Job Discussion Forums

Louie525 · Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 9

I've had about a year of Japanese at university (in other words, I have a really, really basic foundation), and am going to start teaching English in Japan this month...I was just wondering if anyone has any experience/advice on how to continue Japanese education without dishing out tons of yen for private lessons. I saw some mention of free lessons (govt. sponsored?) offered in some places? Is this offered nationwide? I'm going to be in the Kanagawa-area. Yeah, so just generally, I guess, I'm wondering about how people on this forum go about/have gone about bettering their Japanese, other than I guess the obvious "speak with Japanese people."

Thanks,
Louis

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

In Niigata, there's an international friendship center that has both free Japanese lessons and a message board for people looking for conversation partners. I found that, regarding the lessons, you get what you pay for, but I did meet a few people via the message board who were very eager to teach me Japanese. If you've got a center in your area, I'd recommend checking it out.

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worlddiva · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 2:56 am Post subject:

You should definitely check out your local international center, although the classes might not start when you want them to...or the timing might conflict with your work schedule.

You could also look up volunteers for Jap/Eng conversation exchange but beware...some people might just want to practice their English rather than actually teach you Japanese.

Also, look into private lessons through someone you know, maybe at your school? I got private lessons for 1600yen/hour. Pretty reasonable I think.

Mark · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Posts: 500 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Unfortunately, I think that's it's tough to get good instruction without paying for it. Luckily, the going rate for japanese lessons isn't that high, so you might be able to get a quality class. If you're going for really cheap lessons with a teacher who has no particular training or expertise, I'd recommend buying a ton of books and using your lesson time mainly for practice and correction rather than instruction.

Celeste · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 10:11 am Post subject:

I take class one hour a week for 1500yen. My teacher is a trained teacher who can explain grammar points very clearly and concisely in Japanese, and I get lots of speaking practice as well. I think that any EFL teacher in Japan can afford this and should leave the free classes at the community centres for those immigrants who really can't afford to take classes elsewhere.

wintersweet · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 9:58 pm Post subject:

Akula the shark · Joined: 06 Oct 2004 Posts: 103 Location: NZ

It's a good idea to have classes, but there's much that you can do on your own. If you want to get to a high level of proficiency, there are lots of things you can do.

1) Actively be curious, and take every opportunity to learn new words/kanji.
2) Listen carefully, take advantage of tv, radio, other's conversation.
3) Avoid vultures, people who will try to practice English with you and give you nothing in return. If someone is willing to help you out some with your Japanese and wants to speak a bit of English, that's a bit different.

One more thing I would recommend out of experience is taking the Japanese language proficiency test. It gave me a huge spur of motivation to get the books out and study. In 2002 I took level 2 and failed, but worked so hard that my level of Japanese jumped considerably in the three months before the exam. In 2003 I easily passed level 2, and I got level 1 last year as well, having studied all year for it. I doubt I would have studied nearly as hard without the motivation of a test to drive me.

Zzonkmiles · Joined: 05 Apr 2003 Posts: 309

Celeste · Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 12:47 am Post subject:

Doglover · Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 305 Location: Kansai

Louie525 · Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 9

Thanks for all the info so far...the test motivation is probably a good idea, since I'm still in an academic frame of mind (taking last finals right now). I guess the general idea is to be the best possible Nihongo sponge, which will probably be easier when I'm actually in Japan in a few weeks.

Thanks again,
Louis

nomadder · Posted: Thu May 05, 2005 4:36 pm Post subject:

I would agree that good volunteers are few and far between.

How do you find out about that test?

Right now I have Teach Yourself Japanese(the one for all-round confidence) from that large series. The level increases quickly and after 3 years there before I'm finding so many things in that book in the early chapters and thinking "oh that's what they were saying". I'm not sure if that series is available in Japan. They also have one for learning kana and kanji that I want to get. They also have Linguistics and Teaching English among others.

Check the series website:

www.teachyourself.co.uk

Akula the shark · Joined: 06 Oct 2004 Posts: 103 Location: NZ

Try this link for information on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.

http://www.jees.or.jp/jlpt/en/index.htm

Rorschach · Joined: 25 Mar 2004 Posts: 130 Location: Osaka

I went the language exchage route for a long time (about 6 months), I even tried my local community centre for a while until I came to the conclusion that neither method works. With former I found that I was just teaching more English than learning Japanese and the second there was no consistency between lessons. Eventually I went for paid lessons and I haven't looked back. My current teacher is fairly expensive (3000yen for 50 minutes, one lesson a week) but she follows a curriculum and she has produced results. When I started last year I knew virtually zero Japanese. In the past 10 months I have learned a lot and I can read and write about 300 kanji now. It's been a lot of hard work on my part as well, I spend about 2 hours a day mainly learning kanji and doing homework. With paid lessons you feel more motivated to do well because you feel you don't want to waste your money.

Lynn · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 696 Location: in between

The free lesson at the international school are only good if you are at beginning level. I went the to the advanced class and it was just me and a Brazilian woman. The teacher kept explaining things in English then I'd have to turn around and teach the Brazlilian woman. I finally said (in Japananese) "Please just use Japanese because she doesn't understand English". Oh my G-d! He was pissed. I couldn't believe how childish his response was. I went back and attended a lower level just to meet people. I was the only English speaking person there. The rest were Brazilian, Chinese, Philipino etc. It was a lot of fun But I eventually stopped going because I couldn't partcipate in the class that was below my level.

As for paying for private lessons....Definetely have a 30 mintues session with the teacher before you pay. I made the mistake of paying for my first lesson. The first 30 mintues was her assessing my level then the next 30 was her trying to figure out how to teach me. She wasn't very good at all, so I never went back.

I learned just by living. I took the Japanese proficiency test level 2 and passed.