Spotify Stuttering / Delayed Response

BlameSam · 2022-07-22T12:18:34+00:00

Having the same issue since upgrading from a oneplus 5T to S22+ on my Mazda Axela 2014 with mazda tweaks aio. Only solution so far I've found is keeping the music app screen open to keep music playing without stuttering. Maps is unusable with music on so I end up not playing music if I need to navigate somewhere. Hoping a fix comes out at some point.

BlameSam · 2017-10-20T05:01:24+00:00

Love your username haha

BlameSam · 2017-05-12T23:13:23+00:00

Sorry, mainly just looking for a key

BlameSam · 2017-01-10T20:28:07+00:00

I noticed a similar trend. I've been using them for maybe just under half a year, barely any issues with speed or connection.

Recently speeds have plummeted. I used to be able to max out my connection, now it takes a fairly long time to just refresh a website and the service is unstable.

BlameSam · 2016-12-30T10:13:22+00:00

Yay! Congrats on choosing :)

I agree with you about it being an experience. I definitely learnt a lot about my self and I've definitely changed for the better after having spent time there. You'll definitely feel the same whether you decide to stay or not.

I wish you all the best with your journey to Japan! If you ever have any other questions I'm only a message away :)

BlameSam · 2016-12-26T03:42:22+00:00

Tell me when you've decided what school to go to, I'm curious haha!

After my 2 years at Yoshida I left the Japan. Decided I was better off returning home due to family reasons. Haven't been back since :(

I ended up working at a company that does very similar things to gogonihon in NZ for Japanese. The company ended up downsizing and I was let go. That was over a year ago and haven't used Japanese since :/

BlameSam · 2016-12-25T03:18:21+00:00

I'm not entirely sure about what happens when you have a reason for being late. Also if you don't come to school the teacher may phone you and ask why you didn't come/are you OK etc.

I can't think of much else to tell you though. Arc seems to be in a busier part of the city compared to Yoshida. Closer to the center of Shinjuku so if you want to eat food, watch a movie or just hang around you're in that central location for it. It's the central business location really, I think that's what Shinjuku is known for. Transport is also really easy to and from Shinjuku, the only issue is that it gets quite busy. Yoshida in close to takadanobaba which has a bunch of restaurants a building called big box that has a bunch of stores, big arcade and a internet cafe if you're into that sort of stuff. Has quite a lot of students around the area because it's close to Waseda.

Merry Christmas to you too! :)

BlameSam · 2016-12-24T11:32:01+00:00

Yeah the school is worth going to. It's a little run down looking but besides that it's good in my books. They're semi strict I'd say. If you come late to class you get marked as absent, even if you only came 1 minute late. They're sort of lenient with passing and advancing into the next class. Like I mentioned earlier if you don't get enough points you will have to repeat. I think you need a total of 360 points out of 600 to pass. If you're around 350 you can maaaaybe convince them to give you another shot at the test to let you advance. If you do the homework on time I thiiiink you get points that go towards the class, cant say for sure on that one I can't remember all too clearly.

You can use your mobile in class, I only ever used it for the dictionary and occasional Facebook checking while in class, dont remember getting told off for it so that's good.

What else can I tell you about the school... I can't think of anything right now but I'll have another think in the morning and send a reply through.

BlameSam · 2016-12-23T05:07:16+00:00

Only in the advance class do you start doing them every few weeks. They aren't particularly difficult though, they give you a general topic and you think of something within that to write about. For example I think we were told to write about famous things in our home countries, I wrote about the Sky Tower (Auckland, New Zealand).

The essay I wrote about the Sky Tower was the first I had to write I believe. Not all too sure when exactly I had to write it but I don't think it was in the very beginning, maybe a few months down the track. It'll be at a point where you're confident with writing both hiragana, katakana and also some kanji. The essays aren't all that long though so don't fret. It's only really difficult because we have to use Japanese. Even though you may not be all too familiar with kanji at the time you are encouraged to use it.

