Guides
Opinionated, practical write-ups. No word counts padded for search engines — just what we have learned building a conversation app and watching where people get stuck.
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Getting corrected without killing the conversation
Ask a friend to correct your mistakes and they will do it for about ten minutes. Then they will stop, because correcting someone is unpleasant and they like you.
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Tap a word, save a word: building vocabulary out of conversation
The best vocabulary list you will ever have is the one built out of words you personally failed to understand, at the moment you needed them.
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Why a suggested reply is not cheating (it is what keeps you talking)
The moment a beginner conversation dies is always the same: you know what you want to say and cannot say it, so you say nothing, and the practice ends.
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How to practise speaking a language alone (three modes that work)
Speaking alone sounds like a contradiction, but three quite different exercises hide under the word "speaking" — and only one of them needs another person.
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Listening practice that actually works (and why subtitles ruin it)
You can follow a show with subtitles and understand nothing without them. That is not a listening problem — it is a reading problem wearing a listening costume.
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How to Learn to Read Japanese: Kana First, Kanji Second
Three writing systems sounds like three times the work. It is not — if you take them in the right order.
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Why You Freeze When You Try to Speak (and How to Stop)
You knew the word an hour ago. Someone asks you a question and it is gone. This is not a confidence problem — it is a bandwidth problem.
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How Many Words Do You Actually Need to Speak a Language?
Far fewer than you think to hold a conversation, and far more than you hope to follow a film. Here is where the line actually sits.
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AI Language Practice vs a Tutor vs Duolingo
We build an AI conversation app, so treat this accordingly — but the honest answer is that these three things solve different problems.
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The JLPT N5 Vocabulary Guide: What Is Actually on It
N5 is about 800 words. Which 800, in what order, and why learning them as a list will not get you through the speaking part of real life.
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Learn Korean for Beginners: What to Do in Your First Month
Hangul takes a day. Politeness levels take a fortnight. Here is what to do with the rest of the month.
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How to Learn Japanese by Actually Speaking It
Most people spend a year "studying Japanese" and still cannot order lunch. Here is the order of operations that fixes that.
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