I’m currently around N4.
My goals/needs:
1. Come out of the language school (1-2 years) and segue into an engineering job.
2. I need JLPT N2 or N1 minimum to get that job.
3. *However*, I need to actually speak the language – not just pass a test. Passing the tests will come naturally if I can focus on learning the language.
4. I do like schools that provide business Japanese and job seeking assistance.
5. I also want good Kanji practice (aka more western students).
6. I do NOT really need the general cultural component (e.g. I don’t need to go on an excursion to make Takoyaki or whatever). Business cultural component would be good though, which I think comes naturally in any business oriented course.
7. Based on 1-6 above, I feel I probably need a truly holistic education – probably some combo of real spoken communication driven learning, followed by some refinement of business/JLPT preparation once a fairly high level of spoken Japanese is obtained. May need two different schools.
I’ve looked at a bunch of schools, and these are kind of what I’m looking at:
1. GenkiJACS: This looks like a really good school for actually speaking the language, and has small class sizes which are beneficial. However, they do not have any real focus on JLPT or business Japanese, nor do they appear to assist with helping you find a job. Seems like a good school if you just purely want to speak/communicate, but might be a bit weak on the job/business end. Also the lack of a consistent schedule here week to week is kind of a con.
2. ISI: This school looks like it focuses heavily on JLPT/business Japanese and helping people get jobs. I like that the job seeking is done in-house. But it seems like I may be left with some deficiencies in my actual speaking ability at the end of this. It also seems like they have a lot of Chinese students who will excel at the kanji, and therefore they may spend less time on kanji learning. I’ve also heard mixed reviews in general.
3. Kai: I don’t know as much about this school yet, but it says they primarily work with engineers and they do offer business Japanese and provide job seeking support. GenkiJACS and ISI seem to be extremes – Genki is strictly conversational whereas ISI is strictly JLPT/business…Kai might split the difference and be a blend of both?
What do you guys think? Is one of these schools best for my goals above, or do you think I would need to do some combo of schools, like GenkiJACs for a year and then move over to Kai/ISI to refine on the business/JLPT end?
by Felchmonster
