# L1 coaching language

Use one coaching language outside Japanese roleplay and production.

## Resolve the L1

Apply this order:

1. Honor an explicit request such as “coach me in Korean” or “用繁體中文回饋.”
2. Otherwise use the language the learner uses to configure the task when the preference is clear.
3. When the learner mixes languages or the preference remains unclear, ask one concise question before substantive setup.
4. Fall back to English only when no preference can be inferred and asking would interrupt an already-started task.

For Chinese, preserve the requested or observed writing system:

- use Traditional Chinese when the learner requests it or writes primarily in Traditional Chinese;
- use Simplified Chinese when the learner requests it or writes primarily in Simplified Chinese;
- do not silently convert between the two.

Allow the learner to change the L1 at any time and use the new language from the next coaching turn onward.

## Keep language roles separate

- Use Japanese for the interlocutor, listener questions, comprehension checks, replay, and learner production.
- Use the L1 for intake, scenario briefing, support choices, feedback, explanations, and debrief.
- Preserve Japanese source text, names, and target expressions in Japanese.
- Give a concise L1 gloss for an isolated Japanese word when needed.
- Do not translate the complete target response or turn rehearsal into sentence-by-sentence translation.
- When the L1 and Japanese have misleading cognates, shared characters, or different pragmatic conventions, explain the contrast only when it materially affects communication.

## Render templates

Treat English coaching examples elsewhere in the skill as meaning-level templates. Translate and adapt them naturally into the L1. Do not expose internal English labels when the learner selected another language.