I just heard about this. Has anyone had any experience with this school? Would you recommend it?
https://hajl.athuman.com/e/lp/all/?code=20210063&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=本科英語圏向け&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwn9y1BhC2ARIsAG5IY-4imysXSk-rjN4pfvmUoTAtxg7DgOE05_uHlXAHNEMricU-xiQlczsaAmzQEALw_wcB
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I don’t have any experience with this school, but in the event no one else chimes in, I’ll say my personal thoughts. I looked at the site. Whether the school is right for you or not depends on your goals and current command of Japanese, so it’s hard to recommend/not-recommend. If you’re pursuing fluency, the longer courses (1+ years) might have good utility, especially since they’re based in Japan and focus on preparing you for the workplace or college.
I’d Google something like “human academy Japanese language school reviews” and look for testimonials, particularly for stories about what people did after attending the longer programs, since this will give you an idea of what the school equips you for.
I live in Japan, and when it comes to courses, I meet two kinds of people: the first are people that take language courses for a couple of hours a week during or after work. Unless these people are studying a ton outside of class, I’d describe the outcome of their experience as language tourism. These people are largely not speaking Japanese in the workplace, can’t vouch for their private lives. The second group are people that went to language school full-time for 1+ years in Japan, and these folks routinely use Japanese in the workplace.
Preparation for the workplace or college will mostly focus on JLPT material. As you know, you can study that material on your own. In my opinion, a school is beneficial if it has you operating in Japanese in every class, meaning receiving instruction in Japanese and communicating in Japanese. The school’s website suggests it’s conversation-based, but it’s not clear to me how much individual engagement you’ll get in each class.
The FAQ answers
How many hours is a class?
with 4 hours a day, totaling to ~800 hours per year. This is not 7 days per week, though. If you studied 4 hours per day 7 days a week, that would be ~1460 hours for the year. If you can only do 2 hours a day 7 days a week, that’s ~730 or roughly what the school will have you do. In my humble opinion, there is virtually no merit to paying for school to learn kanji or something else you have to “just memorize,” so hopefully you’d be getting ~800 hours of practice listening to/speaking with some newly-introduced grammar, and there would likely be some reading practice in the mix as well. Presumably you’d grow your vocabulary outside of class since that’s more efficient for everyone.
Many people in language school in Japan also pick up a part-time job and grow a social network. Assuming your network is Japanese, you will be getting immersive Japanese cultural and language experience outside of school, which is very valuable.
Lastly, speaking generally and not about this specific school, make sure to price-compare. A school twice as expensive doesn’t necessarily equip you with twice the Japanese hah. Happy learning!
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Thanks, so much @orphen ! Great feedback. I was just curious about the school and wondered if anyone’s had experience with it. No plans to live in Japan in the near future, just a dream and currently just vacations. So I’m not just a language tourist but just a tourist. 
I really appreciate you taking the time to write that.
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