I'm considering enrolling in an actual physical Japanese class, 2 hours once a week, mainly for the social experience of meeting other learners in real life. The curriculum seems to be grammar-based, and includes writing (obviously not with a keyboard.) It's not all that cheap. Should I do it? I feel like I'm making substantial improvements using Renshuu every day. Is there any point in attending a conventional class any more? I already attend a free weekly one-hour "intermediate-level" Japanese conversation class which I enjoy but it's taught by volunteers (who are kind but do zero lesson prep) and is usually kind of disorganised. (Also someone else advised me, if it's social interaction I'm mainly seeking, I should spend my money/time on some other hobby class for a thing I can't do online.)
Well I've never taken any physical japanese classes so I don't have any experience of it however if you think that they teach nice and will show significant impact you might consider enrolling. But at the end of the day you must do some self study in order to learn deeply.
I think taking those classes is great as studying in real time is completely different from studying using an app but if you think using renshuu is enough for you plus as you said that it is a little high priced, I don't think you need to enroll. You are right you can enroll for other hobby classes too if you want some social interaction with others.
At the last the decision is yours, these were my thoughts about it. Maybe do what feels good to you.
If you think, your learning to slow, I would highly recommend something like a crash course in japanese, bc (if you have a good teacher) you will learn so much better. Also things like the accent, which is really hard to only learn from online platforms. In my opinion, social interaction is a big and important thing of learning a language.
I think that a good in-person (or via video chat or something, where you have live feedback) class can be extremely helpful. It's one of the reasons we do the discord lessons each week, so there is a chance to not just learn, but try *using* the language in a natural (or semi-natural) environment.
I won't say taking classes is worthless, but there is a lot of resources online you can use.
Right now I use the apps: Renshuu, yomu yomu, kanji study and todaii.
Also, I eventually watch Japanese movies and anime. I spend hours to watch a single episode, because I watch each scene 3 times at least: 1 - no subtitles. 2- Japanese subtitles. 3 - English subtitles.
Music is also a good tool.
About interacting with other people, I can't remember the name, but there are apps that can match you to Japanese people who are learning English, like a win-win situation.
And of course, the dream would be to go to Japan for a few months, even if I had to use inaccurate phrases, standalone words and gestures to be understood. One can learn a lot in this scenario.
Maybe do what feels good to you.
