Japanese Teacher's Japanese Help Desk — Ask me why Japanese is the way it is!
i everyone!
I'm a Japanese language teacher from Japan.
To be precise, I normally teach Japanese language and literature at a Japanese high school. I don't usually teach Japanese as a foreign language, so I'm not going to pretend to be an expert in teaching Japanese to beginners.
But I thought I might still be able to help people who are learning Japanese.
If you're studying Japanese with Duolingo, textbooks, apps, anime, games, or anything else, feel free to ask me questions such as:
- "Why is は used here instead of が?"
- "What's the difference between these two expressions?"
- "Is this sentence grammatically correct?"
- "Is this something a Japanese person would actually say?"
- "Does this sound natural or strange?"
- "How would you say this casually?"
- "I saw/heard this expression in an anime. What does it actually mean?"
- "Why does this sentence work this way?"
I can also look at sentences you've written and explain how a Japanese person would normally understand them.
I'm especially happy to explain things that Japanese native speakers usually learn intuitively and therefore have trouble explaining — the little differences in nuance, politeness, word choice, particles, and natural-sounding Japanese.
One important note: my English is not very good. 😅
I'll probably use a translation tool when writing here, so please don't expect perfect English.
But Japanese is my native language, and explaining Japanese is part of my job.
So, if you've ever had the thought:
>"I understand what this sentence means, but WHY does Japanese say it this way?"
Ask away.
I'll do my best to help!