Free Japanese Lessons via Skype!
I’m looking for 4 people who are interested in participating in beginner Japanese lessons on Sundays, Japan time. I will conduct the lesson using the conference feature of Skype so a microphone and a Skype account are required. (You’ll probably want a headphone/mic setup to leave your hands free.) The lesson details are below so if you or anybody you know is new to Japanese and interested in learning it, please leave a comment. Depending on the response, the first lesson might be as early as this Sunday (4/9).
※I will contact all participants via email regarding the final date for the lesson so make sure I have your email address. (Either through your skype profile or by emailing me at kimchi314@yahoo.co.jp)
This is my first time using Skype so please excuse me if there are some glitches along the way.
Important: The lessons will be recorded and posted on this site. If you do not want to be recorded, please do not participate in the lesson.
Lesson 1: Greetings and pronunciation
Overview
First, we’ll learn some greetings to start off the first class.
We’ll also discuss the long vowel sound, proper pronunciation, and the different levels of politeness in Japanese including our first look at 「です」 and 「ですか」.
Please comment with your name and skype id if you want to participate in this lesson. (Maximum of 4 people)
Note: This lesson is now full.
※This lesson will be recorded and posted on this site along with my notes.
Lesson Date and Time
Time: Sun 9:00 am, Tokyo Time (No DST) (convert time)
Date: April 16
Length: 30 min to 1 hour
Participants: Andrew, John, Joshua, Rossine
Prerequisites
1. Knowledge of basic hiragana is assumed but not required.
2. Though useful, knowledge of kanji is not neccessary.
Lesson Preparation
I strongly recommend learning at least the basic hiragana characters.
・Hiragana Link 1
・Hiragana Link 2
You should also become at least somewhat familiar with the following vocabulary and expressions before the lesson. You do not have to worry about the kanji for now.
Vocabulary
１．はい - yes (polite)
２．いいえ - no (polite)
３．うん - yes (casual)
４．ううん - no (casual)
５．先生【せんせい】 - teacher
６．学生【がくせい】 - student
７．学校【がっこう】 - school
８．小学校【しょうがっこう】 - elementary school
９．中学校【ちゅうがっこう】 - middle school
１０．高校【こうこう】 - high school
１１．教科書【きょうかしょ】 - textbook
Expressions
１．おはよう。- Good morning. (casual)
２．おはようございます。- Good morning. (polite)
３．こんにちは。- Good afternoon.
４．こんばんは。- Good evening.
５. 元気（げんき）ですか？- Are [you] doing fine?
６．元気（げんき）です。- [I’m] fine.
Lesson Notes
Rules for writing long vowel sounds based on the vowel
1. /a/ -> あ
2. /i/ -> い
3. /e/ -> え
4. /u/o/ -> う
- 
April 6th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
Name - John Dyer
Skypeid - loudboy
Hey, I’m a very inspired learner and I was looking for a way to get a lesson like this some how. I would be ever appreciative if I could join you.
Thanks!
April 6th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
I guess I should also add that I know the hiragana. And im from the US East coast.
April 7th, 2006 at 1:12 am
I would definately like to participate in this. I’m in Wisconsin, so that would make the lesson time Saturdays at 6pm. That time may be difficult for me, but I’d still like to give it a shot!
April 7th, 2006 at 9:24 am
Scott, I can only move the time forward (like perhaps 7 or 8pm, your time) cause 8 am is about my limit for getting up in morning. Plus, I’ll need your skype id to do the conference call and email if you don’t have it in your skype profile so that I can contact you regarding the final time for the lesson. (You can email me at kimchi314@yahoo.co.jp if you don’t want to put it here.)
April 7th, 2006 at 9:43 am
If you could move the forward one hour, that would help me out also. That way i can definitely make it every week.
April 7th, 2006 at 10:07 am
Ok, I’m tentatively moving the time to 9:00 am, which is good for me too since I get to sleep an extra hour.
April 7th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
Hey,
I live in 松本. I think that I know too much for this lesson, but I’d love to participate in more advanced ones in the future. It’s a great idea though.
April 7th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
Hi,
I think I’m in the same boat as Martin, I probably know too much for a basic lesson, but I’d like to participate at some point.
However I’m in the UK, so 8am JST is midnight here (it’s BST at the moment), so I might not be able to make it.
