Search for a native Japanese teacher in London and you will find plenty of listings that use the words. What is much harder to find out, before you have paid for a lesson, is the thing that actually matters: can this person explain Japanese to you in English, clearly, when you are stuck?

Native fluency and the ability to teach are two separate skills. Most learners only discover the difference after a few disappointing lessons. This article explains what the combination of the two changes in practice, what a lesson with a native teacher who teaches in fluent English actually looks like, and when you would be better off with somebody else.

We are a London-based Japanese language service, so we have a stake in this. We have tried to write the version we would want to read if we were choosing.

Why “native speaker” on its own is not what you want

Being a native speaker guarantees one thing: the language you hear is real. That is genuinely valuable. It does not guarantee any of the following:

Ask a fluent English speaker to explain when to use “the” and when to use “a” and you will see the problem from the other side. Native intuition is not the same as being able to teach.

A fountain pen resting on a spiral notebook

What native plus fluent English actually changes

You get real explanations at the point of confusion

The classic example is は and が. Both are often translated as marking the subject, and no amount of exposure alone makes the difference obvious. A teacher who can explain the contrast in English, give you three examples, and then have you produce five sentences in Japanese will save you months of quiet guessing.

The same is true of the particles に and で, the difference between あげる and くれる, and the moment you first meet transitive and intransitive verb pairs.

Your pronunciation gets corrected while it is still cheap to fix

Long vowels, the small っ, and pitch accent are the three things English speakers get wrong from week one, usually without noticing. A native ear catches them immediately. Someone who has learned Japanese as a second language may not.

You learn what people actually say

Textbook Japanese is not wrong, but it is often stiff. A native teacher can tell you that a phrase is technically correct but nobody says it, or that the polite form you learned would sound cold in a shop and warm in an email. Those judgements are hard to get from a book and impossible to get from an app.

Politeness levels stop being frightening

Keigo has a reputation for being the hard part of Japanese. Most of the fear comes from being taught it as a table of endings. A native teacher who understands British social instincts can map it onto situations you already recognise, which turns it from grammar into behaviour.

You get context, not just language

Why an apology is the polite way to start a request. Why silence in a conversation is not awkward. Why the shop assistant said something that sounded like a refusal but was not. Language and culture are the same subject in Japanese far more than in French or Spanish, and a teacher who grew up with it can explain both at once.

What a lesson actually looks like

Every teacher differs, but a well-run 45-minute private lesson usually has this shape:

  1. A short warm-up in Japanese, at your level, so the language switch happens early.
  2. Review of last week, focused on the things you got wrong, not the things you got right.
  3. One new point, explained in English, with examples.
  4. Production, where you make your own sentences and get corrected in real time. This is the part that produces progress and the part learners most often skip when studying alone.
  5. A small, specific homework task, usually twenty minutes’ worth, not two hours.

Ninety minutes, which is two units, gives more room for the production stage, and most learners past the first month prefer it.

When a native teacher is not the right choice

Honestly, there are cases.

An excellent non-native teacher who has learned Japanese to a high level can also be brilliant for beginners, precisely because they remember being confused. The ideal is a teacher who has both the native ear and the ability to explain; the second best is whichever of the two your particular sticking point needs.

How to check before you pay

Four questions that reveal more than any profile page:

  1. “Can you explain the difference between は and が to me right now, in English?” The answer tells you almost everything.
  2. “What will lesson two cover, and why that?” A teacher with a plan can answer instantly.
  3. “How will you correct me?” Immediately, at the end, or in writing afterwards. All are valid; having no answer is not.
  4. “What is my level, and how would you check?” Someone who cannot place you cannot sequence a course for you.

A trial lesson is the cheapest way to ask all four.

Online or in person in London?

Both work, and the choice is more practical than pedagogical.

In person suits people who focus better away from home, who want the session to feel like an appointment, and who like writing practice on paper with someone watching. We meet learners in cafés around London.

Online suits people with unpredictable weeks, anyone outside easy travelling distance, and learners who want to spend the commute time studying instead. Screen sharing also makes reading practice easier than you would expect.

Plenty of our learners mix the two. If travel time is part of your decision, “Japanese Classes Near Me” in London works through choosing by area and format.

