Is Japanese language school worth the cost?

21 comments

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2. If you’ve been able to get to the point where you’re taking the N3 on your own, even if it took 5 years, I think the only benefit to a classroom environment is the social aspect. I know plenty of people that have been here far longer with less ability, so if you truly decided to make a hard push yourself with an “intense” study plan, it’s possible.

   But when I say the “only” benefit is the social aspect, I don’t want to minimize it, because I made some great friends that I am still in touch with today. That said, that benefit is somewhat muted due in online lessons, but I’m sure there are plenty of schools that have gone completely back to in-class lessons.

   That said, in my experience, the social aspect diminishes a bit when you get into the higher level classes because one, the classes become less and less crowded due to the natural attrition of this stupid difficult effing language, and two, most of the people that DO remain in the higher levels socially segment themselves by nationality (of which the students were primarily SEA/Chinese), so europeans and other westerners were zilch. So if you’re a westerner, you might be the only one in the upper-level classes. (my sample size is small though, so it might just be the experience I had)

   But if you make the push yourself, make sure you make a plan, follow it, and adjust when needed. (and trust me it will be needed) Good luck!

   Context: The first two years here, I went to three different language schools, but once COVID hit, I switched to self-study and conversation lessons on iTalki. I’d say my self-study vs. school time is pretty even. I just took the N1 two weeks ago. (whether I passed or not is a different question…)

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4. While an exchange student I had Japanese classes like … 3 to 4 times a week, and having so many instances spread out over the week helped me improve _very quickly_. Granted, this was at the beginning.

   I don’t know what the full time language school is like, but since you’re also in Japan and get some natural exposure as well, just figuring out a way to have classes like… 3x a week might get you most of the way there.

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6. I was an exchange student 10 years ago, and I started at N3 (took it in my home country). I passed the N1 after 1 year, so I’d say it definitely worked. The school drills lreally prepared me for how the test works, and I’m the type of student who really benefits from having classmates (to ask questions I couldn’t think about, or who could explain difficult concepts to me).

   If you aren’t pressed for time, it sounds like you are capable of getting to N1 at your own pace. If you’d like a more structured/rigorous program, school might work for you.

7. I went to Human academy. It was useful in that it was constant Japanese all day every day and we got to practice each thing every day. On the bad side, my school was focused on Chinese students, so kanji was a second thought. They already knew most of them so we got handed ten to fifteen kanji to learn each day on top of the Japanese. Those Kanji would be used the next day. I kept up for a while, but that’s too many for me and after a couple of months I was about 50 kanji behind so I couldn’t really follow the class. I just did my own independent study in class. Still the class work, just the stuff from last week or so.

   There was no time assigned for review. Nobody was allowed to repeat the class and there was no slowing down for anything people were having difficulty with. You got graduated regardless of your scores even though they tested us every week. I tested this theory by not even reading my question sheet on the end of term test. I answered all the questions on the two hour test in about 7 minutes. I graduated.

   My teachers were not Japanese teachers. Just like some eikaiwas, my teachers were just random Japanese people. One was a dropout from law school. I took such copious notes she actually borrowed my book to use my examples on the white board (I used [This website](https://japanesetest4you.com) for my examples). I’m absolute shit at Japanese. If I’d have been allowed to study at a reasonable pace, I suspect I’d have got a hell of a lot more done, but Kanji is the big time sink and my school was not the right choice for someone who didn’t already have the Kanji down.

   Self paced learning is best, but if you’re like me and need a classroom environment to learn, you’re going to have to just put up with whatever they throw at you as they likely aren’t actually interested in whether or not you actually learn anything, just that you keep paying each month.

   Human Academy Review:
   Speed: Fast
   Environment: Friendly
   Staff: Nice, but not very qualified
   Kanji: DIY (some minor guidance provided)
   Price: Exorbitant
   Target Student: Chinese (or Kanji proficient person)
   Recommended? Only to someone who already knows Kanji.

8. If you’re already in Japan, don’t need the visa and have some Japanese ability already, I’d say that no, it’s probably not worth it.

   But if you want structured lessons 5 days a week and a group of classmates to learn with and don’t mind paying tuition (most are about 800,000 / year) then you might enjoy it.

   Contact some prospective schools and learn more about them. Some will let you sit in on a class to get a feel for what it’s like.

