How content is organized

NativShark is a mastery-based system, meaning that NativShark matches your study pace. You can go through content at whatever pace you want: relaxed, intense, or anywhere in between.

Let’s look at the organization of Japanese learning content, what abilities you can expect to develop and when, and break down what an average study day might look like inside NativShark.

The 4 Phases

The path to a high level of Japanese proficiency with NativShark is divided into 4 Phases.

Phases contain Milestones and Units.

Milestones are a way to help track your progress and develop specific skills. Milestones contain 15-25 Units on average.

Units contain all of the Japanese taught within NativShark.

Milestones and Units can all be seen on the "My Journey" page, and we'll talk about them more shortly.

Phase One

Phase One is designed to get the foundations set and get you making complete Japanese sentences along with introducing you to must-know survival phrases. You’ll learn how people speak in different settings, almost every single conjugation in the language, and over 700 kanji.

Phase One exposes you to many of the verb conjugations you’ll need both now and in the future. It also covers all JLPT N5 and many N4 grammar points.

It covers about 2 years' worth of Japanese university in a course you can complete in about 3-6 months at a steady pace, not to mention that you’ll come out speaking much more natural Japanese and having a much more functional foundation than you would ever learn in a classroom setting.

It has 10 Milestones and 166 Units.

What to expect:
Milestones 1-3: An understanding of fundamentals, travel phrases, the writing systems, and warming your ears up to Japanese at natural speeds and pronunciations.

Milestone 4-6: A closer look at many grammar structures, conjugations, particles, and natural conversations. Expands on your foundation of making and understanding both spoken/written natural and textbook sentences.

Milestone 6+: Your foundation is starting to solidify. You're ready to begin your journey into native materials (if you haven't already!). It will take effort no doubt, but you have the tools to begin making progress around this point. Remember to do something you enjoy! More information on this here.

Milestone 10: Your foundation is built! Many learners have found themselves able to pass the JLPT N4 at this point, and native materials are becoming easier to handle, though still take effort.

Phase Two

Phase Two takes the foundations from Phase One and gets you using everyday Japanese right from the get-go.

All sentences in this Phase and onwards include a situation in which they are said. This helps you learn when and where these words can be used, which helps you both understand and be able to use them yourself more effectively.

This is also where we start taking more in-depth looks at all the levels of formality, from crude, rough language to language you’d expect to hear at fancy shops and restaurants or in speeches.

Dialects are introduced here, and the rest of the normal-use kanji (and many beyond that) are taught here.

You'll also find yourself becoming more and more comfortable using native materials, and you can make friends who only speak Japanese.

Phase Two has 15 Milestones and 347 Units.

What to expect:
Milestone 11+: Introduction to dialects, deeper understanding of how context can change the meaning of sentences, and a deeper look at language of all formalities.

Many grammar points are introduced that help you express yourself in a fuller way, and many cultural concepts are examined.

Milestone 23: You have now seen all of the normal-use kanji and many others. Your ability to read them is solidifying, and you may find yourself more and more accurately guessing how to read new words that you haven't seen before.

Milestone 25: Phase Two is complete! You're gone farther in your studies than many learners ever will, and you should take the time to celebrate your effort.

Phase Three

Phase Three covers the slightly less common but still crucial aspects of the language, including hundreds of additional grammar patterns, thousands of additional vocab, and many lessons that deeply examine culture and media that the average Japanese adult would know.

At this level, it becomes possible to relax a bit while still enjoying Japanese materials like shows, manga, and video games, and you’ll be good enough to live and work in Japan with zero English, though there may be a certain amount of effort required.

Phase Three is currently under construction, with new content being added every week. As of July 2024, it goes up to Milestone 38. See the Updates section for the most recent information.

What to expect:
Milestone 26-32: You've seen enough Japanese that you are likely able to pass the JLPT N2, with your chances increasing if you follow the NativShark JLPT study guide.

Milestone 33: You have reached a comfortably advanced level of Japanese. There's still plenty more to learn, but you have an understanding of the deeper nuances of many parts of the language. You can understand many media and cultural references that would slip past the average learner.

Milestone 41-49: You've seen enough Japanese that you are likely able to pass the JLPT N1, with your chances increasing if you follow the NativShark JLPT study guide.

Phase Four

Phase Four starts getting into the more obscure aspects of the language.

You'll be good enough at Japanese to live and work in Japan with zero English, translate professionally, and good enough to enjoy Japanese media with minimal effort.

After Phase Four, we get into the more niche aspects of the language. You can dive deep into topics that interest you, even if most Japanese people don't know much about them.

Getting to the higher phases takes a serious commitment. Luckily, the task is made easier thanks to…

+1 Iteration

NativShark starts with travel lessons. These give you a chance to learn useful Japanese from day 1 while also getting used to some of the language's unique features — how it is written and pronounced, for example.

Once you get a bit further into Phase One, you'll notice something about our content:

It builds upon itself.

