So Sensei

So-sensei is the best teacher that I've had on Italki, and maybe one of the best Japanese teachers I've ever had. He makes each lesson super helpful and enjoyable at the same time. With his knowledge of linguistics, he has a more precise understanding of the language. He's able to not only explain grammar points and vocabulary, but point out subtleties and explain why the grammar points work the way they do. My favorite aspect about So-sensei that sets him apart from any teacher I've had is his willingness to accommodate your needs. I have asked previous teachers before to call out any collocation errors or unnatural patterns in my language, and though they tell me not to worry and that they will, they end up just letting my errors go. However, So-sensei listened to my request and diligently caught every one of my errors. I could feel my control of the language improve throughout the lesson all because of So-sensei's guidance. His lessons are truly the best and incredibly engaging!

My native languages are both English and Mandarin, so I am already familiar with Chinese characters which would give me an advantage over Kanji. I’m also a musician and I speak three different tonal languages, and So Sensei took this into consideration to help me to sound as natural as possible and even used language exercises that are similar to those that professional interpreters perform in interpretation school to speak more like native speakers in our working languages. I would definitely recommend you to take classes with So Sensei! He’s an amazing and professional teacher! 我是中美混血儿，还有虽然老师不会讲中文，但老师还是考虑到我从小到大会看汉字。再加上，老师也考虑到我是音乐家，对声调比较敏感，所以老师上课时特别注意我的发音是否准确。他使用的语文练习刚好是我念翻译学院的时候使用的一些外语练习。我非常推荐这位帅气十足的老师！他超级专业！他教得很棒！

I just finished my fourth lesson with So Sensei. I started doing lessons with him to keep my conversation skills sharp. We do free conversation. He is always fun and interesting to talk to and he is very personable and friendly. I asked him to let me know when I say use the wrong word or pronunciation of a word and he does so, always in a very kind and friendly way.

italkiで珍しくて良い先生です。授業の前に、授業スタイルについての詳しいアンケートを取ってくれました。授業中に文法や発音の間違いも逐一指摘して、チャットで送ってくれました。授業の雰囲気もめちゃくちゃ和やかで、いつでも気楽に沢山話せます。極めて能力がある先生だと思います。日本語能力をアップしたい方は是非so先生を選んでくださいね^ - ^。 这位老师是italki上非常难得的好老师。上课异常认真，课堂氛围也很好，无论什么话题都可以轻松地进行对话练习。上课前会询问学生想要的上课风格，是很重视每一个学生自己的想法，并且教学能力很强的老师。我相信无论什么水平的日语学习者都可以在so老师的指导下大幅提升会话能力，强推噢！

As a native English speaker with no foreign language experience, So-sensei’s guidance has been invaluable. His calm, sensible, and fun teaching style takes the pressure off learning a new language, and his lessons are fully customized to my goals and interests. He provides goal planning, resources, and materials which are organized and updated regularly. Thanks to his support and detailed lesson planning, I’ve made noticeable progress in a short time. So-sensei is a really cool and supportive teacher, and I’m so glad I chose him. Highly recommend him to anyone considering Japanese lessons!

I am doing free conversation with So-sensei and we have had two hour-long lessons so far. He is fun and engaging and always has interesting things to talk about. He has a great sense of humor and a very gentle way of offering suggestions for improving my Japanese, and for more natural or proper ways to express things. He is very easy to talk to, and has very broad interests, so there is always something fun and interesting to talk about!