My “language school era” in Japan
When I was a kid (I still feel like a kid myself! haha), I didn’t have the Internet and there weren’t many language classes.
When I became a high school student or university student, I felt that the number of English classes has increased dramatically in Japan.
I started studying Spanish as a hobby when I was a university student, but at that moment I spent a lot of money on filmmaking and music produces and I didn’t have any money to go to school, so I used a free app called Duolingo.
Since I started to work full-time, I had more money to spare, so I thought I should go to a language school, but I was stunned by the small number…! In particular, there were only 2 language schools that had both Spanish and Italian classes, even in the center of the city.
Although it was one of the few schools, I decided to go to a language school that is close to the station and reasonably priced.
However, due to my works, it became difficult to make regular schedules, so I decided to stop going to that language school. (I was sad because there were events such as parties, which reminded me of the English language kindergarten where I used to go on weekends when I was a kid …) Furthermore, sadly, that language school was closed a year later.
It was difficult to find a school when it came to “non-English & multilingual” for me
After that, I continued to search for a language school that fits me, but I couldn’t find one that met the conditions.
The reasons were:
- The day and time are fixed
- The price is ridiculously high…!
- There is only one teacher for each language (It’s hard to believe but it was true)
- Apparently & very unfortunately Italian wasn’t very popular in my area … I could’t find it at all
- I couldn’t find Arabic classes neither at all (I was studying Arabic at the time)
Although, of course, I didn’t stop studying, and I continued to study on the BBC site and apps such as Duolingo and Memrise. However, I spent every day thinking that something wasn’t enough.
Well, to be honest, it was clear what was missing. It was COMMUNICATION with people using that language.
I had a high level of internet search skills because of my work (lol), so I checked the online class because schools & classes weren’t nearby. Maybe I looked it up in the English language like “Spanish Italian Arabic Online”.
I couldn’t find it at all when I looked it up in Japanese, but when I looked it up in English, wow, I found a lot!
This is where the road to my online lessons began.
Encounter with italki
If I think about it now, I started using Skype in earnest because of italki.
italki is commonly referred to as “language learning SNS”, I registered said “hmm… let’s try” for online lessons and language learning records, rather than SNS. It was about 6 years ago.
Rather than online, I was studying almost alone until then (I also used a language exchange app, but I only exchanged messages), so I was so happy to be able to have a conversation even though my language level was low.
I don’t hate language schools, but now I definitely recommend online private lessons, especially italki.
The reasons are as follows:
- You can take lessons according to YOUR schedule
- There are teachers all over the world so you can find teachers who suit you
- Students can choose between individual payments and package payments
- Lesson fee is cheaper than mostly private lessons at a language school
- You can take lessons in languages from all over the north, south, east and west countries, not just major languages [Important!]
- It’s not necessary to buy the textbooks used in the lessons yourself *depends on teachers
- It’s a private lesson so you can talk a lot
- Lessons are at home, so you can save the time
- Depending on the teacher, but you can choose the length of: 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes
By the way, I myself teach Japanese using this italki platform since 2020.
Summary
For these reasons, I recommend online private lessons.
I hope that “Online Private Lessons” will be added to one of your language learning options!
