Nihongo con Teppei (Beginner) - Ep6: 学校に行っていますか？
Almost every Japanese self-learner eventually hits the exact same wall — and it has nothing to do with grammar or vocabulary. It's the question of how you're learning. Are you in a classroom with a real teacher, or are you alone in your room at midnight with a podcast and a textbook? Both paths work, but they produce completely different kinds of proficiency, and most learners quietly worry they've picked the wrong one. Teppei opens this episode by asking the question nobody else asks out loud: "学校に行っていますか?" — are you going to a school? And then the follow-up that stings a little: "それとも一人で、自分で日本語を勉強してますか?" Or are you studying on your own?
This episode is valuable precisely because Teppei doesn't take sides. He unpacks both routes honestly — a Japanese teacher at a school named Suzuki, Satō, Tanaka, Hashimoto, Takahashi, versus the self-study stack of podcast, YouTube, apps — and then lands on a point that should put every self-learner's anxiety to rest: the daily ritual matters more than the method. "毎日毎日聞いて、少しずつ日本語がわかるようになります、話せるようになります" — listen every single day, and little by little, Japanese will start to make sense, and you'll start to speak it. That's the whole thesis of the Nihongo con Teppei project, distilled into two lines of casual podcast speech.
So why shadow this episode specifically? Because it's meta-commentary on the exact thing you are doing right now — solo listening, daily repetition, absorbing rhythm instead of cramming rules. The grammar Teppei uses here is also the high-frequency stuff of daily routine: ～に行っていますか (are you going to ~), ～で勉強しています (studying by means of ~), ようになります (reach the point where you can ~). These are the patterns you need to explain your own learning journey in Japanese to a Japanese speaker. Shadow this, and the next time someone asks "どうやって勉強してるの?" the answer stops being "uh, podcast?" and starts being a sentence you actually know how to finish.
📚 Grammar Breakdown
Meaning: "(Subject) is going to ~ (habitual or current)." The destination particle に marks where one goes; the ～ている form marks ongoing or habitual action — "are you currently in the habit of going to ~?"
In Text: 学校に行っていますか / 日本語の学校に行ってますか (Are you going to school? / Are you going to a Japanese language school?).
Note: N5. This is one of the highest-frequency patterns in early learning, and Teppei exposes a nuance most learners miss: 学校に行っていますか isn't "are you going to school right now?" — it's "are you enrolled in / attending a school (as a general state)?" The ～ている here is an ongoing state (継続), not a one-time action in progress. Self-learners often confuse 学校に行きますか (Do you go to school / will you go?) with 学校に行っていますか (Are you currently attending school?) — and the difference matters in real conversation.
Meaning: "Studying by means of ~" / "Using ~." The particle で marks the means, tool, or medium — podcast, YouTube, apps, a school. ～を使って (using ~) extends this into active, agent-driven tool use.
In Text: 皆さんは勉強学校でしていますか / podcast を使って / youtube を使って / 哀悼気を使ってね (Are you studying at a school — / using podcasts / using YouTube / using the app, right?).
Note: N5. This is how Japanese speakers express method and medium — and the pattern Teppei uses here is exactly the one you'll need to explain your own learning setup. The contrast structure 学校で vs 自分で vs podcastを使って is a complete sentence template for describing how you study. Shadow the whole block — "～で / 一人で / ～を使って" — as one rhythmic unit. Most learners stop at the textbook で (by means of) and never pick up the spoken ～を使って alternative, which is actually more common in real conversation.
Meaning: "Or (else) / alternatively" — connectors that present a contrasting second option between two mutually exclusive choices. Spoken counterpart of または; appears in either/or questions.
In Text: それとも一人で、自分で日本語を勉強してますか (Or on your own — are you studying Japanese by yourself?).
Note: N4. それとも only connects two questions, not two statements — a rule textbooks under-teach. Compare: コーヒーそれとも紅茶？ (Coffee or tea?) works; *行きますそれとも行きません is wrong (use ～か、～ないか). Teppei uses it perfectly: 学校ですか (first question choice) それとも一人で自習 (second question choice) — both branches end in question form. Self-learners tend to overuse または (formal) or か (lazy) where それとも is the natural fit in speech.
Meaning: "Reach the point where you can ~" / "come to be able to ~." Combines a verb potential form (潜在形) + よう + になる (to become) — describes a gradual change of state culminating in a new ability.
In Text: 聞いて少しずつ日本語がわかるようになります / 話せるようになります (Listen, and little by little you'll come to understand Japanese / you'll come to be able to speak it).
Note: N4. This is one of the most motivational (and one of the most underused) grammar points in Japanese. ～ようになります expresses gradual acquisition — the exact thing a learner is doing every day. Self-learners often say 日本語がわかる (I understand Japanese — as if it's a current fact) when they mean 日本語がわかるようになります (I'm getting to the point where I understand Japanese). The nuance is huge: ようになります implies a journey, a process, a before-and-after. Teppei uses it twice back-to-back — わかるようになります / 話せるようになります — to describe exactly the progress arc the listener is on. Shadow this structure and you'll be able to describe any skill development naturally, not just language.
Meaning: Three polite-encouragement forms on a spectrum: ～てください (formal "please do"), ～てね (soft spoken "won't you ~?"), ～ていきましょう (let's keep doing — continuing action). All in the て-form family, all requests or suggestions, but register and nuance differ.
In Text: 知らない人は調べてくださいね / 調べてください / 毎日築けてくださいね / 頑張ってね / 頑張っていきましょう (If you don't know, please look it up / Please look it up / Please keep at it every day / Do your best, right? / Let's keep going).
Note: N5. Teppei cycles through all three in one episode — and the register ladder is exactly what learners should absorb. てください is the baseline polite request (good for strangers, superiors). てね is its warm, friend-tier equivalent (good for classmates, study buddies). ていきましょう is the rallying form ("let's keep going") — perfect for closing a podcast, a speech, a study-log entry. Self-learners who only know てください sound stiff when encouraging peers; those who master てね sound like an actual friend. Shadow the full range and you'll have the right register for every listener.