I'm currently in my second year of Japanese language school. I made sure to get an N5 before I enrolled, despite the staff saying that I didn't need to do so, but I'm glad I did because by the time classes started, I could understand a lot of what sensei was saying and I ended up translating for my classmates. I was placed in the beginner's class of course because my Japanese speaking ability was practically non-existent. 🤣 I just passed the N3 and now I'm preparing to sit for N2 since I plan to work in Japan after graduating. The takeaway here is you should at least have a basic grasp of the language before enrolling or you'd end up being like some of my classmates who were so lost during lessons. 😅
Thank you the tips. I was actually supposed to go to Japanese language school last April but unfortunately covid happened. I did take formal lessons a few years ago. I would right hiragana and katakana on manila paper and post them on my wall. I do hope il be able to attend next year.
Yeah, I’ve heard more similar stories this year! I’m sorry you had to postpone, I’m sure you were excited to come here! Seems like you’re ready though, and as far as I know they’re letting students into japan now, so I hope you’ll make it over here next year! ☺️
Thank you! This video was specially helpful since I am right about applying to a language school! I will be sure to ask GoGo Nihon those questions before applying, thank you again ♥️
@@johannakatakana Im traveling as a part of my school group to Japan for a week and I can't wait! Also, I have a quick question did you come to language school before collage/uni or after because I want to come for 2yrs then go to college or uni in Japan. Just curious
Hiragana to N2 in two years? Wow must be a hell of a rigorous program if many people in the course could actually pass the N2 in that time. I have been self-studying maybe 1.5 years and I think I'd pass N4 today and am currently studying mostly N3 material, but no way in hell I'd be ready for even N3 much less N2 in the next 6 months (listening would kill me on N3 right now).
Haha yeah it’s quite intense, and the months leading up to each exam is very busy with “jlpt drills” on a daily basis to prepare for each section! The schools are more or less promising you to be able to pass N2 within two years, so they also feel pressured to get their students to pass! The Monday after the exam when you come to school is usually quite chill, and the teachers usually let us off with some not-too-hard exercises to cool off from the exam stress 😂
Hi Johanna, I was considering going to FFLC, and I was wondering if I was better off looking for an apartment by myself or just get one of the options given by the school, what's been your experience? Cheers
Hey! ☺️ I personally recommend starting off in a dorm, and then move after 6 months or a year when you’ve gotten used to living in japan! Living in a dorm means you can make lots of friends and easily hang out with other students (in the lobby, kitchen etc), and you don’t have to worry about paying any bills for the first 6 months since it’s all included in the fee you pay before you move to japan! It’s also much easier to look for an apartment when you’re already living in japan! So yeah, I recommend moving into a dorm and then moving out when you feel comfortable! I’m actually planning on making a video about this soon, hope it can be of help!
I have been meeting with a tutor three times a week and I study by myself. I already know hiragana and katakana. I have started the Remembering the Kanji book. I will continue to do this until language school next April. I hope it will be enough!
RTK really gives you a leg up in not being scared of kanji, but are you studying anything else in parallel to be studying the actual language? When I did RTK1 the novelty wore off by about 1/4 of the way through the book and I would have become bored to death with it if I wasn't constantly applying what I had learned in RTK while studying Genki I (and later Genki II).
Yeah, it’s really good that you’ve gotten hiragana and katakana down, and so now you can move on to learning some vocab and grammar to expand your knowledge and imply what you’ve learned so far! ☺️ It will definitely be enough, from now on it’s just a matter of how much you want to learn before April!
In general I think you could learn faster by your own, the only things language school do well is having a teacher to ask for some doubts and classmates to share ideas, but even that is limited because there is just one teacher and all references will come from one person instead of maybe hiring 1h clases with diferent teacher online and having diferente perspectives, I learned 3k kanji by my own and took me 4 month and 2 more to refine the knoledge, at the beggining I though it would take me years as many people claim on the internet but I guess studying by your own turned out to be better for me.
Question, before enrolling in the language school did you already passed the N3 or you just studied japanese then after taking the placement test, you were assessed as N3???
I can’t speak from personal experience since my study journey has been a bit different, but I’d say it’s totally possible! Like I said in the video, while not ALL students passed N2, a lot of them did too! It depends on how hard you study and how much time you put in to it! Most of the student who were serious about learning and worked hard managed to pass N2 within the two years!
when the 2 year course goes from April to April, can you stay then till summer to take the test? It's only twice a year. Or can you take it more often in Japan?
You CAN stay in Japan until your visa runs out, but you won’t be eligible to work part time after you graduate! And depending on when your visa ends it might be a bit tight with time xD My student visa ended July 6 and the test is usually around July 1-3! And no, you can only take it in July and December!
