During our once a week lesson, I use the camera to show my Study-J teacher notices and the teacher-parent notebook on webcam and ask her to translate. Understanding school events beforehand reduces the risks of forgetting special items our son needs to take to school, and we also understand how our child is doing at school a lot better. There was one day, my Study-J teacher translated a school note saying that we needed to bring an empty box and chopsticks for an art class. We had to rush to get them, but I felt so happy when I saw how proud my son was when he came home with his finished artwork.

Tokyo: Mother with a son in 4th grade

When I needed to tell my daughter’s teacher something about her health, I used my cellphone to record a video of the Study-J teacher saying what I wanted to communicate, and then showed it to the school teacher the next day. Even though I don’t speak Japanese at all, I don’t feel worried about having my child go to school every day because this service helps me communicate with my child’s teacher a lot better.

Gifu: Mother with a daughter in 5th grade

When I have Kokugo homework from school that I don’t understand, I can show it to my Study-J teacher using the webcam and get them to translate it for me. She also makes it easy to understand how to write Kanji because they use a whiteboard to write it so I can see the correct stroke order. I used to be really bad at Kokugo, but now it’s my favorite subject!

Aichi: Female student in 6th grade

Because I don’t understand Japanese, I was always bored in class, but the Study-J teacher helped me by teaching me how to read the questions in my math textbooks and translating the word problems. I was really happy because I can understand the class when it’s in English. I was good at math in my home country, so when I understood what the sentences meant and how to answer in Japanese, the classes at school became more fun, too.

Kanagawa: Male student in 5th grade

I can talk to the teacher about anything, no matter how small my question is! They helped me with not just my studies, but also when I wanted to know about school life here or about differences between my home country and Japan – the kind of things you don’t pick up just by going to school. Recently I asked my teacher’s advice when I had a fight with my Japanese friends, and thanks to what she told me, I managed to make up with my friends!

Chiba: Female student in 6th grade