Today we will talk about a free Japanese course, the Erin's Challenge. This Japanese course is one of the most comprehensive free courses I've ever seen. Today we will explore a bit more in-depth about this great site for studying Japanese.
Well, here's a video about the site:
Well, now let's see how the site works ^-^
The motto of the Desafio de Erin site (エリンが挑戦) is にほんごできます (nihongo dekimasu) which basically means "I can speak Japanese" or "I understand Japanese".
Table of Content
How do classes work?
The site contains 25 different lessons. Each lesson has 7 different “topics” where we explore a subject. Let's find them.
The Basic Dialogue is where we study a dialogue. We watch a video and follow the subtitles below. In the subtitles, you can choose to see the captions in Japanese (kana and kanji), hiragana, roma-ji, and Portuguese. It's pretty cool. After that, still in the basic dialogue, we go to the script. There, we can see just the script, and we can hover over the words to see their translations.
Additionally, we can listen to the dialogue again and even download the content to listen/read later! And of course, for free. Then we have the mangá. I really liked the idea of creating the mangá because we can see the same situation from the basic dialogue, in mangá! Also, we can learn things like onomatopoeias, which is also taught in the course. And lastly, we have the Basic Dialogue Review Exercises. There we answer some questions about the dialogue. It's really good because you won't just be learning words in the course; you will also be learning to interpret the texts!
The Advanced Dialogue is where we hear another dialogue, a bit more complex in most cases. The structure is the same as the basic dialogue: We can select subtitles and view the script, and we can also download the audio and PDF material of the dialogue. It just doesn't have the manga in the advanced dialogue. After that, we go to the Review Exercises, which is also similar to the basic dialogue.
memorization methods
In the Important Phrases sections, we study some important structure along with エリン (erin) ホ二ゴン (honigon) and N21-J. This helps us learn a bit of grammar, and it's also quite fun! There, we see the class, 100% in Japanese, but with options for subtitles we already know (Japanese, kana, roma-ji, and Portuguese). After that, we see Explanations and examples of sentences. There we have a grammatical explanation and some sentence examples, which come with audio, and you can add them to Anki. Then we go to Usages in different situations, where we see how a "grammar rule" (that we learned in this article) can be used in different situations (I think that's amazing, really a great idea). And finally, Grammatical Exercises.
In What is this? we discover some curiosities about Japanese culture, something different, a different food, etc. First, a photo of something will be presented, and you will have to guess what it is (there will be 4 options to choose from). After that, we will watch a video about it, with the subtitle options that you already know, and the correct answer.
In Let's see we learned a bit more about Japanese culture. It is very similar to What is this?. These two options are great for those who want to learn about Japanese culture.
In Let's try, we learn a little more about the culture, watch a video, and then see an explanation. And after that, comes the coolest part: We can play a mini-game about the topic! Really, the site is very comprehensive.
training japanese vocabulary
And lastly, the Aumentando vocabulário, where we learn some new words to "increase vocabulary". It is not very easy to learn, as you have to use the traditional methods of "memorizing words". After that, we play a little game, where we have to connect the words we have already learned to the corresponding images.
See how the site is full of content? In the basic dialog and in the advanced dialog we can even download the content, to listen later, wherever you are!
You can even create an account on the site, and track your progress. And you can even download hiragana and katakana charts, and a calendar in Japanese!
For people who live in Japan, they can even buy some DVD's of the lessons, and it even comes with extra lessons, which are not on the website. Each volume costs 2,400 yen, and the three volumes cost 7,200 yen (+tax). The DVD's add up to 604 minutes in length.
It is worth it?
Well, from the description I made of the course, you must have noticed that the site is very complete, interactive and fun. This course will definitely boost your vocabulary a lot. To help with your studies, you can download the audio of the dialogues, which are available on the website, to listen to while walking, driving to work, cleaning the house, washing dishes, etc. and the PDF material too, for you to read.
But the site is not 100% perfect. You need to know hiragana and katakana, and know how kanji works in order to start using it (or using roma-ji). The course also doesn't teach kanji, and uses pretty much the same method that traditional schools use, only more fun
The site will leave you with a great level of Japanese, if you use it correctly, calmly. But even then, you won't be very close to fluency. It is true that you will understand A LOT OF SIMPLE DIALOGUES, very much, it was from 80% to 90%. But really simple dialogues, the ones you find on a daily basis.
So it's worth it. For starters, it's good that you already have a basic knowledge of Japanese, to help. It will really help you a lot, but of course, it will never be enough. It will be a great tool to guide you through your walk to fluency, but it won't be able to guide you all the way to the end.
The main character, Erin, is a student who came from the UK to Japan to study. There she meets friends like 咲 (saki) and 健太 (kenta). Have fun with them and good studies!