Warakimasen!

At last my students know how difficult it is to answer questions about your own language. For my 3-7 class today the students were given the task of teaching me Japanese in English. They were being marked on how well they made themselves understood and how well they could answer the questions I asked them.

Everyone could explain their given points easily enough but when I asked why things were said a certain way you saw the panic on their faces.

For example they taught me that in Japanese the verb to cook is ryouyi wo suru.
I asked how to say “I cooked curry” in Japanese.
My student answered “curry wo tsukurimashita” lit. “I made curry”
I asked her why they don’t say “curry wo ryouri wo surimashita”
The panic started!

They all agreed it was harder than they thought to explain their language but they had a lot of fun doing it!