18-week online course with 25 audio lessons, 25 audio drills, 25 grammar videos, and regular live Q&A sessions!
Zero to basic fluency for just $497 $397 if you sign up before February 18th!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Rick (Taiwan)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Ricardo (Germany)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“I started this course by being very uncomfortable just by trying to pronounce very basic single words. The contents and scheduling are really optimum to smoothly make quick progress towards full sentences. My daily time management is always very constrained. This course allows me to easily practice daily with high efficiency with the very little free time I can find every day. If you want to be able to make progress despite your very busy life, this course is made for you.”
Pascal (Singapore)
Step 1: Listen to the Audio Lesson
Step 2: Practice with the Repetition Drills
Step 3: Watch the Grammar Video
* Note that the actual lessons will be longer—this is just a sample!
If you struggle getting the words out, this course if for you! If you’re a beginner, start off on the right foot! If you have experience with Japanese, but still have a hard time with speaking, then build up your inner database of correct sentences and get an intuitive grasp of how to build sentences, and lower the amount of thinking required to speak!
Most language courses teach you head knowledge. It’s like learning to play golf or do yoga by reading and memorizing books. This course is experiential. It’s like learning to play golf by actually practicing your golf swing, or learning yoga by actually doing the poses. The difference is huge!
Lessons will take place over an 18-week period, but like all of our courses, you'll be able to access all of the materials after it's finished. No need to stress about keeping up—you'll be able to go at a slower pace if you want!
This course will consist of audio only lessons, audio repetition drills, and video explanations for grammar points, as well as live Q&A sessions (though if you can't make it to the live sessions, you can email us your questions, and watch the recordings later).
The sentences covered in the course were chosen to both teach you the most common 400 words in Japanese, but to also to give you experience with basic Japanese grammar—roughly speaking, about half of the grammar covered in the first JLPT exam.
Before you start the course, you'll get several videos explaining the theory behind the course, how to do the course, and how to get the most out of it. There will be several review schedules available and you can choose one that is a comfortable speed for you.
In each lesson, you’ll have a 10 to 15 minute audio recording that you will need to listen to several times, and later review. They start off with simple sentences, and build upon them in small increments. Listening to and repeating to the sentences in these lessons will teach you words, grammar, syntax, word order, etc. experientially, like doing yoga poses or swinging a golf club. The lesson will also have a repetition drill audio file. These are designed to give you more exposure to the words, so that you can both hone your pronunciation and further build up your internal database of correct sentences. We call this intuition building, because the more you go over your repetition drills, the better your intuition for Japanese sentences will be. Next, are the grammar explanation videos. These will focus on one or two grammar points, and will explain them simply, how they relate to the meaning you want to express, and using examples. They will add head knowledge to the experiential knowledge you will have already acquired from the audio lessons and repetition drills.
Will the course teach standard Japanese? Will the native speaker on the recording be male or female?
Yes, it's standard Japanese and not a regional accent. Also, we'll be providing both male and female speakers, so you can choose which one fits your needs best!
Can I go at my own pace? Will I still be able to access the course once I've finished it?
Yes! Everything is available for you to go through at your own pace, and we have suggested study schedules too. You get lifetime access to the course, so you can go back and review as many times as you want!
How much Japanese do I need to know to take this course?
None! If you are a total beginner, you’ll be learning new words, sentences, and phrases in addition to the grammar. If you have some experience with Japanese, then you can focus more on the sentences themselves and on honing your pronunciation.
How long does the course take to complete?
Each lesson will take about half an hour to listen to in its entirety, but you'll also need to spend a few hours doing your repetition drills for each lesson. Given 25 lessons and lots of repetition, expect to spend around 100 hours or more to get the full benefit of the course.
How much time will it require per lesson?
It really depends on how much review you do. We highly recommend spending at least 20 min per day reviewing with the repetition drills and audio lessons. A little bit every day is much better than a lot once a week.
So, at a minimum, 20 min per day on old material, and 20 min per day on new material. Scheduling "review weeks" (where you just review, and don't learn any new material) is a good way to get caught up on reviewing. You should spend a minimum of 3-5 hours per week between new material and reviewing. Of course, a more aggressive review schedule could bring that up close to 10 hours per week, or even more. It depends on your goals! We can help you figure out a good study/review schedule—just ask!
We'll also do occasional live 1-hour Q&A session on Zoom, so you can pop in and ask questions if you'd like. There is also a discussion forum, so if you can't make it to the office hours, you can still get your questions answered. You can also watch the replays of the Q&A sessions.
Will I need anything (apps, etc.) in order to take the course?
No! Everything you need will be provided to you. You just need a device with internet access.
What time will the live Q&A sessions be?
We do the Q&A sessions at different times to try to accommodate people in different time zones as much as possible. You'll get notified in advance, and we usually offer two different time slots each time we do a Q&A session, so you can choose whichever one works best for you.
What does "lifetime access" mean?
In practical terms, it means the course materials will be available online for as long as Outlier is in business. If we do ever go out of business or otherwise need to remove the course for any reason, we'll make the material available for you to download for a period of at least 6 months.
Can I get a refund if I decide the course isn't for me?
Yes! We have a 30-day, no questions asked refund policy. If you decide you don't like the course for whatever reason, just reach out by then and I'll be happy to give you a full refund.
Will there be assignments or homework?
Assignments will be listening to the audio lessons, doing the repetition drills, and watching the grammar explanation videos. This is where the learning happens.
Can we collaborate with other students or form study groups?
Definitely! Our live courses usually have a few hundred students enrolled, so there should be plenty of students of all backgrounds and interests in this course too. Working together and coming up with better ways to study with other people is definitely a good thing. However, for your own learning, you have to do the legwork on your own!
We'll also have a private online community where you can work together, ask questions, share notes, etc.
18-week online course with 25 audio lessons, 25 audio drills, 25 grammar videos, and regular live Q&A sessions!
Zero to basic fluency for just $497 $397 if you sign up before February 18th!
