Grammar Mistakes Japanese Speakers Make In English: How to Avoid Them
It is not uncommon to see Japanese speakers using incorrect grammar when speaking or writing in English. This is mainly because Japanese eliminate the subject from a sentence, which is not a good thing to do in English. There are a couple of other grammatical issues that are specific to Japanese speakers. This blog will go through a couple of these issues and how to get around them.
I’ve been teaching Japanese speakers for more than 18 years both at my own school and before that about five of those years at a large Eikaiwa. Learning another language is not easy. It takes a lot of hard work, and you must be persistent. One of the problems that I find is that speakers will assume that you know who they are talking about. See in Japanese you don’t need to use watashi wa meaning I in front of your sentence. For example, I went to the store yesterday. But, in English you must use the name of the person on first reference. After that it is fine to use a pronoun like I, he, she, it, we, or they.
Another problem is that students will use I go to shopping on weekends. This is a very common problem for Japanese speakers. But, in this case you don’t need “to.” I go shopping on the weekends is just fine. This is an action. I go skiing or I go bowling. These are all actions, so you don’t use “to” in front of the action.
If you are talking about going to a place whether that be generic or specific then you need “to.” If you are naming a generic place I go to the mall then you need to add “the” and the generic place name. I go to the bowling alley on Thursdays. But, if you have a proper name like Ralph’s Bowling Alley. Then you would drop the “the.” So the sentence would be I go to Ralph’s Bowling Alley on Thursdays.
Other problems occur when one talks about going home or work. We don’t use “the.” I go to work Monday through Friday, not I go to the work Monday through Friday. I go home after work. Not I go to the home after the work. The nouns work, school and home are a bit irregular so that is why we don’t use a “the” in front of them. You just need to memorize this when describing where you go with these three words.
Correct grammar is not the only concern when learning English. You need to be able to speak with native speakers who are patient and can help you with your errors when you make them. I have a lot of experience with Japanese clients and would love the opportunity to help you improve your English. If you are interested in class instruction and live in Saitama and more specifically near Okegawa then don’t hesitate to look at my home school website: If you are not in the area and still want to take lessons from a gentle teacher then please take a look at my online school website:
I hope you found this article helpful and can recognize some of these mistakes that Japanese speakers make and avoid them after reading this article. Thanks for visiting my blog post and I hope to see you in class whether that be in person or online. Have a great day!
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