All lessons (including electives, private and CALL seminars) are communication skills based Japanese classes that includes testing and revision classes. All four skills are taught - speaking, listening, reading and writing. The objective is to give you the opportunity to learn Japanese quickly. Most students in this program are learning in order to pursue specific professional or academic goals - the program is designed to enable students to pursue these goals earlier and with more confidence than a general or less intensive program can provide.

The classes require preparation time and private study. You will need to prepare for classes and submit homework tasks. Students will also have free access to the online resources being produced for Yamasa's Online Center for Japanese Studies as they are published.

Classes are taught via the direct method. The fastest way to learn Japanese is to be taught in Japanese and hear nothing else. Japanese is the language of instruction, however if you are a beginner please note that all of the texts at elementary level also have supporting translations and grammatical notes available in a range of foreign languages and other multilingual aids. You will be able to prepare your lessons in advance so that you can understand the Japanese language only lessons.

Romaji (the english alphabet) is not used in instruction. From the initial lessons, you will be reading and writing exclusively in Japanese. This is for a number of reasons including; (a) the highly multinational nature of the student body, (b) the fact that use of Romaji oftens retards correct pronunication and (c) you will not be using Romaji later when you put your Japanese to use - so it makes sense to learn real Japanese from the outset. For more information please browse through the levels and curriculum section.

At the elementary level you do not need to be able to read Kanji as all of the texts have "furigana" (the reading of each kanji indicated with small hiragana - see the curriculum section). You will need to study the Kanji of course if you are going to really learn Japanese. Learning aids and faculty assistance is available throughout. Bringing a good kanji dictionary is helpful. Correct grammar use is a major focus.

It is a key objective of the program that you will be able to communicate using precise and correct grammar. As a result a large number of classes are discussion based classes interacting with both Yamasa faculty and your fellow students. The faculty teams focus on correcting errors and keeping the communication skill level rising. Your mistakes are always corrected. This is why lesson preparation and homework is so important.