Are their community Centers in Japan?

[chobo2]

Hi

I am planning to go for 3 months during my summer break to Japan. During this time I want to go and learn some Japanese at a school for a couple hours a day. I am wondering though does japan have like community Centers like how Canada has? Where they offer language training at cheaper prices then say going to a college and paying more.

Since I am staying 3 months I don't think I need a visa so there is no really advantage of going to a college since I have to be back before my final year of my bachelors program starts.

I know here in Canada doing something like that is alot cheaper then going to a college and paying for basically the same thing. When my mom came to Canada she went to a community center and paid little to even getting free to learn English. I doubt it will be free but if something like this exists I am sure it would be cheaper.

[Mike Cash]

There are such things but not every community offers Japanese lessons for foreigners and even if they do it is hit-or-miss whether they will have one at the time you are here.

[Harisenbon]

Also, many community centers that DO teach Japanese will have a waiting list.
The community center near my house has something like 70 teachers for 600 potential students (offering one on one classes), so the waiting list for getting a teacher is pretty long.

I believe that all YMCAs in Japan have Japanese Classes available, but I could be wrong about that.
If you know where you will be staying, you can probably look up information about the town and their community services on the internet.

[becki_kanou]

It depends on the area. Most cities have a community center that teaches Japanese, but some have residence requirements, and may have a waiting list as well. My town luckily has more teachers than students, so there is always someone waiting on the sidelines to teach any new students who may come. Some programs are free, (such as Kobe International Center) but others may charge a nominal fee. My town's program charges ¥2,000 every 6 months, which mostly goes to pay for tea-time.

Overall the quality of instruction varies widely even within the same program. Most teachers are not professional Japanese instructors but rather college students, housewives and retirees who work on a volunteer basis and may not have even a nodding acquaintance with pedagogy. You can get a great teacher as I was lucky enough to do on my first try, or you can get a housewife who's real aim is to practice English on native speakers while "teaching" Japanese. It's all rather hit or miss.

[chobo2]

Hmm

Well I am going to get some more information on where I am going to stay and maybe get the people I know to check around the area if there any community centers around. I believe I am staying Kawasaki.

What is the Japanaese characters for community center?

I tried asking about this before to the person I know down there but I had a feeling he might not know what a community center is.

With hit or miss I might take that chance depending on how much cheaper it is. I know in my college you can get bad or good teachers but maybe at community schools this is a higher rate of bad teachers but I am only going 3 months and I know I won't learn the whole language anyways. It is more a taste of everything to see if I would like to come back maybe the next year after I am finished my bachelors program and stay for a year.

I will keep you posted when I know a bit more info.

[Harisenbon]

What is the Japanaese characters for community center?

It all depends where you all.

ふれあいセンター, 国際センター, 文化センター are you best bets (Community Center, International Center, Culture Center respectively), but the actual name various from city to city (the one here in Ogaki is called 水都ピアセンター).

Looking at the homepage for the city you will be staying in is your best bet.
The Kawasaki city HP is here: http://www.city.kawasaki.jp/
The English version is here: http://www.city.kawasaki.jp/index_e.htm
They apparently have an international center: http://www.kian.or.jp/len/present/access.html which has information about taking Japanese Classes.
The have the International Association Japanese courses: http://www.kian.or.jp/len/present/ja_lang_classes.html
As well as a listing of other classes throughout the city: http://www.kian.or.jp/len/present/jlcitc.html

Hope that helps.

[pippa]

In the town where I was, the community centre was called a 国際交流センター (kokusai kouryuu centre). They offered free Japanese classes every Saturday, roughly corresponding to JLPT levels (although they had something like 20 different levels, so I'm not sure how that worked).

[keatonatron]

I would suggest the YMCA. That's where I did my language study.

How intensive of a program are you looking for? The YMCA next to Yokohama station (which is one stop from Kawasaki) offers a class that meets a few times a week--giving you enough time to go out and have fun while practicing what you've learned.

I did an intensive course, studying 6 hours a day, 5 days a week (with lots of homework!) but I've been here a lot longer than 3 months, giving me plenty of time to sight see and practice speaking.