Saying, Do you think my Japanese is good?

[wuomin]

Hello, I'm new here so I'm glad to meet everyone!
Here's my question:
I'm going to ask a Japanese friend if my Japanese is good, but I plan on being fancy and say it in Japanese! >
I came up with the following sentence, 私の日本語は良いと思うんですか。Can someone help me verify if the grammar is correct? Now, at first, I considered using 自分の日本語。 Would this be grammatically correct? Also, is んですか used correctly here? In my textbook, んですか。 is used for demanding an explanation. You could say I'm asking him to explain to me if my Japanese is good or not, right?
Thank you,
Kai

 

[nahadef]

It's correct. I would use 自分 though. I can't say the difference between 私 and 自分, but 自分 feels natural for I and my, while 私 feels natural for me. I'm sure that's not entirely correct, but I tend to hear 私 used in a question, like, "Me?"

The question you're using puts a little pressure on the other side, to say if it's good on not. I wouldn't use it unless it was with a friend that you can tease or play jokes on. with someone not so close, it may be a little uncomfortable. Rather, I'd say 自分の日本語がどう思う？, What do you think of my Japanese? That んですか is grammatically correct, but there is a lack of intimacy to it, which is strange since you consider this guy a friend.

Hopefully this is being done with a bit of humour on your part, since if you're asking people how to say 'is my Japanese good?' in Japanese, the answer lies within the situation itself

 

[wuomin]

@nahadef ,

Yes, this is meant to be humorous, haha. Thank you for the correction and explanation; I appreciate it!

Best regards,
Kai

 

[undrentide]

Hello, I'm new here so I'm glad to meet everyone!
Here's my question:
I'm going to ask a Japanese friend if my Japanese is good, but I plan on being fancy and say it in Japanese! >
I came up with the following sentence, 私の日本語は良いと思うんですか。Can someone help me verify if the grammar is correct? Now, at first, I considered using 自分の日本語。 Would this be grammatically correct? Also, is んですか used correctly here? In my textbook, んですか。 is used for demanding an explanation. You could say I'm asking him to explain to me if my Japanese is good or not, right?
Thank you,
Kai

The most common way to ask is 私の日本語はいいと思いますか？ which may sound a bit formal, if you are talking with a friend, you can say it more casually, like 僕（or俺）の日本語はいいと思う？

良いと思うんですか changes the connotation, this implies some doubts, as if saying "you think my Japanese is good - do you really think so?"
ん of 思うんですか is changed from の, and の usually used for emphasis.
思いますか？ is a simple question while 思うのですか？ has stronger sense of doubt.

自分 means self (in some dialects like Osaka dialect, it can be used to refer to "you") and in this context using 自分 is a bit confusing - to me it sounds more like a question about your friend's Japanese, not yours. To make it clear, you may want to use 私/僕/俺.

Rather, I'd say 自分の日本語がどう思う？,

Sorry for nit-picking but you cannot use が here when asking どう思う. 思う is a verb that takes an object, and using が makes 自分の日本語 is the subject of the verb 思う which does not make sense (i.e. what does my Japanese think?)
But I think どう思う is a good way for OP to ask his friends for opinions.

 

[wuomin]

undrentide,

thank you for your response. It has given me new insight on the matter.

 

[nahadef]

Sorry for nit-picking but you cannot use が here when asking どう思う. 思う is a verb that takes an object, and using が makes 自分の日本語 is the subject of the verb 思う which does not make sense (i.e. what does my Japanese think?)

What would you use? を？

 

[undrentide]

Basically, yes, I'd use を.

僕の日本語をどう思う？
This を can be omitted in casual speech; 僕の日本語、どう思う？
Alternatively
僕の日本語についてどう思う？

After talking about someone else's Japanese,
僕の日本語はどう思う？