If you are an adult and work with Japanese colleagues or you’re planning a future business trip to Japan, our Japanese Language Classes for Business on Zoom helps prepare you.
We cover business situations in all classes, and also conversation after work and getting to know each other.
Our Philosophy: Class is intense! We’re busy working professionals and come to class to study. We demand that you learn by preparing for class beforehand, then we practice and expand in class. Then review again at home. Expect up to 2 hours preparation each week!
Class study at JASO is a benefit of membership, so you or your company must be a current JASO member to participate. All membership details at www.jaso.org.
Group Class Information
Small group classes run 8 weeks total, 75-minute classes (10 hrs contact time)
Maximum 10 students. Minimum 4 needed for class to run.
Classes held online through Zoom or Google Meet (Teacher’s choice).
Week 1 starts from Monday September 22, Week 8 finishes November 14, with the following week in case emergency make-up needed due to unavoidable teacher cancellation.
NEW FOR FALL 2025 - Only available to ALL group class students regardless of level - that's you if you sign up here - an additional, optional, NEW LEARNING OPPORTUNITY, our LANGUAGE IS CULTURE CORNER. On Zoom, sensei Natsuko Llewellyn takes us through 4 Cultural Components of Japanese Language, on Mondays at 6:30-7pm as follows:
September 29 - Meeting People for the First Time
October 13 - Concepts of the In-Group and the Out-Group
October 27 - Hierarchy and Speech Style when Addressing People
November 10 - Variations of Thank You and Sorry
If you'd like to opt in, just select the option button as you sign up for your language course.
Technology
It is the student’s responsibility to use an up-to-date operating system, camera, headphones and microphone to ensure you can engage effectively and responsibly in the classroom.
Quality connectivity is also the student’s responsibility, not the instructor’s. The instructor will try to make a reasonable effort in case of a student’s connectivity trouble. However, the instructor will not pause, halt or interrupt class in a way that overly impacts other students.
Process
Sign-up online. Select your class. Pay the fee.
We make every effort to ensure you are placed correctly and we will check on new students. We do reserve the right to move you after first class. We also want you to talk to us if you think you need to move.
We communicate using Dropbox. Once assigned to a class, you’ll receive notification that you are added to this class Dropbox folder. Inside this folder is course textbook, welcome letter, meeting codes to enter class, and class preparation.
Find a quiet space for class, so as not to disrupt others.
You are always expected to prepare for class in advance. Instructors place class preparation notes in Dropbox several days prior to class. You will receive notification from Dropbox when materials are placed there – you’ll need to set up your Notifications, so keep checking anyway.
Our Levels Structure
Beginner level classes are for students who are new to Japanese, or have only a little self- or class-based study. Plan to start at Beginner 1 even if Beginner 2 or 3 seems more suitable. If you do NOT have a reasonable understanding of the ーて verb form, do NOT sign up for Beginner 6 or beyond.
Choose your level by signing up. If you’re new, we’ll contact you to check your level before class starts.
Our Classes
Beginner 1
Instructor: Kayo Niimi
Day & Time: Thursday 5:45-7pm
Description: Students will be introduced to concepts around working at a Japanese company including introductions, basic situational cultural expressions and language, pronunciation, and the building blocks of starting to speak.
Students are expected to have very little knowledge of the language. Textbook provided.
Beginner 2
Instructor: Charlotte Benedict
Day & Time: Tuesday 6:45-8pm
Students should have completed Beginner 1. Textbook provided.
Beginner 6
Instructor: Yoko Matsui
Day & Time: Thursday 5:30-6:45pm
If you have a solid understanding of hiragana and katakana, and a basic but imperfect grasp of numbers, time, directions, greetings, adjectives, plus present and past tenses, this is a good place to enter the course. The -て verb form is introduced during this course. Ideally, students should have completed Beginner 5. Textbook provided.
Beginner 8
Instructor: Shoko Parker
Day & Time: Wednesday 5:30-6:45pm
If you have a solid understanding of hiragana and katakana, and excellent recall of numbers, time, directions, greetings, and adjectives, plus present and past tenses, and some understanding of the -て verb form, this is a good place to enter the course. Ideally, students should have completed Beginner 7. Textbook provided.
Our teachers are highly qualified and experienced language teaching professionals. You can read about them HERE.
Refund Policy
Course will run with minimum 4 students signing up. If course does not run, 100% of fees refunded. Cancellation after September 15, no refund if your cancellation causes numbers to drop below 4 in total. 50% refund otherwise. Refund processed after classes start. We will communicate with you as sign-up windows close regarding number of sign-ups.
We understand business people sometimes have work commitments that cause them to miss class. Many students end up missing 1 or 2 classes because of work commitments. We price these classes affordably to take this into consideration. We do not give refunds because “work became busy”.
