Hi All,

My partner and I are currently working in Japanese Company and our top managements are japanese national.

We are thinking of enrolling ourselves in Japanese Language class in order for us to be able to communicate effectively as we find that our work would need to liaise japanese speaking individuals and documents would have japanese wordings as well.

Would like to ask whether is there any courses/classes in KL/Selangor region that is recommended? should we go for a 1to1 sessions or even should consider online classes?

we would like to build a list and then short list it in order for us to finalize quicker.

your help is greatly appreciated.

if you consider about virtual learning with real certified tutors, you may consider italki or Lingoda

pick those f2f classes, then find a group of people you can actually speak with in japanese

this will help further the understanding very quickly. i've been doing self study on japanese for quite sometime, so while i can understand what theyre saying.. i cant reply back properly cause my brain wasnt trained to form coherent sentences on the go during talks

I recommend going for physical lessons as opposed to online lessons (not just for Japanese language lesson) as it is hard to get into the mindspace of learning when your teacher is not in the same room as you.

As for learning the language itself, I recommend ICLS at Subang Jaya. Took classes there a decade ago, the teachers there then were passionate about teaching.
https://www.icls.com.my/icls-subang-jaya/

https://www.jckl.org.my/en/about_jckl

can try this one

JCKL is not for learning Japanese, it's a club for Japanese expatriates living in KL. I don't think they'd even admit non-members into the building, at least not without official reason.

if you can afford, ICLS in KL. parking is hell tho...so train all the way. they have native japanese teachers and quite good

oh ok

I was thinking if can also learn japanese cooking

ah well, have to go for ABC class

Cooking learn from youtube la, Japanese cooking quite straightforward
I second ICLS too, affordable and very systematic

After learning, is there any group (offline/online) to practice the language?

What's your budget range, example per session/class?
If you are interested in online learning 1-1, I can recommend a good native Japanese teacher to learn from.

For me personally, I attend physical classes. There a few advantages to this, one of which is you can at least speak to your classmates and teacher.

I learn the language since 2014, took 6 years of classes and the rest is self learning. For Japanese language need to really dedicate if want to achieve at least primary to secondary level. I rmb the first class (n5) i attend, there are at least 70-80 ppl. As you advance through the courses, less and less ppl will stay. In the end. My N1 classes only left 5 ppl.

There are a few ways to quickly get used to the language, such as listen to news, jpop, podcasts, watch anime, jdrama etc. I recommend watching news channel on YouTube like ann news or tbs news.

For the language, it split into two ways of using it. One is casual and one is professional. Casual is the way you talk to your friends, family etc. Professional is usually the way you talk to your bosses, coworkers or strangers etc.

But to answer your questions about wanting to communicate to your superiors and writing or reading the documents by Japanese, I afraid it is not easy and really will take a long time. Dedication is key.

Feel free to ask me anything

This post has been edited by HumanExtinction: Feb 17 2024, 03:01 AM

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This post has been edited by HumanExtinction: Feb 17 2024, 02:59 AM

Jlpt N1 holder here. From 0 to N1 took 4 years +.

Don't go to class for beginner. They progress is so slow at that stage most people will have given up before their passion burn out.i been to ICLS, in fact I went to all 3 branches. I was jumping level because it is so slow. 4 hours per chapter takes a week. You gonna spend 2 years stuck at beginner. Not to mention, you will just forget your previous class.

Japanese learning in beginning stage should be rapid and fast. Once the basic is in grain. Then ever persuit to learn more begins.

Try learning those begineer stuff from YouTube. Is really not that hard.

Study minna no nihon go red and blue beginner book consists of 50 chapters. That 50 chapters are basically the introduction to Japanese.

Those 50 chapters are the foundation to build Japanese on further levels.

Once you fully master those 50 chapters. You are like about 7 8 yo kids level.( you can pass n5 and n4 easily at this stage)


N3 is where the grind starts. You are in the territory of daily speaking, about 12 yo and Japanese kid level.
If U face difficult at this stage, best is find phsycial class.

I would suggest at the very least aim to get N3.

Why?

Most ppl gave up before even finishing the 2 minna no nihon go book.
N3 is the point where U can say to yourself you know Japanese. Any lower than that is just casual greetings, or mimicking few phrases from anime.

Normal people should take around 3 to 4 years to reach N3. Everyday 1 hour study averagely.

You need around n2 to understand business language. Is not a definite level but is a ball park. Knowing N3 helps U learn business related Japanese.

Word of advice : don't learn to speak from anime. Just like us don't talk like characters in movies, Japanese don't speak like anime characters.
You can inference grammar points or word from it, but never learn to speak like that.

I had seen many weebs joining beginners class start speaking like anime characters and they think they are cool. They are annoying and also grammatically wrong most of the time.

This post has been edited by littlegamer: Feb 17 2024, 03:27 AM

As a JLPT N 1 holder here, I started my journey by self study during school time, then jumped into ICLS middle level class and continue self study untill finished N1

Face to face better, whether online or offline

I thank the LYN gods for positive feedbacks from you guys.

i would quote each of you to offer my comments but i'm sure it'll be TL:DR

thank you for your guidance.

@HumanExtinction and @littlegamer , thanks for your input as i also do think that going for classes for the initial stages might not be as ideal for adults as the level of proficiency between adults students can vary. I do second the idea of self learning for at least the initial stages and only go for classes when you need external guidance.

Hence I have stumbled upon Nihongoal's youtube channel that offers alot of beginner classes but i'm not sure if she is following all the proper syllabus.

I have also stumbled upon fullsets of Minna no Nihongo / Genki audiobooks/digital textbooks that are selling online(shopee/Laz) which intrigues me as it would be the cheapest option. even cheaper than buying used books.

i think i'll try self study 1st to gauge my level of competency/interests then only consider the classes.

thank you again!

This post has been edited by DjK: Feb 19 2024, 04:38 PM

Still remember during my elective Jap class in uni. Teacher asked everyone to come out with a nickname in Jap. Some random dude just yell "ichigo". Teacher puzzled : u like strawberry that much?

I heard across the broad, most that make most noise during beginner often just drop out.

One of the reason, I suggest TS not join beginner class is to avoid people like these as well.

If you are a mandarin speaker, you can search 出口任老师.
He has a full set minna no nihingo as well.

At higher level he teaches Japanese using Japanese. Good for future reference