AEE 2460: 3 Phrases to Compare Cultures with Michael from Happy English

Summary

All Ears English Podcast Episode Title: AEE 2460: 3 Phrases to Compare Cultures with Michael from Happy English
Release Date: August 13, 2025
Hosts: Lindsay McMahon and Michelle Kaplan
Guest: Michael from Happy English

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Introduction of Guest

The episode kicks off with Michelle Kaplan warmly welcoming Michael from Happy English, marking his fourth or fifth appearance on the podcast. Michael is introduced as a seasoned English Instructor with over 30 years of experience, having started his teaching career in Sendai, Japan, in 1994. He has since dedicated his career to international education both inside and outside the classroom. Michael shares his recent move back to Sendai after spending significant time in New York, highlighting the full-circle nature of his career journey.

Michelle Kaplan [02:29]: "Michael is a passionate English Instructor with over 30 years of experience helping people speak English better."

Comparing Food and Grilling Cultures

The conversation delves into cultural differences, starting with food habits. Michael contrasts the typical American meal structure with that of Japan. In the U.S., dinners often consist of a protein, a starch, and a vegetable, presented in larger portions but fewer items. In Japan, meals are more varied with smaller portions, incorporating salads, pickled vegetables, and soups.

Michael [04:32]: "Probably the one thing is the food. The typical American meal… a baked potato and some chicken and some broccoli on the side. But here you'd have like two small pieces of chicken and some rice and some salad and some vegetables and some miso soup."

Michelle relates this to her own experiences in Tokyo, where sharing multiple dishes at Izakaya highlights the variety in Japanese cuisine compared to American simplicity.

Grilling Culture Differences

Michael expands on the differences in grilling practices. While grilling is a beloved summer activity in the U.S., symbolizing the essence of summer with the aroma of barbecued meats, such activities are less common in Japan due to limited backyard space and cultural considerations regarding neighbors.

Michael [06:15]: "In contrast to living in the States, people don't barbecue here. The amount of livable land is very small, so nobody wants to grill outside because they don't want to offend the neighbors with the smell or the smoke of a barbecue."

Michelle echoes this sentiment, noting the communal and olfactory experiences of American barbecues that are missing in Japan.

Recycling Practices: Apples and Oranges

The discussion shifts to environmental practices, specifically recycling. Michael uses the metaphor "apples and oranges" to illustrate the stark differences between Japanese and American recycling systems. In Japan, recycling is highly organized with strict segregation schedules, whereas in the U.S., recycling is more generalized and less effective.

Michael [10:08]: "Recycling in the States compared to recycling in Japan is like apples and oranges."

He explains the meticulous process in Japan where even components of a single item, like a plastic bottle, are separated and recycled on different days. This contrasts sharply with the American approach of placing all recyclables into a single bin, which often leads to higher rejection rates.

Michael [11:05]: "In Japan, there's a calendar each month published by the local community detailing what to recycle on what day. For example, peeling off labels and separating bottle caps are done on different days."

Michelle relates this to her experiences in Denver and Cambridge, expressing surprise at the rigidity and efficiency of Japanese recycling.

Ordering at Restaurants: Flexibility vs. Uniformity

Michael introduces the phrase "whereas" to contrast dining experiences between the two cultures. In the U.S., it is common and easy to customize orders at restaurants, such as requesting a baked potato instead of French fries. In Japan, however, menus are more rigid, and customization beyond what is listed is uncommon and often discouraged.

Michael [17:07]: "Whereas in the States, you can easily order something off the menu or a variation, in Japan, you should better stick to what's on the menu."

He illustrates this with an anecdote from a Jack Nicholson movie, emphasizing the cultural emphasis on uniformity and adherence to established rules in Japan.

Michelle highlights how this reflects broader cultural values of uniformity and respect for rules, contrasting with the American flexibility.

Final Advice: Embracing Cultural Differences

As the conversation wraps up, Michael offers valuable advice for navigating new cultural landscapes. He emphasizes the importance of flexibility and openness, recognizing that while human desires are universal, the means of achieving them differ across cultures.

Michael [22:19]: "Realize that all cultures are different and having that flexibility will help you so that you're not all like, 'Ah, right.'"

