Heys, I'm looking for some tips or advice for a future endevour that will soon come my way. It's very important to me and I just want some Do's and Don'ts from some of our veteran forum members here. But first some background story.
I work for a school as a computer technician. We recently received a nice 3rd grade Japanese student. We have had Japanese students before but they usually spoke english or spanish fluently enough where communication was not an issue. However this student did not and was having a hard time with her teachers. I knew some relatively basic Japanese and I was asked if I could help her adjust and teach her some English to which I accepted happily. After a few months, she is very enthusiastic about coming to school and even communicates in tangents of english and spanish; has friends and her happy factor is very high compared to before. (Of which I can't take credit for because she is a very bright child.) Anyway her Parents invited me for Dinner on Saturday. I'm a bit nervous as I know my Japanese is garbage and won't be up to par for adult conversation. Even when I speak with my student, she corrects me many times as I confuse particles and colloquience. (watashi, ore, for boy and girl.) However I'm more concerned about proper etiquette and manners during the dinner. I've seen enough J-dramas to have at least a misconstructed understanding of what is expected of me. In any case I'm looking for anything thrown my way that might help me. Her father is a rather important diplomatic figure so I'm pretty sure I need to be at the top of my game, sort of speak.
Some questions I have are:
Should I bring a gift?
Should it be edible?
Am I wrong to think I should wear a suit to the occasion?
Should I try to use my piss-pour Japanese or stick to English?
Any advice is welcome and appreciated even if it doesn't pertain to the questions I have in mind. I really don't know what to expect.
And finally is it offensive that I think the Dinner might be something so forlorn to what I know that I had to seek advice in order to satisfy my fears in the delves of foreign customs or is it right of me to be worried?As the risk of being rude to them is an all too real existence?
Thank you for your time.
(At work so I probably won't respond till I get home,