For example, the second vocab flashcard you get assigned has only one word:

Casual

何？

What?

what

Female Voice

Male Voice

You encounter this word after you've already learned the kanji used to write it, 何：

And you don't learn 何 what until you've learned the kanji it is "built" with:

And you don't learn 可 until you've already learned:

Using one piece of information at a time, we build up to much longer and more complex sentences, like the following, which shows up in Unit 140 of Phase One:

Casual

あんまり無理むりしないで。体からだ壊こわしちゃうよ。

Don't push yourself too hard. You'll get sick.

(not) very much

・

impossible

・

don't do

・

body

・

(accidentally) break

・

よ

Female Voice

Male Voice

体からだを壊こわす is an idiom that is used to describe letting or making yourself become ill.

Before you see this idiom, you will have already learned the noun 体からだ (body) and the verb 壊こわす (to break [something]). So it's not difficult to understand that when you break (壊こわす) your body (体からだ), you make/let yourself become ill (体からだを壊こわす).

Furthermore, you'll have learned the kanji that appear not only in this idiom (体 and 壊), but also in the rest of the example sentence (無 and 理).

You will have already learned the words あんまり ([not] too much) and 無理むり (impossible; [excessive] work/effort), as well, and you will know how the verb する shown in the sentence as しないで can attach to nouns like 無理むり to make them act like verbs.

You will already know that あんまり is common in speech, while あまり (without the ん) has a stiffer feel to it. You will already know that the を in the phrase 体からだを壊こわす can be left out in this kind of sentence.

You will already know that～しちゃう is an abbreviated form of ～てしまう, which is an ending used when talking about an action that is undesirable or unintended.

You'll know why the particle よ is used at the end of the second half of the example. You'll know why the ～ないで conjugation is used here.

Talk about a lot of information, right?

But because it is introduced bit by bit as you progress through the phase, it doesn't feel overwhelming when you get to this sentence. We show it to you when you're ready for it.

An average day of studies

When you’re going through NativShark, you’ll encounter the following things in an average day:

Reviews

Reviews are the first thing to appear when you hit the Study Now button. They’re essential to make sure the knowledge you’ve gained does not fade away.

After reviews are completed, you can press Study Now again after returning to your main page to learn new Japanese, or you can take a break from there knowing that you have successfully maintained and solidified your current knowledge.

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Study tip:

Go easy on yourself with reviews.

You’ll be seeing all of these concepts again, so all reviews should be treated as refreshers and not quizzes.

You cannot fail a review.

You have succeeded just by seeing it again because that concept is now fresher in your brain than it was previously.

Check out our article on how to answer flashcards for more information.

Units

A Unit is a complete package of Japanese knowledge. These are what you interact with when you press the Study Now button and have no reviews left to do.

Units contain:

Kana sets (first 18 Units)

These are at the start only to introduce you to kana if you’re not familiar with them. You can skip the sets at the bottom if you are already familiar with them.

Lessons

These are where grammar points, verb conjugations, cultural aspects, history, and more are explained.

They include example sentences written and spoken by native speakers. Example sentences come with context so you know when you can use this language yourself.

The beginning lessons cover some must-know travel Japanese and start to warm up your brain for the grammar, kanji, and other parts of the language a bit later down the line. These concepts are introduced slowly and are focused on fully from about Milestone 4.

Vocab flashcards

Vocab flashcards help increase your vocabulary.

They include the vocab focus word along with an example sentence, in addition to the formality level and context to help you understand when the sentences are used.

Kanji flashcards (From Unit 19)

Kanji flashcards show you kanji in isolation with the elements that make them up to help you remember them better.

However, kanji are best learned in context, so these flashcards are purely for introduction purposes.

You will understand kanji as you see them in words and sentences, so you should not spend much time on these flashcards at all.

We recommend always hitting the smiley face option when reviewing them, or even archiving them after seeing them once or twice.

Dialogues (From Unit 2)

Dialogues consist of a conversation, usually between two or more speakers. They appear as the last piece of learning content in a Unit.

Dialogues serve to help you review what you've practiced so far while introducing language to you in new contexts. They also help you understand how language is used naturally in everyday life while increasing your listening skills.

You can also practice your speaking skills with these if you choose to shadow them or repeat them aloud trying to copy how the speaker says any given sentence.

Progression badges

Progression badges appear at set points and serve as markers to show your progress. They often show up at the end of a Unit.

Come share your progress in the community when you get one!

Milestones

Milestones show up around every 15 to 25 Units done in NativShark and are there to help you more accurately gauge your progress.

They go over the recent abilities you’ve gained and are great to share in the NativShark Community^^

Content reinforcement

There is no way around it: To get to a high level of proficiency, we must learn a large number of vocabulary and grammar patterns.

We also need to expose ourselves to the language being used in thousands of unique settings.

This is indeed a monumental task — by no means "easy" — but it is made simple thanks to the way our content is structured.

With NativShark, new pieces of the language are introduced piece by piece, mostly in order of usefulness. This makes advancing and reviewing fluid, organic processes.

All you have to do is keep showing up and hitting that "Study Now" button.

Then one day, you'll find yourself talking to friends in Japanese, understanding television and video games, and feeling a bit in awe of how you managed to stuff all this information into your brain.

It's a surreal feeling, and we can't wait to share it with you.

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If you're just getting started with learning Japanese, then you might find our Japanese Essential Guide to be helpful!