I graduated from Bates College with a Bachelor of Science in Japanese. I came to study the Japanese language because I was interested in bonsai, miniature ornamental trees. I have had the experience of going to Japan and know many cultural aspects of the country. I really enjoy reading and listening to Japanese and being a tutor is a way that I can correctly teach the language in a manner that comes with understanding from the perspective of an fluent English speaker.
The advantage of having a tutor like myself is that I have understood English first; therefore, I am very familiar with the meaning and interpretations of colloquial phases and culture. In this way I help students understand sentences rather than question their actual translation from English. Having been taught Japanese myself, I am also familiar with phrases that, though colloquial or simply understood in English, are not said in Japanese and or have no equivocal or understandable meaning. All grammar explanations will therefore be better understood, and I can easily translate English sentences that might not have been learned by those that learned English as a second language. I only teach proper Japanese so do expect your speech to be polite when heard by native Japanese speakers.
Japanese is not only a verbal language but written as well. There is a "alphabet" whose characters have a stroke order in which they are written as English does. Should students feel comfortable, I will teach Kanji characters with proper stroke order in addition to the alphabet.
I have had four years of Japanese language courses in college to know that having an instructor that can teach grammar with an English understanding of colloquial phrases is essential for one to really find an attachment to a language as foreign as Japanese. I have also spent time in Japan and have an understanding of the societal culture.
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