I got stuck on the intermediate plateau for years, so I decided to build my own app

Yomu Yomu - Daily News is my solution to the intermediate plateau. I got stuck and couldn't find content I wanted to read so built my own app"

Setting out on a language learning journey

I guess we all remember our early rush of enthusiasm and motivation when we decide to learn our first language and commit to it. We go all-in with some lessons, buy the recommended textbooks, and set up our first vocabulary flashcards and start those reps!

It was the late 2000s when I took the plunge with Japanese. It actually wasn’t my first attempt - school had destroyed any interest in French I had, and some after-work Spanish classes hadn’t led anywhere. However, I had moved to Japan to teach English and also decided that this was my chance to fulfill my ambition to learn a language, immerse myself in the culture, and become bilingual.

This was also an exciting time for language learning. The internet was just coming out of its infancy and the app boom was on the horizon. I got hooked on sites that promised fast tracks to fluency, immersive technology that was going to revolutionise language learning, anki, lingq, italki and others all promised great things!

The intermediate plateau

But, as time went on, the magic didn’t seem to bear fruit. 2 years, then 3, 5… 10 years later! Why am I not fluent in Japanese yet!? What is going on!? My study routine had faded as the motivation ebbed. Now I was still clinging to my daily anki reps - proof to me that progress was being made. But somehow it wasn’t. I had reached the intermediate plateau.

Occassional surges in motivation would take me back to searching for materials. Surely, if there was something that could fire my motivation on a daily basis, then I would immerse myself! However, I consistently ended up finding the same content and become disillusioned again - How do Japanese people celebrate Tanabata? What is Japanese tea ceremony? Momo the peach story - in simplified Japanese. Gah! I hated it. I envied manga or anime lovers. Their internal drive to learn comes from their hobby, but I didn’t have something like that. What would work for me? Well, I am interested in reading the news. I like sports. Learning about science and technology. Surely there must be something for people like me.

My app

The idea is simple - daily news, fresh from the news feed, graded to different levels of Japanese so learners can read the latest news stories at their own level and at their own pace without being overwhelmed or bored. Short news stories are ideal for daily intake of content for people who like learning in bite-sized chunks.

The site is new. I recently got my first sign-upped users. New features including a dictionary gloss and more content is on the way based on user feedback. It is my hope that other people also find this site useful and can help guide my development of the site so it can become what it is meant to be - a true learning bridge from the intermediate plateau that learners can use to escape, and achieve their goals.

Find the link to the site below and in my portfolio site's project page. Use it, tell me what works, tell me what doesn’t, I’d love to hear your feedback.

Try out the app: yomuyomu.io