---
title: "I'm a Student Again"
description: I started taking Japanese classes at CCSF.
slug: student-again
date: 2025-09-02
resources:
    - name: textbooks
      src: textbooks.jpg
      title: My textbooks
      params:
        alt: >
            Three textbooks fanned out on a dark wood desktop. From left to
            right: Japanese for Busy People Book 1, Genki Book 1 Workbook, and
            Genki Book 1 Textbook.
tags:
    - Life
    - School
    - japanese
    - CCSF
---

{{< figures/image name=textbooks >}}

I've been fortunate to take two trips to Japan over the last couple years.
Leading up to those trips, I picked up learning Japanese, attempting to build
some basic language skills for getting around. At first, I used [Duolingo][dja]
but recently switched to [Migaku][mja].

When I returned from our most recent trip, I decided to find a class so I can
practice speaking skills. [Community College of San Francisco][ccsf] has an
excellent program called "[Free City][fc]" that grants free tuition to residents
of the city. It also has [Japanese program][ccsfja]. So I enrolled in their
online Japanese 1A (Intro to Japanese) and in-person Japanese 10A (Beginning
Conversational Japanese) courses.

The scheduling constraints are more complex this time around. Juggling the
responsibilities of work, childcare, volunteer work, and other hobbies is a
challenge. It makes me appreciate the freedom I had in my late teens and
early-twenties.

Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to learning in a more structured way again,
and also getting a chance to practice speaking with real people rather than
talking to the AI bots in my phone.

[dja]: https://www.duolingo.com/course/ja/en/Learn-Japanese
[mja]: https://migaku.com/learn-japanese
[ccsf]: https://www.ccsf.edu
[ccsfja]: https://www.ccsf.edu/degrees-certificates/japanese
[fc]: https://www.ccsf.edu/free-city