Yukiko has translated some of my English patterns and recorded them in Japanese. We did this through the exchange. Let me know if you find these useful.
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The advantage of having the same patterns in different languages, is that the translation is available. Of course, it would be better to have sentence patterns that originated in Japanese. Still, if found these useful for Romanian. It is all a part of the puzzle.
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I understand what Iri is talking about. I admit that I don’t know any Japanese, but here a short of my thoughts according to translating “patterns”:
When Steve wrote about the patterns on the forum, I translated some of them into German, but I figured out quickly, that it would not work if I stick with the original. What I did was to take them as an inspiration, and to find instead German patterns that were close or make sense in German.
If a student would ask me to translate patterns I would always add a note if a phrase is translated but does not sound “really natural” in German.
By the way, I sometimes met this problem when I translate the surface or anouncement of LingQ into German. Sometimes it is not possible to translate the phrase as it is because it sounds silly in German. Everyone could see that it was as translated phrase. Sometimes I have to find other phrases. Translating is a difficult task.
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I agree with Vera. I also sometimes feel frustrated when I translate the LingQ interface, because the translation sounds totally unnatural in Italian, due to elements like placeholders and the subdivision of sentences into string. I recently translated a string that read “Check out the”, so I couldn’t know what article I should choose (you know, many languages have more than just one article corresponding to “the”!).
I also agree about the importance to make lessons sound natural. That’s why I made a new Italian translation of “Who is she?” and am considering doing the same for Eating Out and Greetings and Goodbyes.
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All of the above about the difficulty of translation is true. However, what interests me is to know , amongst the many other lessons that we have which are more natural and more interesting that constitute the bulk of our learning, whether these pattern lessons are also useful. I found them useful for Romanian.
I’m sure this would have been excellent for learning case declinations in Russian for me a few years ago.
These kind or “drills” are really useful in the FSI courses, for regular mechanical changes to words, especially for concepts that don’t exist in our native languages (perhaps gender/case/conjugation, etc.), not just for common co-location patterns.
I might make an exchange request for more Romanian patterns to nail some case and gender patterns. They make a good addition to the more “natural” reading and listening, by giving a concentrated dose of a particular feature of the language that you’re trying to make automatic.
I think drills are very helpful to learn noun and verbal endings, too. What I wanted to point out is that they should be written directly in the language that is being taught in order to sound more natural.
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Indeed, as Veral said also, I think the english patterns should just be a guide, and the translations should be loose, sounding natural in the target language.
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I like these lessons and Yukiko has a really nice voice 
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I’ve started going through the pattern lessons. Since most of the vocab is well known at this point, I’m finding the lessons useful for linking phrase patterns I haven’t nailed down yet. Thanks Steve.
I am glad that some of you find these useful. Of course, it would be best if these pattern sentences originated in the language we are learning rather than being translated. But it all helps, I think. I believe we need to see and hear lots of examples of the patterns of the language we are learning. This kind of repetition can be mixed in with more interesting reading and listening, and it helps us notice, I think.
For example, I find it useful to go over my words and phrases on the Vocab page, and review the captured phrases, occasionally editing them and changing the one that is featured in the LingQ box. I also tag them at that time. I may ask a native speaker to record some tagged lists for me in the future. If I do, I will share them in the library.