Hej Johanna. Trivs du? Jag är 31 och ska jobba som forskare i Tokyo (doktorsexamen i bakgrunden). kommer jag vara väldigt gammal i en ev. språkskola? ;) hehe
Hej Mattias! Hehe, ja jag trivs jättebra! Du kommer definitivt vara över medelåldern, men absolut inte ”väldigt gammal” haha! Sen så spelade ålder väldigt liten roll, det märkte jag snabbt! Alla hängde med varandra ändå 😂
@@johannakatakana Tack för snabbt svar. Längtar tills jag kommer i Januari. Nu är det gråväder och snöstorm här i Dalarna. Har försökt lära mig Japanska hemma länge nu, men jag tycker det är en hög tröskel. Upplevde du samma? Börjar så småning om att förstå N5, men verb är svåra att komma ihåg och höra eftersom de säger dem så snabbt och de böjer dem ofta men någon underlig ändelse. Lossnar det? Den ända jag ofta hör är ...imaaaaaaaaaas. Hahaha
Åh, kommer du redan i januari? Kommer du som student eller ska du jobba först? Det låter ruggigt (idag hade vi 25 grader här 😂) men åh vad jag saknar snön!! Fast jag är från Skåne, så lite mildare väder är jag kanske van vid. 🤣 Jo, det är definitivt mycket svårare att plugga själv hemma än att vara på plats här. Jag lärde mig en del innan jag kom hit första gången, men hade definitivt inte lärt mig så mycket som jag kunnat göra genom att bo här samtidigt som jag pluggat språket! Det blir liksom lättare när man kan imitera folk runt omkring en tills man lär sig vad allt betyder 😂 Det lossnar definitivt efter ett tag även med självstudier, men det går sååå mycket snabbare att bli lärd här på plats!
@@johannakatakana Haha, då finns det även hopp för mig 😂😂 kan redan förstå lite enkelt. Gillar när ickejapaner pratar, det blir så tydligt och enklare då. Waao. 25 grader?? Men det är Foukoka va? Haha, va på en blind date där en gång. Den var katastrofal 👻 Ska jobba där. Har fått ett bra stipendium från Japanska staten för att forska på miljögifter i Tsukuba, men överväger att försöka stanna efter det. Blev inspirerad av dig. Gillar dina färgglada kläder, fast jag hörde inte du va från Skåna. Gabatte med studierna!
Haha nej jag bor i södra kanagawa nu, flyttade upp hit för att börja på universitet! Och vi har en varm vecka den här veckan, vi kommer ha runt 15-17 om några dagar! Åh vad coolt!! Jag vill jättegärna åka till tsukuba, naturen där är såååå fin! Och det är inte överdrivet långt från där jag bor nu! Haha vad kul, du kanske blir kvar här ett tag längre än planerat! 🤪 Och nej jag vet att jag inte låter skånsk, men jag är född och uppvuxen i Helsingborg 😂 Min pappa är från Gästrikland så jag är väl någon slags hybrid 🤷🏼♀️ Men ja, hoppas du får en bra resa och stadig landning i Japan!!
@@johannakatakana Yeah umm Johanna first of all thanks for your RUclips videos that help us get more information on our process to study in Japan I have a request that I wanted to submit to you, can you please make a video on how to fill the Japanese language school’s application form, personally I’m wondering if I should fill them by taping or handwriting? Thanks 🙏🏾
Oh haha, that’s a nice video idea! I don’t have access to the application forms and I’m not sure if I know the whole process completely myself (it’s been 4 years since I filled them in myself 🤣), but perhaps I can contact gogonihon or my language school and see what I can do! I filled them in by handwriting! ☺️
This actually depends on the school itself so you should check. Some schools state their age limit as 28 years old, some 30, and some have no limit at all.
Honestly, hiragana and katakana are just something you could learn by rote in a few days as long as you continue studying after that, so doesn't matter what source you get the hiragana and katakana tables from. Took me four or five days at 2-3 hours per day of study to get to where I could write the hiragana and katakana tables from memory, with a couple of errors on each. It's fine if you can't write them 100% from memory, as long as you can mostly do the table from memory you're great to move on to actually learning the language. The way I remembered them at first was remembering one row (or column if they're written that way). Eg I'd want to know how to write the sound 'ke' so think well the k row is 'か、き、く、け、こ' and the e sound in the k row must then be け. After moving on to Genki 1 I had used so much hiragana I mostly had it down cold in 2-3 weeks. Katakana took me about 5-6 weeks to where I had the symbols down cold since it took a while before it was used enough in Genki 1.
