About Tsukigo

The vision

Our vision is to help people reach a practical level in a new language as efficiently as possible, so they can understand native content and speak with others.

Language learning is often easy but inefficient, or fast but exhausting. Learners drill vocabulary, study grammar tables, and collect streak badges for years without being able to use the language. Students sit through years of classes and still struggle to follow an everyday conversation.

Think about how children acquire their first language. They do not do grammar exercises or drill word lists. By around age three, they understand what people say and speak naturally. They do not forget their native language even after decades without using it. In contrast, adults who learn through conventional study often forget most of it after a year or two without practice.

The difference is intuitive acquisition. In practice, that means understanding without translating in your head. When we learn conventionally, we often use our native language as a middleman, translating words one by one. That is an analytical approach.

An analytical approach has real benefits. It is structured and familiar: practice, memorize, do exercises. It gives a clear sense of progress, and you can study at your own pace. But it is a long detour, because the end goal is still to understand and use the language without conscious translation.

Tsukigo is designed to build intuitive understanding through reading, while keeping the useful structure of conventional methods. You can track your progress through the words you meet and save. Recommendations keep the difficulty rising smoothly, so each new story adds a little to what you know. Stories bring in grammar patterns gradually, at your level. And you read at your own pace.

Who it is for

Tsukigo is for anyone who wants to understand and use a new language in real life.

If you are studying for a formal exam, Tsukigo can help build reading fluency, but it may not be enough on its own because grammar rules are not taught explicitly.

The team

Tsukigo is a passion project developed by two people — me and my wife :)

Between the two of us we speak six languages that we acquired through a variety of language learning methods. Some worked well, but the majority of methods felt inefficient. And this set us on a quest to discover a more direct path to learning a language. Tsukigo is built around the ideas and methods that worked, leaving behind the ones that only wasted time.

We sincerely hope that this product will be helpful to you! And if it's not — let us know how we can improve it further.

Languages

Tsukigo aims to add more languages over time. Here is where things stand today:

Help shape it

Tsukigo gets better with your feedback. We welcome corrections and ideas for stories you would like to see. Email us.

If you are interested in a custom program or course, content licensing, or research, see Partnerships.