Moving?

I currently live in the UK. And next year there is a course running at a Japanese learning center in Tokyo that im am interested in attending. The course is 16 hours a week for half a year.

I currently speak very little Japanese and was wondering if this amount of time was adequate to get a firm grasp of the language, would I be quicker learning considering im living in Tokyo?

Also, as someone with very little expirience living on his own, or away from home, is Japan a dangerous or overwhelming place to live? Is there many english speakers in Japan?

I currently have the choice to do a 2 year course somewhere locally in a month, or go to Japan next April. So what advice can you people give me? Should i do this? Is it advisable?

I live in California, USA. I speak very little Japanese (a few basic phrases). Soon I plan on taking college courses on Japanese at a local community college. I would love to study Japanese in Japan, but I have a good job in California. Also I am not rich and Tokyo costs a lot of money.

I think it would be better for me to study the language for a few years first before embarking to Japan. Luckily there are plenty of Japanese here for me to practice with. Your situation might be different.

at the original poster, read and search the forum. both of these questions have already been posted (and answered at length) several times... search for "traveling alone" or somesuch variation
good luck

oh yeah, of course living in tokyo while studying japanese would better than anything available here generally as far as learning the language...

Could the OP please indicate what his ultimate goal/purpose/ambition related to the acquisition of Japanese proficiency is? I think it would greatly affect the answer to his question.

WeeSeak said:

The course is 16 hours a week for half a year.

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It all depends on how bad you want to learn the language. If you are a studious person that should be more than enough time for you to grasp a firm understanding of the language. 16 weeks in Japan would probably be the equivelant of the two year course locally.

My vote would be for you to go to Japan as most cannot fully learn a foreign language without being immursed in the culture itself. Being in Japan will alllow you to use it, and hear it on a constant basis. Plus it will be a most rewarding experience. You will be exposed to it every minute of your day and you will learn quickly.

Also, as someone with very little expirience living on his own, or away from home, is Japan a dangerous or overwhelming place to live? Is there many english speakers in Japan?

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No it is not. It is by far one of the safest places to live. Many Japanese have a rudimentary knowledge of English. Besides you will probably be speaking English with some of your classmates after class.

mikecash said:

Could the OP please indicate what his ultimate goal/purpose/ambition related to the acquisition of Japanese proficiency is? I think it would greatly affect the answer to his question.

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Sorry for the lack of detail, i just want to learn enough to get by in day to day life. I plan to work there and take a more advanced lanugage course around half a year after my first one. So in that half a year i will need to know enough to get by, make chit chat with randomers and you get the idea. Thanks to everyone for the help. A great help!

If you want my advice, do a basic Japanese course in your home country and then go and live deep in the Japanese countryside where not a soul speaks English and the only way to even begin to get to know anyone is to pick up the language. It'd proabably cost a fraction of the cost of attending a language school. You'll be amazed how much quicker you learn. Some of the best Japanese speakers I have met, did exactly this. It's quite possible to live in Tokyo for years and hardly pick up a word of Japanese. It doesn't just soak through your skin by osmosis. You need a reason to learn.

To 'get by in daily life' is a misleading concept. Most of the things people do every day (shopping for food, taking public transport, going out for a beer) actually require almost no language skills at all. I don't know how old you are, or how much you depend on other people, but your two other questions (is Japan dangerous, are there many English speakers) are answered elsewhere. But briefly, 1. Japan is considerably safer than the UK so you'd be moving to a place with a lot less crime. 2. Yes, it's not hard to find plenty of people who speak English (both Japanese and foreign) but to reiterate my first comments, the less English speakers you mix with, the better. Otherwise you'll very quickly find yourself slipping into the gaijin bubble, and never really gaining the benefit of living in Japan.

Another point to bear in mind is: have you checked out the language school running the course? There are some really great schools and some lousy ones. You could learn double the amount of Japanese in the right class with the right teacher than if you end up at a lame school.

Pay particular attention to the last paragraph of Silverpoint's advice. There are lots of Japanese language "schools" which serve primarily as fronts for visa fraud and conduct little or no education.