   My advice would be to try to find out the nationality breakdown of the students at the school you want to go to. I would try to find a school that has some people from your nationality since many schools specifically cater to certain nationalities and also it’s hard to make friends if you’re the only one from a certain culture and who doesn’t speak the language of everyone else.

9. When I first came to Japan, I never really had any goals to take JLPT. Really I thought if I could learn to read and write a little, that would be kinda neat.

   I joined a sports club, and that social contact was probably the biggest influence on me being able to learn the language quite quickly in quite a short time. I not only made friends – which is super important when culture shock sets in – but I was exposed to all different types of Japanese (everyone speaks a little different and has different quirks).

   When I got to learning reading and writing, it felt like every kanji character I learned made life just that little bit easier, which was super encouraging. As a result of that I brute forced as many as I could in a short amount of time and ended up remembering all of the ones that I was seeing around the place.

   There seems to be a pattern that people who learn the language join some sort of social group activity where they learn socially. If you are in a large city, you could see if there is a goup activity or something you could get involved in (doesn’t have to be sports). If you’re out in a more rural area, you’ll probably find a lot of community gatherings regularly at different times of the year.

   My end result is that my initial goal of stay less than a year, learn a bit of reading and go home turned into a fair few years, JLPT1 and working at a regular shachiku job.

   To make my point, find something you can do socially that you enjoy, and see what happens.

10. My vote is a resounding “if you have the money to do it, do it before you have children”. I made as much progress in one year of language school as in 5 years of (pretty rigorous by all measures) self-study and occasional online lessons. I found language school to create a very motivating environment, and the NOT speaking in English almost at all for a whole year made a huge difference. Maybe this was just me, but being able to pretty much dedicate every minute of my day to communication only in Japanese was an important part of learning Japanese to a level that surprises most people even though I have only lived here for 5 years.

    From the mom perspective, I can only say that no matter how good you get at Japanese…your japanese will get worst during those first parenting years. They are brutal and you are exhausted and defeated every day. Even with advanced level of Japanese I’ve found making Japanese mom friends extremely challenging due to cultural differences and especially differences in child rearing practices. Honestly, speaking English has made me more mom friends than anything else, as there’s plenty of bored and intellectually understimulated stay at home moms who are interested in English…haha.

    Bottom line… I found Japanese language school extremely helpful in making that jump to the advanced level. However, I cannot vouch for the value of advanced Japanese if you plan to stay home and raise kids. You may find yourself wanting to find other foreign mom friends, anyway.

    If you want to be a working mom in a career other than teaching English, I would recommend 1. Go to language school and 2. Work on getting that career started BEFORE having kids. From experience I can say that doing it the other way around will be…a special breed of challenging!

    Good luck whatever you choose!

11. I did it for 1.5 years and got to strong N3 just showing up for class and not doing any homework. Class was 9-1.

    Id say if not for school i doubt i’d have ever reached a decent level even in a decade. When you have to work etc you just cant make it studying so little. 1-2 hours a week will get you nowhere even in years. 1-2 hours a week after you already hit N3 or N2 will let you self study till absolute fluency even if it takes a few more years. However without the foundation i dont think anyone can achieve much at all with 1-2 hours a week self study no matter how many years they do it.

    However i quit after 1.5 years at school because i felt a dramatic drop off in value after the first semester of the second year. Speaking to other students none of them recommended the final semester of year two(last class) out of all who did it.

    All that said if you have to do it all online dont. Its a ripoff and you learn barely anything by comparison. The students who were forced to do it all online for a year before they came told me they almost all regretted it.

12. I went to akamonkai and highly recommend it if you’re actually able to dedicate full time to school. I left after 1 year of study to get a job, but went from only being able to read hirigana to around N2 when I left. I’ve found self study after that to be very difficult, especially with a full time job. I’m likely going to start doing italki lessons because it just feels like I’m no longer making any progress in learning now.

    I’ll warn you that akamonkai is intense and they will absolutely make you repeat a class of they think you aren’t keeping up with the class. They also will force you to do 100% of the homework, and will make you retake tests that you’ve failed until you pass.

13. I’ve been to several Japanese schools.. all seem to be grammar, test, and textbook based…I did free classes for a while and online now.. depends on the price and what you want to do

14. Bottom line, self studying is hard in many ways and a school forces you to be in class, exposed to the language and with someone who corrects your mistakes, with a higher frequency. Since you don’t need the visa and already are at an N3 level, why not try 1 term and see if it works for you? Be really present in your lessons and then analyze if the cost/benefit is good for you.

