Search from various English teachers...
Profile
Hi. I'm from Scotland and live and work in Tokyo. I'm looking to improve my Japanese. I can speak enough to get along in Tokyo by myself, but I want to improve my speaking and listening. I'm also thinking of taking a JLPT test later this year... I work as a teacher, so (I hope) I'm pretty good at helping people learn English. Ideally I'd like to find two language partners: one male, one female, about 25-35 years old to practise informal, spoken Japanese and to help with some grammar / vocabulary questions. In exchange I can teach and help with your English pretty much any way you want.
Learning
Japanese
Language Skills
EnglishNative
Lesson Feedback
Lesson history
 Last monthLast 3 monthsAll time
Completed lessons002
Attendance rate100%100%100%
Teacher reviews
Mia
Japanese
Aug 13, 2017
Thank you Richard for today!We talked over drama,movie,japanese culture and how we learn languages:)You spoke Japanese pretty well.It was fun talk with you:)
Activities
  • Corrected

    Hinamatsuri

    Hinamatsuri is celebrated on March 3.
    Hina means doll.Matsuri means festival.
    We display dolls for young girls.
    Their parents wish for their health and happiness. 


    We put out dolls on March 3.
    If the time of putting out them late,the girl will miss out on getting married.

    According to tradition, if they (the dolls) are put out late, the girl will miss out on getting married.
    They say traditionaly.

    I do not have dolls.
    So I bought a big cake.
    I must eat it all so I can get married. for my marriage.

     

    Nice job. That cake looks good!

    0 voted
    March 4, 2015
    1
  • Posted
    くつめいわく さいきん僕はフトサルをしていって始めた。だから新しいくつを買った。川崎市のABCマルトへ行って、くつを買うつもりだた。ちょどいいくつをみつけって、店員に「これをはいて見てもいい?さいずは29です」と言った。店員はみせのうらへ行って来た。しかし僕のサイズがない。びっくりした。じつは僕のあしはおおきくないと思ったけど。。。「じゃ、ちがうのは僕のサイズがある?」僕と聞いた。「ごめん」店員と言った「大きなみせへいかなかればなれない」。めんどくさいと思った。やっと渋谷のみせで僕のサイズをみつけった。渋谷は僕の家から遠いけどしょがないね。
    March 4, 2015
    2
    0
  • Corrected

    Hi Azu. What a great hobby and future study. I love books too. Both because I love reading them, and also because I love them as objects (nice ones, of course).

     

    Good luck with your studies! (And don't worry - your writing seems perfectly good.) Here are a couple of corrections - explanations at the bottom.

     

    My first Notebook

    Hello. I'm Azu.

    I'm living in Tokyo, and I'm working at an office as an office worker,
    sometimes working as an illustrator.

    Actually I want to study conservation and restoration of books at a college in the UK in the future,
    so, for now I'm studying English and bookbinding at home.

    The Study of bookbinding is very interesting for me, but English writing is quite difficult
    because I'm not sure that my writing is good or bad when I study it by myself.

    Please help my writing!

     

    You can say either "The study of bookbinding is..." OR "Studying bookbinding is..." Both have the same meaning.

    This "for me" isn't really neccessary - it's clear from the rest that you mean you.

    0 voted
    June 6, 2014
    1
  • Corrected

    Wow, you're pretty serious about ramen!

    Here are a few corrections:

     

    Ramen Restaurant Nearby

    Finally, I completed all 3 flavors in a Japanese ramen restaurant, which just recently opened. They did a special promotion until yesterday that offered a bowl of ramen for only $5 that included tax.

    that included tax = including OR tax included

    Since it's located nearby my home and I used to be a ramen freak years ago, I thought that I would be its regular customer, if it was good.

    nearby = near my home OR nearby. (with 'nearby' the fact it's near your home is strongly suggested anyway).

    After tasting 3 of the main flavors that they offer for now, I judged that this ramen restaurant would be able to compete with others in the future, but not for now. I mean it's potentially okay as a new ramen restaurant, but I can see its room for growth. Especially, for noodles. I want to find the ingenuity in the noodles, something elaborated.

    but I can see its room for growth = and I can see it has room for growth (and works better here because room for growth would be considered something good - like being potentially okay).

    Well, but it's okay, if it's promoted. It's worth paying more than $5.

    It's okay = It could be okay (it seems like this is your prediction for the place, so could be shows you hope it will become okay).

     

    Well, these are some pretty minor corrections. Overall it reads rather well and the meaning is very clear. Good job!

