PRICING

If you’re currently enrolled in Japanese language classes (or completed language studies within one semester), you may be eligible for our education partner program. The partner program for educators and students offers a completion bonus (half the enrollment fee returned to the enrollee) to any student enrolled at an accredited college or university anywhere in the world. Visit the Maplopo Schoolhouse Partners page for more information, and have your favorite faculty member reach out to us from using the form on that page.

Because we offer extensive opportunities to test out the course (videos from the entire first section on YouTube, numerous worksheets on the site as well as on LinkedIn, and the Maplopo Schoolhouse podcast) there are no refunds offered once you enroll in any given Maplopo Schoolhouse season. If you’re not yet sure of whether or not Maplopo Schoolhouse is right for you, please check out these materials first.

All prices are listed in U.S. dollars. The conversion to your currency happens as a natural part of the transaction once you enroll. We recognize the yen isn’t performing well these days… we’re all in the same boat, unfortunately.

Students who complete a Season are provided a discount on additional seasons, however, outside these offerings there are no additional discounts or trials.

If you are a college or university student currently enrolled in Japanese classes (or have taken classes as recently as a semester prior to now), please refer your favorite professor to our Maplopo Schoolhouse Partners page.

There, they can reach out to enquire about our Educators program which offers a completion bonus to students who finish the course. All students meeting the requirements of enrollment in coursework at any accredited college or university anywhere in the world are eligible for the program.

We interface with Chargebee and Stripe for all payments, so we accept all the major ones: American Express, China UnionPay (CUP), Discover & Diners, Japan Credit Bureau (JCB), Mastercard and Visa.

First, Maplopo Schoolhouse is for readers. We attract students who love to read all sorts of material, from manga and magazines, to poetry, literature, contemporary fiction, and non-fiction. At the core of what we do is help students learn the language through story. So… our biggest audience is those who love story.

When it comes to the specifics of language, we find Maplopo Schoolhouse works best for intermediate and advanced learners of Japanese. Those students of the language who have a basic grasp of grammar, but need and want more—and in that same set of students—those who recognize they want structure that helps them understand the language in a fashion they cannot find in a classroom.

Some of our students enjoy taking the JLPT and have already passed the N3 or N2, but many more students have never taken the exam and are studying Japanese with different personal and professional goals in mind.

A good number of our students are translators (or aspiring translators) of Japanese, and enroll largely because they want to learn more about the art and craft of translating. Those students want to tap into one of the most unique parts of Maplopo Schoolhouse… us as translators.

Many more enroll in Maplopo Schoolhouse to refresh or build upon a near fluency they feel could use improvement. Such students often live and work in Japan, and have been here for many years. Or, they lived in Japan at one time, but now live elsewhere and don’t want to lose what they worked so hard to acquire. They find communicating at work and around town fairly routine, but often just that. These students come to us to learn more deeply what the language is about… the nuance of grammar expressions they may only know on the surface, and to add depth and breadth to their vocabulary.

Maplopo Schoolhouse students also come to us from around the world, in all age groups and with many different personal interests and drivers. We’ve welcomed students from America, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Vietnam… from where do you hail?!

No. Each Season of Maplopo Schoolhouse runs just as if you were in an in-person classroom. We designed the course this way to keep students progressing at natural intervals, and so the material you learn is absorbed as richly as possible. Learning modules are dripped out every two to three days until the season is complete.

If you can read in English, and understand spoken American English, you should be in good shape. Our videos and worksheet materials do have spoken and written Japanese, but the entire course is taught in English. Each of our videos is also manually subtitled in English.

We have non-native English speakers from Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, Spain and Vietnam in Maplopo Schoolhouse who are performing just as well as any other student in the program. The trick is having a good grasp of English.

There are no deadlines whatsoever within the course. You have “forever-access” to it, and all the time in the world to complete it. Once you enroll, the course is dripped out to you steadily every two or three days.

We’ve designed the course with a host of pedagogical practices in mind, and we move you forward in a way that helps you feel excited about your progress so you complete the course in a reasonable amount of time, and so your learning sticks. But, life does get in the way of progress sometimes, and because of that, your access to the course is yours. Hang with us and the Japanese language as you see fit!

If questions pop up, we are in the private Discord server to help you, and other students are there as well with any questions you may have.  Of course, we’re always reachable via email as well. Nowhere else will you find this sort of opportunity to engage with Japanese literature translators and language teachers at this sort of price point. Nowhere.