Trying to figure out this sentence
 

"I would like to make friends in Japan to improve my Japanese."

I came up with this on my own, but people have told me it makes no sense at all.

日本になれあうことが私の日本語は上手になります

Can you guys help me out? :)

Patrick

I was speaking to some people on irc and they gave me this suggestion to use. I understand most of it except the よう　after なる

日本人と友達になりたいので日本語が上手になるように 勉強したいんです。

What does that よう do?

TurboBee

First of all, that sentence is the wrong way around. It`s saying "I want to study Japanese in a way to improve, so that I can make friends with Japanese people."　Something that may very well be true, but I doubt it`s quite what you meant if I go by your English sentence.

The ように is sort of along the lines of "in a way that / to ~"

A fairly simple way of saying what you want to say would be 「日本語をうまくするために日本にいる人と友達になり たいです」

But - I would personally be offended if someone said something of the like to me, as in my eyes it wouldn`t be "friendship", and I would be used for the benefit of the other party.　Of course, just my feelings on the matter. Perhaps something more along the lines of an honest "I`d like to practice my Japanese with a native / fluent speaker." would be a better route?

I didn't realize what I was saying would be thought of like that. I was looking for pen pals on another site and I saw some Japanese speakers use a similar phrase in English so I thought it would be appropriate. Anyway I like what you suggested better. Here is my attempt at saying what you suggested.

私と日本人と日本語を練習したい

Please let me know what you think. Thanks for your time :)

英語を練習したい日本人を探っているから私も日本語の 知識を練習しています。

But I warn you, I am probably more beginner than you are so this phrase can be full of errors and not appropriate to your need. Wait for a native speaker to correct it before using it.

What about this instead:
日本語がうまくなりたいから、いっしょに勉強してくだ さいますか？

Hello, Turbobee. I'm Hirashin, 48-year-old Japanese man.

Do you want to make friends with Japanese people to improve your Japanese?

Why are you learning Japanese?

As Nyororin says, you shouldn't say the "to improve my Japanese" part because it sounds as if you want to take advantage of Japanese people to improve your Japanese.

If you send me a private message in Japanese, I'll correct your Japanese for you if you wish. And I'd like you to correct my English if needed.

Hirashin:)

What is the root word for うまくなりたい? I realize that is in the たい form but I can't seem to figure out what it is in it's dictionary form. I'm thinking うまくなる or うまくなりる but neither of those are in my dictionary.

Patrick

うまくなりたい is made up from 2 words, not one i.e. うまい + なる.

Therefore, you will not find it in the dictionary. What you can find are only うまい and なる. うまくなる is the conjugation of these 2 words.