    0 voted
    June 6, 2014
    1
  • Answered
    Hi Ai. Thanks so much for your corrections on my notebooks. It really helps me out. I'd love to do you a favour in return but it seems all your questions get answered so quickly! Anyway, while the two answers you have here are perfectly right, I thought it might help you to know that "watered down" can also be used in a metaphorical sense. For example, a movie that has had some scenes removed (especially if it's to make it safe for children) could be called "watered down". Or a rap song with the language taken out. Like with alcoholic drinks, it means to make it less strong. Hope that helps a little. がんばって!
    0 voted
    June 6, 2014
    0
  • Posted
    日本語の秘密の文字。 The "secret" characters of Japanese... さいきん、僕はおもしろい秘密を見つけた。。。カタカナとひらがなは二つずつ秘密の文字がある。みんあは「うそつき!」と言った、けどうそじゃない。その秘密の文字は。。。ゐ、ゑ、ヰ、ヱ。その文字を見たことがある?今日の世の中(ありがとうアイさん!)、その文字だれも書かない。ざんねんと思う。ひらがなの二つはきれいと思う。「ゑ」は僕のいちばん好きなの。どして?しらない。たぶん理由がない、形が好きだけ。たぶんその文字は魔力がある。。。
    June 6, 2014
    1
    1
  • Corrected

    Wow, very advanced piece of writing, Yuuki. Some interesting points and questions. I can't really say I 'like' the internet either, but at the same time I keep using it more and more... I definitely agree with your point about 'knowledge'. When everyone is able to voice their opinion - or dress their opinions up as fact - it becomes difficult to separate real knowledge from quackery. If I want to find something out online, all too often I have to trawl through heaps of information before finding something I can trust.

    Anyway...very good job overall, but here are a few corrections:

    red = the meaning is not clear, I don't know how to correct this section
    yellow = correction
    green = grammar is fine, but could be rewritten for style / clarity

    Hacktivism
    Do you really like the Internet? To be honest, I do not like it. Mass people would say that the Internet was a revolutionary development in the human history. Do you really agree with it?

    Mass = Most
    was = has been (it's still true now - 'was' suggests it's finished)
    it = that OR this

    Real information, which educates you as a mature person, should be given to you from your community around. The communication lies at the heart of direct human experiences. The memory and experience become major sources for the meat and blood to make a part of us. On the other hand, superficial information on the Internet will make you feel comfortable temporarily with a great speed, but the comfortableness will rule your life style. I am now really having difficulty with controlling a life without computer knowledge. I wish listen to others with real contact and touch each single page to know something new or valuable to my life.

    your community around = the people around you OR your local community
    meat = flesh (meat is the word for animals, flesh for people)
    the comfortableness = comfort
    a life = my life (a life suggests YOU are controlling the life of ANOTHER person)
    wish... = I want to listen to others, have real contact and...

    The society should be equalized to the extent that we have advanced technology in every field in our daily life. Basic technology can be shared easily while innovation is a hard step, but what makes the spread of the advanced technology all over the world is politics. Controlling is easier for the people with authority or those who are in the position when the civilians are dumb. Technology, and source and amount of information is highly advanced as much as making the social gap among the people. So, rich people should be more engaging with organizing independent philanthropic activities. I am threatened by the need to keep up with the world of technology to fight against human rights. Knowledge and wisdom is the best weapon to protect yourself from the inequality and bring some peace to your community.

    but what makes the spread... = but what allows advanced technology to spread all over the world is politics.
    controlling = control
    the = a
    engaging with = engaged in (people should be engaging (verb) with sth OR people should be engaged (adj) in doing sth
    is the best weapon = are the best weapons

    Now we are getting to the highly advanced stage. Say, if you have a plastic surgery with nano-sized medical equipments inside your body, you will be able to get some kind of medical treatment to automatically and remotely. Or, those particles will be interacted with the environment where houses, furnitures, roads, transportations, and etc will respond to your command through the gadget equipped inside. This could be realized in the future because I as a mere citizen can imagine it. Then, take a look at the military weapons. It would take a couple of days to destroy the whole earth. Nobody would expect that, even extreme terrorists. So, we choose to control the situation with "politics", rather than destroy and take long time and damages to conquer the others. What is Human?

    equipments + furnitures = equipment + furniture (non countable nouns)
    will be interacted = will interact (active voice - it is the particles which 'do' the action)
    the gadget equipped inside = an internal gadget

    (Thank you very much for reading. Have a nice day there^^)

    0 voted
    May 31, 2014
    1
  • Posted
    Why I like Shimajiro. シマジロが好きなの理由。 日本語を勉強するは難しい。今日のせかいで、みんなは時間がない。だから、みんなはかんたん方法を探す。日本のテレビを見て勉強するは人気の方法。テレビで日本語を聞いて上手になる、と思おう。しかし、テレビばんぐみのものがたりはふつうじゃない。ときどき僕は日本のアニメかドラマを見てみる、けど分かりにくい。気を落とした。でも、そして、シマジロを見つけた!僕はそのばんぐみが分かる。英語の字幕がいらない。だから、僕はシマジロが好きです。 日本語を勉強したい?シマジロを見る。
    May 29, 2014
    3
    1
  • Corrected
    0 voted
    May 29, 2014
    0
  • Answered
    Hi Jun, thanks for correcting my notebook on Curry... I think the answer to your exact question about how to use "I am studying" is that present continuous (am/is/are ~ing) doesn't always show that you are doing something at this very moment. It can also show that you are in the process of doing something (although you're not doing it now). "I am learning English" is a good example. Learning a language takes years, so even when you don't have your textbook open, you are in the process of learning that language. Imagine some university students talking about their majors in a bar. Someone might say: "I'm studying law." Of course, they aren't actually studying law right now - they're drinking - but they are still in the middle of their law course. Another example would be with a book. I can say, "I am reading IQ84". I might not have the book with me now, but what I mean is that I have started it, but not yet finished. Hope that helps!
    0 voted
    May 25, 2014
    4