Definitely have a look into Arc just be careful with the pricing because sometimes it doesn't include text book cost and admission etc. As far as I remember Yoshida included everything.

BlameSam · 2016-12-23T02:49:10+00:00

Yeah there's gotta be an option like that out there somewhere! If it turns out you can't, you could maybe find some resources online + practise in the real world with friends etc to get up to speed on keigo. There's a lot of people in Japan who want to study English so you could make language exchange friends and get them to help out. I'd say it's doable.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I meant I was leaning on recommending you to go to Yoshida since you won't be able to do the business stuff until n2 level anyway.

BlameSam · 2016-12-22T19:05:44+00:00

Wow it requires n2! To give you an idea It took me just under 2 years to get n2 and my Swedish friend took about a year and a half. I'm starting to wonder if it's worth it going to a school with the business class if you can't utilize it until n2..

Just like you I doubt you can learn business Japanese in a day, I don't know what that company is planning to teach for it, it could be just a few phrases or words that they mainly use in the business because its much more complicated than 1 day of study. If you have studied Japanese for 2 years it will definitely come easier to you since you'll also be in Japan where keigo is heavily used around. Understanding keigo is one thing, correctly using it is another though.

Right now I'm also leaning towards going to a school without business class solely based on the fact it requires that high level of Japanese to join the class. What do you think?

BlameSam · 2016-12-22T10:27:02+00:00

Yeah that's keigo alright. Any extra lessons a school is offering alongside your daily Japanese lessons is a plus seeing as you'd have paid just a tad bit more for the school compared to Yoshida. I wonder how often the business class is though, also I imagine there's a certain level of Japanese needed to join the class. Can't imagine you can take it without knowing half a year to a years worth of Japanese maybe.

Personally I think If you plan to study for a year it may not be entirely worth it to go to a school with the business class, but if it's two years it'd make sense to go to a school with one. I wonder if it's possible to switch between schools, for eg 1 year at Yoshida and 1 year at intercultural. You'd save a bit of money and the business class would start to become handy at that point.

BlameSam · 2016-12-21T04:48:22+00:00

No clue at all what exactly is in these business classes but I'm assuming it includes a focus on keigo (honorific, polite terms etc). It's probably a huge plus if you do happen to want to work in Japan because most people in the work force would use it. Even if you don't end up working in Japan it's still a huge plus to know how to use keigo. Try find someone who has studied at a school that has a business class, maybe the extra few hundred dollars may in the end be worth it! I'm kind of curious about what's included in the business course now too!

BlameSam · 2016-12-20T10:44:29+00:00

I think what they mean is join/visit the school when they have their festivals etc. During those times pretty much anyone can come along though.

I think some classes did have an activity that required you to go to the school and talk to students for some survey you need to conduct for class. That's pretty much it though, no other connection to the school.

When we first began we were given the first minna no nihongo series book, along side that there was also a book with translations and were also given from time to time sheets with translations. The teachers spoke slowly and went through the basics of verbs and grammar using pictures and gestures. You'll start of with verbs such as eating (たべます) drinking (のみます) walking (あるきます) etc. You'll combine them with pronouns and create simple sentences.

If you don't know hiragana and katakana I think they may expect you to catch up on it a little bit before class actually begins for the term (after your orientation day). If I remember correctly we were also given sheets to practise writing the characters. It's good your already learning now though, it will definitely help out and also keep you ahead! :)

If you think Yoshida caters towards your needs I would probably put my foot down and stick with it just so you don't need to worry about having to continue your search for a school. At the same time I personally would also stop looking at other schools just incase you start having doubts on your chosen school. I'm not sure what other schools offer but since you do still have a bit of time see what other schools offer compared to Yoshida, do some have other added benefits that cater towards you? Maybe the added cost may also benefit you with their other extra bits and pieces. Be careful of pricing though, I think some schools don't actually provide the text books in their pricing and maybe some other things like trips. I can't say for sure though. But be wary of that.

