An interview with meteorologist Naoko Sakaeda, who teaches at the University of Oklahoma while modestly saying she is “not good at English.” She reflects on her experiences learning English after transferring from a Japanese school in Thailand to an international school, and on what she realized during graduate school in the United States—that her challenges were “not really about English.”
栄枝 直子 Naoko Sakaeda
Assistant Professor in the School of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Thailand and Indonesia, she attended a Japanese school abroad until partway through middle school before transferring to an international school. After graduating from high school, she moved to the United States on her own, earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington, Seattle, and a Ph.D. in meteorology from the State University of New York at Albany. She then spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher at NOAA’s research institute in Boulder, Colorado, before taking on her current role.
Her research centers on tropical weather and climate and their global impacts. Though she hasn’t yet found a chance to return to Japan, she gets by day to day with a “somehow it works out” spirit, even as her sense of English being a weakness never quite goes away.
Profile on the University of Oklahoma, School of Meteorology website
Naoko is an Assistant Professor in the School of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma. Born in Hong Kong to Japanese parents, she grew up in Bangkok, Jakarta, and briefly in Japan. She spent the longest time in Thailand, attending Japanese schools before later moving to an international school.
Although she lived in Southeast Asia, Naoko had little contact with English during her early schooling. Until middle school, she attended Japanese schools, where English was just a weekly subject like in Japan. At home, the family spoke Japanese, and she only used basic Thai with household staff.
Since the Japanese school in Bangkok had no high school, Naoko either had to return to Japan or attend an international school. She chose the latter, which meant she suddenly needed English. Before admission, she studied with a tutor (likely a non-native English speaker) and practiced translating Japanese children’s stories into English, as advised by her father.
During political unrest in Indonesia, her family temporarily relocated to Japan, where Naoko attended a rural public school in Hiroshima for a year. This was her first experience living in Japan as a student, and she faced major cultural differences—from uniforms and dialects to using traditional toilets. Despite the initial shock, she quickly adapted and made friends.
When she entered the international school in Bangkok, Naoko initially understood almost no English. She recalls not even recognizing when a teacher asked her name. The first months were exhausting, but she relied on Japanese peers for support. She joined ESL classes and after-school tutoring, which helped her gradually catch up. Two years later, she exited ESL and began taking regular classes.
English learning came mainly through necessity: completing daily assignments, listening in class, and gradually picking up vocabulary. Naoko never studied English outside of class, as homework itself functioned as language training. Although frustrated by not understanding math word problems or classroom instructions at first, she adopted a pragmatic attitude—assuming she would improve with time.
At her international school, classmates came from many linguistic backgrounds, and teachers expected varying English levels. Friends often helped when she didn’t understand instructions. Because others were in similar situations, Naoko never felt singled out or discouraged.
After graduating from high school in Thailand, Naoko entered university in the United States to study meteorology. Despite years at an international school, she realized in America that her English was still limited, especially in casual conversation.
Naoko could manage coursework in English, but she struggled with fast-paced conversations, slang, and humor among native speakers. This reinforced her sense that she had never fully “mastered” English. She mostly socialized with Japanese Americans, bilingual peers, or international students with interest in Japan, rather than native-born Americans.
Naoko explained that her approach depended on the setting. In one-on-one situations, she felt she had to admit when she didn’t understand. In group conversations, however, if others were engaged and laughing together, she often just let it go rather than interrupting. As a student, she mostly socialized with friends from similar cultural backgrounds instead of trying to join native speakers’ conversations.
In graduate school, Naoko found herself surrounded almost entirely by native English speakers, especially in Albany, New York, where few Asian or Japanese students were present. This environment forced her to use English regularly, which improved her conversational skills significantly. More importantly, she realized her challenges were not only about English but also about general communication skills.
Naoko discovered that sometimes her difficulty wasn’t due to English ability but to lacking background knowledge, such as cultural references or political figures. She began to openly ask questions like “What’s that?” or “Who is that person?” and noticed people were eager to explain. This shift helped her participate more fully in group conversations. She also recognized that even in Japanese she sometimes struggled to explain ideas clearly, which showed her that communication itself—not just language proficiency—was the real challenge.
She started to lean into her identity as a non-native speaker, openly signaling, “I’m not from here, so I need clarification.” This encouraged others to anticipate her perspective, naturally pausing to explain cultural references. Her own experience of “not understanding” later helped her think carefully about how to make her own research presentations clearer and more accessible to different audiences.
Naoko realized that successful presentations require more than correct English. If the audience didn’t understand, it might be due to missing explanations, unclear visuals, or assumptions about shared knowledge. This awareness shifted her mindset: communication breakdowns weren’t always her “fault in English,” but often about presentation design and audience adaptation.
After earning her Ph.D., Naoko worked as a postdoctoral researcher at NOAA in Boulder, Colorado. While the research environment was excellent, she found communication there almost “too easy” since everyone shared a high level of expertise. She worried that skipping over foundational explanations could limit deeper thinking. Although it was a valuable experience, she sensed the need to connect research with broader society to avoid becoming isolated in academic work.
Her research centers on tropical cloud systems and their impact on global climate, particularly how tropical phenomena influence high-latitude weather forecasts. The tropics remain less understood compared to other regions, making it a vital area of study—one she feels personally connected to, having grown up in that climate zone.
Transitioning to a faculty role in Oklahoma, Naoko adopted a pragmatic approach to teaching. She doesn’t worry about perfect English on the whiteboard; instead, she focuses on ensuring communication with students. Graduate and senior undergraduate students have responded well, asking for clarification when needed. She sees no issues as long as mutual communication continues.
Her next challenge will be teaching a large class of 80–100 freshmen. She anticipates new dynamics since younger students may not be as accustomed to interacting with international faculty. Still, she sees this as an exciting opportunity and emphasizes once again that the challenge isn’t about English itself but about communication and teaching.
