Would you rather have someone correct your sentence and make it grammatically correct but still unnatural and textbook-ish or would you rather have them revamp your sentence completely and make it into normal natural japanese? (That you might even struggle to understand etc)
I always wonder this and sometimes end up not replying to certain questions because I don’t know if they would appreciate my answer or if I’d just confuse them for no reason
5 comments
It really depends for me. Sometimes I’m just trying to understand a grammar concept and giving textbook and unnatural answers is sometimes more helpful.
If I’m genuinely trying to write a sentence or paragraph for output, then revamps are more helpful and applicable.
Well both would actually be good if that’s not too much trouble. That would help those who stumble upon the thread in the future as well.
As a tutor and a teacher, I would say it needs to be level appropriate.
A beginner would probably do well with a “textbook” answer. An advanced student can get a more “natural” answer. An intermediate student can get a mixed response.
I’d also keep the format in mind.
Depends on context.
If I’m studying, then I’ll probably want a more detailed correction.
If it’s more casual then I usually prefer that the person paraphrase whatever I didn’t say correctly or ask for clarification – bonus point if they can make it fun 😊
Honestly, both are helpful. Any help at all is great, but an “X is grammatically correct, but Y is more common” type answer has the bonus of teaching two things at once.
I’d probably ask follow-up questions about Y if I don’t know the grammar, so it’s potentially more work for you; it’s up to you if you want to deal with that. But that kind of info is really valuable, especially since it can’t be found from a textbook. Ultra-beginners might not be ready for it, but anyone who’s studied for a few months at least probably understands that textbook talk and real-world talk are different.