water is too boring. I want some flavor.
The thing is that in... I don't know, you've never been to Europe you said, right?
But when you go to Europe, every tea they're selling is actually sugar tea.
So it's like iced tea is tea that tastes like peach with sugar, kind of thing.
That was like one of my culture shocks when I went to America, 'cause like...
I think you know too, because you went in California...
It's super sweet.
Super, super sweet.
It's like juice to us, right?
Like, I sold green tea in the store.
And I was like, green tea... I miss green tea, right? 'Cause I come from here.
So I tried it.
Green tea in America, it tasted like lemonade to me. Like, very sweet.
Alright, let me ask this. If you think about something sweet, do you prefer the Japanese-type sweet? Like anko and stuff like that?
Or do you prefer the Western-type sweet? You know, like doughnuts and like mont blanc or something?
Where do you see yourself more drawn to when you want to eat something sweet?
Like for now... I'm 19 years old now, and I used to like those Western-sweet cake, doughnut...
But for now, I think I like more Japanese wagashi...
I get that.
I'm there too, actually. When I came to Japan the first time and I ate... How do you call the fish?
Kayaki?
What is that?
I heard people think it's actually fish.
Because it's a sheep or fish?
It's like, why is it a fish and why does it taste sweet, right? Like we don't really get the combination.
So when I took a bite, I was like, "Oh, it's sweet!"
And it's like something that we never tried before, but now actually I love taiyaki.
I have a stamp card in my wallet.
Yeah, I love that. It's nice.
What's your favorite Japanese sweet?
Sweet...
Mitarashi...dango...
Me too! No way! There's no way! I love that!
It's a really common thing that Japanese people say, but it's not too sweet.
That's true.
It's a compliment in Japan.
Like I heard, like if someone takes something sweet and eats it, it's like, "Ah, it's good! It's not too sweet!"
We order dessert because we want something sweet and we eat the compliment and we say, "It's good! It's not too sweet!"
Yeah, but in Europe, if you say it's not too sweet, it's not a compliment, actually. They're like, "Yeah, we need more sugar, you know?"
Where did you learn that?
For me, I went to Japanese school until when I was 17, and I actually didn't like English at all.
I couldn't speak English, and I didn't enjoy it, I didn't like it.
But I used to do ballet, so I went to America for studying ballet.
And that's when I met people from all over the world who have like, same interests, right?
So I really wanted to talk in English, to communicate with them.
So for me it was kind of like, because of the situation and environment, I really had to "get it".
So I guess how I learned English is kind of just like, having conversation and making friends, I would say.
I didn't really study, to be honest. I practiced.
How about you, though?
Oh, I... I don't know, I think it's natural.
I was so young, like 5, so... I think I mastered English in about like, 2 months.
Oh, wow!
The younger, the faster, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I learned it so fast, but...
You forgot it as fast.
It makes sense. If you don't speak the language, you forget it. It's like playing an instrument, you know?
When you came back to Japan, how was your Japanese? Like, did you forget anything?
Yeah, yeah, how was it?
Like, I went to the Japanese school once in a week when I was living there.
So I could like, write kanji, but it's like, just a little bit.
Not like the students in Japan.
So I really worked hard.
Like, actually what I'm scared of the most is "kengo".
kengo
Oh, I saw that. I was like, it's okay.
I'm scared too.
How do you understand or remember "kengo"?
'Cause like, for me as a learner, I can't remember everything. There's so many levels.
I learned it in high school, like a little bit, but I think that's not enough, so I think I search it.
- Search it? - Is this okay? Is this...
- Yeah. - I think everyone's searching here.
- That's the thing. Everybody doesn't know the correct, so... - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- But still, Keigo is when I give up. - Yeah.
- That's why I give up here. - If someone tells me you can only speak Keigo, then I say, "I don't speak any Keigo."
- You just pretend like you don't know anything. - Just English. Yeah, just English, guys. Sorry.
Yay!
Okay! To sum up for today...
"coffee person" is usually used in conversation.
So today, we'll use "coffee person," "tea person."
Like, "coffee person," "tea person."
- "Mountain person"? - "Sea person."
Yeah, like that.
Coffee person.
- "Coffee person!" - "Coffee person!"
Second one! "Do you prefer...?" Like, "Which one do you prefer?"
- We use it a lot. - We use it a lot.
"Do you prefer..." Please remember it.