EarthDiverse > LANGUAGE COURSES > Japanese courses

JAPANESE LANGUAGE COURSES:

INTRODUCTORY TERM 2 CLASSES BEGIN THE WEEK STARTING MONDAY 5 MAY 2025. ADVANCED JAPANESE CLASSES BEGIN AGAIN THE WEEK STARTING MONDAY 28 APRIL   Register now!

Remember: It’s never too late to register for an EarthDiverse course. You can always catch up by watching the live recorded videos! 

New Introductory cohorts of Japanese 101 begin in Term 1 (February) and Term 3 (July) each year.  

If you don’t want to wait to begin your Japanese studies, we offer a special bundle with the previous Term’s Japanese 101 course available to you now via the entire set of video recordings at 50% off when you purchase this Term’s Japanese 102 course. Please contact us for details. 

Japanese (日本語, Nihongo) is an East Asian language spoken by about 128 million people, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. Japanese has no clear genealogical relationship with Chinese, although it makes prevalent use of Chinese characters, or kanji (漢字), in its writing system, and a large portion of its vocabulary is borrowed from Chinese.

Study Japanese with EarthDiverse!

Our Introductory Japanese 101 course begins with a focus on learning hiragana and katakana scripts, writing and reading practice, and includes basic introductory grammar, vocabulary and conversation. Basic everyday vocabulary and expressions will be taught, always with a view to empowering learners so that they feel encouraged to build their own sentences and be able to make some simple conversation during our first Term. Distinctive aspects of the Japanese language will also be addressed, along with simple present and past forms of essential verbs in short sentences.

EarthDiverse currently offers the following Japanese language classes on a rotating and evolving basis, with new intakes of students in Japanese 101 beginning throughout the year, in Term 1 (February), Term 2 (early May) and again in Term 3 (July-August). 101 and 103 courses are usually offered in Terms 1, 2 & 3 each year, and 102 & 104 courses are offered in Terms 2 & 4 each year. If you have some elementary understanding, you may consider starting in a 102 or 103 course as well. When completing one 8-week course, each cohort can begin advancing to the next course in the series. This includes our Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced Japanese language courses.

Please note that all of our Japanese courses rotate each Term and all are offered pending sufficient enrolment.

NEW!  PRIVATE LESSONS: EarthDiverse also offers private one-on-one Japanese Language instruction (for learners at any level) at the rate of NZ$65/hour (discounted when purchasing 4 or 8 sessions at a time). If interested, please contact us using the Contact Form available here.

All Japanese courses offered in the current school Term are listed in bolded blue below:

LOCATION: All of our classes take place at the EarthDiverse Centre in Hamilton, New Zealand, on-line via Zoom, or through video recordings of our live-streamed sessions posted 1-2 days after each class.

DISTANCE-LEARNING OPTIONS: Our Japanese courses offer distance learning options for those unable to attend classes in-person. Live-streamed classes are available via free Zoom software, or those unable to attend the date and time of the actual class sessions can watch the live-recorded video sessions on their computers, laptops, tablets or mobile devices and study at their own pace. These recorded sessions will be available soon after each class finishes so that you may watch the recorded video via any web-browser at your leisure. Your instructor will provide details on how to access your classes before your course begins.

COST PER PERSON PER TERM (8 classes):

  • Waged: NZ$225 (includes GST + online registration fee) for group classes; or NZ$450 for individual tutorial classes
  • Unwaged (unemployed, students, seniors): NZ$200 (includes GST + online registration fee); or NZ$400 for individual tutorial classes

EarthDiverse offers the following Japanese language classes on a rotating basis:

JAPANESE COURSES OFFERED IN 2025 TERM 2 (Apr-Jun) ARE:

Advanced Japanese courses return again this Term.

JAPANESE COURSES OFFERED IN 2025 TERM 3 (Jul-Sep) ARE:

FOR DETAILED INFORMATION ON EACH COURSE, PLEASE CLICK ON THE APPROPRIATE TILE BELOW:

Meet our Japanese language instructors:

Yurika Arai, MA

Yurika Arai is our Japanese instructor. She was born in Japan and has been living in Hamilton for nearly 30 years. She has both an M Phil (English) and a Masters Degree in Professional Studies. She taught Japanese at the University of Waikato for 15 years and currently works as an early childhood education teacher and a freelance translator. In 2022 Term 1 Yurika will also be teaching our new course in World Cinema on Japanese Anime.

Matt Ferri

Born to a Kiwi father and a Samoan mother, Matt Ferri is something of a cookies-and-cream milkshake. It explains why his childhood was divided between two rather distinctly-sized islands, and, more importantly, why cookies and cream is his favourite flavour. At some stage he grew up, got a degree, and moved to a third island, Japan, where he spent five years teaching English and studying Japanese. His BA in English has a ‘First Class Honours’ suffix, which may have helped him get there; and his Diploma in Creative Writing has also proven invaluable – as filler content for his CV. Back in Hamilton now, Matt tutors NCEA English and proofreads university reports. And now and then he ponders, as he reflects on those three islands, how the phrase ‘home is where the heart is’ applies if your heart feels split.