Odd?

Here is an example of a paragraph from a Japanese English textbook. Does it seem odd to you?

"This is my robot. His name is Robo-Cook. He can cook very well. Now he is making sushi for me. I can enjoy delicious food every day. He can speak Japanese and English very well, too. He teaches English to me. I want such a robot. Thank you."

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This is from One World English Course 1; pg 86.

Here it is again with the places that I think are odd written in bold.

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"This is my robot. His name is Robo-Cook. He can cook very well. Now he is making sushi for me. I can enjoy delicious food every day. He can speak Japanese and English very well, too. He teaches English to me. I want such a robot. Thank you."

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If you have lived or worked in Japan, or with Japanese people these sentences will probably seem familiar to you. Firstly, they sound more like Japanese than English. Second, because they are mistakes that are extremely common in Japanese text books. You would think that publishers would have picked up on these by now. I have a feeling that lots of people who work on these books know that there are mistakes but that there is some man at a desk near the window who insists that this is correct and no one can say anything about it.

In English, how often do we use "enjoy" as a verb? Not often right? If so, it is usually in the past tense. Or we say it to clarify something. For example, "It's not that I don't enjoy fishing, I just don't want to go fishing for our anniversary." Or something like that. In Japanese textbooks you will see; "In Okinawa we can enjoy many water sports." Do you use that formation naturally? I do not.

"He teaches English to me." Just sounds strange. Wouldn't you say, "He teaches me English."? I think I would.

"I want such a robot." The "such a"formation is very common in Japanese textbooks. I suppose it is usefull and easy to teach. But then again, I thin that "I want a robot like that." Is also easy. Which would you use? Do you ever say, "Where can I get such an automobile?" Maybe if you are being ironic. Also, don't they already possess the robot? If so, what are they talking about? I might have missed some set-up to the feature, but the tenses don't really make much sense to me.

All of these we will have to teach to the kids because they are in the textbook. Then Japan will wonder why they are behind in English education.