I just finished our last lesson using Nihongo Fun & Easy and it was incredibly rewarding and extremely useful and practical. All of the information presented in it you are almost guaranteed to encounter in Japan (speaking from experience). Yukari-sensei offers many opportunities to practice the phrases and contextualize their meanings. As someone who has struggled to self-teach for years, I was unsure about using a textbook, but Nihongo Fun & Easy is the best resource for getting your foot in the door learning Japanese. Definitely recommend!!

I’ve taken thousands of hours of classes with several teachers on iTalki. Yukari 先生 is the most engaging, professional and fun teacher I’ve met! As a veteran language teacher myself, I appreciate how much hard work Yukari 先生 has put into perfecting her lesson materials with rich visuals and well-structured practice which helped me to master the grammar structures and key vocabulary easily. Moreover, I admire how Yukari 先生 always shows up with the brightest smiles and her laughs are contagious. She’s very empathetic and pays close attention to details. She tailors the lessons according to my needs. For example, I tend to forget the new vocabulary, so Yukari 先生 adds the vocab review frequently to reinforce my learning. She also tries to speak almost 100% Japanese that is comprehensible to me since I was a beginner. I look forward to every lesson with Yukari 先生! If you’re a beginner or want to practice conversation, Yukari 先生 will help you reach your goal while having lots of fun!

I was recently ill but didn’t want to skip more than one lesson. ゆかり先生 adapted the class and was patient with me even though I’m not as quick or well-prepared as other lessons. I am happy that ゆかり先生 has built a level of safety, trust and fun that made it easy to get back on track.

I just finished my trial class! Before my class, I spent HOURS going through teachers on iTalki. My choice in reaching out to Yukari先生 was based on objective parameters I set for my search AND positive gut feelings from her introduction video. I sent a message explaining my goals and some questions. She was very gracious in her response. During the lesson, she made me feel at ease. Her energy helped give me a lift even after a long day of work. At the same time, her energy wasn’t overwhelming. In my job, I observe a lot of details in people. In practicing some words with Yukari先生, I never detected any judgment when I felt I sounded awkward. She gently helped me improve my pronunciation with one word and I didn’t feel embarrassed or anything at all because I was so at ease. ゆかり先生、ありがとうございます! またね！

I am grateful for ゆかり先生's patience and kindness. Life happens and everyone's capacity fluctuates. ゆかり先生 helps me with staying consistent. Trying to do it all by myself would be hard to sustain if I did not have an accountability partner. Before meeting ゆかり先生, I tried studying by myself for a year and it was a mess. I learned katakana and hiragana, some vocabulary, but it wasn't practical and I was easily embarrassed with practicing speaking. It's not natural to practice speaking alone anyway. I know I am better able to learn thanks to her support.

Thanks to scheduled lessons with Yukari先生, I am making consistent progress. Booking lessons has helped me with my commitment to learning and Yukari先生 is not just my teacher, but my accountability partner as well. Life gets busy and my work is challenging but Yukari先生 helps me show up. Today, at some point, Yukari先生 said my intonation is improving! Thank you, Yukari先生. I am accomplishing more with you AND applying what I have learned compared to trying to do it by myself. I am so grateful and happy.