I’m 16 years old and trying hard learning Japanese (I bought Genki). I found out that my gym teacher is Japanese and speaks it, but I don’t know if I should ask him to help me learn Japanese (I only know hiragana and some very basic vocabulary). I asked him if he speaks Japanese and he told me he did (he could also write half of kanji). He’s always kinda busy so I don’t know.
5 comments
You’re welcome to ask him, nothing wrong with that
Doubtful he’d take on literally instructing you, tho that’s up to him, but he might agree to practice a little with you
You should try it. And you’ve bought genki, a nice book. I really loved it!
When you ask your gym teacher if they wouldn’t mind practicing with you it might be worth showing them Genki and the chapter you are working on etc so that they know the appropriate level to speak to you at. Genki has coversation prompts in it for class work so perhaps use that as a guide. Good luck!
Being native doesn’t necessarily make you a good teacher, need to have some pedagogic skills as well
You can ask to practice with him if you but as you said he seems busy
Native speakers of any language are often fairly ignorant about their native grammar (I’m native English but wouldn’t be able to explain English grammar to anyone – I know far more about Japanese grammar).
They can be very helpful in telling you whether or not something sounds/reads natural though. They can also be useful for conversation practice.
Be thoughtful – teachers teach all day for a living, and they may not appreciate taking on extra work in a subject they don’t normally cover. Perhaps just mention that you are learning Japanese and see where that conversation leads. Given the level of learning that you’re at, you can make a lot of progress on your own at the moment – [see this](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/s5mtva/comment/ht1lo0x/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) for some advice on early self learning.