Renshuu

What it is

Renshuu is a Japanese learning website for self-studying learners. It is built around one idea the home page keeps coming back to: every dictionary search, quiz, game and lesson draws on a record of which words and kanji you personally know, so the site can show you Japanese at your level. The home page sums up what it covers in a cloud of words: kanji, vocabulary, games, manga, grammar, crosswords, listening, sentences, dictionary, achievements and gacha. It teaches Japanese only, explained in English, and it serves very different learners, from someone who knows only "hello" and "cute" to a JLPT N1 candidate.

Four dictionaries at the core

The reference side of renshuu is unusually deep, and it is open on the home page itself.

The vocabulary dictionary (和英辞典) takes Japanese or romaji ("taberu" works, and an option converts romaji input to Japanese as you type). A wildcard search such as "とこ*" finds words that start with とこ. Results can be filtered by JLPT level from N5 to N1, by whether a word has example sentences, by word type (noun, verb, adjective, adverb), by character type (hiragana or katakana) and by frequency lists labeled News 12k, News 24k and News/Web 10k.

The kanji dictionary (漢字辞典) filters by JLPT level, by Japanese school grade levels 1 to 6 plus middle and high school, and by the parts a kanji is built from. Its example searches show reading plus meaning ("おとこ male"), a stroke count range ("4-10") and a radical ("さんずい", which returns all kanji with that radical).

The grammar dictionary (文法辞典) is filtered by JLPT level, with example searches such as "ところ" and "たい".

The sentence lookup (例文検索) searches English only, Japanese only or both, accepts parts of words, whole words or phrases, can prioritize sentences that have audio, and can be told not to return kanji when you search in hiragana. One of its sample searches is "カレー spicy".

Built for your level

The first selling point is personalization: "Renshuu can instantly adjust what and how you see Japanese to match your knowledge level, down to each, individual kanji." The home page demonstrates it with a skill bar running from Beginner to Advanced over the sentence 彼女は私の成功を祝ってくれた ("She congratulated me on my success"), where tapping the bar changes how much help the sentence gives, such as the readings shown over its kanji. Two learners quoted on the page explain what that means in daily use: everything is "built around one central dictionary", so "a Kanji marked as known will no longer show furigana automatically". Display settings also let you choose which characters to show: hiragana, katakana, kanji and non-Japanese.

Varied practice

Renshuu argues against flashcard drilling alone: "A deep understanding comes through varied practice, not flipping a card over repeatedly." The home page lets you tap through some of the question styles:

• choosing the particle (に, で, を or は) that best completes a sentence;
• typing the hiragana for a word given in English, such as "cute, adorable, charming (い-adjective)";
• moving word pieces into order to build a sentence, with the English translation ("Let's study after class!") hidden behind a button;
• listening to a sentence and typing the missing Japanese, where "kanji is optional";
• handwriting, where you "Use your mouse or finger to write characters in the box", with a hiragana and katakana option for the characters you draw.

The word cloud adds crosswords and manga, and learners on the page describe all of this as tied into renshuu's SRS (spaced repetition) system, which Larissa says gives her "instant feedback on what I've studied and how well I know it".

Lesson packs or your own path

Ready-made lesson packs "can let you focus on learning, or you can carve out your own path with our thousands of staff and user-made lessons!" the home page says, and an interactive section shows how four kinds of learner (Just starting, Student, In Japan, Not quite sure) might use them.

A classroom student follows the pre-made textbook lessons for Genki 1 and Genki 2, then adds Tobira and JLPT N4 for the next semester. A graduate heading for work in Japan moves on to JLPT N3 and N2, then doubles up on kanji with Kanji Kentei 3/4 and Kanji Kentei 2, and makes a custom lesson called "My work terms" from vocabulary at the job. A complete beginner starts with Alphabet: Hiragana and Alphabet: Katakana, then picks up Sentences: Basic 300 and Sentences: At a restaurant before a trip to Japan. Someone who bought a textbook in Japan works through Minna no Nihongo, Basic Grammar and Sentences: Beginner, and another learner finishing Japanese for Busy People I notes that renshuu "let me skip the lessons I've already done".

The study center goes further afield, with Elementary School Kanji, Pokemon names and Dragon Quest, plus other users' manga lists for Bleach, Anohana and Sailor Moon. The section ends by calling pop culture the strongest motivation there is for studying a language, which sums up the site's attitude.

Games and achievements

The gamified layer is optional. You can "Help our mascot Kao-chan fight off monsters as your Japanese grows", and the page adds in the same breath: "(Or not: everything on renshuu can be adjusted or disabled to match your tastes!)" A short demo battle comes from Counter Punch, a game about Japanese counters, where you pick the right counter word (いちまい, にまい, さんまい) for the objects shown. Achievements and gacha appear in the home page's word cloud as well.

What learners say

Three testimonials show the scale serious users reach, each with a count the page attributes to that learner. Chris from Germany, listed as JLPT N1 with 4,150 words and 1,407 kanji learned, writes that "nothing helped me as much as Renshuu.org" and that it is "easy to use and very customizable for your very own needs." Michael and Johanna, also from Germany and working toward conversational fluency, have 8,679 words and 2,016 kanji and 7,395 words and 2,054 kanji. They say they "only regret not having found it earlier" and that building their own study decks elsewhere had been eating their time. Larissa from Canada, with 5,937 words and 1,350 kanji, ranks the dictionaries and example sentences among the strongest language references on the web and credits "the sheer volume of content and the level of flexibility I have to create my own study path."

Access

The home page invites you to "Start learning for free!", with sign-up through a Google account or a login to an existing account, and the site needs cookies enabled to work. There is a Contact us link and a built-in error report form that asks you to describe what you were doing when something broke. The page shows no prices and no paid tier.

Who it suits

Renshuu suits self-directed learners of Japanese who like to steer their own study: students keeping pace with Genki, Tobira or Minna no Nihongo in class, JLPT candidates from N5 to N1, people living or working in Japan who need kanji at Kanji Kentei level or their own job vocabulary, and anime, manga and game fans who would rather learn from Bleach or Dragon Quest word lists than from a fixed syllabus. The dictionaries alone make it a strong reference for anyone reading Japanese.

The caveat is that practice on the page centers on reading, typing, handwriting and listening, so learners who want conversation will pair it with a tutor or speaking partner. The number of filters and paths is a strength for a self-studier, but a learner who wants one fixed course to follow may need a little time to settle on a lesson pack.