First, separate what "needs Japanese" actually means
| Requirement | Example | How to treat it when choosing a tutor |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese is essential | Grammar or school assignments are hard to follow unless explained in Japanese | Treat it as a must-have |
| Japanese is reassuring | Mostly in English, with Japanese added only for difficult moments | Treat it as a preference |
| English-centred is fine | Explanations and questions are understood in English, and the goal is more speaking time | Do not require Japanese ability |
The role of Japanese support, by situation
| Situation | Where Japanese helps | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Beginners / elementary school | If a child cannot understand the tutor's instructions, they get stuck on the rules of the activity rather than on English itself. A short Japanese explanation at the start or at a sticking point makes it clear what to do. | Not everything needs translating. Greetings, simple instructions, words and short exchanges can stay in English, with Japanese only when needed. |
| School English / grammar catch-up | Some children understand tenses, sentence patterns and modal verbs more easily when they are organised in Japanese. For units they did not follow at school, an English-only explanation can leave the cause of confusion in place. | Being able to explain in Japanese may be close to a must-have here. |
| Conversation | If the goal is more speaking time, you may want most of the lesson in English. Less Japanese can suit the goal better. | Clear Japanese explanations do not help if practice becomes mostly Japanese. What matters more than speaking Japanese is adjusting questions and rephrasing difficult expressions so your child keeps speaking English. |
| International schools | When your child is stuck on understanding an assignment or organising their own ideas in homework or writing, sorting things out in Japanese before going back to English can help. | The aim is not to translate a finished piece from Japanese. Japanese is a support so that your child understands the task and can put it into English themselves. |
Communication with parents is a separate question from lesson language
Some families want lessons mostly in English but still want updates for parents in Japanese.
In that case, think separately about whether the tutor themselves needs to handle parent communication in Japanese, or whether Japanese progress updates from a Petra coordinator would be enough.
The language used in the lesson and the language used with parents do not have to follow the same requirement.
Making Japanese essential can narrow your options
Requiring Japanese can leave you with fewer matching tutors.
If there is a clear reason, that is fine. But if "it just feels safer" is the only reason, you may rule out tutors who are strong at EIKEN or a particular subject, or who are available on the days you want.
That is why, when looking for a tutor, it helps to separate must-haves from preferences.
In a trial lesson, look at how Japanese is used, not how much
In a trial lesson, you do not need to judge by how many minutes of Japanese were used.
Look at whether the tutor could give a short Japanese summary when your child was lost and then return to English, whether they stayed in English when English alone was enough, and whether your child found it easy to ask questions.
Sometimes there is too much Japanese and too little English practice; other times an English-only lesson ends with your child not knowing what they were doing.
What counts is whether the tutor switches languages in a way that fits your child's goal.
Five questions to answer before you look for a tutor
- Is the lesson goal closer to conversation, school English, exams or international-school support?
- How well can your child understand the tutor's instructions and explanations in English?
- When your child gets stuck without Japanese, is it grammar, understanding the task, conversation or feeling secure?
- Is Japanese needed every time, or only when your child is stuck?
- Do you want parent explanations in Japanese, and is Japanese during the lesson also needed?
How Petra Tutors checks language requirements
When looking for tutor candidates, Petra Tutors thinks about a Required Tutor Language and a Preferred Tutor Language separately.
If grammar explanations in Japanese are essential, we treat it as close to Required. If the lesson should mostly be in English but Japanese help would be welcome when needed, it can be treated as Preferred.
We then check candidates against other conditions such as days, location, learning goals, age and teaching style.
Japanese ability differs from tutor to tutor, and we do not say that every tutor can support Japanese at the same level.
Summary: decide why you need Japanese, not whether
When choosing an English tutor, whether they can use Japanese can be an important condition.
But the first thing to decide is not whether Japanese is needed, but in which situations and why.
Japanese can help with understanding instructions as a beginner, with school grammar, or with organising an international-school assignment. When the goal is more speaking time, a mostly English lesson may suit better.
After separating must-haves from preferences, check in the trial lesson whether your child understood, whether there was enough time using English, and whether Japanese was used only where it was needed.
