in front of one's desk

The front of the desk is the far side from user.

sit at a desk - The concept of "front" in Japanese (language) does not match the concept of "front" in English (language).

• Left front" in kimono means "left is closer to you."
• Front" is "close to me."
• foreground / front view

from Diary 2023-04-22

This page is auto-translated from /nishio/机の前 using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I'm very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.