Learning Japanese

hello, i want to know if i should take real japanese courses instead of studying myself, by the way i want to study or do an exchange program in japan but i dont know where to find the good school and when i should go?
im kinda lost about it and kinda afraid to not having the time etc..
thank you for reading

Where are you at now in your Japanese studies? Are you just starting out? Assuming you are a beginner I recommend an actual course to help you with the basics and some basic pronunciation. Then you can see if you 'd like to do language school in Japan there are many. After you have the basics from a course down another thing you can try is language exchange online, hello talk for example is popular these days you can then exchange French for Japanese. Language school in Japan you will be able to step outside and use the language in real life so you will learn much faster than any language exchange online or any course outside Japan.

These days there are more avenues for self-study than ever. But I also recommend well-structured course to get you started.

Hi Celine and welcome to the forum.

I have some advice for you. But first I want to ask you two questions:

Have you mastered the reading and writing of hiragana and katakana?

Do you have a four-year college degree?