FAQ

First, make sure you can read all the “Hiragana” and “Katakana” smoothly. Many people tend to delay learning katakana or proceed without fully mastering it, but Japanese uses katakana more than you might expect. After that, study basic vocabulary and grammar in parallel. You can leave kanji for later. As you study, you’ll naturally become able to read the kanji that appear frequently.

First, grasp the overall picture of Japanese learning and understand your current position. Identify whether you lack vocabulary and grammar knowledge or if your practical Japanese skills are lacking. Then, based on the identified issues, understand and implement the most effective Japanese learning methods to achieve the best results.

This depends on your goals. If you want to communicate as quickly as possible, start with vocabulary. Japanese is a language where even if the word order is mixed up, it can still be understood. Therefore, if you know the appropriate vocabulary, the listener’s understanding can compensate for the grammar, allowing communication to take place. However, this method will only take you so far. To speak good Japanese, grammar knowledge is essential and forms the foundation of everything. Therefore, if you want to learn thoroughly in the long run, start by mastering grammar.

Even the broken Japanese that natives use has underlying grammar and vocabulary. Therefore, to learn the grammar used in real life, it is essential to perfect the grammar from textbooks. (There are some exceptions, such as those who have improved their communication skills and motivation solely through conversation.)

Therefore, beginners and intermediate learners should first be able to handle the grammar learned from textbooks perfectly. If you start speaking with broken grammar from the beginning, your progress will definitely stop at some point, and you will develop bad habits on top of unclear basic knowledge, making it irreparable. Advanced learners should explore various Japanese content and ask native speakers about the correct nuances and usage of unfamiliar Japanese they encounter.

For learners whose native language is English, it is generally said that it takes about 2200 hours to master Japanese. This is equivalent to studying for 3 hours a day every day for two full years. If you only need to be able to handle simple communication, about 400 hours of study should suffice. However, this is the minimum time required, and if your motivation is low or there are gaps in your study period, it will take longer.

One-on-one lessons are recommended for those who absolutely do not want to give up on learning, but not for those who want to study as cheaply as possible. To be clear, considering study efficiency and cost performance, it is definitely better to study on your own with a textbook. However, the reason we offer one-on-one lessons is that continuing to study is the most important thing in language learning, and we want to provide that environment. Continuing to study on your own is really tough. There will be times when you can’t maintain your motivation. In such cases, having lessons can force you to focus on Japanese learning. As a result, those who have been able to continue lessons consistently have all been able to improve their Japanese skills.