Hello!
Of course we all know that learning Japanese in a University, language school, formal institution is not as cool as worshiping the Crabigator. I can only speak for myself, but I’m missing spot-on pronunciation, top pedagogy, and peers to push one-another. Thus, I was wondering if any of you would like to join me so we can crowdfund our own course with a top-notch professional Japanese teacher.
I’d appreciate if you’d fill out this survey as a start.
It wouldn’t be something for me personally, but I’m going to give this a not so sneaky bump now that some other time zones have woken up. ^^
I appreciate your support. Thank you also for sharing that this isn’t for you. Do you mind sharing why that is?
I used to take a class which moved to Zoom during the lockdown, but then switched to private lessons via iTalki. The latter is much better for me, since you get the full attention of the teacher , as well as no pair work with people who don’t speak Japanese any better than you do. Cheaper too.
It isn’t for me either. I also have a private teacher on iTalki. Here on WK, there are too many levels of Japanese, too many time zones and so on. With my private teacher, I can schedule lessons when it’s convenient for me, and we can work on what I’n interested in learning.
I’d love to pick your brains about that. I don’t think that group lessons would be good for either but I also wouldn’t know how to go about doing a private course like that.
How do you get it set up?
Just go to iTalki and search for teachers! You may have to try a few different ones before you find one you like, so don’t give up if the first one is not perfect. I LOVE! the teacher I have now on iTalki. She helps me relax and speak Japanese and I learn so much from her. Highly recommended!
Sure. ^^ It’s in part about what sisterray said that a private tutor on something like iTalki means I can get the full focus of the instructor, go at the speed that works for me, and work on exactly the things that I want to work on.
I struggle quite a lot with social interaction, so the fewer people, the better for me. I’d be more bothered about making mistakes, and less likely to ask questions in a (virtual) classroom setting. I don’t feel motivated or pushed when studying in a group, just stressed. 
But that’s just me. I know a lot of people experience the opposite - finding the social aspect motivating and helpful.
As Marifly said, it is super easy to sign up and schedule lessons (I recommend Skype over the built-in iTalki Classroom), but every teacher is different. I tried a few that were purely casual conversation with no notes, and some that have a more structured approach. Are you using a textbook, native material, or just want to chat? You can search the teacher listings for specific materials. For example, I needed someone for Tobira, but only a few teachers mentioned it, so that narrowed the search by quite a bit.
I am following BunPro’s grammar path right now and then once I’ve finished N3 hope to go onto Tobira so thanks for that tip!
Ps. Sorry for derailing the thread!
I think you could start now if you are past N4 or even almost. Tobira covers N3. It’s a very good book that trains reading, listening, and politeness levels along with the grammar
Please refer those people to the survey. 
Good points by all of you.
Tobira is actually one of the options we have listed as a base for a course - just sayin’…
I personally find a course a lot harder to back out and helps in making time for regular study. I get it that it’s nice to just chat in Japanese and you think you’re making progress - and you certainly are. The purpose of a course here is of a more structured approach - something that I personally found lacking with (italki) tutors and teachers. It’s good and bad at the same time that the customer in every session s king. I observed that people who are in total control of their learning tend to progress at a much slower rate - knowing very well that the opposite is true in some cases as well.
There are of course logistical challenges. I speak to a lot of people these days via Zoom, whether they are in my timezone, somewhere else in the US, Europe, Africa, or Asia. But scheduling isn’t really that hard if you have the data; I’m asking for general availability incl. timezone info.
Back to Tobira. I started Tobira actually after I passed N3. I wouldn’t mind reviewing that. It’s a good book and has some more interesting readings, too.
I’m leaving the form still open as I’m still very much interested in what people have to say.
We’re starting our first Japanese 101 course on September 6th. My first Japanese professor from college is leading the course and I’m very excited about that. Probably way too easy for the majority of regular forum posters, but feel free to pass the link around: https://101.yomi.ai/
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