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FAQ
About Our Courses
Terrace House is a hit Japanese reality TV show series (which is available on Netflix at the time of writing). The show follows the lives of six strangers, three men and three women from different walks of life, who live under the same roof while getting to know and date each other.
Almost by accident, we found that following this popular series was in fact an excellent way to learn “real” Japanese because of the show’s premise and themes – e.g. strangers getting to know each other, undertaking everyday tasks, romance/dating, sharing hopes, dreams & desires. This is precisely the kind of Japanese that most students are looking to learn, rather than the “proper” Japanese that most textbooks teach (unless you’re looking to score job interviews, read news articles or debate about politics)!
In our opinion, being able to confidently communicate with Japanese people and having daily conversations should be your first milestone. So if your primary goal is not just to pass exams, but to really understand the culture and language, our Learn Japanese with Terrace House course is for you.
You have 5 options to be part of our online community.
The first option is $2 per month membership – you will get lifetime access to 4 video lessons per month plus all the original slides used in the lessons. These slides are definitely necessary, so keep them handy when you are taking any of my video lessons. Refer to the slides and lesson notes repeatedly after each lesson, until you memorize how to say all the sentences.
Please follow the link below and check out our Patreon page for more details.
For group classes, our classes usually follow a textbook or curriculum written by our own teachers. This is to ensure that every student is “on the same page” either through self-study or by attending make-up lessons if he/she misses a lesson or two.
For private classes, if the student is an adult, we usually discuss with him/her during the initial trial session to decide on a bespoke lesson plan, and the most appropriate learning aids to achieve agreed objectives. These could be textbooks, customised material or a mixture of both.
Yes. In this case, private lessons are best for you. Your teacher will work out a study plan with you and create a bespoke curriculum to suit your requirements.
Semi-private lessons might be possible if other students can agree on a shared curriculum.
All our group courses utilise a fixed curriculum which cannot be changed.
All our teachers are either native or highly fluent in the language they are teaching. In some cases, we assign teachers who may not be native, but are highly fluent in the target language with an excellent command of English, in order to better help beginner students learn.
All our group courses will start as planned when we have a minimum of three students. If not, enrolled students will have to wait for further notice on the start date.
All our group courses are conducted once a week at the moment. However, scheduling for private and semi-private lessons can be relatively flexible. Please approach your language teacher with any requests regarding your class frequency.
Except for kids holiday program, we don’t have group intensive courses. However, you can arrange intensive training with your teacher based on your requirements and goals when you select our private lessons.
Conversational courses are designed mainly for everyday language use. With a bit of extra training, you can still take exams after studying these courses.
However, if you have a clear goal on passing HSK/JLPT, we suggest that you take our exam-focused courses (i.e. HSK / JLPT courses)
Yes, all our level 1 courses are suitable for absolute beginners.
Choose our level 2 trial class. Your teacher will help you determine which level to enroll in after the trial.
Your teacher will administer a placement test if he/she thinks it is necessary.
For beginners courses, yes!
For intermediate courses, much less!
For advanced courses, No!
Yes, we currently have Japanese and English classroom-based courses for kids.
You have to be at least 5 years old.
About Trial Lessons
Yes, we offer trial classes for all our online and classroom based courses. For private lessons, you can choose your trial class date and time. For group lessons, we fix the trial classes’ dates and times. Please select one which suits you the best.
It is effectively free if you sign up to any of our courses after the trial. You need to make a payment to book your first trial class.
We will then offset this amount against your full course fees if you decide to enroll in any of our courses. However, please note that if you decide not to enroll for a full course thereafter, we will not refund you for the trial lesson fee.
All our trial classes are recorded. Select one of the trial classes and make the booking payment online, then inform us that you will be absent. We will send you the recording after the class ends.
For group and private classes, cancellation is free as long as the students could inform us at least 24 hours before the class time. We only charge for same-day cancellation and no-show cases.
We recommend all our students to finish their term as suggested as language learning requires consistency. However, in some rare cases, we do give lesson break up to 6 months.
We have many expatriate families studying with us over the years. We understand totally about sudden and unexpected relocation orders by the company. In this case, you can choose to transfer the remaining credits to your friends who are interested to join our school.
For group classes, if two or more students are absent for any lesson, a makeup lesson could be arranged for them together within the same week provided both the students and the teacher are available.
For private class, the lesson schedule is relatively flexible. The student and the teacher could arrange their makeup lesson according to their available day and time.
About Payment / Cancellation / Refund
You can pay with all major credit cards or PayPal. If you prefer online transfer (i.e. PayNow, Paylah, or direct bank transfer), you can contact us for our bank details.
Unfortunately we do not offer payment plans or installments.
For private classes, cancellation is free as long as students are able to inform us at least 24 hours before the class time. We only charge for same-day cancellations and no-show cases.
For group classes, unfortunately lesson credits will be taken if you are unable to attend any of the classes as group courses run by fixed schedule.
The course fees are not refundable once paid. That’s the reason we offer trial classes for all our courses – to ensure there is a good student-teacher fit.
We recommend that all our students finish their term as per our suggested schedules as language learning requires consistency. However, in some rare cases, we do give “lesson breaks” of up to 6 months.
We have had many expatriate families studying with us over the years. We understand that anyone can be affected by their company’s sudden and unexpected relocation orders. In this case, we would kindly ask that you transfer the remaining credits to your friends who may be interested in learning a language. Contact us and we will happily facilitate this process.
If you are taking a group course, the lessons will continue without you. However, you can contact us in advance, and we may be able to record the lessons and send you the videos. If you are taking private lessons, simply arrange with your teacher for your next lesson date/time.
For group classes, if two or more students are absent for any lesson, a makeup lesson can be arranged for them together within the same week, provided both the students and the teacher are available.
For private classes, the lesson schedule is relatively flexible. The student and the teacher can arrange their makeup lesson according to their availability.