別科 Bekka vs Japanese Language School

Hi everyone!

I'm researching language schools at the moment, intending to go in 2025 and during this research phase I've come across 別科 (ベッか) which is where a Japanese university has a separate Japanese language course.

The one I was looking it is part of Hokuriku University (Kanazawa) and two things stood out to me:

  1. It's a lot cheaper than the usual Japanese language schools. This course is ¥700k the other ones are about ¥850k – ¥1100k

  2. The schedule looks quite balanced between reading, writing, speaking, listening and research/project work, classes being 9 am to 3pm

The only thing is there is a lack of reviews, which is understandable as they may not be as well known as language schools.

My questions are;

  • Has anyone been to a bekka here, and if so what was your experience?

  • Would there be any downsides I'm not seeing to going to a bekka?

  • Can anyone recommend any other bekka? The information appears to be less intuitive to find on a Google search compared to language schools.

For context, I will be 31 when I go (female, if that matters), so I would be a good decade older than the traditional Japanese student, though I don't know how much I'd interact with them. I passed N4 in 2018 and haven't studied since tbh, just recently got back into it.

by whataledge

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