courses in Japan? - Printable Version

courses in Japan? - Printable Version

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courses in Japan? - lanval - 2010-07-05

Hey guys,

I just had a huuuuuuuuge dissappointment (in fact Im still super angry and cursing those people and my unlucky fate!!!). My application for a 3 months course in Tokyo got rejected for the second time!!!
Im wondering if I should just go there by myself, to some language school (how expensive that is with living there, no clue), or if I just stop with Japanese all together. Because that was pretty much my last hope of ever making major progress. During my studies, I just dont have enough ambition and time to do more than a bit of vocabulary, meet my japanese friend once a week, but it feels quite worthless...
Does anyone have experience with learning Japanese in Japan, and can tell me about the costs?
Thanks in advance.

PS: Ive found a 12-weeks course with homestay for almost 4000Euro at Kudan Institute of Japanese Language & Culture. Does anyone know them?

courses in Japan? - komorikun - 2010-07-06

I'm not sure now but when I was living in Japan I paid less than 4 man-en (less than $400) per month at a language school. The teachers were all well trained and they changed the teacher every hour or two so you wouldn't get sick of them. It was 4 hours a day-5 days a week and all in Japanese because the other students did not understand English(Chinese, Russians, Koreans). They used pictures in the beginning to explain stuff. I'm sure you can live in a gaijin house for way less than 10-man en. For the kansai area check the kansai flea market: http://www.kfm.to

courses in Japan? - mezbup - 2010-07-06

It takes years to learn a language... 3 months is only a fraction of that.

courses in Japan? - Jarvik7 - 2010-07-06

You don't NEED to go to a language school to learn Japanese. You don't even need to go to Japan to learn Japanese.

Really I think it's better to come over once your Japanese is at a decent level (at which point you don't need a school), since you can enjoy yourself a lot more. Absolute beginners just tend to form gaijin bubbles.

Anyways, if you are prepared to give up so easily it might be a good idea to question why you are studying Japanese in the first place.

courses in Japan? - lanval - 2010-07-06

I just found a really cool school with a program comparable to the program offered by the program of Nihon Uni, Genki Japanese and Culture School, Fukuoka. They offer a culture class which makes it 25 hours a week. Plus homestay.
I started with a lot of energy, but I feel like my progress is way too small and its in conflict with my uni studies... If I go to a course I can really focus on it and it would boost my knowledge so I'll be able to understand novels, hopefully. That would make studying much more fun.
Has someone been in Fukuoka, or that school?
And I'm wondering: is it possible to practice Karate in Fukuoka? Cause I wouldnt wanna miss on that.

@komorikun: thanks, but Id have to book in advance, so I need the name of the school.

courses in Japan? - thurd - 2010-07-06

lanval Wrote:I started with a lot of energy, but I feel like my progress is way too small and its in conflict with my uni studies...

Way too small compared to the time you invested or you're just disappointed in getting no results without doing anything?

If its the first case then change your method, it doesn't seem to be working. If its the other I can't help you and probably nobody can.

lanval Wrote:If I go to a course I can really focus on it and it would boost my knowledge so I'll be able to understand novels, hopefully. That would make studying much more fun.

I haven't been to such intensive course but I went to a regular 3h a week for almost 1.5 years and as fun as that was (socially) I wouldn't call that learning. I probably learned more in my first week of self study than at that whole course.

My guess is with your lack of motivation you'd depend heavily on your course to teach you everything and as a result your goal of understanding novels would take an extremely long time to achieve. You have to face the fact that language learning requires lots of self study no matter if you're doing a course or not, thats why lots of people here ditch the course part Smile

courses in Japan? - mezbup - 2010-07-06

lanval Wrote:If I go to a course I can really focus on it and it would boost my knowledge so I'll be able to understand novels, hopefully..

I think your expectations of a course are FAR too high after reading that statement.

courses in Japan? - lanval - 2010-07-06

Hehe, maybe. Well I mean, not have to look up every 3rd word but instead every 2nd word, maybe?^^ Being able to talk with my tandem partner would be cool too... ANd just learn as many words as I can.
Im currently working through KO2001, working towards 1000. WIth all those annoying ANki reviews, I dont have time to do much reading, I usually just listen to subbed animes trying to get stuff after or before glancing at the translation. Even if I understand quite a bit there, speaking with natives is... very much harder...
But I wouldnt say I'm not motivated. Ive been working for 2-3 years, so part of me is getting impatient, while the other one is just thick-headedness.

courses in Japan? - Rekkusu - 2010-07-06

Change your gear then if you feel motivated enough to put the effort into it. Cut down on new items added if you are getting bored of anki reps. Better to breeze through 200 reps a day than to procrastinate and step away from the 1k expired cards..

