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Ski lesson question 2012/2/13 18:08
Hi! I've been researching about ski lessons in different ski resorts and I've found few lessons in English and they're usually more expensive than the Japanese group lessons. Do you think I could handle a beginner's ski lesson in Japanese if I've studied Japanese for just half a year since arriving here in Tokyo? Is a ski lesson like lecture-heavy or more like the instructor shows you how and you copy him/her?

Thanks!
by ctrlalt  

Re: Ski lesson question 2012/2/21 09:00
I've taken 2 lessons in Japanese here, one in skiing and one in boarding. The price for 2 hours in English was 5,000 yen while the Japanese ones were 2,800 for 2 hours or 3,800 for 4 hours, if I remember correctly. I already knew how to ski relatively well, but was completely new to boarding.

For both of them, even if you didn't understand Japanese, there was a lot of gesturing the motions. For example, skiing: keep your arms open at such-and-such an angle. Keep your knees and the middle of your chest at the same spot. I've lived here for almost 3 years and understood maybe half of what he was saying. As long as you somewhat know what you're doing and understand basic Japanese, I think you should be okay, especially if it's a small group.

Sometimes I didn't know what we were supposed to be working on before we skied down in front of the instructor, so I let others go first and took my cues from them. :P I guess it depends on how used you are to reading context clues to the words you know and figuring out gestures.

I have a friend that has been taking the English lessons every week. She really enjoys it and has improved a lot. In the English lesson, it's more likely to be a smaller group, and you can chat with the people going up the lift, etc.

Both are good options. :)
by Random Guest (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Ski lesson question 2012/2/21 14:37
At last, someone answered my question :D thank you so much! May I ask where you took your ski lessons in English? and how about your friend?

Thanks!!! :)
by ctrlalt rate this post as useful

Re: Ski lesson question 2012/2/21 15:13
No problem! :)
My friend and I both took our lessons in different places in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. A lot of foreigners (especially Australians) go there to ski, so there are quite a few good English instructors. Or if you want to go the Japanese route, both the instructors I had were very friendly and accommodating to my non-fluentness as well.
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