An interview with Misato Noto, who lives in Trinidad and Tobago, about encounters with American English, experiences studying in the UK, and the unexpected connections discovered between the Tsugaru dialect and Trinidadian English.
野藤 弓聖 Misato Noto
Born in 1989 in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture. Inspired by a mother who loved Western music and movies, developed an early admiration for English and foreign cultures. Moved to Tokyo upon entering the School of English Studies at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. During the third year of university, took a year off to study abroad at a university in the UK, focusing on international relations. After graduation, returned to Aomori and worked as a public servant for three years. Later married a Trinidad and Tobago national met during the study-abroad period and relocated to Trinidad and Tobago. Currently pursuing a long-held dream of becoming a subtitle translator, while also volunteering as a TED Talks subtitle translator and teaching Japanese to local residents.
Misato Noto, 28, from Aomori Prefecture, currently lives in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago. Although it is the capital, the country itself is small—comparable in size to Chiba Prefecture in Japan—with a population of around 1.3 million. The city feels less urban than a typical capital. Many Venezuelans and Chinese have migrated there recently, influencing local business and cuisine.
Misato enjoys cooking local dishes, especially callaloo, a stew made with taro leaves, okra, pumpkin, chili, and coconut milk, often eaten over rice with meat or fish. She finds the food generally suits Japanese tastes. Trinidad is also famous for its Carnival and for being the birthplace of the steelpan, celebrated in annual competitions that even attract Japanese performers.
The official language of Trinidad and Tobago is English, and Misato uses it 100% of the time in her daily life. While Spanish signage appears in government buildings due to proximity to South America, few people speak Spanish. Historically, a French-influenced Creole called patois was spoken, and it still exists in some rural areas, but not in her environment.
Her earliest memory of English was hearing The Beatles’ “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” in a TV commercial in elementary school. Captivated, she listened repeatedly and sang along, mimicking the sounds. Another strong memory is of visiting a U.S. military base in Misawa with her mother, who confidently ordered drinks in English by simply saying “Two!” Misato found this moment inspiring and powerful, associating English with admiration.
In sixth grade, she met her first Assistant Language Teacher, an Asian-American man from Michigan. Initially surprised that he didn’t match her image of a “white, blond American,” she was amazed when he spoke fluent American English. This experience reshaped her image of who could be an English speaker.
In junior high, her homeroom teacher was an English teacher with study-abroad experience. The teacher’s fluent pronunciation inspired her, making her admire English and study diligently. She enjoyed the complexity of spelling compared to Japanese, finding it fascinating rather than frustrating.
In late junior high or early high school, she discovered the British band Busted. Wanting to watch interviews and videos, she was shocked by how incomprehensible British English sounded compared to the American English she had studied. This motivated her to learn English beyond textbooks and inspired a desire to understand “real English.”
Although passionate about English, Misato had little chance to use it in her rural high school. Speaking out in English class felt embarrassing in front of peers, so she mainly engaged with English through music and movies. She also developed an interest in foreign culture and dreamed of sharing her hobbies with people abroad.
She entered Tokyo University of Foreign Studies to pursue English, partly because she enjoyed it, partly because she struggled in math and science. Movies and music continued to fuel her curiosity about foreign lifestyles and cultures. She also imagined that overseas, she might find friends who shared her interests.
At university, she encountered classmates with overseas experience and high English fluency. Group presentations and academic English left her feeling behind, leading to frustration and eventual resignation: she focused on keeping up with coursework but stopped striving for top-level performance. Still, her desire to speak English with foreigners in everyday life never faded.
From her second year, she joined an intercultural exchange club and began making friends with international students, especially from the U.S. and the U.K. This was her first real experience of chatting with friends in English.
Her growing love for British music and movies ultimately inspired her to study abroad in the U.K. in her third year. She wanted to experience the culture firsthand, attend concerts, and engage directly with British people in their own environment.
After graduating from university, Misato returned to Aomori and worked for the prefectural government. Her role, however, did not involve English at all—she was assigned to a statistics-focused department, far from her initial goal of promoting Aomori abroad. To maintain her English skills, she consciously created opportunities to use the language daily: watching foreign dramas on her commute, listening to podcasts, and meeting with an American friend who had moved nearby. Her strategy was to compensate for the lack of English at work by actively engaging with it in her private life.
After marrying a Trinidadian and moving to Trinidad, Misato faced the challenge of adapting to Trinidad English, which differs from the American and British English she had previously encountered. She initially found it difficult, as local usage often diverges from “standard” grammar and pronunciation. For instance, phrases like “She doesn’t” become “She don’t,” and “I am” becomes “I is.” While she does not deliberately mimic these forms, living in Trinidad has naturally influenced her accent and speech patterns, especially in pronunciation and intonation, while she still maintains standard grammar as learned in Japan.
Being a native speaker of the Tsugaru dialect, which is known for its difficult pronunciation and advanced vocabulary, may have contributed to her sensitivity toward local speech patterns in Trinidad. Misato finds learning Trinidad English enjoyable and sees it as an opportunity to explore a different facet of her identity. Speaking Japanese, standard English, and Trinidad English allows her to inhabit different personas, revealing nuances in her character depending on the language context.
Navigating between multiple languages—Japanese, standard English, and Trinidad English—has become a source of personal enrichment. Misato enjoys experimenting with accents and expressions, discovering new aspects of herself, and connecting with others through shared interests. Language, for her, is not just a tool for communication but a way to explore identity, cultural nuances, and self-expression.
