Yōkoso! Welcome! We’re happy to see you want to learn Japanese. Regardless of your motivations, whether it’s for building your career or simply for the challenge, learning Japanese has amazing benefits. And the fact that you’ve found this page shows you understand the importance of a strong foundation — which begins with a great Japanese tutor or teacher.
This page will give you a step by step breakdown of how to go about looking for the right Japanese tutor. We’ll also talk about benefits versus drawbacks of working with someone in person versus online.
How to select Japanese Tutors
Begin with your “must-haves.” What is your specific situation situation? What is your learning style. We’ve taught thousands of students to become fluent in Japanese and over the years have found that when selecting Japanese tutors, the following considerations are super important::
- Availability: How will your teacher’s schedule fit with yours?
- Qualifications: What is your teacher’s demonstrated level of success? Is this verifiable?
- Personality: What about their personality. Does it complement your learning style?
- Empathy: Will your teacher be capable of challenging you while making sure you feel empowered? Do they have your back?
Consider all of these carefully.
Japanese Teachers Online VS. In-Person
Next, consider whether in-person or online is instruction is a better fit, weighing all the pros and cons before deciding.
In-person Japanese teachers
Pros:
- The real life interaction may make lessons and time spent feel more meaningful.
- Real life in person instruction lets you carefully model body language and facial expressions.
- There are no issues with connectivity or wifi.
Cons:
- In person lessons are generally more of a time and resource commitment, including the commute to lessons.
- Individual lessons may be bigger time commitment per session than you’re comfortable with or have time for.
- In person lessons are typically more expensive.
- Your options for teacher may be severely limited depending on where you live. This also means:
- No / few options for sampling different teaching styles / personalities.
- Potential difficulty fitting your schedule around a single teacher’s availability.
- Potential lack of truly qualified teachers in your local area.
Online Japanese tutors and teachers
Pros:
- Zero commuting – a time savings of 30-60 minutes per session – means it’s more convenient.
- Quick individual sessions – as short as half an hour at Rype – rather than big chunks of time per lesson.
- Overall much more affordable.
- Higher diversity of teachers with an access to a worldwide instructor pool.
- Access to online resources and tools for expediting your learning experience (for example: document sharing, online project management)
- You can easily verify teachers’ reviews.
Cons:
- Potential connectivity issues can lead to dropped calls on lessons.
- You need a baseline level of knowing how to navigate a computer / work online.
- The level of intimacy is not the same as real-life conversation.
With the ideal match of teacher and student, obviously in-person teaching can be amazing. But given how challenging that perfect match can be to find, when we factor in everything we believe the overall best option for the majority of learners is an online Japanese tutor
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How we hire our Japanese Tutors
But what about the quality of Japanese tutors online? Let’s take a minute to review how we hire our Japanese tutors here at Rype.
Step #1. Initial application
Our initial application filters the serious applicants from the thousands of applications we receive. We first look at each candidate’s background, experience, and availability. From here only the top candidates move on.
Step #2. Rype University training
Next up is Rype University, a demanding training program where potential Rype tutors develop strategies and tactics for success. During this program we spend time getting to know each tutor candidate, evaluating their teaching goals and professionalism. We also make sure they have all of the necessary tools for teaching, ensuring they’re the most effective at instructing all types of learners
Step #3. Live 1-on-1 interview (with our Teacher Lead)
Successful Rype University graduates take part in a live one on one interviews with lead teachers. These interviews allow us to assess their qualifications, professionalism, and personality – our three main criteria. In this way Rype differs from all other platforms.
Step #4. 60-Day Trial
Teachers who pass the interview begin a 60-day trial phase as teachers. For these first two months we carefully monitor student feedback and help ensure the new teachers are excelling.
Step #5. Continued success (4.5/5 or higher)
Teachers who successfully complete the trial period are officially welcomed as Rype teachers. From here they still must maintain an average of 4.5 out of 5 on reviews to remain, ensuring a gold standard of excellence for our platform.
How to Start Learning Japanese With Rype
Learning Japanese — as with any major learning journey — takes considerable time and patience. But you’re in the most difficult stage right now, which is taking action. We hope from here you have a better idea of what to look for in your Japanese teacher and how to take the next steps.
If you’re ready to begin learning Japanese right now, we strongly recommend Rype’s free trial offer. This is a completely risk-free trial where you can experience our platform and try working with different teachers. We know you’ll be amazed with the quality and look forward to working with you.
See you there!
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