Ejovi Nuwere

got time for dinner or drinks this time?

はは、そういうことよくありますね。友人同士でも、私(日本人)は英語、アメリカ人は日本語をなるべく話そうとしたりして…練習相手ですね。でもお酒が入ると結局、私は日本語、相手は英語で駄弁るようになってしまいますが…

If you want to practice Japanese I find that one of the best ways is to join some sort of a Japanese club where you will have to interact with old Japanese folks. I was in kyudo (Japanese Archery) and the instructors didn’t even understand a lot of katakana words than young kids use. They couldn’t tell you what letter of the alphabet it was if you wrote a letter down. As a result, they just spoke in Japanese. So I had to just learn and keep up. No choice. Maybe you can’t join a club in your short visits to Japan, but you could join some activity like go to a Shogi or Go hall (depending on which you might have interest in) or something else that might attract the older and less English inclined generation.

Anyway, do you know how much it costs for an average hour of eikaiwa (English conversation class) with a native speaker? It’s ridiculously expensive. They’re getting a freebie by talking to you.