Alternative to Yamasa?

[nameless]

Hi everyone!

My first post is a request and there's a wall of text ahead. I'm so sorry. :<
I'd still appreciate your thoughts a lot.

[TL;DR: As far as I can tell, Yamasa touts itself as the best language school in Japan, but apparently they don't like me, so I'm looking for another place. Who's second best?]

Background:

Originally, I wanted to study at Yamasa starting 2011, but due to various factors, it wasn't possible. I had to prioritize finishing my university degree, missed the application deadline in light of all the work, and so it was suggested I take a university-level Japanese Studies course instead (second undergrad degree). I got accepted quickly because I did quite well academically before.

It turns out that wasn't a smart thing to do. Taking Japanese Studies at university is not the same as studying the language on its own. But I thought it would be. At my university, the language-portion was weak, with modules like Chinese Economy or Japanese Politics taking up more time. Worse still, the students started mobbing me for taking the course too seriously, and the Japanese teachers took points off of my written work for (correctly) using grammar that wasn't covered yet or kanji that I learned previously.

I had prior language experience and JLPT N5 and the class was for beginner-level with no option to skip to advanced levels, so I never really fit in. Classes of 25 people and poor work habits (people being unable to write katakana by the fifth week) rounded it off.

I got to the point where I was dreading going to class, so I pulled the emergency brake and got out while I still could. The up-side is that I'm getting all the course fees refunded. *sigh*

So:

I thought I'd get in touch with Yamasa Institute again and see if I was actually still allowed to apply, given that I requested their visa kit earlier and was already in their database ... but didn't send anything off last time. I sent an e-mail to admissions four days ago and got no response.

So I guess they don't like me anymore.

Now I'm looking for another language school in Japan that gets close to Yamasa's level of prestige or what you want to call it. I really want to go all-out and spend up to two years in the country. Luckily, money is not _that_ much of an issue.

"ARC Academy" is one I've found; bit it has some red flags, like that it offers an "Anime & Manga" program and the classes are large.

And other than that, I found nothing. Searching Google for "japanese language school" gives dozens of hits ranging from shady to cringe-worthy. There are also various directories that seem to favor those who pay the most. I really tried searching but I can't find anything 100% trustworthy (except Yamasa).

So can anyone suggest some of the "better" language schools I should look at? A friend is going to Japan in December and taking me with him, so I'd even have a chance to check out any suggested places in person.

Perhaps in return for suggestions, I could post my impressions after visiting them? :s

Thank you.

 

[Mike Cash]

How about allowing more than four days for a reply? Or re-contacting them?

 

[nameless]

Last time they replied within 24h. I do know it's the weekend now, so I'm obviously not expecting anything over the next two days.
Re-contacting would feel kind of desperate, wouldn't you think? They're selective after all, so that'd make my chances smaller than they already are, I think.

 

[Mike Cash]

You apparently already think your chances are zero. How much smaller do you think they could get? How would the result be worse then it is when your chances are zero?

You have nothing to lose.

 

[nameless]

Alright, fair point right there.

I'll wait till Monday and ask again then.

Thanks

Edit: Thinking about it further, there's actually nothing stopping me from just applying. If they say no then... well, they say no.

 

[nameless]

Well, the good news is: got the green light to apply.

Thanks again for the encouragement, Mike Cash.

/thread

 

[Mike Cash]

You're very welcome. Best of luck to you. If you run into a Yamasa staff named Declan Murphy tell him I said hello.

 

[nameless]

Sorry for the bump, but I figured I might as well update this. Since there aren't a lot of recent reviews of Yamasa out there and this thread is the first search result for "yamasa alternative" due to the way I named it, it might be helpful if I turn it into a review of sorts.