Michelle reinforces this by noting the significance of understanding and respecting different cultural practices to foster better human connections.

Conclusion and Guest Promotion

The hosts summarize the key phrases discussed:

1. In contrast to – Highlighting differences, such as American backyards being conducive to barbecuing versus Japanese spaces not being.
2. Like apples and oranges – Illustrating incomparable differences, exemplified by recycling practices.
3. Whereas – Contrasting specific scenarios, such as ordering flexibility in the U.S. versus Japan.

Michael is invited to promote his own podcast, Happy English, directing listeners to his website for more resources.

Michael [23:29]: "You can type 'Happy English podcast' into the search bar of your browser or visit myhappyenglish.com."

The episode concludes with the hosts encouraging listeners to embrace cultural differences and apply the learned phrases to enhance their English skills and cultural understanding.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Michelle Kaplan [02:29]: "Michael is a passionate English Instructor with over 30 years of experience helping people speak English better."
• Michael [04:32]: "Probably the one thing is the food. The typical American meal… a baked potato and some chicken and some broccoli on the side."
• Michael [10:08]: "Recycling in the States compared to recycling in Japan is like apples and oranges."
• Michael [17:07]: "Whereas in the States, you can easily order something off the menu or a variation, in Japan, you should better stick to what's on the menu."
• Michael [22:19]: "Realize that all cultures are different and having that flexibility will help you so that you're not all like, 'Ah, right.'"

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Key Takeaways

• Cultural Nuances: Understanding and respecting the subtle differences between American and Japanese cultures enhances effective communication and social interactions.
• Language Phrases: Utilizing phrases like "in contrast to," "like apples and oranges," and "whereas" can adeptly compare and contrast cultural practices.
• Adaptability: Embracing flexibility and openness when encountering new cultures fosters better relationships and personal growth.

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For more insights and to improve your English while exploring cultural differences, subscribe to the All Ears English Podcast and join Lindsay and Michelle on their journey towards mastering American English through meaningful connections.

Transcript

[Lindsay McMahon]

This is an All Ears English podcast. Episode 2463 phrases to compare cultures with Michael from Happy English. Welcome to the All Ears English podcast downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless.

[Michelle Kaplan]

And fluent by focusing on connection, not.

[Lindsay McMahon]

Perfection, with your American hosts. Listen, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Coming to you from Colorado and New York City, usa.

[Lindsay McMahon]

And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com subscribe so many of our most amazing connection conversations come from comparing our cultures. Today our special guest will share three ways to do this using high level vocabulary as we compare Japanese and American culture. Let's get into it today.

[Unknown]

Are you still translating from your native language into English in your head? Are you always getting confused between the different grammar tenses? Let's figure out what you need to work on. Find your current English level with our five minute [e-mail] fluency score.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Hello Michael, how are you today? Welcome to the show.

[Michael]

Thank you, Lindsay. Thank you. It's great to be here.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Excellent. I'm so excited to have you on again for I think the fourth or fifth time in our podcasting careers. So super glad you're here. I going to take a minute to introduce you to our audience for any new listeners that maybe don't know your name or your voice. So listeners, today I have Michael from Happy English on the show. Michael is a passionate English Instructor with over 30 years of experience helping people speak English better. Michael started his professional English teaching career in senai, Japan in 1994 and since then he's worked in international education both in and outside of the classroom. And Michael, you are back in Sendai again, is that right? Have you gone full circle in your career?

[Michael]

Yes, I realized that every 30 years in my life I moved to Japan so far and yeah, I just, I just got here like four months ago.

[Michelle Kaplan]

I am so excited. And just so our listeners know a little bit of your background, what great American city were you in during that time? In between?

[Michael]

In all that time and since I was born, I was in New York.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Michelle Kaplan]

And I would encourage our listeners to check out our back catalog of amazing episodes where you and I have talked about New York, about the culture, the slang. We always love learning about New York.

[Michael]

New York. Yeah. New York's a great city.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Absolutely. But today, Michael, we are going to talk a little bit about your move to Japan and more broadly for all of our listeners about how we might compare one culture to another culture, because I've also lived in Japan. You've lived there twice now, probably on a more integrated level. I live there. There for about a year and a half and taught English@eon in Tokyo. And I saw some major differences. So I'm super interested to know how we can talk in English about comparing cultures and what your biggest things you've seen that are different between Japan and.

