The Japan Foundation, Beijing
WANG Chongliang, HIRATA Yoshimi, OGAWA Yoshiko, SHIMIZU Miho

In 2013 The Japan Foundation, Beijing published “Erin’s Challenge! I Can Speak Japanese (Chinese Version)” (People’s Education Press), as Japanese-language teaching material designed for young people such as Chinese Junior and senior middle school students. It is an edited version of "Erin's Challenge! I Can Speak Japanese," which The Japan Foundation published in 2007. Since then, contests named after Erin have been held every year.
* Please see the link below for information on “Erin’s Challenge! I Can Speak Japanese (Chinese Version)”.
From 2013 Japanese-Language Specialists’ Report : Erin, welcome to China! (in Japanese)

A Contest that Anyone Can Take Part in from Anywhere in the World

The Japan Foundation, Beijing has been holding the "Erin’s Theme Song Choral and Song Lyric Contest” (hereinafter the “Erin Choral Contest”) once every year since 2015. Although it is described as a choral contest, the songs are not presented on stage. Groups instead compete by singing Erin’s theme song, “Kotoba no Maho,” which was composed for this contest, and then uploading videos shot on their mobile phones to a website. The main participants are Chinese junior and senior secondary school students. Contests where individuals compete based on their level of speech and composition skills are held in China, but with this contest it is possible to participate regardless of Japanese-language ability, and groups that perform their songs joyfully are selected for awards. Even people who “only know a little Japanese” or “want to study it in the future” are able to participate. It is a contest that literally anyone can take part in from anywhere in the world, and which they can enter regardless of factors such as location, time zone, or Japanese-language ability.

Entry performances

Japanese-Language Education in Chinese Junior and Senior Secondary Schools

At Chinese junior and senior secondary schools, a great number of students study Japanese as their first foreign language. Because the Japanese language is also a university examination subject, first foreign language students study Japanese with the aim of reaching a high level of proficiency. In addition, in recent years a growing number of students have been studying the Japanese language as a second foreign language or as an extracurricular activity. Since a second foreign language is not an examination subject, for these students coming into contact with the Japanese language and Japanese society and cultivating cross-cultural understanding is viewed as more important than remembering difficult grammar and vocabulary. Furthermore, a growing number of individuals are learning Japanese out of an interest in Japanese Anime or the Japanese culture. 　

New Interests Born Out of a Contest

We began the Erin Choral Contest after wondering whether it would be possible to create an event that people from these various backgrounds and with these various Japanese-language levels could participate in together. “Kotoba no Maho” begins with the following opening line: “Erin’s life became brighter thanks to the magic of the Japanese language.” It expresses the hope that studying the Japanese language will serve as an opportunity to develop new interests.

In the two years that the contest has been held, it has attracted 55 entries from a total of 985 people. Entries were selected for the respective awards, including gold awards, silver awards, bronze awards and special awards.There are two sections in the contest, namely:
the “Choral Performance Section,” in which the participants perform while singing “Kotoba no Maho” as it is,
and the “Lyric Writing Section,” in which they sing original lyrics to accompany the “Kotoba no Maho” melody.
The contest has attracted a variety of highly unique entries, including some with dance and folk instrument performances, and some with lyrics that describe the performers’ feelings toward Japanese. By all means take a look at them on the following website:
“Erin's Challenge! I Can Speak Japanese. (Chinese Version)” http://www.jpfbj.cn/erin/

Winners of gold awards were presented with gold medals featuring their individual names, and all award winners were given certificates. For many students, this was the first time they had been commended in a Japanese language-related contest. In cases where the winners were senior secondary school students, they were invited to the “Senior Secondary School Student Project Work,” which is held by The Japan Foundation, Beijing. They also won prizes such as Japanese culture courses with visiting lecturers. This is to ensure that participating in the contest leads to further opportunities for the students to come into contact with Japan and the Japanese language.

Award ceremony at a winning school

The Erin Choral Contest is scheduled to be held in 2017 also. The contest attracts participants from a variety of ethnic groups, regions and learning backgrounds, but showing an interest in Japan and the Japanese language is a feeling they all have in common. It is our hope that through this contest, participants from various regions can share the joy of creating something in the Japanese language.