Thanks for the replies guys!! I think they gave some great advice, search on RUclips for guides or just google “hiragana chart” or something similar, and you’ll get all you need for studying! ☺️
I want go to japanese language school after my Master degree in 2020. I am at N4 level now and by 2022 I will at N3. I want to attend school for 6 months, so will I be able to do that?
I’ve cleared n3 level and i want to join language school ive heared tokyo is really expensive i think i want to spend alot of money can you please suggest me school in fukoka i guess fukoka is beautiful
I can only really suggest or recommend the school I went to, since that’s the only one I’ve experienced! Like I mentioned in the video, I went to Fukuoka foreign language college! Fukuoka is soooo pretty and so nice to live in, I definitely recommend living there!
I'm currently in my second year of Japanese language school. I made sure to get an N5 before I enrolled, despite the staff saying that I didn't need to do so, but I'm glad I did because by the time classes started, I could understand a lot of what sensei was saying and I ended up translating for my classmates. I was placed in the beginner's class of course because my Japanese speaking ability was practically non-existent. 🤣
I just passed the N3 and now I'm preparing to sit for N2 since I plan to work in Japan after graduating.
The takeaway here is you should at least have a basic grasp of the language before enrolling or you'd end up being like some of my classmates who were so lost during lessons. 😅
Very good comment!! It’s such a waste of time being confused for weeks before you get the hang of it!
Hi! If you don’t mind? How old are you now?? 😅
Please what is the name of your school that doesn’t require any japanese level for enrollment , I wanna apply
thanks, im studying the language in tokyo october next year and thanks to you everything is much clearer now.
Have fun in Tokyo!! 🎉
This is so helpful thank you! And you’re really pretty I love your eye colour :D
Yay, I’m so happy to hear that! And thank yooou! 😍
Thank you the tips. I was actually supposed to go to Japanese language school last April but unfortunately covid happened. I did take formal lessons a few years ago. I would right hiragana and katakana on manila paper and post them on my wall. I do hope il be able to attend next year.
Yeah, I’ve heard more similar stories this year! I’m sorry you had to postpone, I’m sure you were excited to come here! Seems like you’re ready though, and as far as I know they’re letting students into japan now, so I hope you’ll make it over here next year! ☺️
Thank you! This video was specially helpful since I am right about applying to a language school! I will be sure to ask GoGo Nihon those questions before applying, thank you again ♥️
Get starting!! 🤣
Amazing video planning on coming through GoGoNihon as a 2 year language student. Your videos are super helpful!!! Thanks!!!
Thank you for your super nice comment! ☺️ I hope you’ll have a great time in Japan!
@@johannakatakana Im traveling as a part of my school group to Japan for a week and I can't wait! Also, I have a quick question did you come to language school before collage/uni or after because I want to come for 2yrs then go to college or uni in Japan. Just curious
I went to language school first, and went on to study in a Japanese university after that!
Random, but i like your lipstick haha
Haha thank you!! 😂 Fittingly enough I got it in Busan! 🤪
@@johannakatakana omgggggg ahahah what a coincidence 😂 😂
Hiragana to N2 in two years? Wow must be a hell of a rigorous program if many people in the course could actually pass the N2 in that time. I have been self-studying maybe 1.5 years and I think I'd pass N4 today and am currently studying mostly N3 material, but no way in hell I'd be ready for even N3 much less N2 in the next 6 months (listening would kill me on N3 right now).
Haha yeah it’s quite intense, and the months leading up to each exam is very busy with “jlpt drills” on a daily basis to prepare for each section! The schools are more or less promising you to be able to pass N2 within two years, so they also feel pressured to get their students to pass! The Monday after the exam when you come to school is usually quite chill, and the teachers usually let us off with some not-too-hard exercises to cool off from the exam stress 😂
Hi Johanna, I was considering going to FFLC, and I was wondering if I was better off looking for an apartment by myself or just get one of the options given by the school, what's been your experience? Cheers
Hey! ☺️ I personally recommend starting off in a dorm, and then move after 6 months or a year when you’ve gotten used to living in japan! Living in a dorm means you can make lots of friends and easily hang out with other students (in the lobby, kitchen etc), and you don’t have to worry about paying any bills for the first 6 months since it’s all included in the fee you pay before you move to japan! It’s also much easier to look for an apartment when you’re already living in japan! So yeah, I recommend moving into a dorm and then moving out when you feel comfortable!
I’m actually planning on making a video about this soon, hope it can be of help!