[Michael]

The U.S. yeah, sure, sure. So the first phrase that. That comes to mind is in contrast to. Yeah, I can give you an example. In contrast to living in the US Here, people don't barbecue in their backyard in the summertime.

[Unknown]

Yeah, yeah.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Let me just back up before we go into the first phrase, Michael, I want to ask you a more broad question. When you stepped off the place, you've been there for about three months now, since March.

[Michael]

Three, four months. Four months, yeah.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michelle Kaplan]

So when you stepped off the plane since March, what has been the biggest area of life in which you felt the biggest difference? Is it food? Is it, like, relationships? Is it work? Is there one bucket of life?

[Michael]

Probably. Probably the one thing is the food.

[Unknown]

Okay, okay.

[Michelle Kaplan]

The food.

[Michael]

Yeah. The typical American meal. You know, there's a protein. We'll have a meat or a fish.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michael]

And then a starch and a vegetable. That's a really typical American dinner. For example.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Okay.

[Michael]

Here there's always a salad and some pickled vegetables. And, you know, there's a variety of smaller portions of each thing, but more of each thing. And it's something that I hadn't really remembered. But. Yeah, that's. That's.

[Michelle Kaplan]

That's it.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Michelle Kaplan]

So in the US you're more used to eating maybe more of fewer things, like a higher quantity of fewer items. Is that right?

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Michael]

Exactly. Exactly. You know, a baked potato and some chicken and some broccoli on the side. That's kind of a typical, you know, American dinner. But here it'd be like. Yeah, you'll have like. Like two small pieces of chicken and some rice and some salad and some vegetables and some miso soup. And it's like, there's always this huge.

[Michelle Kaplan]

That resonates with my experience, too, Michael. In Tokyo, we used to go out a lot with coworkers, and we'd go to Izakaya, Right. And we would sit and order so many different dishes and share them, and they were. It was such a nice variety of things. I. I love that. But so we just had Fourth of July here, Michael, in the U.S. and you know what. What I did, we we grilled. Right. We grilled brst and hamburgers with our family. And so tell me more. Let's bring back in for our listeners that phrase, that phrase, that first phrase to compare. Tell us about the food culture. Grilling culture.

[Michael]

Yeah. So here's the, here's the grilling culture. Like, I love grilling. In fact, when I lived in New York, I would, you know, I would even barbecue in November.

[Unknown]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Michael]

I love the taste of food cooked on a grill.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michael]

And the distance between our house and the property line on one side to the neighbor's house is, is one meter, right? About three. And to the other side is two meters.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Michael]

And so in the backyard is really small. And so I said, oh, you know, I'm looking forward to the summer. We can barbecue. I'll make Japanese yakitori chicken stick.

[Lindsay McMahon]

Sure.

[Michelle Kaplan]

You see them at the festivals. Right? You always see that.

[Michael]

And I'm living with my, with my in laws. Right.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Okay.

[Michael]

My father in law said, oh, no, no, do that. So like, in contrast to living in the States, people don't barbecue here.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Interesting.

[Michael]

But you guys like grilled meat. There are grilled meat restaurants. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah. So the thing in Japan is the amount of livable land.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Is very small. So everyone has a, you know, the house is really at the, tucked into the edge of the property. So nobody wants to grill outside because they don't want to offend the neighbors with the smell or the smoke of a barbecue.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Interesting. So, you know, go even further and use the, in contrast to, Right. In contrast to the US it seems like we're, we're talking about politeness being, or respect for neighbors being maybe more important in Japan than in the US Would you say so?

[Unknown]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[Michael]

And, and again, in contrast to my life back in, in, in the States, like, you have to always be very careful about, you know, you don't want to put the garbage out too early because that'll bother the neighbors. So we're always aware of not annoying the neighbors.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Interesting. But in New York, I mean, you're also living on top of other people. Essentially. When I lived in New York, you and I have parallel lives, in a sense. Life in New York, life in Japan, I lived in those buildings, the apartment buildings with the external fire escapes and, you know, four floor walk ups. Right. Fourth floor walk ups were, I mean, where did you grill in New York? Did you go to the roof of the building or did you have.

