Help & Frequently Asked Questions

elmedian is an online school for learning Japanese and Korean with experienced teachers, one-on-one over video.

You take lessons at times you choose, and pay per lesson using lesson credits — there's no long-term contract to sign.

After creating your account, the first step is a free trial lesson. Apply for a trial with the teacher you'd like to learn with, then pick an available time slot.

The trial helps you and your teacher get to know each other and find the right level and pace. After your trial, you can buy lesson credits and start booking regular lessons.

No — your trial lesson is completely free, and it's 35 minutes long. You don't need any lesson credits for it.

You can take one free trial per teacher, so if you're deciding between teachers, you're welcome to try more than one.

Lessons are held over Zoom, so you'll need the Zoom app (it's free) and a device with a camera and microphone — a computer, tablet, or phone all work.

If you don't have Zoom yet, you can download it from zoom.us/download before your lesson.

No. If you've taken lessons with us before, your account already exists under your usual email address, so please don't sign up again.

Just go to the login page and click "Forgot your password?" to set a new password, and you'll be back in.

From your My Page, open the booking page for your teacher and choose an open time slot. Booking a lesson uses one lesson's worth of credits from your balance.

You'll get an email confirming your booking, and the lesson will appear under "Upcoming Bookings" on your My Page.

Each booked lesson shows a "Join on Zoom" link on your My Page. Open it a few minutes before your lesson starts.

It's a good idea to check your camera and microphone in advance so the lesson can begin smoothly.

The normal booking calendar doesn't allow booking a lesson that starts within the next 6 hours. But if your teacher offers it, you can send an "urgent lesson request" for a slot starting soon.

An urgent request isn't a confirmed booking yet — no credit is used and nothing is charged until your teacher or our staff approves it. If it isn't approved before the requested time, it simply expires, and you can cancel your request yourself at any point before then at no cost.

Yes, as long as it's more than 6 hours before the lesson starts. Rescheduling cancels the current booking and takes you back to the calendar to choose a new time.

Within 6 hours of the start time, rescheduling isn't available — please see the cancellation section for what happens if you need to cancel a lesson at short notice.

Open "Messages" from your My Page to write to your teacher. This is a private thread between you and your teachers — a good place for questions about your lessons, materials, or homework.

This is different from "Contact Support," which reaches the elmedian team directly for account, payment, or general help. (See "What's the difference between Messages and Contact Support?" below.)

"Messages" is your private conversation with your teachers — about lessons, study, and anything class-related.

"Contact Support" reaches the elmedian team — for questions about your account, credits and payments, discounts, or anything the site itself. If you're not sure which to use, either is fine and we'll help you get to the right place.

Lesson credits are what you use to book lessons — think of them as a prepaid balance. Each lesson uses a set number of credits, so you always know what a lesson costs before you book it.

Your current credit balance is shown on your My Page and on the Credits page.

On the Credits page, use the "Buy Credits" button — it takes you to our secure credit shop, already signed in.

Once your purchase is processed, your new balance is available for booking. If you ever don't see credits you've paid for, please reach out through Contact Support and we'll sort it out.

Yes, lesson credits have a validity period. We'll send you a reminder by email before any credits are due to expire, so you have time to use them (you can turn these reminders on or off in your notification settings).

You can always see your credit history — what was added and what was used — on the Credits page.

Points are a small thank-you you earn as you learn. You receive points for completed paid lessons, for writing a review of your teacher, and for referring a friend, among other things.

Your points balance and full history are on the Points page.

Yes — points are valid for one year from when you earn them. We'll remind you by email if points are approaching expiry (you can adjust this in your notification settings).

On the Points page you can redeem points for lesson credits, at 1 point for 1 credit. There's a small minimum per redemption, and this option becomes available once your credit balance reaches the required level — the page will tell you clearly if a condition isn't met yet.

Credits you get from points have their own validity period, shown at the time you redeem.

You can enter a promo code on the Points page. Valid codes add points to your balance right away.

You can cancel an upcoming lesson from your My Page, under "Upcoming Bookings."

If you cancel more than 6 hours before your lesson starts, your credit is refunded in full — no questions asked. We give you until 6 hours before, which is more flexible than many other platforms.

If you cancel within 6 hours of the start time, you can still cancel, but the credit for that lesson isn't refunded — because at that point your teacher has set the time aside for you. You'll always see a clear warning before confirming a cancellation this close to the lesson.

For example: a lesson at 8:00 PM can be cancelled for a full refund any time up to 2:00 PM that day. Cancelling after 2:00 PM is still possible, but the credit won't be returned.

If a lesson is cancelled from our side, you always get your credit back in full.

And if it's cancelled at short notice (within 6 hours of the start), we also add extra credit — 50% of the lesson's cost — as an apology for the inconvenience.

If a lesson goes by without you attending and without a cancellation, it counts as a no-show, and the credit for it is used.

If something unexpected came up, please reach out through Contact Support or message your teacher — we'd always rather hear from you.

Both are on your Profile page. Changing your email sends a confirmation link to your new address — your login email only changes once you've confirmed it, to keep your account secure.

Yes. On your Profile page you can turn specific reminder emails on or off — lesson reminders, credit-expiry reminders, and points-expiry reminders — independently.

Important, time-sensitive emails (like a new message or a change to a booking) are always sent, so you never miss something that needs your attention.

On your Profile page you can upload your own photo, or pick from a set of ready-made avatars if you'd prefer.

We offer discounts in some situations — for example based on your country of residence, or if you're currently a student in an educational program. You can apply for these when you fill in your trial lesson application.

We may ask for a document to confirm eligibility, and we'll let you know your discount after your trial lesson.

You can request account deletion from your Profile page. Your request goes to our staff, who will process it — and you can withdraw the request yourself any time before it's processed.

Please note that deleting your account is permanent: your personal data is anonymized, and any remaining lesson credits and points are lost.

On the Refer a Friend page you'll find your personal referral link. When a friend signs up with it, they receive points to start with, and you receive points too once they complete their first paid lesson.

Please check your spam or junk folder first, and add elmedian.com to your contacts so future emails arrive reliably.

If you still can't find it, reach out through Contact Support and we'll help.

If you've forgotten your password, use "Forgot your password?" on the login page to set a new one.

If you signed up with Google, use the "Continue with Google" button instead of an email and password.

Make sure the Zoom app is installed and up to date, and that your browser or device has permission to use your camera and microphone.

If you're still stuck right before a lesson, message your teacher so they know, and try rejoining the Zoom link.

Try refreshing the page, or opening it in a different browser. If the problem continues, please let us know through Contact Support with a note about your device and browser so we can look into it.

We're happy to help. Use Contact Support from your My Page to message the elmedian team directly, and we'll get back to you.