Anyhow, I’m looking forward to the recordings of the lesson to see how it goes. It’s an interesting idea :D
SkypeID: ben-uaq
Ben
April 7th, 2006 at 7:35 pm
Hello, I too would be very interested in joining later, more advanced lessons (I have taken and passed the JLPT 3 exam). How far will you be going with the lessons?
April 7th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
I’m willing to take these lessons as far as I can take them so you can sign up for later lessons that seem interesting to you. We’ll see how the first one turns out. I’m also flexible on the time depending on the people signing up as long as it’s on the weekend, Japan time.
April 9th, 2006 at 5:46 am
Hey! I’m brazilian and I whish so much to learn japanese please add me in your lessons. My skype ID: rossine.alonso. Tanks!
April 9th, 2006 at 6:10 am
Hello! I really want to join the skype lessons. My ID is binnoa.
April 9th, 2006 at 9:18 am
Ok, I’m setting the date for the first lesson to be next Sunday (4/16) at 9:00 am Japan Time. I have space for one more so Scott (or anybody else for that matter), if you’re still interested, let me know your Skype id.
April 9th, 2006 at 1:15 pm
Name: Joshua Wright
Skype id: joshuawright
I am game, Mr. Kim. I will warn you, however, that I am still a user of a dialup Internet connection; so if I get bumped, it is understandable. Hehe. ;)
April 9th, 2006 at 10:32 pm
Well, why don’t we at least try it? I’ll add you as the last participant. The lesson time is stated in the post so see you next week!
April 13th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
Hi Kim. This seems like an excellent idea. Please do let us know once you move past the beginner level. I would like to join but I am at an intermediate level right now.I live in Tokyo so timing should not be any problem for me.
April 13th, 2006 at 9:53 pm
I will continuously post new lessons at the Skype Lesson category so check the following category every once in a while to see if there’s a lesson that meets your level.
http://nihongo.3yen.com/category/skype-lessons/
It might be a while before I eventually reach intermediate level though.
April 15th, 2006 at 8:00 am
This is a great idea! I’d love to participate in the intermediate lessons later… Maybe turning the recordings into a podcast would be a good idea.
And since it seems there are a lot of people who want to have intermediate lessons, could it be possible to sort of alternate between the two levels every so often?
Would you cover casual language/slang in the intermediate lessons? I’m really interested in that stuff, and there aren’t many good resources for that.
April 16th, 2006 at 9:53 am
Name: Joshua Wright
Skype id: joshuawright
Are we supposed to sign up here, again, Mr. Kim? I did not see any other page… ../skype-lessons/ does not have a comment page or links to other similar pages when I looked at it. Or maybe I am just looking in the wrong place.
Anyway, I would like to participate in the next lesson. Thank you.
April 16th, 2006 at 10:10 am
Did I flunked? I was too nervous… but I’m sure that I’ve learned o lot with you! aAd I hope to learn more if you let me of course! So また後で。
May 2nd, 2006 at 7:07 am
i am studying languages, am from peru piura,and would like to learn japanese in here…hope to meet good people too, speak english, spanish,french and portuguese!!! bye
May 12th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
Hello,
I am an indian and working in nagoya as a software engineer. I really wanna join the skype lessons. please let me allow to participate. My skype id is srinivasanchelliah.
i am eagarly waiting for your reply.
July 20th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Hi i want to know if you know other groups doing the same thing.
I`ll wait your reply thanks, see you
February 9th, 2007 at 6:03 am
Ok i need help with installing japanese fonts.can any one help?
March 31st, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Hey, I really want to learn Japanese. I’ve been studying for about 3 months, and I’m stuck, I don’t what to do, so if I can join you that would be amazing!
July 30th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Hi! I’d really like to try this out for this project! So I really hope that it’s still active T_T…
I have a Skype account and all the necesary stuff, so please contact me if youi can!
phillipds@gmail.com
THANKS!
January 9th, 2008 at 1:54 am
Are you still offering this service? If so, please contact me.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:56 am
No, they are on hiatus until I can come up with a more effective way to do with.
February 15th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Skype ID: joranschols
Hi, I’ve been looking for someone like you for a long time. It’s hard to learn japanese on your own so I hope you accept me as a student, I would be honered.
~Joran~