[Michael]

Oh, I lived in the suburbs in New York, so I had a house And I had a bar, a backyard, and everybody grills in, you know, 5 or 6pm you walk out in your backyard and all you smell is, oh, okay, maybe he's making steak. Oh, I smell burgers over there.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Like, that's a great smell.

[Unknown]

Yeah, right?

[Michael]

It's. That's the smell of summer.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michael]

And here.

[Unknown]

Yeah, yeah, we're missing that.

[Michelle Kaplan]

No, I. I can understand you're feeling. I'm not a big meat eater, but I actually love the smell of bar, barbecue, the. The whole thing, being outdoors, eating outside. So maybe you'll have to go to a lot of street festivals to get that smell right. Or the beach or something. I'm not sure.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Okay, so that is.

[Michael]

I think. I also. I think in contrast to. To, you know, living in Japan in the States, like you said, like the barbecue, that's a. Even if you're not a big meat eater, that's an event. Right. You cook the food outside, you eat the food outside. It's a.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Michael]

You know, it's a whole. It's a whole cultural experience. You bring game cooking the food.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Yeah. Lawn games, sitting in reclining chairs that are on deck chairs. It's a whole thing. So. Interesting. Okay, so that's a big difference. And that might hit you, in terms of culture shock hard in the summertime, but what would be another way then, Michael, that you would compare Japan to the U.S. maybe another. Another phrase.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Even though it might look similar, it's like apples and oranges.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Oh, I love that. Okay, tell us more.

[Michael]

Apples and oranges, two different kinds of fruits. You really can't compare apples and oranges, Right?

[Unknown]

Yep.

[Michael]

So life here is. Is like apples and oranges. And I'll give you a concrete example of that.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Recycling. You recycle where you live?

[Michelle Kaplan]

We do, but sometimes I see at different houses and restaurants, they don't believe it or not. So it's weird in Denver, I was shocked on the east coast, in Cambridge, in New York, we always did.

[Michael]

And in what way did you recycle? Like, how do you separate the garbage?

[Michelle Kaplan]

Oh, yeah, it's. It's not nearly as intense as what I. As what I saw in Japan, too. So you basically have a big recycle bin and you throw everything in there that would conceivably be recycled, but it doesn't work well in the States. Tell us how it works in Japan.

[Michael]

It's like apples and oranges. Okay, so first of all, I'll give you an example.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michael]

There's a calendar each month published by the local Community of what to recycle on what day. And so let's talk about plastic, for example. So, you know, you have a. You. You have a bottle of water right. Now you'll notice I took the label off because this is empty and this is going to go out.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Michael]

In Japan. In America, you just throw the whole thing in the recycle. But here we peel off the label. That's one day. We take off the cap. Right. And this little plastic piece. That's another recycling day. And then the bottle itself. Don't crush it just like that. That's another day. Okay, so there's. Yeah, everything is divided incredibly. You know, it's organized, isn't it? It's very, very. It's too organized. Glass bottles. Today was clear bottle day.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Michael]

We put out all the clear bottles.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Michael]

But there's also brown glass bottles and there's green glass bottles.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Michael]

And so. Okay, that's like. So when I say it's like apples and oranges, it's completely different.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Here it's almost like. You can't call it recycling in the US what we're doing here, I'm not sure what we're doing. I think what we're doing, like I said, is not working. I think there's a lot of rejection of items we put in there because it's not organized enough. But I remember when I lived in Tokyo, there was always a netting over the trash. So I don't even know what I did with my trash. I don't even know. But I was afraid to go in there. I was really afraid. Everything was in Japanese. I didn't read kanji very well and very organized, let's say that much. So it's like apples and oranges. I love that expression. Michael, are there anything else that you might compare? Like apples and oranges, Things that just can't be compared.

[Michael]

Yeah, I can't, off the top of my head. So, like, getting back to food, right? The. The variety of. Of vegetables here and pickled vegetables and boiled vegetables. You know, coming from an Italian American background, everything was olive oil, garlic and. And spinach. Olive oil, garlic, and broccoli. Very, very simple, right?

