Let a Japanese person explain
if there are no japanese people in the forum, what the hell is the point in having one?
because surely they more than anyone would know about their own country
Yes, I'm Japanese and I probably know more kanji than most of the non-Japanese people here, and my Japanese sentences look/sound more natural than theirs, well, I hope....
But I don't even know how to explain Japanese grammar in English, I just know how to speak, read, and write it. (Actually, when I first came across the grammar thing called "te-form" for the first time, I was just like "what".. well, excuse my vulgar English, hehehe) . Also, I heard they teach Japanese grammar in different way to non-Japanese people, so my knowledge of Japanese grammar maybe won't really help much.
I'm very sure there are some non-native Japanese speakers who can explain it in English far better than I do here in this forum. And also, they know what is difficult for learners, what is the best way to teach a beginner, etc etc...
So....this forum IS already helpful for those who are learning Japanese langauge.
Therefore, as I mentioned earlier, we, Japanese people know more words, expressions, examples, backgrounds of a word, new slang words, how and who a certain word is used by, and so on.
So I agree, if we post more here and try to help Japanese language learners, this forum will be MORE awesome.
Oh! and one more thing I've noticed!
If you would want to know how to see Japanese characters on internet.
Those non-Japanese people who can type and read Japanese here can help you perfectly. Japanese people don't really know from where to install Japanese language support thing or how to change some setting in the computer, since Japanese computers here already have it when we buy them.
When I asked them why they haven`t posted yet, they usually give the stock answers:
My English isn`t good enough (even when they do have a strong command of it),
I am shy, foreignors know more about Japan than we do (Japanphiles most certainly do),
and I don`t like to disagree with people in public or debate.
Most Japanese are perfectionists when it comes to speaking a foreign language.
If they can't speak English at a fluent level, they will most likely tell you their English is bad.
True, most of the Japanese people are really scared of making mistakes in English.
In my opinion, that's becuase of the way were taught English here.
Grammar is taught very strictly here and if you make a mistake (in grammer or spelling) (even though it's such a little mistake and the sentence itself is understandable enough), teachers jump on it and correct it immediately.
Then how could we enjoy it? We just become more and more Englishphoebia...and shyer to use English.
Actually, when I first joined here, after submitting a post, I checked it several times and just wished no one would pick on my Engrish (not English, you know).
But after reading posts by native English speakers here and found spelling or grammatical mistakes here, I've become kinda relieved and now I am feeling more comfortable to post. (Having found nice/kind sort of posts has encouraged me too.)
And....that's right, I don't like to disagree with people in public or debate. So I kinda stay away from political boards.
Phew! You would never believe how long it's taken me to write this post...
For me, writing in English is really time-consuming! But.....fun!
窶堙冷?堙ｱ窶堋ｫ窶堙･窶堋､窶堋ｵ窶堙?。ﾂ。ﾂ。窶堙冷?堙ｱ窶堋ｫ窶堙･窶堋､窶堋ｵ窶堙?。ﾂ。ﾂ。
