Do i need to have a level of knowledge of Japanese when planning to learn in japan?

4 comments

1. You should look at language schools and see if they have any requirements, or if the school you want to attend accepts people with 0 Japanese

2. Staying in japan is like an amplifier to your studying, while it will work out with no knowledge I would call that wasted potential. Best bang for your buck when you’re already into it a bit

3. I’d say put time in beforehand regardless. It can only help you.

   Many have zero expectations for your skill level. You’ll see when you read the program overviews.

   I’ve met people who didn’t invest their own time into learning, instead using the language school as a chance to go to Japan. Hoping the school would take care of their language needs.

   Mingling with international students to explore, and speaking mostly English with the Japanese friends they meet.

   They don’t do nearly as well acquiring language skills as those who are more driven to learn and acquire proficiency.

   Good chance you’ll feel like you’re struggling or barely keeping up with your class if you do the bare minimum on assignments like any other academic pursuit.

   If you don’t put in outside of class your classmates may hit that n2 easily after two years while you’re still fighting through mid to late n3. The overachievers and Chinese students may even hit n1.

   It’s definitely a good idea to start learning now.

   If you use your resources and bust your butt, you can probably even reach n4 before you go. Which would be a great headstart.

4. Unless you have the resources to stay for a very long time or to come back at a later time, I’d say the best bang for the buck would be to learn Japanese right where you already are, then improve it in Japan afterwards. Then you’d have more to say in conversations than 「日本語はまだわかりません」 (“I don’t understand Japanese yet.”).

   But as some people have already pointed out, you might be able to find a school that has no prior knowledge requirements at all.