Japanese lang schools in Pasadena, CA?

I live in Arcadia, work in Pasadena, California, USA. I have taken 3 years of Japanese at Arcadia High School, but I am disappointed with my ability. Eventhough I aced my Japanese courses back in h/s, I have trouble reading a Japanese children's book.

My initial plan was to take Japanese at Pasadena City College, but the slow paced American curriculum is giving me 2nd thoughts.

I am wondering if anyone knows of good, more intensive Japanese language schools around the Arcadia/Pasadena area? Thanks!

I (50% Chinese, 50% Japanese) used to live in Pasadena back in the early 00's! Loved Arcadia more though as I met more Chinese and Japanese fobs there.

I have taken Japanese 1,2,3,4 at PCC. All I wanted was an easy A grade back then so I started from Japanese 1 even though Japanese 4 was no sweat for me.

Sorry I can't give you a candid answer from personal experience. I just daydreamt in Japanese 1,2,3,4 because I have learnt the material before. Most of my classmates (who were Chinese) found Japanese 4 to be challenging. With your background, I say go for Japanese 4 at PCC then!

I lived near Pasadena most of my life (27 years) and just recently moved to Japan. Last year, when I was studying to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 2, I took private classes at the Osaka Sangyo University, Los Angeles (OSULA) in Studio City. Here's the URL: http://www.osula.com/. You should send them an email or give them a call. I'm sure they can setup private lessons if you're interested.

I took private classes at the Osaka Sangyo University, Los Angeles (OSULA) in Studio City. Here's the URL: http://www.osula.com/. You should send them an email or give them a call. I'm sure they can setup private lessons if you're interested.

Thank you, I am planning to visit them in person this weekend.

CJ: Thanks for posting! I doubted anyone on this board knows where arcadia is, so I added Pasadena. BTW: I am orginally from Taiwan, then moved to the US at 12 so I feel Japanese classes here spend way too time teaching kanji. I hafta say classes are geared to those who have never seen characters in their life.

I am orginally from Taiwan, then moved to the US at 12 so I feel Japanese classes here spend way too time teaching kanji. I hafta say classes are geared to those who have never seen characters in their life.

Well of course they are. Kanji are completely foreign to anyone whose language is based on the Latin alphabet. Someone from the US studying Italian in Taiwan could easily complain that classes there spend too much time on how to write the letters 'a b c'.