One daily review
Spaced repetition brings back vocabulary, grammar, and kanji right before you’d forget them, all in one queue.
Language through stories
Bite-sized language
for serious learners
The rigor of a textbook, but way more fun.
Launching with Japanese, with more languages to come.
How it works
Lessons that play
like a story.
Lessons play out like a video game, with a cast of characters you come to know and love.
The research basis: People understand and remember stories better than plain explanations, so every lesson is set in a scene. (Mar et al., 2021)
Inside one lesson
Three steps to
master grammar.
Real content from the 〜ばいい grammar lesson, so you can see what it’s like to learn with Clementine.
- 1
See it in a scene
The cast uses the pattern in conversation.
彩お父さん、町内会の掃除は初めてなんだけど、何をすればいい？
Dad, this is my first neighborhood cleanup. What should I do?
健一公園の奥に受付があるから、そこで集合場所を確認すればいいよ。
There is a reception desk at the back of the park, so you just need to confirm the meeting place there.
Hover or tap a word for its meaning.
- 2
Build the forms
Match each stem to its ending.
Match the pieces0 / 4Drag an ending to a stem, or tap the two pieces in either order.
StemsEndings - 3
Use it yourself
Write your own sentence.
Your turnAya forgot her umbrella and needs to get to the station. Tell her to buy one at the convenience store.
Example疲れているなら、早く寝ればいいよ。
If you’re tired, just go to bed early.
In the app, AI reads anything you write and explains what works and what a native speaker would say.
The research basis: Seeing an example of grammar being used correctly before learning the pattern makes it easier to learn, and producing the pattern yourself helps you remember it better than just reading it. (Schwartz & Bransford, 1998; Bertsch et al., 2007)
Ways to practice
Texts, emails,
articles, and kanji.
Real recordings from the app. Press play to watch a text conversation, a work email, an article with questions, and kanji writing.
Texting
Chat with a character in Japanese. They reply to what you actually wrote, and you get a note on each message.
Email
Read a work email, write a reply in Japanese, and get feedback on tone and content.
Reading
Read short articles at your level and answer questions that check you understood. Review them later with furigana, English, and notes.
Kanji
Meet each character in a real word, learn where it comes from, then trace it stroke by stroke.
The research basis: Practicing through real tasks, like answering a text or an email, builds usable language, and feedback on your own writing improves accuracy. (Bryfonski & McKay, 2019; Kang & Han, 2015)
Meet the cast
Good company.
Great stories.
The same characters come back lesson after lesson, so you hear how Japanese changes based on whether you’re speaking to your boss, your best friend, or a family member.
Aya 彩
Frontend engineer at an IT startup. Capable, warm, and often a little late.
Haruka 遥
Aya’s best friend, a freelance illustrator who always tells her the truth.
Rei 玲
Guest relations manager at a Tokyo boutique hotel. Friends with Aya since high school.
Sota 颯太
Aya’s junior at work. Eager, very talkative, and a little worried about everything.
Maki 真紀
Aya’s boss, head of product development. Cool under pressure.
Naoto 直人
Aya’s boyfriend, an architect. Steady, thoughtful, sometimes spacey.
Kai 海
Aya’s little brother. College freshman, baseball player, eager and bold.
Yumiko 由美子
Aya’s mom, a jazz piano teacher who occasionally performs. Sweet but strict.
Kenichi 健一
Aya’s dad, who manages construction sites. Practical and direct.
Midori 美登里
Aya’s neighbor. A retired cosmetic chemist and neighborhood volunteer who loves to gossip.
What you get
One app for
the whole language.
Reading, listening, writing, and speaking in one structured path, where each lesson builds on the last.
JLPT prep
Clementine’s content, reviews, and quizzes are designed to mirror the JLPT, so your daily lessons count as exam prep.
Topical mini-courses
Go deeper into business, travel, internet slang, and more. In development, with more topics to come.
Live feedback
Role-play speaking and writing with the cast and get immediate feedback on what worked and what a native speaker would say instead.
The research basis: Recalling something from memory, spaced out over days, keeps it far longer than rereading it. That’s why review comes back on a schedule. (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006; Cepeda et al., 2006)
Made on both sides of the Pacific
Hi, we’re
Ori and Yutaro.
We co-founded Orca, a crypto exchange with over $63B in total volume, and now we’re building the language-learning app we always wanted. We split our time between Tokyo and New York.
Ori Kwan
Co-Founder • CEOBS and MS in computer science from Stanford. Designer/engineer at IDEO and Coursera before co-founding Orca and Clementine. Forbes 30 Under 30. LinkedIn
Yutaro Mori
Co-Founder • CTOSoftware engineer at the Ethereum Foundation and MongoDB before co-founding Orca and Clementine. Spent childhood summers in Nagoya.
A few things to know
Curious?
Good.
Which languages will Clementine teach?
Japanese first. Clementine is built to teach other languages too, and we’ll announce each one as it’s ready.
How long is a lesson?
Between 3 and 15 minutes, so you can fit one in almost anywhere.
What are the stories about?
All of Clementine’s reading, writing, speaking, and listening exercises feature real-life scenarios, like planning travel, making work presentations, and speaking to your family. We’ll never waste your time learning nonsensical phrases.
What will I practice?
All four skills (reading, listening, writing, and speaking) plus vocabulary, grammar, and kanji. You’ll write and say your own Japanese in situations like a work meeting or a text to a friend, and get feedback on each answer.
Is Clementine for JLPT preparation?
Yes. Courses are organized by JLPT level, and they also teach the speaking and writing the exam doesn’t test. We’re working toward every level and will announce which ones are ready at launch.
Is Clementine based on research?
Yes. Lessons are designed around what helps people remember and use a language: stories and scenes instead of lists, an example before each rule, producing your own Japanese with feedback, and spaced retrieval for review. See Mar et al., 2021; Schwartz & Bransford, 1998; Bertsch et al., 2007; Bryfonski & McKay, 2019; Kang & Han, 2015; Roediger & Karpicke, 2006; Cepeda et al., 2006.
How does review work?
Spaced repetition brings back vocabulary, grammar, and kanji when it’s time to review them. Everything goes into one daily queue, so there’s no juggling separate apps.
Does Clementine use AI?
Yes, AI is used to provide feedback on learners’ writing and speaking exercises. It’s also used for development of the content and app, though all Japanese content is reviewed by native speakers. We believe that AI is of the most value when it is used to enhance humans’ intelligence, and that learning a language is a great example of that!
How will pricing work?
You can unlock all content in Clementine with a monthly or yearly subscription. There will be no free mode, but we will offer a trial so you can see if it’s right for you before committing.
When can I try it?
Join the beta using our signup form. We’ll contact you if you’re selected.
Your next chapter starts here
Take a bite out
of your goals.
Sign up to try Clementine and share your feedback.
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