I have been learning Japanese for 3, almost 4 years now and am somewhere around N3 level so far. I am aware that my Japanese is not yet sufficient to survive in a high school but I do still have 1-2 years to learn and improve since I am a freshman. Hoping to get to the N2 level possibly, since I have grammar and conversation lessons every week. I’ve been planning to go on an exchange for 6 months, from February to August. I feel like I should clarify that I am not from the US and I have not discussed this with my school principal yet, planning to do this first thing in September. I was originally planning to go do an exchange for 6 months in my junior year from the beginning of my 2nd midterm till the end of the school year + 2 months of summer vacation (the school year is divided into 2 midterms – September-February and February-June) since I want to go to study in a university in Japan later. But my mother proposed going for a shorter exchange year on summer break for 2 months because she is afraid I will not manage my grades well (this is something that could be changed and discussed with my school principal). Both programs would be under AFS since I volunteer there and feel safe going with them. Is it better to bite my tongue and go only for the summer or should I stick with my original plan? My 6-month stay also has the option to go from September-February if this is anyhow helpful, but I prefer the later term since I would possibly get to see many more (in my opinion) cultural events like hanami or summer festivals.
2 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
—
**Studying in japan**
I have been learning Japanese for 3, almost 4 years now and am somewhere around N3 level so far. I am aware that my Japanese is not yet sufficient to survive in a high school but I do still have 1-2 years to learn and improve since I am a freshman. Hoping to get to the N2 level possibly, since I have grammar and conversation lessons every week. I’ve been planning to go on an exchange for 6 months, from February to August. I feel like I should clarify that I am not from the US and I have not discussed this with my school principal yet, planning to do this first thing in September. I was originally planning to go do an exchange for 6 months in my junior year from the beginning of my 2nd midterm till the end of the school year + 2 months of summer vacation (the school year is divided into 2 midterms – September-February and February-June) since I want to go to study in a university in Japan later. But my mother proposed going for a shorter exchange year on summer break for 2 months because she is afraid I will not manage my grades well (this is something that could be changed and discussed with my school principal). Both programs would be under AFS since I volunteer there and feel safe going with them. Is it better to bite my tongue and go only for the summer or should I stick with my original plan? My 6-month stay also has the option to go from September-February if this is anyhow helpful, but I prefer the later term since I would possibly get to see many more (in my opinion) cultural events like hanami or summer festivals.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think longer is worth it if you can.
I went for a semester exchange though I wish I would have done a full year. But grades didnt count… i finished my courses in Canada early so I had a whole empty semester.
youre not expected to do the Japanese course work as an exchange student (well, you do the best you can, but not much is expected). You probably wont get to N2 level, but that is fine, because you don’t need it for a high school exchange.