Also cut off the training wheels and drop the anime subs. Download everything RAW or in .mkv format and have your media player set up to ignore subs by default. Also try to read a bit every day.

courses in Japan? - puddingisfun - 2010-07-06

Hey! I attended GenkiJACS in Fukuoka last year. It was a very friendly learning environment and most of the teachers were very good. Classes were all in Japanese (at least for me in the intermediate course) and all the staff are approachable and interested in helping you learn. Of course, you need to study a lot on your own, but for people who have intermittent 努力 lapses like myself, it really helps to have the teachers supporting you. If you want more info, feel free to shoot me an e-mail.

courses in Japan? - mezbup - 2010-07-06

Really vocab is a major factor I think, once you start to know 10,000 words and upwards the language kinda starts really opening up to you. It's kinda hard to understand stuff without it >.< That's why I switched to just a vocab deck after I finished KO2001 and Kanzen Master2... so if you can get through those things first then you can be well on your way to understanding heappppps more in a reasonable amount of time.

You just gotta put in the time and there's a LOT to be put in. がんばれ！

courses in Japan? - lanval - 2010-07-07

Thanks to all of you for the tipps and info. I'll try to read more. So, yesterday I bought my very first japanese novel xD
I'm hyper busy finding the right language school. Genki looks cool, but Im worried that it might be a bit "too fun" so I'm tending towards Yamasa. They are also cheaper than Genki. Only Problem is that I might not get homestay there because I'm quite late.
It's really a tough choice...

courses in Japan? - Jarvik7 - 2010-07-07

You can live in a guest house or share house instead of a homestay. You might even learn more.

courses in Japan? - lanval - 2010-07-07

Jarvik7 Wrote:You can live in a guest house or share house instead of a homestay. You might even learn more.

I read on a review that the danger of speaking english with the other students is quite high, so I guess a homestay would have some advantage. Id also like to see how a normal family lives. But I guess living close to the school would be alright too.
I wonder if the 3day excursion of 37000 yen is worth it... they sure sound fun.

courses in Japan? - pm215 - 2010-07-07

lanval Wrote:I wonder if the 3day excursion of 37000 yen is worth it... they sure sound fun.

I liked the Yamasa tours, personally. Small groups and run in a fairly informal way, and Declan generally tries to pack in stuff that would be a pain to get to via public transport.

courses in Japan? - Jarvik7 - 2010-07-07

lanval Wrote:
Jarvik7 Wrote:You can live in a guest house or share house instead of a homestay. You might even learn more.
I read on a review that the danger of speaking english with the other students is quite high, so I guess a homestay would have some advantage. Id also like to see how a normal family lives. But I guess living close to the school would be alright too.
I wonder if the 3day excursion of 37000 yen is worth it... they sure sound fun.

Live in one full of Japanese people. I stayed in a guesthouse for 3 months during my job hunting & a bit after. I still sometimes go out drinking with the Japanese people I met there.

If you go to the Yamasa in Okazaki then you could go to the one I went to. It's a bit far (30-40 mins by train) and kind of bohemian though.

courses in Japan? - lanval - 2010-07-09

Hello again,
I just read a thread about yamasa, and they say it's very conversation-heavy, but if I look at the intermediate schedule (http://www.yamasa.org/acjs/english/programs/silac_formats.html), there's mostly grammar oO
I'm not exactly sure if you can call "eating with sensei" a class... Can someone tell me what "Nihongo Cafe" really stands for?

courses in Japan? - Tobberoth - 2010-07-09

The school I went to: http://www.isi-education.com/english/wp/

Pretty standard prices, situated in Shin-okubo in Shinjuku, 1 minute walk from yamanote line. Mainly Korean and Swedish students with the odd Chinese and Spaniard. Very good teachers. The education is aimed at JLPT, but there's a lot of conversational training going on as well. 4 hours a day workdays, either in the morning or in the afternoon.