[Michelle Kaplan]

Basic. Yeah, basic, basic here.

[Michael]

But here it's like it's steamed and it's boiled and it's. Wow. Dashi soup stock. And it's.

[Unknown]

Yes, yes.

[Michael]

Just the variety of food compared to the States, it's like apples and oranges.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Here it's like apples. That's a good example.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michelle Kaplan]

So hitting our nutrition goals right there. That's One thing I loved about Japan is that the. How healthy the food was. The, like I said, the vegetable, the fish was just incredible. Whereas in the US we have a lot of ultra processed foods. Maybe you don't see that quite as much there. I don't know.

[Michael]

Yeah, that's, that's the other thing. Like there isn't, you know, there isn't that processed food culture here. You know, they. It's really basic eggs. When you go to the grocery store here. Right. The eggs are not refrigerated.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Right.

[Michael]

They're just kind of hanging out there in the store.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Michael]

And you know, they can. They even. I don't. But they eat raw eggs.

[Michelle Kaplan]

I remember.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Michael]

Because it's fresh enough that you can do that.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Michael]

And I personally can't because, you know, because that mind over matter I can't eat.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Our eggs are not as fresh. I remember that too. Going out for sukiyaki and I noticed my co workers started putting their meat into the egg and I thought, oh my gosh, I was always told by my mom, I can't do that. I can't eat raw eggs. And then I learned later it's just that they are so much more fresh in Japan. So again, another really good way to comp apples to oranges. Right. And we don't have to be talking about food, of course. Right, Michael? We use this expression.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Love it.

[Lindsay McMahon]

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[Michelle Kaplan]

Okay, what would be our third? Let's go for one more and. And maybe a story. If you have a story there.

[Michael]

So in the States, when you go to a restaurant. Right. It's pretty common that you can order something off the menu or a variation. Right. So you.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Michael]

You say, you know, hey, can I get a baked potato instead of French fries? Oh, yeah, no problem. Usually that's, you know, if. If. If the food exists in the kitchen, you know, they're more than happy to do that for you.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Whereas in Japan. Mm. There's a menu.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Michael]

And you can order what's on the menu.

[Michelle Kaplan]

I see.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Michael]

And that's basically it.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Michelle Kaplan]

I love it. So you use the phrase whereas. Right. To make the comparison. Yeah. That's interesting. So there's no. I've actually never done that, but I've always wanted to do that in the US Request something that's not on the menu at all, but I know it's very simple and is made out of the ingredients that are already in the kitchen. Is that something you used to do a lot? I understand, like, tweaking your order. Like, I want cheddar cheese instead of Swiss cheese on my burger. But going in and asking for a grilled cheese, if it doesn't exist on the menu, is that something that you've done before or would do?

[Michael]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, in. In the States, it's pretty easy. It's pretty. Pretty easy to do that.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michael]

You know, depending on the restaurant, of course.

[Unknown]

Sure, sure.

[Michael]

It's not.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michael]

It's not weird.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Michael]

Right.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Whereas in Japan, you know, like, you know, you just don't do that because they. They have a menu.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Michael]

Whatever. It's.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Whatever on the menu is this. I mean, I. I love talking about cultures and cultural differences. Does this point to something that you know about the culture in Japan that you can articulate?

[Michael]

Yeah. So if. If I have to describe Japanese culture in one word, that word would be uniform. And not only do public servants wear uniforms, people who work in customer service wear uniforms, kids wear uniforms in school, but the culture is uniform. There's a rule. There's always a rule for something. Right.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Michael]

And so the menu in the restaurant, you know, that's what we offer. Yes, you can have that. And it's like, all right. Well, there was a movie with Jack Nicholson. I can't think of the movie where he asked for. He wanted to have toast. And the woman said, we don't. We don't serve toast. And he's like, yeah, all right. Give me a chicken salad sandwich on toast, hold the chicken salad.

[Michelle Kaplan]

This is in Japan. Is it Lost in translation?

[Michael]

No, no, That's a Jack Nicholson movie. I forget.

[Unknown]

Okay, okay, okay.

