Japanese Private Lessons in Tokyo

Hi,

I'm living since almost 1 year in Tokyo now, and I'm starting to strongly need to learn Japanese language, especially in the case of my work (engineering). Indeed, the linguistic barrier obstructs me to go forward in my career, for example, my interactions with the customers are really poor because of this. So speaking Japanese would be very helpful to evolve. To push me for that, we have agreed with my boss to do some presentations in Japanese at my work.

For information, I don't speak Japanese at all, I know only some words, but I'm not able to have a conversation in Japanese. So, I'm looking for private Japanese lessons (I guess more efficient and more flexible to be adapted with my working agenda) in Tokyo. As there are many Japanese schools providing such kind of courses, I don't know which ones are interesting, so I'm looking for some recommendations based on personal experiences.

Thank you for your help and advice,

Thomas

Some schools would arrange for you private lessons with their teachers, in addition to the regular full-time courses they hold (during the day). One I know my non-Japanese spouse went to (both for full-time day courses and later for private lessons) is Naganuma in Shibuya. I know another one that caters to working people, which I believe is Meguro Language Center, which can send a tutor to your office. I don't know where you live/work, so you might want to look through this listing (of accredited schools):

http://www.nisshinkyo.org/english/index.html

If you've never studied the language (I mean starting from basic grammar, not just picking up phrases and sentences as needed), I recommend taking structured lessons sometime down the road..

Hi Ak,

Thanks a lot for your answer!

After a quick look to the Meguro Language Center, indeed, this one seems interesting: attentive and tailoring the lessons to the student needs, which is exactly what I'm looking for, as the main purpose for me will be for my business. So I contacted them to get further information.

Concerning the Naganuma school, according to your wife's feedback, was it a good school ? Did she was able to learn fast and with consideration of her needs ?

Thank you,

Thomas

Thomas,

It is actually my husband who went there lol. He went for the full-time course one year initially (classroom lessons) to get the real fundamental grammar, then later took private lessons with a tutor arranged by the same school. The one year got him started off good with living in Japan and "managing" in Japanese, then he received some additional lessons.

But if you do need some instructions/explanations in English, for example, probably the Meguro one would be better, I'd say, and they do cater to business people, I've heard.

Hi AK,

Oh sorry for the confusion.
Thanks a lot for your advice ! I already contacted the Meguro one by email, so it should lead to an exchange with the school soon.

I also discovered this school: Espace Langue Tokyo (http://www.espacelanguetokyo.com/fr/index.php?p=1) which is more dedicated for French people (and as I'm French, that's a piece of luck ^^ ). This one seems also very interesting, does anyone have an experience with this school ?

Thank you,

Thomas