I have been meeting with a tutor three times a week and I study by myself. I already know hiragana and katakana. I have started the Remembering the Kanji book. I will continue to do this until language school next April. I hope it will be enough!
RTK really gives you a leg up in not being scared of kanji, but are you studying anything else in parallel to be studying the actual language? When I did RTK1 the novelty wore off by about 1/4 of the way through the book and I would have become bored to death with it if I wasn't constantly applying what I had learned in RTK while studying Genki I (and later Genki II).
Yeah, it’s really good that you’ve gotten hiragana and katakana down, and so now you can move on to learning some vocab and grammar to expand your knowledge and imply what you’ve learned so far! ☺️ It will definitely be enough, from now on it’s just a matter of how much you want to learn before April!
Please which school did you apply
I love people loving japanese
thank you 😘
In general I think you could learn faster by your own, the only things language school do well is having a teacher to ask for some doubts and classmates to share ideas, but even that is limited because there is just one teacher and all references will come from one person instead of maybe hiring 1h clases with diferent teacher online and having diferente perspectives, I learned 3k kanji by my own and took me 4 month and 2 more to refine the knoledge, at the beggining I though it would take me years as many people claim on the internet but I guess studying by your own turned out to be better for me.
Do they have requirements for where my mark should be in my native language? And is there an age cut off to attend these schools?
pls indulge me in my last question Johanna
once i get n4
do I most probably need 2-year program to get n1, instead of the 1-year program?
Yeah, I think so! I think you’ll need to start at N2 if you wanna clear N1 in just one year, it’s quite tough!
when you said "started from n3" you mean they got n3 before enrolling, or you mean they started with studying n3 material?
We started with N3 material! So most of the students had already cleared N4 ☺️
@@johannakatakana perfect, that's exactly my plan
Question, before enrolling in the language school did you already passed the N3 or you just studied japanese then after taking the placement test, you were assessed as N3???
I hadn't taken the test before enrolling, and was assessed as that level after taking the placement test!
How much is difficult for your opignion to go to the n5 level to the n2 level in 2 year in japan?
I can’t speak from personal experience since my study journey has been a bit different, but I’d say it’s totally possible! Like I said in the video, while not ALL students passed N2, a lot of them did too! It depends on how hard you study and how much time you put in to it! Most of the student who were serious about learning and worked hard managed to pass N2 within the two years!
@@johannakatakana thx a lot im a new sub from italy and i wont to go to the japan to study 2 years from april 2022 i did really enjoy your video thx😊
@@Italiani_in_Giappone thank you for subscribing! ☺️ Good luck with all your preparations! ✨
when the 2 year course goes from April to April, can you stay then till summer to take the test? It's only twice a year. Or can you take it more often in Japan?
You CAN stay in Japan until your visa runs out, but you won’t be eligible to work part time after you graduate! And depending on when your visa ends it might be a bit tight with time xD My student visa ended July 6 and the test is usually around July 1-3! And no, you can only take it in July and December!
Hej Johanna. Trivs du?
Jag är 31 och ska jobba som forskare i Tokyo (doktorsexamen i bakgrunden). kommer jag vara väldigt gammal i en ev. språkskola? ;) hehe
Hej Mattias! Hehe, ja jag trivs jättebra!
Du kommer definitivt vara över medelåldern, men absolut inte ”väldigt gammal” haha! Sen så spelade ålder väldigt liten roll, det märkte jag snabbt! Alla hängde med varandra ändå 😂
@@johannakatakana Tack för snabbt svar. Längtar tills jag kommer i Januari. Nu är det gråväder och snöstorm här i Dalarna. Har försökt lära mig Japanska hemma länge nu, men jag tycker det är en hög tröskel. Upplevde du samma? Börjar så småning om att förstå N5, men verb är svåra att komma ihåg och höra eftersom de säger dem så snabbt och de böjer dem ofta men någon underlig ändelse. Lossnar det? Den ända jag ofta hör är ...imaaaaaaaaaas. Hahaha
Åh, kommer du redan i januari? Kommer du som student eller ska du jobba först?
Det låter ruggigt (idag hade vi 25 grader här 😂) men åh vad jag saknar snön!! Fast jag är från Skåne, så lite mildare väder är jag kanske van vid. 🤣
Jo, det är definitivt mycket svårare att plugga själv hemma än att vara på plats här. Jag lärde mig en del innan jag kom hit första gången, men hade definitivt inte lärt mig så mycket som jag kunnat göra genom att bo här samtidigt som jag pluggat språket! Det blir liksom lättare när man kan imitera folk runt omkring en tills man lär sig vad allt betyder 😂 Det lossnar definitivt efter ett tag även med självstudier, men det går sååå mycket snabbare att bli lärd här på plats!
