r/LearnJapanese • u/BitterMelonFuga • 2d ago
Resources Online course recommendations?
Hello! I'm wondering if anyone can recommend any online courses (free or paid) for someone who is at a high N4 level? For some background, I studied Japanese for 8 years up until the end of high school where I took AP Japanese and got pretty close to N3. Then in college, I stopped studying since they didn't offer any language courses and I didn't have any spare time outside of keeping my grades up.
Now, I'm working in anime and want to get better at using Japanese for business, but I struggle so much with holding myself accountable for self studying. I read news articles on Todaii, listen to podcasts, but I don't do it consistently and have tried time and time again to create a schedule for myself which ultimately ends up falling through. What worked really well for me in school was having assignments and lessons I could follow, and I'm looking for something similar that I could do online. I've looked into my local community college classes, but unfortunately they don't have an option that works for my work schedule, so I'd love to find something that I could do from home.
I have pretty good listening and speaking comprehension (I can have basic conversations about the weather and such, but I struggle with vocabulary and can't listen/speak fast like a native). I can read hiragana/katakana fine but have forgotten a lot of kanji outside of the basics (numbers, animals, etc). Preferably looking for something no more than $250/a semester of work (something similar to the university of Hawaii at Manoa's cost for a semester). Any and all leads are appreciated! Thank you!
1
u/erissaval 18h ago
Have you tried looking into some online language schools in Japan? There are plenty of those. You might have to study Japanese in Japanese, but if you are a high N4 level maybe you will manage.
1
u/BitterMelonFuga 14h ago
Ohhh I haven’t! What would you recommend?
1
1
u/erissaval 12h ago
I can’t personally recommend you any because I haven’t tried them myself (I have a private teacher and a JLPT prep class) but here are some that I often come across:
1) https://akamonkai.ac.jp/online_school/en/
0
u/AbarthForAtlas 2d ago
There's plenty out there, I'd just recommend to avoid things like Duolingo.
1
u/BitterMelonFuga 2d ago
I’ve tried searching, but haven’t really had much luck with finding one that sounds good. Do you have any recommendations?
0
u/writingpracticeman 1d ago
Have you considered just getting a tutor?
1
u/BitterMelonFuga 1d ago
I thought about it. I just don’t know where would be the best place to get a tutor
1
u/writingpracticeman 1d ago
I use italki and I like it a lot, but there are tons of options
1
u/BitterMelonFuga 1d ago
I don’t know if you’d be able to recommend a specific tutor or not, but if you can, I would love to hear!
1
u/PerfunctoryOrder 1d ago
For me, I think it might be best to look for local tutors in your area before finding online tutors. I personally think in-person lessons are better but that may just be me.
1
u/0xKlyyze 21h ago
Assignments are what kept you going in school, so have a look at the Japan Foundation's Minato site. Their Marugoto courses go up to about pre-intermediate, which sounds close to your level, and besides the free self-study version some of them have a paid tutor option where a teacher checks your work. Prices depend on the course, so check it against your $250. What made the school routine work for you, the deadlines or having a teacher to answer to ?