Anyone here went to a Japanese Language school in Japan yet ?

[Youkai]

Has anyone here been to a Japanese language school in Japan yet ?
I am currently in Tokyo on a Student Visa and I am kinda frustrated...

I have never been good at learning, it took me almost 6 years to become somewhat fluent in English and I am still nowhere close to perfection. Usually my learning style is "Passive" learning as I almost never actively studied on my own. Sadly unlike back home I don't have classmates discussing everything we learnt in a language that I understand (mostly chinese) so if I didn't get it in class there is no way from getting it by listening on my classmates discussions.


In my opinion the school is insanely fast and they don't explain a lot ... only the "english" words because the Chinese don't speak any English .... I don't need an explanation for most of the English words though, I'd prefer everything else.
We almost completed a whole book dedicated for jlptn5 within 2 months and I am still not able to build proper sentence at all (mostly due to know being able to remember 900 Words within 2 month) (thats what the word list I made in Anki says we are supposed to have learned going by the book)

Just did an old N5 test and got 58% ... thats actually a success but I think 58% is really bad and instead of trying to explain my mistakes they gave me N4 and told me to do it ... I just looked at it and got super angry telling them I don't understand anything at all and that I am not even gonna try as I'd only be guessing.


Someone in class told me that in their sharehouse someone else told her that they are as fast if not even faster in the other school ... this sounds so ridiculous, how do the Japanese think people can learn a hard language like Japanese in a few weeks?

"sadly" most of the people in my class did study japanese for several years already and they even registered for N3 so I doubt the school would slow down just for me but it's really hard to imagine this being the norm... how do other people do that ?

I had one girl in class already giving up

 

[LLeap]

Has anyone here been to a Japanese language school in Japan yet ?
I am currently in Tokyo on a Student Visa and I am kinda frustrated...

I have never been good at learning, it took me almost 6 years to become somewhat fluent in English and I am still nowhere close to perfection. Usually my learning style is "Passive" learning as I almost never actively studied on my own. Sadly unlike back home I don't have classmates discussing everything we learnt in a language that I understand (mostly chinese) so if I didn't get it in class there is no way from getting it by listening on my classmates discussions.


In my opinion the school is insanely fast and they don't explain a lot ... only the "english" words because the Chinese don't speak any English .... I don't need an explanation for most of the English words though, I'd prefer everything else.
We almost completed a whole book dedicated for jlptn5 within 2 months and I am still not able to build proper sentence at all (mostly due to know being able to remember 900 Words within 2 month) (thats what the word list I made in Anki says we are supposed to have learned going by the book)

Just did an old N5 test and got 58% ... thats actually a success but I think 58% is really bad and instead of trying to explain my mistakes they gave me N4 and told me to do it ... I just looked at it and got super angry telling them I don't understand anything at all and that I am not even gonna try as I'd only be guessing.


Someone in class told me that in their sharehouse someone else told her that they are as fast if not even faster in the other school ... this sounds so ridiculous, how do the Japanese think people can learn a hard language like Japanese in a few weeks?

"sadly" most of the people in my class did study japanese for several years already and they even registered for N3 so I doubt the school would slow down just for me but it's really hard to imagine this being the norm... how do other people do that ?

I had one girl in class already giving up

I had the same experience for over a year.

The problem with Japanese schools is that they all teach for test taking, not for actul progressive comprehension. The also do not use any methods of constant review and reinforcement.

You might find Language Leap helpful - it integates seamlessly with ANKI and gives you a way to actually track what you are studying. Search the WEB for it (this site prohibits posting web addresses...)

Good luck, I know what it feels like!

 

[Hanafuda]

It's rough. I lived there for 2 years in the early 90's. I speak like a very polite and serious 6 year old. But my listening comprehension is quite good, thanks to 24 years of watching Japanese TV almost every night.

My daughter's got N1 though. She's 20.

 

[Youkai]

From the website I don't really understand that Language Leap program yet, might need to try it... I actually struggle a little bit adding all the vocabulary in Anki especially as I have to change keyboard settings several times for each card :/


I probably sound like a total dork ... I mean I had two Japanese guys talking to me on Saturday (that surprised me) just casually asking where I am from and such ... I managed to talk to them about all kinds of stuff for about half an hour using almost only Japanese as they didn't speak English.... when I asked them why they talked to me they said they just wanted to know where J was from and they had fun talking to me when they noticed I could speak some Japanese ...
I use the te key and jisho key as well as masu and whatever form completely random whichever one pops up in my mind so its probably really bad but they could understand me at least ...
Still would love to be thought why and when to use which version of the word properly.

I have a kind of meeting with my head teacher tomorrow and he will probably be shocked as I usually don't mind communicating my opinion blatantly even if it sounds rude so I will tell him that I am not really happy :/

 

[Minox]

Never gone to language school in Japan, but I did study Japanese for two years at university, continued using it and have now lived and worked in Japan for the last ~5 years or so. Language school as far as I understand it is indeed often very high pace and if you're starting completely from scratch it can be quite a challenge.

Not sure if it helps at all, but I found that using Japanese while having fun tends to be really good for learning and if you happen to not know a word try explaining the word using whatever words you do know and see if someone can't figure out what word it is you're looking for.

(If by any chance you also happen to be stubborn that also helps a lot as it can prevent you from giving up too early )

 

[Deleted member 708839]

In my experience, when learning a new language you should go slow and steady at first then if you have time you can learn more intensely if you want to. 900 words in 2 months for a beginner is insane.

If attending this class is not a visa requirement then personally I recommend you leave and go through the Genki textbooks at your own pace. Just make sure to stay in the habit of actually studying.

 

[Minox]

In my experience, when learning a new language you should go slow and steady at first then if you have time you can learn more intensely if you want to. 900 words in 2 months for a beginner is insane.

If attending this class is not a visa requirement then personally I recommend you leave and go through the Genki textbooks at your own pace. Just make sure to stay in the habit of actually studying.

For language school attendance is more or less mandatory in Japan as far as I know. Recently immigration has been clamping down on schools with poor student attendance and making it more difficult for them to get visas for their students if they don't change. So not attending is likely not an option.

 

[SylverReZ]

I only spoke a bit of Japanese at conventions. First time I did Japanese lessons was during the holidays on Skype.