How I was taught by Kazuo

Ben Sekulowicz-Barclay

My girlfriend and I arranged to have lessons with Mr Udagawa after I accepted a job in Tokyo and we had decided to move to Japan.
We only had two months available before moving, and obviously wanted to learn as much as possible in this short time.
Mr Udagawa first explained to us that the best grounding for learning is to first understand and be able to read and write in Japanese.
He also provided us with a good understanding of how sentences are constructed, and the use of particles within Japanese.

Most importantly Mr Udagawa showed us how to conjugate verbs and adjectives in numerous different ways, giving us a good foundation to continue learning and to allow us to learn new vocabulary, form sentences and hold conversations by following these rules.

Having now arrived in Japan, we really appreciate the structure and content of our lessons and the methods used to teach us. We are able to communicate with Japanese people, and comprehend signs and menus, often completely.
August 2009

Thessa van der Kuyp

I contacted Mr. Udagawa due to the fact that my husband would be transferred to Japan in a very limited amount of time. After explaining my situation and thinking he would teach me to speak and learn phrases, I was surprised when he suggested I should learn to read and write first.
If I were to move to Italy or any other country within Europe, I would already know how to read and write although I would not know what I was reading or writing but I would immediately have an advantage by knowing the alphabet.
Therefore, after some thought, I realized what a great idea this was.

I now know how to read and write Japanese. The lessons were taught in a very logical and gradual way. Each lesson is built on the previous lesson with lots of repetition. Mr. Udagawa is very sensitive to your learning capabilities by using both auditive and visual techniques and goes along the pupil’s speed of learning abilities. Before I knew it, the Japanese language had been demystified for me.
Suite a l’iminente mutation de mon mari au Japon, j’ai contacte Mr Udagawa en vue d’apprendre le Japonais. Apres lui avoir expose ma situation, je pensais qu’il allait m’apprendre a parler afin que je puisse etre capable de m’exprimer ou au moins dire quelques phrases. Aussi je fut vraiment surprise qu’il me suggere de commencer par apprendre a lire et a ecrire.
Son point de vue s’expliquait par le fait que l’alphabet n’ayant aucun point commun avec celui d’une autre langue, il me fallait tout d’abord me familiariser avec les signes. Apres reflexion, je me suis apercu combien cette idee etait la bonne!

Je sais maintenant comment lire et ecrire le Japonais. L’enseignement a ete progressif et logique, chaque lecon etant construite sur la precedente avec beaucoup de repetitions. Tres sensible aux differentes aptitudes de chacun pour memoriser, Mr Udagawa utilise des methodes auditives et visuelles qui s’adaptent a la vitesse d’apprentissage de chaque eleve. Avant meme que je ne sache la parler, la langue Japonaise a ete ainsi demystifie!

Thessa studied Japanese with me for about 15 hours.