Exchange Students arriving, advice and tips PLEASE

So some exchange students are coming down to our school on tour to learn more about what life is like in an English school and stuff, and basically, I’m super bad at Japanese. I can’t even convey half of my thoughts, mostly due to my terrible grammar, and that’s in crappy Jap anyway. Any advice or tips for communication and getting to know these students? Also any useful words/conjugations/particles that are simple and helpful are more than welcome. I’m mostly accustomed with the basic 6 or whatever particles, plus a couple others. The students arrive tomorrow morning (~10hrs from now), will check this about 30mins before I go meet them.

QUICK EDIT: These are Yr10-12 students, not sure how good their English is.

I wouldn’t be surprised at the amount of basic English they know, especially at that age. They take English every year of school, at least in their earlier ages. They will be very excited to be there, and I wouldn’t worry about speaking complete and full sentences to them, they will be happy enough to be in an English environment. If you try your best to convey how you feel, saying your thank you’s and your desires they will be very grateful for your small efforts. I am not sure what your role will be in welcoming them to your school but give it your all. Try practicing a “welcoming” speech of a few sentences. Have fun :slight_smile:

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My two cents

If you don’t know Japanese you don’t. Unless the people visiting have been told that you speak Japanese they should have no reason to expect this. I would even go so far as to assume that they would be pleasantly surprised by you even being able to tell them your name (私の名前は[aquasurge7]です or [aquasurge7]と申します) and a “hajimemashite”.

I would also assume that they know at least a little bit of English. Enough that you can make yourself understood, interject some words in Japanese here and there and be fine. In a pinch, body language and charades might help ^^

Sounds like a really fun experience! You’ll be fine :+1:

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It’s best not to use と申します outside of actually formal situations. I know a lot of Japanese learners do it but I’ve been told by multiple Japanese people that it’s too formal for a normal introduction and sounds weird.

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Thanks for telling me :blush:

I was thinking greeting international guests to ones school would qualify as a formal situation. I’m sure I lack the proper nuances for these kinds of things though.

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I’d think they’d think it was pretty cool if you did a brief intro in Japanese, but beyond that, I think they’d be really stoked if you were able to use simple, slow English they could understand. They really get excited when they feel like they can understand something outside of their native language, similar to how we all probably feel when we catch something in Japanese. They’re coming for an international experience, and will want to squeeze in as much immersive experience with your culture as possible. I’d talk simply and slowly with a lot of gestures, and repeat key words or phrases for the kids that can’t follow the whole sentence. You could throw in Japanese hints as you’re able if some of them don’t seem to be following, but give them space to try to work it out themselves. But by that age and the self-selection of only seeing the students who decided to spend the money and time to visit an English-speaking country, I’d guess that they have fairly decent English skills, at least as far as comprehension (output ability might be very low, while they can still understand you).

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Thanks for the replies guys, got back from school and the experience wasn’t too bad! My partner seems quite shy, and it’s definitely a new experience for the both of us. Their teacher was encouraging them to use more English, but they seem a little hesitant. Well, it’s to be expected, when the students arrived I thought I was going to die from the nerves. I feel really scared using Japanese, but I think I’m getting used to it. I definitely plan on using more Japanese, and hopefully my partner will open up to me a little more. We did talk a fair bit in Maths though, and I got to learn a few things about her. I suppose I’ll provide an update at a later date if anyone is interested.

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Please do. I’m always interested to hear other people’s experiences with exchange students. (My wife and I hosted a Japanese student for a year).

How long are the exchange students going to be at your school?

Seconded. I’m always interested in hearing about cultural exchanges. ^^

Alrighty. And yeah, sadly they’re only here for 2 weeks.

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