Fluido LLC was founded to make learning difficult languages such as Japanese and Mandarin automatic, intuitive, and most of all, effective.
The great hurdle in learning these languages is effectively learning the Chinese characters. When I learned Japanese I was able to learn these characters in months using story-based learning instead of the years it normally takes when using more traditional methods. This led to being able to acquire vocab at a very high rate eventually leading to high fluency in the language and being offered a position at a Japanese tech company.
I rejected the offer as other, more enticing opportunities presented themselves. As a life-long avid learner of all things science, and having successfully received a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, I finally decided to meld my love for learning with my passion for creation to create systems for people to easily follow in my footsteps and acquire these languages.
Using the experiences and knowledge I’ve gained over nearly four decades I’ve incorporated what works into these projects including reward systems, aligned incentives, mnemonics, visual structures, immediate feedback, spaced repetition, and more.
My current focus is Kanji Stories: an app that focuses on teaching Japanese learners the common-use Kanji with a mnemonic based approach. Iterating, and incorporating user feedback will be the focus for the near future. I’m already thinking of ways how I can incorporate vocabulary learning in context as well as providing other exercises that will aid the learner obtain Japanese fluency.