What it costs

All lessons are 45 minutes as standard, with 90-minute sessions available. Full details are on our private lessons page, and Private Japanese Tutor in London covers what to expect from one-to-one tuition more generally.

Frequently asked questions

Are all your teachers native Japanese speakers?

Yes. Our teachers are native Japanese speakers living in London who teach in fluent English.

I am a complete beginner. Will a native teacher speak too much Japanese?

Not if they teach in English at beginner level, which ours do. Explanations in English, practice in Japanese, with the balance shifting towards Japanese as you progress. If you are starting from zero, Japanese Classes in London for Complete Beginners sets out the first three months.

Can a native teacher help with JLPT?

Yes, and the exam is a useful structure to work against. See JLPT Preparation in London.

What if I only need Japanese for a trip?

Then a full course is more than you need. Travel Japanese is a short, focused block covering the situations you will actually be in.

Do you teach children?

Our lessons are designed for adults. Please contact us to discuss younger learners.

The simplest way to find out

You cannot judge a teacher from a profile. Forty-five minutes tells you more than an hour of reading reviews.

Our £24 trial lesson is online, 45 minutes, with a native Japanese teacher based in London who teaches in English. No package, no obligation, and if we think a group class or a short travel course is a better fit for you, we will say so.

Book a £24 trial lesson

An open ruled notebook and pen on a wooden table

Six things a native teacher notices that you would not

These are the corrections that come up again and again with English-speaking learners. Individually they are small. Together they are the difference between “understandable” and “natural”.

  1. Long vowels treated as short. おばさん and おばあさん are different words. English speakers routinely flatten the difference and cannot hear that they have done it.
  2. The missing small pause. The double consonant in words like きって is a beat of silence, not a stressed letter. Skipping it is one of the most common giveaways.
  3. Stress instead of pitch. English speakers add emphasis to a syllable. Japanese moves pitch across the word. A teacher can model this in seconds; a book cannot.
  4. Over-using pronouns. Saying わたし at the start of every sentence is grammatically fine and sounds strange. Japanese drops what is obvious.
  5. Politeness that does not match the situation. Textbook-polite language in a casual setting sounds distant. Casual language in a shop sounds rude. Only someone who has lived it can calibrate this for you.
  6. Direct translation of English structure. Sentences that are technically correct but obviously assembled in English first. A native ear catches these instantly.

A worked example: how one grammar point gets taught

To make “explained in English, practised in Japanese” concrete, here is the shape of how a teacher would handle the te-form, which is the first point where many learners feel out of their depth.

  1. Why it exists, in English. Not a rule to memorise, but the idea that Japanese has one connecting form that unlocks requests, ongoing actions, permission and linking sentences together.
  2. The pattern, grouped sensibly rather than as a list of twenty endings, so that you learn three groups instead of twenty items.
  3. Five examples you would actually say, drawn from your life rather than the textbook’s.
  4. You produce ten sentences, out loud, and get corrected on the spot. This is where the lesson earns its money.
  5. A twenty-minute homework task that uses the form for something real, such as writing three requests you might make in a shop.

The same point taught as a table to memorise takes just as long and produces far less.

The culture that comes attached to the language

Japanese carries more social information than English does, and this is where a native teacher adds something a textbook structurally cannot.

Why a request often opens with an apology. Why a direct “no” is rare and what replaces it. Why the shop assistant used a form you have never seen. Why silence in a conversation is comfortable rather than awkward. Why the same sentence sounds warm in an email and cold in person.

None of this is decoration. Getting it wrong is how learners with good grammar still come across oddly, and getting it right is how learners with modest grammar are received warmly. If you are learning for a trip, this is often more valuable than another twenty vocabulary items. Our guide to everyday etiquette in Japan covers the visitor-facing version of the same thing.

What to expect over your first ten lessons

A reasonable shape, assuming you start as a beginner and take one lesson a week:

By lesson ten you should be able to have a slow but genuine exchange about everyday things, and read simple kana text aloud. If you cannot, something in the teaching is wrong and it is worth saying so.

About Iroha Passport

Iroha Passport helps English speakers learn Japanese and plan their trips to Japan. Lessons are taught by native Japanese teachers living in London, in person or online.

By Iroha Passport