oh ya...PJLS has a visit from a japanese university students annually (cannot remember which month).
u can then watch chicken talking with duck. (broken japanese and broken english communication)
u can try to befriend them and exchange email...but from what i know, it ends at the exchange.
maybe u can try ur luck and get a jap fren.

PJLS has a facebook page. You can "like" it if you want to subscribe to their updates on latest activities and classes.
Their standard course is based around the Minna no Nihongo syllabus, though different teachers may have different styles and reference additional material. And, yes for the amount of ground you can cover, PJLS is still one of the cheapest and value for money language schools in Penang.
I don't think there's anyone who teaches/learns the Japanese language in Penang who hasn't heard of Cheng-sensei
All the teachers there are part timers with varying amounts of experience. Foong sensei is also very experienced and highly recommended. (I think he's the one who likes to make students make their own sentences )
It's a common misconception that everyone teaches in Mandarin there. Many of the teachers do use English or whatever it takes to get the point across

This post has been edited by oe_kintaro: May 24 2012, 02:48 PM

that's good to clear up that misconception and yes ive heard repeatedly that mandarin was the preferred medium of instruction. With some referral so of the sinsehs i can at least do check on who's having the classes coming up. I tried calling up but the person was very non-commital and couldn't give much information.

Thanks everyone!

You just need to register your name and contact number and they will call you up when there's a new class opening. The thing with part-timer teaching staff is that they don't really have much luxury in terms of schedule (most of the classes are at night).
It's quite unfortunate that your friends felt they did not get their money's worth, as my personal experience with the teachers there is quite good. I was aware of some complaints in the past, but I heard those teachers have already been "disqualified" from opening new classes.

ps: There is a new elementary 1 class opening on the 26th of next month. From the time schedule, I think the teacher is Ms Chen (not Ms Cheng )
http://www.pjls.org/?p=151

This post has been edited by oe_kintaro: May 24 2012, 03:10 PM

one more thing...the class size dwindles down very fast too at the beginning.
for elementary 1, class size can reduce by 50% in 2 weeks.
best if u can find at least a partner who is equally committed.
then u and your partner(s) can at least converse in jap and apply what you learn.

Attrition is very high because most Malaysians are hangat hangat tahi ayam
Also, based on my sembang-sembang with the veteran teachers, most students these days are not so self motivated and expect the teacher to spoonfeed and make it exciting for them: that's the difference between Gen X and Gen Y i guess.
According to statistics, I think only 1 in 20 or 1 in 40 make it all the way to a proficiency level where they are able to take on N1

Well, my time, N was just introduced...back then we had 4 lvls only.
In my class, I only know of 2 ppl who passed lvl2
one of them failed lvl1 for the 3rd time when the most of us were sitting for lvl2 only.
the other 1 was the sole person who passed tat term.
When i finally stopped due to relocation, my class had 6 person left and all of them stopped.
2 of them formed a study group with another ex-classmate, not sure if they went ahead with N1 or not.

And to start with...my elementary 1 class started with 40 ppl !!!
There was a class combine for Intermediate.
With that kind of statistic...I think 1 in 20/40 seems a bit high.

This post has been edited by crazy25kid: May 24 2012, 03:39 PM

but generally I think you get the idea...very few people who start out learning japanese get to the point where they master functional use of it...
A real pity, considering it is one of the easier foreign languages to learn.

it is also a matter of aptitude. Some people pick languages up faster, others have a harder time ie myself. Memorizing which is required in most languages is a horrible challenge to me. So I learn due to interest and slowly slowly take my time. I had to take several beginner mandarin classes to even make a little progress. Started on Japanese almost a year diligently learnt n practiced my hiragana and katakana and still can't remember many of the characters. Not that i'm blaming my current classes but due to personal preferences i'm looking for options.
Yep i saw the Jun 26 start for new class pjls but the schedule doesn't work so i'll just wait and see.

Thanks for the great inputs guys.

good luck on your journey
Also, everyone has a different way of learning, but dedication, enthusiasm and persistence are always common key elements. 1 year is a long time to get used to katakana and hiragana, btw
it took me whole of 2 weeks using flash cards to get to 80% proficiency. maybe you should try a different method from what you are using now...
Also, if you are relying on textbooks which are in romaji, PLEASE THROW THEM AWAY. They are an impediment to serious learning of the language.

As you yourself say everyone has different speeds of learning. So it is so 'nice' of you to comment on how long i have taken on starting my journey.
At least I have not given up even though I'm slow.

And no. none of my books are in romanji.

I hope you didn't take it the wrong way
What I meant was that basic hiragana and katakana is a prerequisite to be able to use the textbooks, especially if you are using books like Minna no Nihongo where there is nary a romanized word in sight. (there *is* a romaji version, but I would stay away from that). 2 to 4 weeks is par for the course for a beginner to be able to recognize 60-80% for the kana consistently

I'm just noting that if you are still have difficulty with those after one year, perhaps there was not enough emphasis on memorizing and writing drills in the beginning. In my experience, flash cards with a partner is the fastest way to recognize the kana, with writing drills to reinforce learning. There is a reason why most teachers spend an inordinate amount of time with the kana writing in the early part of the course: if they don't get it out of the way, the students will suffer later as they move deeper into the syllabus because the book assumes ability to read the kana already..

Agree may not have spent enough time working on the kana myself. BUT man i did all i could. so yeah I'm slowly moving along. and yep using the Minna no Nihongo. haiya as i said i'm below average when it comes to languges coupled with limited time. I'll just take it slow.

Thanks for the advise. appreciate it.

if you are familiar with PJLS' syllabus you should be familiar with the kana no nyuumon which they use. That one is quite usable. As for flash cards I think the ones they use for teaching toddlers is good enough

Anyone Interested in Studying Basic Japanese Language, or Improve your Japanese Language through after-school revision? I'm also a UTAR Kampar Graduate Student who had studied Japanese Language for 3 years, and currently have successfully obtain a N4 Level in JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test, which its' certificate is recognized worldwide). Please pm me for more info. Thanks!

Similar topic already exist top there, and close this

just a tip tho..
it took me about a week to memorize all the hiragana and katakana... but reading them fluently in class can sometimes get you stucked..

what i do is.. find my favourite song, get the lyrics, get a scrap book and write the song down. i've been writing a lot of songs that i listen to oftenly, at least i can relate to what i had listen before. when i write it improves my memory on how to read and write them. also i kept learning new kanji from time to time. being an english-ed, i'm very poor when it comes to kanji. all my mandarin comes from my japanese now actually.

it worked better than i think it would. just keep on writing them. when you write, you remember them better.

you'll soon realize you can actually even read japanese subtitles

a lil bit off topic, but anyone want to buy japanese learning book?

I have Basic Kanji Book, A Dictionary of Japanese Grammar series and Japanese manga (good to practise your Japanese skill since it has furigana). The books are really good and my Japanese improve very much but decide to sell it to clear my room.

ALL at discounted price so please take a look. Can still nego

check my sig :3

Hi, I'm selling all my JLPT books, PM me if you to buy them

[WTS] Books - Used, JLPT books, JAVA, Dictionary

Whats the difference between 変わらない and 代わらない? Both kanji have same meaning, so which one to use?