language school in japan?
how much would it cost? have you been? is it good? im 16, does that matter? know any good ones? ***to study japanese... duh!!***
Japan - 3 Answers
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1 :
Uh,..."to study Japanese,,,,,duh!!"""....?There's not likely to be any schools that teach Japanese! It's Japan!!!! Everyone there already speaks Japanese ! Check out your local college,they might have a class or two in Japanese. At 16 you could only go to a Japanese high school for up to one year,maybe...
2 :
The Japanese Language school I attended in Sendai cost 300000 yen per six month term-but that was a while ago. It is OK to work up to 20 hours a week while attending. Nowadays I guess they would be all pretty good as Immigration cracked down on the sketchy ones. I don't see why a 16 year old couldn't attend if they had the financial means.
3 :
I attended the Yamasa Institute in Okazaki (website: http://www.yamasa.org/index.html ). I did their SILAC program, which offers intensive language modules that run in intervals of two weeks and you can sign up for a course 2-12 weeks long. They have other options too, but I'm most familiar with SILAC so everything else in this answer is based on that. SILAC offers the option of living in the dorms of having a homestay with a local family, which is what I did. It looks like next year's 4-week SILAC course cost is 123,200 yen (so somewhere in the area of $1200 USD). Depending on which housing option you choose, expect to pay 9,000 yen to 25,000 yen per week for housing. My homestay was about 20,000 per week. They offer weekly field trips, except during national holidays, and you have to pay extra for those. It's kind of annoying because of course the cost can add up, but on the other hand it's nice because you're not forced to go on trips that don't interest you. As a general rule, you have to be 18 to join the program, but there was a 17-year-old in my course when I was there and there's a page somewhere on the website that mentions that you should contact the program director if you want to discuss waiving the age requirement. Definitely do that -- he can be a bit brusque but he's a nice guy. I know, I've met him and he took us on all of our field trips. I think it's a good program. I wouldn't recommend it otherwise ;) To give you an idea of what you can accomplish in a month of SILAC classes, when I returned to the USA I wanted to continue studying Japanese at my university. Because of my Yamasa class I was able to skip the entire first semester of Non-Intensive Elementary Japanese. Also, after my Yamasa class ended, I spent three weeks traveling around Japan on my own and the Japanese I learned in the class really helped me. I wasn't the most eloquent speaker by a long shot, but I could ask for help, have basic conversations with people, and figure out what the announcements on the shinkansen meant with a little effort. I will caution you that if you decide to attend a Yamasa course, you will be expected to do homework every night, and if you don't do your homework you're pretty much throwing your money away. The homework is essential to understanding the material and learning Japanese. So if you're serious about learning Japanese and you're willing to put the work and effort into it, you should get a lot out of the class, but if you're thinking of going to the language school and slacking off on your work in favor of partying every night, Yamasa might not be for you. That's not to say you can't have fun -- you can -- Yamasa is a school and you are there to take a class.
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