Recently, there has been a wave of scam messages on Preply from people posing as prospective students. Some tutors have even reported having their accounts hacked and losing large amounts of money. I’ve received several of these messages myself. The scam is surprisingly sophisticated, and after seeing how it works firsthand, I can understand how [ ]
Recently, Japanese and Thai users have been arguing on X day after day. X’s automatic translation feature is convenient, but it has also made it much easier for people from completely different cultural backgrounds to interact. In the past, these groups might never have crossed paths like this. Now they can, and that often leads [ ]
The other day, I decided to change the font size of the web-based Japanese learning materials I’ve been creating. So far, not many learners have complained about the font size, but it must have been hard to read. The furigana (the small hiragana written above kanji) was especially tiny and difficult to see. Perhaps everyone [ ]
Two months ago, I visited the Osaka Expo. This was the first World Expo held in Japan since 1970, so attending felt like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Considering that it only happens about once every fifty years, I felt really lucky to be there. I’d like to share some of my favorite memories from the Expo. [ ]
It has been over two years since I started working as a Japanese tutor on Preply. I’ve been going at my own pace, but around six months ago my total number of lessons passed 1,000. Just last week, it went over 1,500 (I forgot to take a screenshot.) Reaching a four-digit lesson count on one [ ]
It has been a while since my last post. The previous one was 8 months ago. Lately I have been busy writing a number of Japanese articles about Yasuke, which I plan to translate into English later. After that previous article, however, a student told me, based on a misunderstanding, that I might be a [ ]
It’s been quite some time since my last post about Yasuke. As we step into 2025, I’d like to revisit my discussions with Mihoko Oka from the past year, particularly focusing on her interpretations of foreign languages. This post is the English version of an article I originally published in Japanese on Note. https://note.com/japanese_naoto/n/n5fdec6bb13d8 I [ ]
As of December 2024, Preply extended its Professional badge to tutors of all languages, a perk that was previously available only to English tutors. To earn this badge, you need either a certificate issued by a government or a government-accredited institution, or the Preply Language Teaching Certificate. The first two currently apply only to English [ ]
Happy New Year! 2025 is finally here. I’m currently enjoying a relaxed time at my family’s home in Tochigi Prefecture. In my previous post, I took a moment to reflect on my experiences in 2024. Besides, I introduced『独学どくがくと在野ざいやの近代きんだい』“The Modern Era of Independents and Self-Taught Scholars,” a book about Minakata Kumagusu that Oka reviewed. In addition [ ]
Merry Christmas! The year is almost over, and it’s flown by so quickly. Recently, I visited the Marunouchi area near Tokyo Station to enjoy the stunning Christmas lights. This year, the Christmas theme in Marunouchi seemed to be Mario, with characters from the Mario series displayed all around. The Christmas tree at KITTE, a building [ ]