Japanese/English Skype Classes

If you live in the U.S. most of those who show an interest in language exchange for Japanese/English have a problem with the time difference, if they live in Japan. But it can work especially on weekends where both might be off from work.

I finally found a "class" hosted by an "English teacher" living in Korea. He spoke both Korean and Japanese, or so he claimed, fluently. His English was not perfect, from my observations in writing to him on both Skype and Lang-8. The times were still difficult for me, but the earlier class (he had 2/week on Sunday, Japan time) was possible. I went online several minutes before the class and let the "teacher" know I would wait for the class to begin. Several minutes after the starting time I had no reply back to me, so I did some of my other chores on the computer. After one hour, I saw a message from the "teacher" that there were no students and he (the "teacher") was one hour late. Duh, no wonder there were no students!

Again, I have to state that finding a person who truly wants to exchange language skills on Skype is almost impossible to find. I am sure others have had luck, but usually just in using text, instead of speech. I want to learn conversational Japanese and I am willing teach English conversation.

I am almost read to give up.

New Japanese Learning Program

I have just joined a new Japanese language learning site. I found it stimulating and it has provided a great experience. I won't explain it as you can go to the site and read and listen to the demonstrations. I will give you my experience and reaction to it. I will still continue to use Lang-8, but I think except for having a language partner to study with, this new program is the best. I have spent a lot of money on programs and looked at many sites, but this site, which is free is the best.

http://smart.fm

I think because this is a fairly new program, there are some mistakes in either the Japanese or the translations. I only found this out by reading other, more advanced, students' posts, who send corrections to the moderator. I would like to have you leave a reply post to this blog and let me know what you think, especially if you are in the strong intermediate and advanced stage of your Japanese learning. One reason I like this program is that at my advanced-beginner level, it seems this is more conversational in its teaching. I could change my mind about this program as I use it more. I will keep you informed.