Kathie

My nephew is headed to Japan in about 6 weeks to apprentice to a chef for 3 or 4 months. He'd like a recommendation for Japanese language course - Rosetta Stone? Pimsleur? something else?

Many thanks for your suggestions

KimJapan

The one online at Japanesepod101.com is excellent.

Mara

I agree with KimJapan.

I have a sub to japanesepod101......you can download the lessons if you want as well...

Kathie

Thanks to you both for the recommendation. I'll forward it to my nephew. If anyone else has other recommendations, do let me know.

hawaiiantraveler

I am using a Rosetta Stone which I just purchased on EBay last week. I bought the Level 1 & 2 for $189.00

I am just starting to use it and find it very easy and useful so far. One of my daughters language professors recommended the program so thought I would give it a try.....it is a little pricey though but you can get a good deal on Ebay if you have the time watch and wait

KimJapan's reco looks excellent

Aloha!

Kathie

Thanks, HT.

Paulo59

I think it would also be useful to hire a tutor to add to what you can learn online or by podcast. Having someone correct your pronunciation and encourage you to actually speak will really help. I went on my 2nd trip to Japan in November a couple of years ago and started taking private tutor lessons in August. During the first lesson I thought I would never be able to speak with the correct intonation or understand the response, but after 10 one hour lessons, I was indeed able to do so. I found my tutor on craigslist and it was very inexpensive. She came to my house and taught me some of the obvious greetings first and then we moved on to focusing on asking key questions you might want to ask such as direction questions, for walking and trying to find a building or specific temple or store to bus and train schedule and platform questions. Then we covered ordering food in a restaurant, buying things in a store etc. We first focused on my pronunciation of the questions then on listening to her answers and what to respond to that. In my last class before leaving on the trip, she brought me to a japanese speaking restaurant where she told the waiter to only speak to me in japanese and to only respond if he understood me or to ask for clarification in japanese. It was a great thing to do as it built up my confidence before we got to Japan as I was indeed able to communicate just fine. When we got there although i had some nervous moments at first, I was able to communicate most of the things I wanted. In fact, typically after I thanked the person for answering my questions, they would then start talking about other things in japanese and of course lost me completely. It made no sense to them that my original questions and responses were in good japanese and then suddenly I did not understand another word they said. But it was all still great fun and people in general did not respond to me in english as if my japanese was so bad that they were sure I would only speak english. In any case, I don't know where you nephew lives but try craigslist and if you happen to be in Los Angeles, I could refer you directly to my tutor, Leanne. Feel free to contact her about Japanese lessons in Los Angeles at her email:[email protected]

Kathie

That's a good recommendation, Paul. However, my nephew will soon be in Port Townsend, WA, where the Japanese community is rather small. The chef he worked with previously is there, and so he can practice a bit with her.

Mara

I agree with the idea of a private tutor as well. I take lessons and I also found my teacher on craigslist but in NYC. Maybe where you nephew is there is a university or businesses with native Japanese people....