CASTALIA LAUNCHES “TRY! JLPT MOBILE”, AN ONLINE LANGUAGE LEARNING PLATFORM OPTIMIZED FOR SMARTPHONE-BASED STUDIES FOR THE JAPANESE LANGUAGE PLACEMENT TEST

Caters to N1 to N5 levels and beginners, distributed at JPY980 per account/month to companies and educational institutions

 

Castalia Co., Ltd. (Castalia, registered headquarters: Nagano, Japan / headquarters: Tokyo, Japan / CEO: Satoshi Yamawaki) joined force with ASK Publishing Co., Ltd. (ASK, headquarters: Tokyo, Japan) and launched the distribution of “TRY! JLPT Mobile”, an online language learning platform catering to beginners and N1 to N5-level learners of Japanese Language Placement Test (JLPT), starting May 1, 2018.

For the time being, the service is available to companies and educational institutions.   The service combines “Goocus”, a learning management system developed independently by Castalia, with ASK’s “TRY!” series loaded as contents.   Monthyly usage fee is JPY980 (plus tax) per account for contracts made before September 20, 2018.

 

TURNING LANGUAGE STUDIES INTO A CAREER DEVELOPMENT

The number of JLPT applicants see a continuous growth in recent years (note 1), which reflects the growing needs of acquiring Japanese languages skills both domestic and international wise.  Using Goocus, a learning management system developed independently by Castalia as a platform, allows the students to carry on their studies regardless of devices and lifestyles, anytime and anywhere.   At the same time, administrators can figure out each student’s progress of studies from the administration screen at a glance, combine the data with their personnel evaluation or utilize it for an in-depth analysis of their studies.

 

LEARNING CONTENT FROM “TRY!” SERIES PROVIDED BY ASK PUBLISHING CO., LTD.

The content uses content from the books authored by language professionals with years of experience teaching the Japanese language.  Grammatical elements are explained elaborately to facilitate preparations for reading, comprehension and listening tests.  In addition, Japanese phrases from everyday situations are included in the contents in order to enable the intuitive learning of Japanese grammar.

 

ADOPTED BY EHIME UNIVERSITY’S FOREIGN STUDENTS’ EMPLOYMENT PROMOTION PROGRAM

One domestic example of the implementation of “TRY! JLPT Mobile” is at Ehime University, who have adopted it as the Japanese language material for their foreign students’ employment promotion program.   Foreign students participating in the program will use this service during class and after-class hour studies.

As of May 2018, Castalia plans to expand the service abroad, starting from Vietnam and Myanmar.  The service is offered at a monthly fee of JPY980 (plus tax) per account, for those who make a contract by end of September 2018.

 

[Note 1]

Information source: JLPT Website          https://www.jlpt.jp/statistics/index.html

 

[TRY！JLPT Mobile]

https://try-jlptmobile.com/

Monthly fee: JPY980 (plus tax) per account (Special limited price setting; applicable to contracts made by end of September 2018)

Condition: One account issued for each student; contract made on a three-month term basis

Content: Studies for the JLPT (6 levels: Levels N1 thru N5 and beginner level)

Recommended operating environments:

[iOS] iOS 8.2 and higher

[Android] OS 4.1 and higher

[PC] OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10

Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite and higher

Recommended browsers: Internet Explorer 11 and higher / Microsoft Edge / Google Chrome / Firefox / Safari (latest authentic versions)

 

[ASK Publishing Co., Ltd.]

ASK Publishing offers a wide variety of language learning materials from exam preparation for JLPT, TOEIC, STEP, Chuken (Testing Chinese Proficiency), HSK, and TOPIK to name a few, to daily and business conversation.  They also offer non-textbook-based educational tools such as e-learning and training courses.

ASK Publishing Co., Ltd.: https://www.ask-books.com/