Hi,

I'm a complete beginner in terms of Japanese. Can anyone recommend a good in-person class, online class, or correspondence course for learning Japanese? I want to build a solid foundation before moving on to self-study. Unfortunately due to my schedule the classes would have to be held in the evenings, which rules out many of the university courses.

Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you!

There's a list of schools around Toronto in our About section which may be of help.
http://www.tjex.ca/pa...

A few things to consider perhaps in choosing a school:
Class sizes (smaller generally leading to more teacher attention & participation)
Teaching methods (Aitas last I heard had complete immersion from Day 1.)
Times, location, cost - should all be on their websites (see link above.)

Good call on the foundation before self-study; totally agree. Grammar & basics first.
Once you get to the self-study stage, maybe check out Tae Kim's grammar guide online. Free, and both well done and thorough (imho.)

Anyone else know of any other schools? JACE used to run on the east side ( http://www.jacetoront... ), but their site isn't loading at the moment so I'm not sure if they're still active.

Beyond that, night-school courses or night-out adult classes are offered by many universities & colleges, and the Toronto district school board.
Tons of online courses, but I have no idea on the quality. Perhaps one of our members have some experiences they could share?

Don't let being a beginner stop you from coming out to one of our events though!