What are your experiences with Japanese language schools?

4 comments

1. I went to a language school for 1.5 years during the pandemic. I went from 0 to somewhere between N4 and N3. I slacked off because of the pandemic, and didn’t study much out of class. I know others that finished N2 in the same time period, because they were motivated and studied a lot out of class (and also they lied about their skill in placement tests, in order to get a student visa which would allow them to do part time work). I’m still very glad I went to Japan because I met my wife, but I regret that I did not achieve my language goals. I probably would’ve made faster progress self studying in my home country, at least through the beginner levels.

   Honestly its not a very good time to come to Japan right now because everyone is still masking. The masks are slowly coming off (the Japanese government is no longer recommending masks except for hospitals and public transportation), but most people are continuing to mask, and it’ll probably be another year or so until they drop in classrooms. Online learning kinda sucks because of the lag, but at least you can see facial expressions and mouth movements. If you go in person in Japan, then your teacher will probably be masked, and you’ll need to be masked as well.

   And also, 20 lessons/week for 4 months is going to be 320 hours. Probably less because of holidays. You can learn basic conversation in that time, but not much else. I would only recommend a 3-5 month stay if you already intermediate+ in Japanese, and would actually benefit from immersion. It wouldn’t make sense for a beginner, because you’d be spending most of your time in textbooks instead of actually experiencing living in Japan.

   GenkiJACS is probably the best language school for Europeans in Japan. They often have an entirely German cohort in the beginner levels, and I usually had at least one German in my class. GenkiJACS teachers and staff speak much better English than most other Japanese language schools in Japan. Which could be a pro or a con, depending upon your point of view. Of course, during classes you’re not allowed to use other languages, but some English is good for blowing off steam with other foreigners outside of class, and also living-in-Japan stuff for beginners.

2. I had a great experience with the Acceleration program at Yamasa ([http://www.yamasa.org/en/index.html](http://www.yamasa.org/en/index.html)). They teach directly in Japanese. If you are completely new to Japanese, don’t let the full immersion scare you: one of the other students in my course came there with 0 knowledge and did very well.

   I see Yamasa has dropped the acceleration courses and also a bunch of other short courses subtipes, but it still remains that they do great even from 0 knowledge. Maybe study a bit before you get there so you can start from slightly more advaced course, so that you get the most out of the experience.

   Also, consider that if you are staying more than 3 months you likely need a Visa, but I don’t think many schools would help you apply for a student Visa for less than 6 months of study. You can of course plan to take a break to go back to your home country anf then get back again, but google how it works (it used to be a thing people could do, I’m not sure what’s the situation now)

3. >I am looking for a language school that either teaches in English or German

   I think most of the language schools teach in Japanese from day one.

   Meguro Learning Centre MIGHT have more of an English bent but I can’t remember. They did not offer visa support.

4. >I am looking for a language school that either teaches in English or German.

   Unless you want to learn English or German (in which case why go to Japan?), that would be a bad idea. But you won’t be making that mistake, as instruction at Japanese language schools in Japan is entirely in Japanese. They know what they’re doing, and they will be able to teach you even if you’re starting with zero Japanese ability. Depending on the school, they may offer support services (helping you get a visa, find a place to live etc.) in other languages.

   If you are starting from zero, in 3 months you might be able to reach N4.

   Some of the schools are pretty good, e.g. Yamasa or Kai. I’m not aware of any actually bad schools. If they don’t perform, i.e. if the students fail the JLPT too often, I assume the government would decertify them. Many schools focus on Korean and/or Chinese students who already know all the kanji, so you may have trouble keeping up at a school like that.

   The biggest drawback is that they are expensive. I would recommend it if you have trouble staying motivated and have money to burn.