Courses

  • Japanese for Busy People Courses

    Japanese for Busy People is a three-level text book series and is the most popular and the most comprehensive Japanese language textbook series in the world. The entire series is designed to meet the needs of students and business people who want to learn natural, spoken Japanese as effectively as possible in a limited amount of time. Courses offered here currently only cover the first two levels.
  • Basic Japanese Conversation Course

    Basic Japanese Conversation Course is intended for people who are more interested in being able to hold basic conversations in Japanese and not focus as much on the grammar. Grammar will be taught but the emphasis will be on conversation ability. People who may be interested in this course are those who may be traveling to Japan and would like to be able to converse in Japanese but would not have the time to be able to take a comprehensive Japanese language class. Students can customize the curriculum to pick and choose the subjects which would be most applicable to them.
Course Descriptions
  • Japanese for Busy People course 1 (JBP-1)

    This course is for those who has little or no experience learning Japanese.
    The textbook for this course is designed for approximate sixty-hour classroom lessons, but this doesn't include the lesson time for learning Hiragana and Katakana (Japanese phonetic alphabets).

    Material:
    Japanese for Busy People I  Revised 3rd Edition or 4th Edition

  • Japanese for Busy People course 2 (JBP-2)

    This course is for those who have completed JBP-1 course or have equivalent knowledge.
    The textbook for this course is for mid-beginners and it is designed to help learners consolidate their understanding of syntactical structure through 15 lessons that focus on how to talk about topics relevant to daily life.

    Material:
    Japanese for Busy People II  Revised 3rd Edition or 4th Edition

  • Basic Japanese Conversation Course

    Intended audience: This course is for those who has little or no experience learning Japanese.

    You can choose one or more subjects from the list below.
    You can select any subjects but Subject 1 or equivalent knowledge is required.
    In addition, Subject 11 or equivalent knowledge is required for any verb subjects.

    Material:
    Vocabulary and sentence structure will be provided by Google Docs on the day of the lesson.  Google Docs will be used for sharing content, so you will need Google access either through your Google email account or a Google account associated to your non-Google email account.

    Subjects:
    As lessons will be customized for each student, the time it takes to cover subjects below depends on the interest and level of the student.

    Subject 1  Basic Japanese Grammar and Pronunciation

    Subject 2  Greetings
    Example: Good morning / Hello / Good-bye / Thank you.

    Subject 3  Self-introduction
    Example: How do you do?  / Nice to meet you / My name is Asuka.
                    What is your name? / I live in Dallas    etc.

    Subject 4  Time Expressions (1)
    Example: hours / minutes / from / to
                    What time is it? / It's 3:10 pm / The movie is from 7 to 9 pm    etc.

    Subject 5  Time Expressions (2)
    Example: months / days of the month / days of the week today / tomorrow / yesterday
                    What day is today? / Today is Monday.    etc.

    Subject 6  Time Expressions (3)
    Example: duration of time (for one hour / for 2 minutes)
                     It takes 2 and a half hours from Tokyo to Kyoto.
                     It takes 15 minutes by car.    etc.

    Subject 7  Shopping
    Example: What is this?  / How much is this?
                     I'll take 2 of these / Do you accept credit cards?    etc.

    Subject 8  Eating at a Restaurant
    Example: How many people?  / This way please.
                     I'll have this cake and coffee / Do you accept credit cards?    etc.

    Subject 9  Taking a taxi or train
    Example: Where is the nearest station? / Does this train stop at Shibuya Station?
                     To Tokyo Station, please. / Do you accept credit cards?    etc. 

    Subject
     10  
    Adjectives (1)
                      Describe things using adjectives.  Non-past tense
    Example: This apple pie is delicious / This room is not big    etc.

    Subject 11  Adjectives (2)
                        Describe things using adjectives.  Past tense
    Example: Mt. Fuji was very beautiful / The movie was not interesting.    etc.

    Subject 12  Verbs (1)  Non-past tense
    Example: I eat lunch in my office / I don't read newspapers.    etc.

    Subject 13  Verbs (2)  Past tense
                        (Lesson 11 or equivalent knowledge required)
    Example: I went to Japan last year / I didn't read the book.    etc.

    Subject 14  Verbs (3)  Making a request
                        (Lesson 11 or equivalent knowledge required)
    Example: Please read this letter / Please don't smoke here.    etc.

    Subject 15  Verbs (4)  Asking permission
                         (Lesson 11 or equivalent knowledge required)
    Example: May I sit here? / May I eat lunch now?    etc.

    Subject 16  Verbs (5)  Making a negative request
                         (Lesson 11 or equivalent knowledge required)
    Example: Please do not smoke here / Please do not take pictures here.    etc.

    Subject 17  Verbs (6)  Ongoing actions / Habitual or repeated actions
                         (Lesson 11 or equivalent knowledge required)
    Example: I'm eating lunch / Mr. Tanaka plays tennis every Sunday.    etc.

    Subject 18  Verbs (7)  Current States
                         (Lesson 11 or equivalent knowledge required)
    Example: Ms. Yamada lives in Yokohama / I work for a bank.    etc.

    Subject 19  Verbs (8)  States in Effect
                         (Lesson 11 or equivalent knowledge required)
    Example: Mr. Suzuki is wearing black shoes / I'm standing in front of the elevator.    etc.

    Subject 20  Verbs (9)  To be verbs
                         (Lesson 11 or equivalent knowledge required)
    Example: There is a dog in the yard / There are books on the table.    etc.

    Subject 21  Verbs (10)  Expressing desire
                         (Lesson 11 or equivalent knowledge required)
    Example: I want to drink coffee / I want to go by taxi.    etc.

    Subject 22  Expressing likes and dislikes
                        (Lesson 11 or equivalent knowledge required)
    Example: I like pizza / My son doesn't like carrots.    etc.