By Terumi Kai (甲斐輝美) — Founder of Japan Language Factory (JLF), creator of the Terumi Method.
Let me tell you something the language industry will never say out loud.
99% of language learning businesses are not actually trying to make you speak.
I know how that sounds.
But I have been in this industry for over ten years. I have watched it from the inside.
And I am telling you the truth.
The entire industry is built around one thing.
Tests.
Schools want you to take tests. Teachers want you to pass tests. Apps measure your progress with tests. Even AI now grades you on tests.
And there is a reason for this.
Tests are easy. Tests are simple. Tests give the teacher a number.
If you score high — you are “good.”
If you score low — you are “bad.”
The teacher does not have to think. The teacher does not have to actually teach you to communicate.
The teacher just has to push you toward the next score.
And so the entire industry is designed around the easiest job for the teacher — not the most useful outcome for you.
This is why language learning today looks the way it does.
Memorize 2,000 kanji.
Drill hiragana and katakana.
Pass JLPT N5. Then N4. Then N3.
Open the textbook to page 47. Conjugate the verb.
It does not matter if it is a textbook, an app, or an AI tutor.
The architecture is the same.
Score points. Pass tests. Climb levels.
But let me ask you something.
Is that what you actually want?
Did you come to Japanese because you dreamed of passing a test?
Did you start learning because you wanted a certificate on your wall?
No.
You came because you want to talk to Japanese people.
You want to build real relationships.
You want to walk into a room in Tokyo — and be yourself in another language.
You want the laugh. The handshake. The trust. The friendship. The business deal that happens over dinner because you understood the room.
And maybe — somewhere deeper — you want the encounter that changes your life.
That is what you came for.
You did not come for a score.
So here is the uncomfortable question.
Why are you using tools designed for a test…
to chase a goal that has nothing to do with tests?
It does not matter how high you score.
JLPT N1 will not get you a friend.
A perfect grammar test will not get you a deal.
A 100-day Duolingo streak will not get you trust.
Because trust is not built with grammar.
Trust is built with your voice.
Your real mission has nothing to do with what the language industry sells.
Your real mission is to find a method that actually matches what you want.
A method designed for connection — not for points.
A method designed for real people in real rooms — not for an app screen.
A method designed for you — for who you are and where you want to go.
JLF has been in this industry for over ten years.
We know how the test-based, teacher-convenient, score-chasing language industry works. We know it from the inside.
And we built JLF as the opposite of all of it.
We are not here to teach you to pass.
We are here to teach you to speak.
To connect. To laugh. To negotiate. To build trust. To live a real life in Japanese.
That is the only goal we care about.
Because that is the only goal that ever mattered.
So I will leave you with one question.
If everything you have done so far has been built on a test —
what would change if you finally stopped studying for the score…
and started training for the conversation?
— Terumi
The Founder Letters — a 9-part series by Terumi Kai (甲斐輝美), founder of Japan Language Factory.
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About the author
Terumi Kai (甲斐輝美) is the founder of Japan Language Factory (JLF) and the creator of the Terumi Method — a speaking-first approach to Japanese that has graduated over 5,000 students worldwide, including learners from Amazon, Google, ANA, Mitsubishi, Lufthansa, and the U.S. military. Japanese by birth, Terumi Kai has lived and worked across three continents, and writes about language, culture, and identity at terumikai.com.