[Michael]

Like here it just, you know, you can get, you can get toast with your eggs if you want, but only, only if it comes with that.

[Unknown]

Okay. Okay.

Yes.

[Michael]

Right. Like if you, if you go to a restaurant like for breakfast, right. And they have the, the morning, because they call it the morning set. And you, I say, oh, can I, can I get, you know, some toast on the side? You know, they give you that look like you're from, you know, Planet X because, you know, it's not on the menu. And I think that's, you know, the, the trains are on time here.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Oh my gosh, there's, yeah, there are massive.

[Michael]

Everything punctual.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Yes.

[Michael]

When you call for the plumber and the plumber says, okay, I'll be there tomorrow at 11 o' clock in the morning. The plumber comes ding Dong at 11 o' clock in the morning. They come in, they take off their shoes and they have all of the tools and all of the parts to.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Do the job like clockwork. So they get it done. Yeah, I mean, I remember how amazingly on time the trains were in Japan versus, you know, in New York. Every weekend something is shut down, one of the lines is shut down, something breaks. It's kind of a disaster.

[Michael]

Absolutely.

[Michelle Kaplan]

It's shocking that anything gets done. And you know, today's conversation, it's not about one culture being better than the other. I love, I love Japanese culture, I love American culture, I love my many different cultures, but it's about experiencing them and for our listeners today, being able to compare. So that is what I want our listeners, everyone to pay attention to today is you've learned the key phrases to compare any culture with any other culture. So just real quick a recap, Michael, what were the phrases again?

[Michael]

So the first one, in contrast to, in contrast to the usa, we don't barbecue in the backyard here.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Yes, excellent. What was the second one?

[Michael]

The second one is comparing recycling in the States to recycling in, in Japan it's like comparing apples to oranges.

[Michelle Kaplan]

It's like apples to oranges. And our third one that our listeners.

[Michael]

Should write down, whereas a little bit more of a formal phrase. Good. If you're taking one of those English tests. Tests, Right. Ielts, toefl. Right. Whereas in the States you can easily order f. Order off the menu. Whereas in Japan you should better stick to that menu and, and what's on there.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michelle Kaplan]

And Michael, to wrap up today, any final piece of advice when you're new in a culture or just being Reintroduced to a culture kind of mindset wise in terms of how to take it in. Do you have any tiny piece of advice for our listeners?

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Living abroad.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michael]

You know, English is a global language now and people are traveling more and going to different places. Realize and I don't know who said this, but somebody said one time that all human beings have the same wants and needs and desires and every culture has a different way to bring that. So it's not, as you said before, Lindsay, it's not saying that one culture is better than another.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Michael]

It's just all cultures are different. And so flexibility. When you travel somewhere and you go, okay, maybe we're going to speak English here, but the culture's this. It's going to be a little bit different.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Having that flexibility will help you so that you're not all like, ah, right.

[Michelle Kaplan]

It just makes life so much easier when we're open to things looking different. And yeah, good point. You are using L, the language. But it's going to look very different the way things get done. And we all have the same kind of basic human needs, human connection. Right. Learning things, self actualization. But we get there in a different way. So. Well said. Michael. Michael, where can our listeners find your podcast? Tell us a little bit, just for a minute, how to find your show, what you talk about.

[Michael]

Oh, sure. It's the Happy English podcast. And you know, you can type that into the search bar of your, of your browser here or wherever you find podcasts. Just type in Happy English podcast. The website is myhappyenglish.com and yeah, if you type in Happy English, Michael, you'll find me somewhere.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Awesome. Love it. Thank you for being on the show again, Michael. And I hope to collaborate with you again. Maybe next year. We'll see. Right.

[Michael]

Thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure and a lot of fun talking about culture today.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Absolutely. Thank you, Michael. Have a good day.

[Michael]

Bye, you too. Thanks.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Bye.

[Michael]

Bye.

[Michelle Kaplan]

Thanks for listening to all ears English.

[Lindsay McMahon]

Would you like to know your English level?

[Michelle Kaplan]

Take our two minute quiz, go to allearsenglish.com forward/fluencyscore. And if you believe in connection, not.

[Lindsay McMahon]

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