Hello, I am Manu, and I have been teaching Japanese since 2010. I know the struggles of studying Japanese as a non-native speaker first hand. I have poured my heart and soul into providing my students with the best lessons and study material for a hasslefree learning experience - as well as this podcast :)
I am your tour guide. I’m here to give you insider information and show you new sides of the country you probably haven’t heard of before!
My own learning journey started with the Nintendo game Super Mario Land. When I was eight years old I read the Club Nintendo magazine and learned that Super Mario was created by Shigeru Miyamoto, a Japanese video game designer. He was my idol back then, and I wanted to marry him. That didn’t happen, but my husband did end up being Japanese.
Next, I started watching anime in Japanese. But the subtitles weren’t enough for me and so I started taking Japanese lessons in 2004. However, I was disappointed with the way that Japanese was being taught, and by some of my teachers’ difficulties explaining things to me. I knew there was another way, so I began teaching Japanese myself in 2010, first in German and since 2019 also in English.
I live in the Japanese countryside, in the little-known prefecture of Fukui. Even most Japanese people do not know that it is the birthplace of Japan’s most popular rice, koshihikari. If you ever visit Fukui, let me know!
I teach Japanese a little differently than you might expect. I have a lot of fun with my students. Within just two months, they learn hiragana, katakana, basic Japanese grammar and their first kanji. After the first class, students tell me, “Now I finally get it! It makes so much more sense now that you’ve explained it simply and clearly like that!”
With my explanations I help you avoid the mistakes I made when I was learning Japanese, by structuring explanations in a way that will finally make sense!
Looking forward to helping you improve your Japanese with my podcast :)
よろしく (yoroshiku - Best regards), マヌ Manu