@@johannakatakana Haha, då finns det även hopp för mig 😂😂 kan redan förstå lite enkelt. Gillar när ickejapaner pratar, det blir så tydligt och enklare då.
Waao. 25 grader?? Men det är Foukoka va? Haha, va på en blind date där en gång. Den var katastrofal 👻
Ska jobba där. Har fått ett bra stipendium från Japanska staten för att forska på miljögifter i Tsukuba, men överväger att försöka stanna efter det.
Blev inspirerad av dig. Gillar dina färgglada kläder, fast jag hörde inte du va från Skåna. Gabatte med studierna!
Haha nej jag bor i södra kanagawa nu, flyttade upp hit för att börja på universitet! Och vi har en varm vecka den här veckan, vi kommer ha runt 15-17 om några dagar!
Åh vad coolt!! Jag vill jättegärna åka till tsukuba, naturen där är såååå fin! Och det är inte överdrivet långt från där jag bor nu!
Haha vad kul, du kanske blir kvar här ett tag längre än planerat! 🤪 Och nej jag vet att jag inte låter skånsk, men jag är född och uppvuxen i Helsingborg 😂 Min pappa är från Gästrikland så jag är väl någon slags hybrid 🤷🏼♀️ Men ja, hoppas du får en bra resa och stadig landning i Japan!!
I live in Southern Kanagawa, want to meet up? I do youtube videos as well so would love to make other youtube friends.
Heyy that sounds like fun! ☺️
Hi
Hello! ☺️
@@johannakatakana Yeah umm Johanna first of all thanks for your RUclips videos that help us get more information on our process to study in Japan I have a request that I wanted to submit to you, can you please make a video on how to fill the Japanese language school’s application form, personally I’m wondering if I should fill them by taping or handwriting? Thanks 🙏🏾
Oh haha, that’s a nice video idea! I don’t have access to the application forms and I’m not sure if I know the whole process completely myself (it’s been 4 years since I filled them in myself 🤣), but perhaps I can contact gogonihon or my language school and see what I can do! I filled them in by handwriting! ☺️
@@johannakatakana ok thanks! got it ☺️🙏🏾 btw you’re amazingly beautiful and kind 😊!
That’s so kind of you, thank you! ☺️
is there an age limit to study at the language school in japan?
This actually depends on the school itself so you should check. Some schools state their age limit as 28 years old, some 30, and some have no limit at all.
Can you please tell me hiragana and katagana pdf Or links
Id recommend looking up hiragana and katakana lesson in RUclips. I practiced 30 minutes a day and learned both in two weeks .
Honestly, hiragana and katakana are just something you could learn by rote in a few days as long as you continue studying after that, so doesn't matter what source you get the hiragana and katakana tables from. Took me four or five days at 2-3 hours per day of study to get to where I could write the hiragana and katakana tables from memory, with a couple of errors on each. It's fine if you can't write them 100% from memory, as long as you can mostly do the table from memory you're great to move on to actually learning the language.
The way I remembered them at first was remembering one row (or column if they're written that way). Eg I'd want to know how to write the sound 'ke' so think well the k row is 'か、き、く、け、こ' and the e sound in the k row must then be け. After moving on to Genki 1 I had used so much hiragana I mostly had it down cold in 2-3 weeks. Katakana took me about 5-6 weeks to where I had the symbols down cold since it took a while before it was used enough in Genki 1.
Thanks for the replies guys!! I think they gave some great advice, search on RUclips for guides or just google “hiragana chart” or something similar, and you’ll get all you need for studying! ☺️
お久しぶりです。お元気そうで何よりです。今年学校が120周年で、今卒業生から在校生にメッセージを集めています。よかったら連絡ください！佐藤
字幕please
I want go to japanese language school after my Master degree in 2020. I am at N4 level now and by 2022 I will at N3. I want to attend school for 6 months, so will I be able to do that?
It depends on the school, some schools don’t have 6 month programs so you’ll have to find a school that offers that! ☺️
I’ve cleared n3 level and i want to join language school ive heared tokyo is really expensive i think i want to spend alot of money can you please suggest me school in fukoka i guess fukoka is beautiful
Dont want to spend to alot of money *
I can only really suggest or recommend the school I went to, since that’s the only one I’ve experienced! Like I mentioned in the video, I went to Fukuoka foreign language college! Fukuoka is soooo pretty and so nice to live in, I definitely recommend living there!
@@gauripathania1175 ... Can you suggest how did you clear exams.. Preparation.. Do you have any books for pdf Or links for N5
@@chethankarkera9078 i went to language school