Hi there! I’m an Italian girl that has almost finished university (I’ll graduate in October) and I studied there Japanese for 3 years.
My next step will be going in Kyoto next July for at least a year to improve my Japanese in a school with the goal to take the JLPT exam, find a job and stay in Japan.
I’m now searching for a good school in Kyoto through GoGoNihon and there are just these 2: ISI Language School and ARC Academy.
The reviews are not so many, so I’m writing this post to ask if any of you had been in one of these schools or knows how they are.
I hope you can help me! 🙂
(Sorry if I made some English mistakes… T-T)
9 comments
Just hitch-hiking on your post because I am in your exact situation (I was supposed to go in April 2021 also through GoGoNihon, but covid happened…). ARC seemed a better fit for me as they say it’s less study-intensive.
I’ll just keep an eye on what people have to say.
You could also try and ask on the Kyoto subreddit, maybe someone there knows.
Can I ask on the total estimated expense on 1 year studies plus living in Japan?
Found a discussion awhile back on it. I’m also planning to move to japan through gogonihon next year, which semester are you guys applying/ have applied for?
[kyoto language schools](https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/comments/hxpewv/language_school_in_kyoto/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)
I don’t know about these schools but I did use GoGoNihon on a relatively unreviewed school back on 2012. It was what I made it. I still live and work here, and am above N1 level. Likely if it’s a real and reputable school it’ll be what you make it.
Honestly the quality of the school doesn’t matter pick the one you think has the better surroundings.
As long as you’re getting sustained practice speaking with Native speakers and producing your own sentences in Japanese.
I went to ISI Chukyo in 2011. Is was really good. Well planned shedule and the teachers were awesome.
I don’t know anything about ISI in Kyoto.
Went to ISI in Tokyo like 15 years ago. It was legit back then but to be honest the schools don’t differ that much
I can’t really compare the two, but when I was in your position I eventually decided to contact a different school directly (taking note of the ‘reputable’ list linked in the other thread). Not because of GoGoNihon, who were always helpful and understanding, but because both ARC and ISI seem to have a 漢字圏 (かんじけん – China, Taiwan, Korea, etc) majority student body; I was worried that the syllabus would be designed with existing kanji/hanzi knowledge in mind and thus be paced wrongly for non-漢字圏 folk.
Anyone who’s been to a 漢字圏 student heavy language school, please enlighten me (and OP) on the actual effects of this and whether or not I’m bsing.
I studied in ISI Kyoto for one year and three months, and this is my experience:
The school is a speedrun for N2, everyday you will study new material without ever reviewing It. They will give you homework everyday and there will be kanji test everyweek. Most of the teachers are people who quit their previous job and didn’t know what to do, or just stick with this job because the atmosphere is more laidback than other companies, which results in many incompetent teachers who just read the book and arent able to provide an exhaustive explanation or study method.
The overall organization is not too bad but I had different frustrating situations.
Speaking skill won’t be practiced much, since the main focus is grammar and reading comprehension in order to pass thw JLPT, which to me was really sad.
Overall the business works like this, they take your money and they let you stay in Japan, Its not really about teaching, which they just rely on a handful of good teachers, all the remaining ones are pretty trash.