Kaoru Yamamoto

I already had more than 50 lessons with Kaoru and I take so much out of each lesson. Kaoru is positive, optimistic, patient and motivating. Kaoru always responds to my wishes and implements them so quickly in our lesson that I am surprised every time. So I was able to prepare perfectly for my Japan trip, for an event, for concerts etc. and thanks to her I also passed my JLPT exam last year, where she continues to help me with grammar for the next exam. In class, Kaoru encourages you to speak Japanese too, and gives you enough time to think and also helps you along. I am not afraid that I might say something wrong or make mistakes. Like, you only learn from mistakes, right ;-) Learning Japanese on my own is not easy, but with her help it is much more fun and within a year I have learned so many new things that I would not have learned from a textbook or anywhere else. I can recommend Kaoru to anyone who is tired of boring textbooks and who needs some support in their self-study.

Those lessons help me so much with self-study. They are super fun, interactive, informative and fit my needs perfectly. Every week I look forward to the lessons and they always leave me feeling like my time was well invested! I learn a lot - each lesson has enough structure to prevent me from feeling lost but enough flexibility to keep it entertaining and interactive. They are just perfect for me. Thank you so much, Kaoru-sensei! ^^

Kaoru-san is encouraging and engaged and always makes me feel excited about learning. Thank you for all your help!

This is the 2nd lesson I've had. I've had about 9 italki teachers, both professional and community tutor, and no one has been bad but I can confidently say that Kaoru pays the most attention to detail by far of anyone I've talked to. She'll make specialized lessons based on your interests and will actually type out what you say so that you have a record of your mistakes and how to correct them, along with any new words or sentence suggestions.

I first booked sessions with Kaoru last year to answer questions about the fine details of a text I am reading in Japanese, and was really happy to have the chance to book her again for a different text. I need specific answers about intricate nuances, and I have a lot of questions. Kaoru answers concisely, then in more detail as needed until my understanding is robust. She also speaks as quickly as I can keep up with, only slowing down when I indicate I've missed something. Not only is this useful listening practise for me, it also speeds up the process dramatically - I always get through 2-3 times more questions with Kaoru than I would expect, and my understanding ends up just as solid. Kaoru is very efficient, but also relaxed and easy to talk to. She leaves me space to ask about the same tricky point over and over for 10 minutes, to fall silent while I need a moment to think, and to laugh or vent or chat. Whatever I need, she picks up on and responds to perfectly.

I had a great first lesson with Kaoru, booked to ask advanced level questions about word choice and nuance in a translation I'm working on. Probably not a typical lesson format, but she quickly grasped what I wanted from the session and accommodated my needs seemingly effortlessly. I really appreciate how engaged and enthusiastic Kaoru was, with the material and our conversation. She immediately cultivated a comfortable and safe learning environment, which felt a lot like language exchange I did with Japanese friends back at university. She also patiently answered my questions so efficiently we flew through them all, with time to spare for clarification, examples, or just to commiserate with me over how awkward Japanese can be to put into English! (笑) And eve n before that, I like that she took the time to read my profile and personalise a message to me, was responsive to my replies, and understanding about technical difficulties. I'm already looking forward to my next lesson.