As for how good the school is, I went from 0->JLPT2 in one year without Anki or anything, just school and daily life.

courses in Japan? - pm215 - 2010-07-09

lanval Wrote:Hello again,
I just read a thread about yamasa, and they say it's very conversation-heavy, but if I look at the intermediate schedule (http://www.yamasa.org/acjs/english/programs/silac_formats.html), there's mostly grammar oO

I'm a bit out of date as it's been a few years since I was there, but roughly Yamasa's programmes divide into two. One side is the AIJP long-format (minimum 3 months) courses which are more traditional in format, cover all the skills equally and include an element of preparation for JLPT and similar tests. The other side is the SILAC courses, which work on a sort of rolling two-week schedule with people moving in and out of the classes all the time. These are much more focussed on listening and speaking. The lower levels are basically going through Minna no Nihongo 1 and 2. Even though a lot of the schedule says "grammar" it doesn't mean "everybody sat with their nose in a textbook", it's actively practicing grammar points by speaking and listening.

NB: the expansion of SILAC into the 'intermediate up to JLPT2' range is new since I was there. Similarly I dunno what the 'nihongo cafe' classes are...

courses in Japan? - lanval - 2010-07-12

Still looking at schools and prices, its SO HARD TO DECIDE.

@Tobberoth: ISI Nagano looks pretty cheap (3k for 11 weeks), but they say for their short-time courses:
The course is recommended for people who think to go to Japanese language school for their holiday.
And they don't have any example schedules on their page.
What I want is an intensive course, I wonder if I'm best off at Yamasa then? I already know they have Karate nearby *laughs*
I've also looked into Wahaha and Asahi. I wish there was a chart to compare
-price
-fun
-effectiveness!!!
for each school. T_T

courses in Japan? - captal - 2010-07-12

I went to GenkiJACS last summer for 2 weeks as I was in the Hakata area at the time and they gave me a really good deal for the course, but normally it's quite expensive!

The vast, vast majority of the students are beginners, and nearly all of them (maybe 90%) speak English as a first language. Put those two things together and what do you get? Everyone speaking in English outside of class. I was placed in the highest level class when I went a year ago, and at that time I'd say I was halfway between 3kyuu and 2kyuu JLPT wise (though my speaking has always been my strongest aspect and an interview is a big part of the placement) so that should tell you something. Out of the 70-80 students that were there when I was there, there were 4 in the top level class with me- all of them clearly better than I was, but definitely intermediate- one guy in the class was probably advanced, but he didn't seem to mind being in the lower class.

I'd aim for a school full of non-English speaking foreigners- like the one someone else mentioned- you'll learn a lot more. However, the teachers at GenkiJACS were fantastic- really great and only used Japanese in class. It's the other students (and the price) that really make it a letdown.

edit: oh, and get used to hearing a lot of awful, awful American accents speaking Japanese if you go

courses in Japan? - lanval - 2010-07-12

captal Wrote:I went to GenkiJACS last summer for 2 weeks as I was in the Hakata area at the time and they gave me a really good deal for the course, but normally it's quite expensive!

The vast, vast majority of the students are beginners, and nearly all of them (maybe 90%) speak English as a first language. Put those two things together and what do you get? Everyone speaking in English outside of class. I was placed in the highest level class when I went a year ago, and at that time I'd say I was halfway between 3kyuu and 2kyuu JLPT wise (though my speaking has always been my strongest aspect and an interview is a big part of the placement) so that should tell you something. Out of the 70-80 students that were there when I was there, there were 4 in the top level class with me- all of them clearly better than I was, but definitely intermediate- one guy in the class was probably advanced, but he didn't seem to mind being in the lower class.

I'd aim for a school full of non-English speaking foreigners- like the one someone else mentioned- you'll learn a lot more. However, the teachers at GenkiJACS were fantastic- really great and only used Japanese in class. It's the other students (and the price) that really make it a letdown.

edit: oh, and get used to hearing a lot of awful, awful American accents speaking Japanese if you go

Thanks!! I was really searching for reviews like this to help me decide. Genki is definetely out then.
Is it the same for Wahaha? oO

courses in Japan? - Jarvik7 - 2010-07-12

kow nee chee wahh

courses in Japan? - captal - 2010-07-12

Jarvik7 Wrote:kow nee chee wahh

*shudder*

courses in Japan? - Evil_Dragon - 2010-07-12

Jarvik7 Wrote:kow nee chee wahh

日本語お上手ですね