15. Be careful about equating “learning Japanese” and “Passing JLPT N#”. The test itself is quite weak and narrow in its assessment, since there is no production (speaking or writing) assessment. The test is really just a passive knowledge check with some reading comprehension, and Japanese language schools are going to teach to the test. It’s great if you want to improve your reading ability, or general ability to passively understand the language but you’ll miss out on speaking ability which is arguably far more important in real life/functional adult contexts.

    Self study with JLPT prep materials to keep up with content goals (grammar, vocab, kanji) while immersing yourself in your daily life and trying to convert that passive content in to active use every day will take you a lot further and make you more practically functional in the language.

16. I joined a language school last month, so it’s a bit early to say how much my Japanese improved thanks to it, but unlike you, I wasn’t able to self study Japanese efficiently by myself before that, so it made sense for me – I should have joined earlier in fact. I find the teachers in my school to be good, I think we learn grammar fast and there are only a few Chinese in the class so I don’t feel left behind with the kanjis.

    What I would recommend is to try to have a trial class with any prospective school. Also you can negotiate to not pay too much money upfront. For the normal students, the school has to find them an accommodation, an アルバイト, they help them with their visa, etc. but this is not your case since you are already set in Japan, so for the money you will pay them they will have very little work to do (just correct your homework and exams basically).

17. I’d also say it’s worth it if you can afford it. I was N3 level when I started Japanese school, and I found it very helpful. I tried spending a year being immersed in Japanese after passing N3, and although it improved my vocabulary and reading and writing ability, I still think I benefited more by going back to school and having more structured learning. I thought it was a waste of time at first, but having to learn to write kanji then using it to do writing assignments and tests really helps you learn and retain your knowledge of kanji. Unfortunately you’ll proabably lose the ability to write without checking your phone 6 months after graduating. My time at language school was one of the happiest times of my life, so the social element was great for me too.

18. I did not do a full time language school and wonder if it would have helped to have done so at the stage you are at now, so in case it’s helpful to hear the experience of not having done it. I moved here at 24, married but no kids yet, and got from nothing to N3 level with self study and free classes at community centers before kids, around 5 years (but I did work using Japanese). The following 10 years I continued to progress with my spoken Japanese but without the time/focus I used to have, my reading hasn’t kept up. The past few years I’ve been putting time again into study (some self study, some online) and I could probably pass the N2 now. I’ve landed on Kumon to try to get my literacy and vocabulary up further, and I’m thinking if I had started that sooner I would have made better progress than the fairly random collection of books and classes I used over the years.

    Whatever you decide, upping your language skills and especially literacy will be a good investment – good luck!

19. As someone currently attending language school, it’s only worth it for the visa and being able to stay in Japan. You can learn more Japanese in 3 hours of studying on your own than a week at school.

20. Every school seems different, so choose wisely.
    Avoid to go to the school that specialises on preparing people for entering colleges and universities. This kind of schools usually take care about making you able to pass a test more, than about giving you real japanese knoladges.

    My school was one of those. It was great for N5-N3 level. The lessons were well structured and easy to understand. The amount of new information was very reasonable. 1 year took to pass N3 for almost everyone in the class.

    Than everything changed between N3 and N2. The amount of the new information was increased 3-5 times. It’s difficulty also were increased. The lessons lost it’s structure and became pretty much chaotic. I had a strong feeling that noone teacher really know how to make us achieve N2. It was seemed like they just trying to “brute force” it giving us as much new info, as they can. Also they highly increased the number of 日本語能力試験対策授業, which were waste of time because at those lessons we usually just tried to pass what we didn’t learn yet. As a result only one chinese guy passed N2 a year later. It was painful and meaningless time.

    Also it’s very important to understand that you will probably never be satisfied by your level of japanese. So be careful of wasting too much money just to try to drown out this feeling.

21. I have several friends who joined language school for a year before entered their university. Actually it is depend on the person as well. One of them failed due to laziness but the rest of them showed a very good progress.

    I myself join a (almost) free language salon and get a good teacher. It’s discipline is different than school but yeah, still worth it, except if the teacher isn’t good.

    good luck