Hi, I'm a singaporean and wish to take up japanese language course in a sch. Any good recommendations?

i used to take lessons at two places.. one a private language school and the other at jcs japanese language school.. the private one cost me a bomb but it had smaller classes and more textbooks.. but jcs though a big class size has about around $300 difference in price and their lessons are held by more qualified teachers i guess.. the japanese culture society being international.. i suggest you go for that..

gee...thanks for ur info.
r u still studying in JCS? when is the next enrolment date?

erm..just wondering whether r u able to change the thread's subject
jap sounds a little offensive...

HI there
I am currently taking Elementary 2 at Bunka Language Centre.
They have 2 branches: Orchard and Tanjong Pagar
The fees are reasonable and the class is about 10 - 12.

shaunlim wrote:

HI there I am currently taking Elementary 2 at Bunka Language Centre. They have 2 branches: Orchard and Tanjong Pagar The fees are reasonable and the class is about 10 - 12.

Same...i am now taking Intermediate 2 at the Cecil Street Branch....

To find out more, you can go to www.bunkalang.com

hey, just wondering what the syllabus is like for Beginner and Intermediate stages...
me don't have any formal Japanese language trng, but self learnt a little of the language... know the basic and can read Hiragana, Katakana as well as some Kanji... so jus wondering if i were to take up a course from the school you guys mentioned, was jus wondering, for which class shld i sign up for...

Depends on how u want to study...

If you want the teachers to drill every single thing into you then jcs would be a good choice. Its pace is slow and steady, it packs more hours in the package, and its quite hard for anyone to go wrong there.

I studied the intensive basic course at jcs for 5 months. Even though it was called "Intensive" course but i found it rather slow, mainly because it was targetted at working class who didnt know a single thing about japanese, so the pace was rather slow to me who already knew a little vocab and grammer from animes/jdramas, even though i never seriously took up a textbook to study before that and didnt know how to read/write hiragana or katakana at all.

Also, the teachers do not teach any katakana or kanji in the 5 months there, while other schools usually start katakana in basic already.

So now i'm in bunka intermediate, having already studied katakana and some kanji on my own... Still feel that it is a little slow sometimes (i can see that the teacher dare not teach to fast because some of the students cant catch things that fast). In my opinion, Jcs does succeed in helping the students to get a very good foundation on hiragana and quite some vocabulary, compared to bunka basic, mainly because it has more lessons and tries to teach less i think. Thus i think jcs intensive elementary would be a good place to start out to be safe, though maybe boring if you have watched jdramas/animes for some years. However if you are the type who will do self study, or are already quite ok at hiragana and katakana i would recommend other places, like bunka, since they focus mostly on the grammar and leave you to study most of the vocabulary.

In the end it choice is yours... depends how you want to study. I would say jcs is a really good place to start to get a solid foundation, but if you didn't study katakana on your own while at jcs you may find it quite difficult to learn at other places after your basic course. But no matter what school you choose its a must to do at least some self studying for things that you must memorise (numbers, dates, vocabulary ETC, and thats really a BIG ETC). Be prepared to devote time to it... else its better not to start... thats what i feel.

As for myself, i have friends still in JCS, so i can borrow their jcs notes to study, while studying in bunka at the same time. heheh

i've stopped studying japanese for quite a while asi was busy after taking my jlpt 4 cert.. after reading all this i was thinking maybe i should start taking again.. bunka sounds nice..

Hi.

i studied mine at INOUE...was recommended by my friends who switched from other private schs...they have branches at jurong east and peace centre
tel is: 63333318
if u dont wish to take from basic 1, u can always take the placement test....

u can call cause they are always nice to give u the info u need
happy studying and u mite get to make japanese friends cause they always have visiting students from japan

where is the inoue centre at jurong east..? can tell.. that place sounds real interesting..

Hmm...i saw its website...
http://web.singnet.com.sg/~inoue/

the new url is http://www.inoue.com.sg/
bt hor...the website not v well done

the jurong east branch is at the central there....ehh..u noe where they have lots of private schs like BMC that kind?that is a very new branch so not too sure wat is it like....

lets all learn and study and exchange notes sometime

I'm from Poland (Europe), I learn japanese with a teacher she's japanese but lives in poland now, there's no group so it's kind of private lessons, she takes about 10$ for hour, and i'm going weekly. i've started two months ago and now i kinda now a litttle bit i hope i'll learn it so good that i'll be able to go to japan and speak fluently hehehe

himitsu wrote:

the new url is http://www.inoue.com.sg/ bt hor...the website not v well done the jurong east branch is at the central there....ehh..u noe where they have lots of private schs like BMC that kind?that is a very new branch so not too sure wat is it like....

thanksfor the info.. is the the building next to jurong east entertainment centre?

arashinokoto wrote:

thanksfor the info.. is the the building next to jurong east entertainment centre?

eh sth like that ...it is that cluster of low rise buildings
the exact add is BLK 131 #03-253

thanks.. i'll go check it out.. oh yah..

Arigatou... for all the info...

windrider wrote:

lets all learn and study and exchange notes sometime

yep yep...

windrider wrote:

lets all learn and study and exchange notes sometime

demo...what kind of notes are u referring to?my sch has got a textbk and worksheets....the last time i went to take jlpt, saw a group of students with a vocabulary list consisting of many pages and they were trying to do some last min memorizing...does your sch do that that?as in give u a vocab list..heard that u can download from the web...bt does anyone know the url?