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 have ever seen. Today we will get to know a little more about this great site for studying Japanese.
Well, see below a video about the site:
Well, now let’s see how the site works ^-^
The motto of the Erin’s Challenge 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 Contents
How do the classes work?
The site contains 25 different lessons. Each lesson has 7 different “topics”, where we explore a subject. Let’s discover 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 subtitles in Japanese (kana and kanji), hiragana, romaji, and Portuguese. It’s really 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 translation.
In addition, we can listen to the dialogue again and even download the content to listen/read later! And, of course, for free. After that, we have the manga. I really liked the idea of creating the manga, as we can see the same situation from the basic dialogue, in manga! Additionally, we can learn things like onomatopoeias, which are also taught in the course. And finally, we have the Basic Dialogue Review Exercises. There we answer some questions about the dialogue. It’s very good, as 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 listen to another dialogue, a bit more complex in most cases. The structure is the same as the basic dialogue: We can select subtitles and see the script, and we can also download the audio and the 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 are also similar to the basic dialogue.
Memorization methods
In the Important Phrases 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, in addition to being quite fun! There, we see the class, 100% in Japanese, but with options for subtitles that you already know (Japanese, kana, romaji, and Portuguese). After that, we see Explanations and examples of sentences. There we see a grammatical explanation and some examples of sentences, which come with audio, and you can add them to Anki. Then we go to Uses in different situations, where we see how a “grammar rule” (that we learned in this article) can be used in different situations (I think this is amazing, really a great idea). And then, grammatical exercises.
In What is this? we discover some curiosity 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 see a video about it, with the subtitle options you already know, and the correct answer.
In Let’s see we learn a little more about Japanese culture. It’s 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 bit 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 subject! Really, the site is very comprehensive.
Training Japanese vocabulary
And finally, the Increasing Vocabulary, where we learn some new words to “increase vocabulary”. It’s not very easy to learn, as you have to use traditional methods of “memorizing words”. After that, we play a little game, where we must match the words we have already learned with the corresponding images.
Did you see how the site is full of content? In the basic dialogue and in the advanced dialogue we can even download the content to listen later, anywhere you are!
You can even create an account on the site and track your progress. And you can also download hiragana and katakana tables, and a calendar in Japanese!
For people living in Japan, they can even buy some DVDs of the lessons, which also come with extra lessons that are not on the site. Each volume costs 2,400 yen, and the three volumes cost 7,200 yen (+ taxes). The DVDs total 604 minutes of duration.
Is it worth it?
Well, from the description I made of the course, you must have noticed that the site is very comprehensive, interactive, and fun. This course will certainly boost your vocabulary a lot. To help with your studies, you can download the audio of the dialogues, which are available on the site, to listen to while walking, driving to work, cleaning the house, washing dishes, etc., and the PDF material as well, so you can read.
But the site is not 100% perfect. You need to know hiragana and katakana, and understand how kanji works to be able to start using it (or else, use romaji). The course also does not teach kanji and uses practically the same method that traditional schools use, just more fun.
The site will leave you with a great level of Japanese if you use it correctly, calmly. But even so, you won’t be very close to fluency. It is true that you will understand A LOT OF SIMPLE DIALOGUES, a lot indeed, it was about 80% to 90%. But really simple dialogues, the ones you find in everyday life.
So, it’s worth it. To start, it’s good to 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 on your journey to fluency, but it won’t be able to guide you all the way.
The main character, Erin, is a student who came from the United Kingdom to Japan to study. There she meets friends like 咲 (saki) and 健太 (kenta). Have fun with them and happy studying!
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