The story so far goes something like this: In November/December, I applied and paid the application fee, then went to visit on an open day. First of all, it really is 窶愿ｺ窶怒ﾅ津ｪ窶堋ｾ窶堋ｯ, but that's not actually as scary as it sounds. The only communication breakdown was at Okazaki station when I called them up and told them I arrived. It took a while before the person on the other hand said ﾂ「窶冕窶堙個人窶堋ｪ窶藩??堙懌?堋ｷﾂ」, which I could understand. Scary phone call aside, N5 Japanese was enough to get by. The overall impression I got was that the staff will literally bend over backwards to make sure you are happy.

I'll skip right to the important stuff. Declan set things up so I could audit an AIJP and a SILAC class. My initial thoughts as per the notes I took:

AIJP:
- The nationality mix/limit thing is real. Students were from all over the world. No Chinabot majority, etc.
- The class size promise is real. The class I audited had 12 students.
- The teacher got her material across to students in Japanese, so their level placement system seems to work.
- U-shape desk layout = godly. Any other desk configuration is broken and doesn't work.
- Nice mix between the class doing stuff together, partner work, and individual work. Neither dominates.
- The classroom was bright and spacious, and the facilities I saw were relatively modern.
- Lots of quizzes, prompting, etc. makes it impossible to fail in peace like at Sheffield.
- Textbook was 窶堙昶?堙ｱ窶堙遺?堙娯?愿ｺ窶怒ﾅ津ｪ, but wasn't used exclusively. There was lots of extra material, too.
- Students were truly interested and motivated. That's a huge plus.

SILAC:
- Smaller. The class I saw had 4 people and was covering ~窶堙ｱ窶堋ｾ and ~窶堋ｽ窶堋｢.
- Slower. They took one hour to cover two grammar points. AIJP moved faster.
- Huge focus on conversation. The entire lesson was basically one big supervised conversation.
- Bigger age difference between students, but they all seemed at an equal skill level.
- Nationality mix was very diverse.
- Homework was to practice hiragana IIRC.
- Students were also very motivated, but a bit afraid to speak. That's normal though, I guess.


TL;DR: Yamasa is definitely not a bad place. In fact, it's probably the best.

My situation right now is that the Certificate of Eligibility was approved, but a few bits of admin still have to be completed. Once that's out of the way, I can study there on a student visa.

I intend to write another update in this thread once I've settled in and attended a few weeks of class, and then I'll wrap up the review once the first quarter is over.

 

[Mike Cash]

I'm glad to hear that things went so well for you and I'm glad I kept after you. By all accounts Yamasa is an outstanding place to learn Japanese.

 

[Half-n-Half]

Congratulations! It certainly sounds like a great place to study.

Just out of curiosity, what do you plan to do after your time at Yamasa?

 

[nameless]

Thanks to both of you. :]

What do you plan to do after your time at Yamasa?

The current plan is to do software localization and technical translation. I did a lot in those areas before for German-English and vice versa, and found that I enjoyed it.

 

[nameless]

Update for the benefit of the googlers stopping by, since this is the only active Yamasa Institute thread on JREF:

Yamasa is taking a long time to send successful applicants mail with the certificate of eligibility for the student visa. I've been speaking to two other supposedly successful applicants and neither have had responses to any e-mails and faxes they sent during the last ten days, and neither have received any postal mail.

I wonder what's up especially since there's not a lot of time left until April. :/

Edit: three hours after I post this, I get an email that sorts everything out. I should worry less, I guess.

 

[nameless]

I do not intend to -- and will not -- turn this into a blog, but some first impressions after a few hours off the boat:

- Less hesitant than usual when speaking Japanese (do-or-die instincts kicking in, or something)
- Yamasa staff are still super helpful
ﾂ?ｨ Picking new students up at the station is kind of them
ﾂ?ｨ All the stuff I sent ahead was waiting for me
ﾂ?ｨ A fellow student had been allocated a shared room even though he wanted a single room, but the problem was resolved within five minutes
- Having shops within walking distance is nice
- Accommodation was largely as advertised (I'd have liked a rubbish bin, but a visit to a 100 yen store should fix that)

Tomorrow is a placement test, the entrance ceremony is on the 5th, and classes start on the 6th.

I'm also patiently for that inevitable culture shock. :x