Testimonials
Jean K. (Swiss, music and Japan studies)
I was looking for a Japanese teacher who can make me improve my (intermediate) speaking skills in Japanese and Shiomi-sensei was exactly the right person for this kind of lessons. She took an interest into things of my private and professional life and she would carefully choose topics for me to talk about that belonged to my personal fields of interest. This made me speak a lot during the lessons with her, and while patiently correcting my grammatical errors, she would think of phrases to express things I could not yet say accurately in Japanese and write them down for me, so I could repeat them by myself - every one of her very well prepared lessons also included the repetition of past phrases/words I had learned. Moreover, by what she said and what she asked, she always showed a genuine interest in what I was explaining, which made the lessons very enjoyable and effective.
Lyman G. (Anthropologist)
I highly recommend Shiomi-san as a teacher for any level of Japanese language study. She has a wonderful talent for explaining complicated grammar points with fun examples and with deep erudition, so that they feel intuitive. I started working with her when I began my PhD fieldwork in Kyoto and needed assistance with translating complex documents (research summaries, interview consent forms, social science questionnaires etc.) from English to Japanese and vice-versa. Her proficiency in both teaching the appropriate level of keigo and in capturing the precise tone necessary for my work is unmatched by any other language teacher I have had. Apart from her linguistic skill, I have also benefited greatly from the depth of her knowledge about Japanese history, culture, and literature. What I appreciate most of all about Shiomi-san's teaching is her flexibility and her open-mindedness: I've thrown many unexpected things her way over the course of our lessons, from article abstracts to blog posts to requests for an 'Osaka dialect survival guide', and she has handled all of them with grace and good humour! I really could not have completed my fieldwork without her help and I am very grateful to her.
Hemma P. (British, Junior Associate Professor of Mechatronics)
Sachi-san has been a fantastic teacher. Over the past three years her Japanese instruction has helped me with all aspects of life in Japan from giving presentations about my research in professional settings to having meaningful conversations with people and forming lasting friendships. I've really enjoyed her teaching style - she takes interesting examples from real life and tailors her lessons to complement my other study tools and classes. Most of all, she makes learning Japanese really fun, so much so that I plan to continue studying with her as a hobby after I leave Japan.
Lyle D. (British, JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow)
I have had the pleasure of a weekly one-to-one Japanese lesson with Shiomi-sensei for over two and a half years. She is a consummate professional. She is patient, considerate, kind, well-prepared, humorous, and encouraging. She has been able to adapt the lessons as my priorities have changed (from conversation practice, to supplementing my Japanese classes at Kyoto University, now to reading kanji). Her fees are very reasonable considering her superior quality, plus her range of interesting facial expressions are worth the fee alone! I recommend her without hesitation and feel very fortunate to have found her.
Claudia M. (Swiss, Retired)
During my stay in Kyoto for 3 weeks, I took almost daily lessons with Sachi-san. She is a very patient and nice person and a very professional teacher. She was always well prepared and the lessons were customized to my needs and requests. I could ask anything about grammar but also about daily life in Japan. Although I studied hard, we had fun together and laughed a lot. Sachi-san has very good English skills and surprised me from time to time with her knowledge in German. I‘m glad I chose her as my private Japanese teacher. I can highly recommend her.
Otto P. (Austrian, Professor of Law and Philosophy)
Learning Japanese is a challenge for everyone who has not had the fortune to be immersed in this language as a young person or who does not have the time to dedicate as many hours to studying as one would need to become a concert pianist. Sachi-san has the ability to guide you most pleasantly through all difficulties, to show you the weaknesses to be corrected, the exercises to be repeated, while giving you access to real texts of most various kinds. Without this encounter with living Japanese, my sojourn would by no means have been the same. With all my gratitude, I highly recommend her.
Michael M. (American, Analyst)
I have been studying Japanese on and off for decades and was aiming to try to revive my skills through intensive lessons with Shiomi-san over the course of a few weeks. Shiomi-san expertly prepared several weeks of highly useful and effective material that exactly fit my needs and goals. She is endlessly creative in thinking of how to convey grammatical concepts, was extremely responsive to my requests to add new goals, and was very thorough in helping me reach them. I highly recommend her lessons. She is a top-notch teacher committed to moving students to a higher level. She is also very patient and kind.
Cavan & Julie Hall (Australian)
We are Australians and travel a great deal. Finding a patient, native Japanese speaking teacher in Kyoto who was able and willing to come to our rented Kyoto house was important to us. However I am reluctant to write too many positive things about Sachi-san because we want her all to ourselves. She was articulate, meticulous, incredibly well organized and extremely patient. Her linguistic skills were also strong in English therefore explaining our faults and pronunciation was very helpful.
Sachi-san also taught us to write Hiragana and Katakana. This was and is a challenging and interesting hurdle for both of us so, we are continuing our lessons by Skype on a weekly basis whist we are home or traveling abroad.
We will return to Kyoto next year and will feel more proficient at being able to read and write in Japanese.
Winston K. (Singaporean, Lawyer)
Shiomi-san is a top-notch Japanese tutor. Despite studying Japanese for 2 years, I was unable to hold a conversation fluently. When I visited Kyoto for 6 weeks, I conveyed this to Shiomi-san and she carefully designed a curriculum to fit my needs.
Shiomi-san taught me the requisite linguistic skills and cultural insights needed for a native-level conversation. She was proactive in rectifying my weaknesses, and she also incorporated creative role-playing to ease my learning curve. I have benefited tremendously from Shiomi-san and I recommend her effective teaching pedagogy to students of all levels of proficiency.
Kim K. (American, Mathematician)
It is my great pleasure to share my wonderful experience with Shiomi Sachi san.
I took lessons from Shiomi san twice a week for seven months. She is a patient and enthusiastic teacher. Every meeting was filled with various interesting and well-prepared lessons including role playing, a pronunciation practice, a set of questions for grammars. Each role playing was designed to fit my situation. From her, I also learned Japanese culture, history and customs. She brought short paragraphs about Japan such as Sumo, Fuji mountain, Edo period etc. We discussed the grammar, vocabularies, and various related stories of those paragraphs. Every lecture was very interesting and fun-filled. I was always looking forward to the next lecture.
I feel very lucky that I had Shiomi san during my time in Japan. I strongly recommend her.
Malte W. (German, Mathematician)
Thanks to Shiomi-san, my Japanese got into a much better shape. With her structured teaching, the big variety of approaches and some remarkable role playing she brushed up my grammar and gave my a strong self-confidence even in Keigo and the like.
Yrjänä L. (Finnish, Professor of art history)
Language carries culture, therefore it comes to live and is explained to a student most effectively through examples, which can be found from the culture and are epitomized by it. This is particularly well taken into account in Shiomi-san’s teaching, thus making her Japanese lessons both compelling and effective.
I have had the opportunity to take Shiomi-san’s lessons both face-to-face in Kyoto and via Skype. In both situations the lessons have had an appropriate pace, and they have been structured to support and encourage the student’s progress. Shiomi-san's teaching style is clear, accurate and detailed. In addition, she can explain any linguistic problem point also in proficient English.
Fabio G. (Swiss, Sociologist)
Although my requirements are somewhat unorthodox, Shiomi-san is the perfect match and has helped me a great deal with preparing a wide variety of lectures and papers. She has not only provided me with the help I needed, but was also proactive in identifying my linguistic weak points and helping me erase them. I can highly recommend her as a teacher who is willing to immerse herself into a topic and who can teach you not only what to say, but also how to say it.
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