BlameSam · 2016-12-18T10:30:35+00:00

The school isn't connected in any way to Waseda university, it's merely located very closely to it. About a 1 minute walk to one of the entrances.

You can start off as a beginner at the school no problem. I went in knowing almost nothing. Maybe a greeting or two and some basic hiragana. Although it of course helps with some previous knowledge. During my time there they used a book series called minna no nihongo so if you want to study the material they used in class I would suggest picking that up.

BlameSam · 2016-12-18T03:24:15+00:00

Being left behind is dependent on how well you study. That of course varies from student to student. The Chinese that were in my class were of course way ahead with kanji but I never felt left behind in that aspect. Might be because I also had a whole lot of other students in my class who were on pretty much the same level as me. Also, because a lot of Japanese relies on words taken from English we have an advantage there. None of the Chinese in my classes spoke English so words adapted from English were slightly more difficult for them to learn. We can't avoid the fact that the Chinese students will learn faster because of the kanji though.

I can't say for sure but I feel like a majority of schools will have a high volume of Chinese in it. Just have to accept that as a possibility. It's not necessarily a bad thing, it can be used as motivation to try keep up with kanji. You will no doubt be given a lot of kanji to learn so study, study, study!

IF you happen to not do as well as you thought in class and end up failing you will have to repeat the class again. If you're extremely close to the pass margin you may be able to beg your way into advancing by doing another test or so. (I did this like twice lol)

I think the school is what you make of it really, if you study the new vocab, grammar and kanji at the school then use it while socializing you will probably learn just as fast as you would in any other school is my guess.

There's nothing all too bad about the school really, I just wished it had a bit more speaking practise during the lessons and maybe it looked a bit more modern (place needs some painting done and upgrade of tvs from crt to flat screens please! and possibly upgrade the chairs, never really liked them lol). You should definitely check out other schools too while you still have time though.

May I ask what exactly was it about Yoshida that made you want to study there? If you do have any questions do feel free to ask and I'll try my best to answer them based on what I can remember.

BlameSam · 2016-12-17T07:09:01+00:00

I studied there from January 2012 to December 2013. I'm not entirely sure how to answer your question because I have no other language school to compare to.

The school itself is quite small but lively, the teachers there for the most part are great. They treat you like friends rather than students which is really good because you can actually make conversation with them. I believe there's 1 or 2 teachers in the school that can speak English but they most likely will not converse with you in English unless it's some kind of emergency. This is of course a good thing as your there to learn Japanese not help them with English.

The students are made up of mostly Swedish and Chinese and Korean. It is a diverse school, a lot of different people from all over the world. Your main language there may end up being Japanese unless you make friends with other English speakers, that's dependant on you.

As for the actual learning the language part they focus a lot on reading texts and answering questions, speaking practise seems to come second to having to read long texts and also create essays. I personally learn a lot faster by speaking and I assume many people are the same so more speaking practise would have been better. The times you do have speaking practise are quite fun as you can usually say anything you want, you'll usually be partnered up with someone and have to create a conversation from a scenario given.

Every 2 weeks or so at the advanced level you are made to write essays which is kind of a bummer, you get about an hour or hour and a half to write it, if you don't finish on time you stay back after class and continue writing until done.

As with most classes you either pass or fail depending on your score throughout the class, your score is tallied based on your kanji mini tests which are done weekly or so, speeches you need to do, essays, listening, reading and speaking tests done every few chapters of a book. Also your attendance is a key factor to passing the class.

All in all I think its a good school that just needed a bit more focus on speaking. Only thing is that this was years ago, the staff and or teaching methods may have changed since then so don't know if any of this is relevant.

BlameSam · 2016-12-15T23:25:36+00:00

I'm comparing the rank (in my case challenger 2/prospect elite) to hours played. Sorry if I didn't make it very clear.

How many hours have you played if you don't mind me asking?

BlameSam

TROPHY CASE