My 2025 Plan: Learn 3 Languages via JS with LangShift
Ready for a new challenge? I'm learning 3 languages in 2025 using just JavaScript and LangShift. Here's my plan, my tools, and how you can join me.
Alex Carter
Full-stack developer and language learning enthusiast, bridging code with global communication.
My 2025 Plan: Learn 3 Languages via JS with LangShift
Every January, the air buzzes with resolutions. We promise ourselves we’ll get fit, read more books, or finally learn that language we’ve been dreaming about. This year, my resolution is a bit… unconventional. It’s ambitious, a little nerdy, and combines my two greatest passions: coding and communication.
My 2025 mission: achieve a conversational foundation in three new languages by the end of the year.
The twist? My primary tool won’t be Duolingo or Rosetta Stone. It’ll be my code editor, a healthy dose of JavaScript, and an exciting new library I’ve been exploring called LangShift.
Sound crazy? Maybe. But I believe the logic that underpins programming can be a powerful and untapped resource for learning human languages. Here’s my plan.
Why Mix Coding with Language Learning?
At first glance, JavaScript and Japanese seem worlds apart. One is for building web applications; the other is for ordering ramen and reading manga. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find a fascinating synergy.
- Both are systems of logic and syntax. A misplaced comma can break your code, just as incorrect word order can garble your sentence. Learning to debug JavaScript has trained my brain to look for patterns, rules, and exceptions—a skill directly transferable to mastering grammar.
- It encourages active building, not passive consumption. Instead of just flipping through flashcards, I’ll be building things with the language. A weather app that pulls an API and displays the forecast in Spanish. A simple game that uses German nouns and their correct articles. This active process forges much stronger neural pathways.
- It’s about problem-solving. How do I structure a sentence to ask a question in Japanese? How do I handle German’s four grammatical cases in my code? Every linguistic challenge becomes a coding problem to be solved. This makes the learning process engaging, tangible, and deeply rewarding.
The “What”: My Three Language Targets for 2025
Choosing the languages was half the fun. I wanted a mix of practicality, challenge, and linguistic diversity. After much deliberation, I landed on these three:
- Spanish: The practical choice. As one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, the opportunities for practice are endless. Its Latin roots and phonetic nature make it an accessible starting point for an English speaker. The Goal: Confident conversational ability for travel and daily interaction.
- Japanese: The challenge. With three distinct writing systems (Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji) and a completely different grammatical structure, Japanese is a beautiful mountain to climb. It will push my learning method to its absolute limit. The Goal: Master Hiragana and Katakana, learn 100-150 Kanji, and handle basic introductions and simple sentences.
- German: The logical puzzle. It shares Germanic roots with English, so I’ll find familiar vocabulary. However, its case system (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive) and gendered nouns present a grammatical challenge that I think is perfectly suited for a code-based approach. The Goal: Understand and correctly use the case system in fundamental sentence structures.
The “How”: The LangShift & JavaScript Method
This is where the magic happens. The core of my plan revolves around a fictional-for-now (but oh-so-cool) open-source library I’m calling LangShift.js. For the sake of this plan, let's imagine how it works.
What is LangShift?
Imagine a JavaScript library you can install via npm. LangShift connects to a linguistic database and provides a set of simple functions to pull vocabulary, check grammar, and create interactive exercises right in your development environment.
You could write code like:
// Get 10 common verbs in Spanish
const verbs = LangShift.getVocab('es', { partOfSpeech: 'verb', count: 10 });
// Check if a German sentence uses the correct case
let sentence = "Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch";
const isCorrect = LangShift.checkGrammar('de', sentence, { check: 'cases' });
// isCorrect would return: trueIt turns language learning into a series of API calls and logical functions. It’s a sandbox for linguistic experimentation.
My Weekly Study Plan
Consistency is key. I’m dedicating specific days to each language, with each day having a project-based focus.
- Monday & Thursday (Spanish Focus): I’ll start by building a simple “Daily Phrase” web page. Using JS, I’ll fetch a new phrase and its translation from LangShift each day. As I progress, I’ll build a recipe generator that combines Spanish food vocabulary and command-form verbs to create cooking instructions.
- Tuesday & Friday (Japanese Focus): The initial hurdle is the writing systems. My first project will be a JS-powered quiz app. It will display a Hiragana or Katakana character and I’ll have to type the corresponding sound. LangShift will provide the character sets and I’ll build the logic to track my score and show me the characters I struggle with most.
- Wednesday & Saturday (German Focus): All about that grammar. I’ll build a “German Case Trainer.” It will be a command-line tool. I’ll input a noun, a verb, and a context (e.g., “The dog sees the man”), and the script will have to construct the sentence with the correct articles (`der`, `die`, `das`, `den`, `dem`, etc.). This forces a deep, logical understanding of the case system.
- Sunday: Review and immersion. No code today. I’ll use Anki for spaced repetition of the week’s vocabulary, and then I’ll watch a movie or listen to a podcast in one of my target languages to connect what I’m learning to the real world.
The Tools of the Trade
Every good project needs a solid toolkit. Here’s my stack:
- Code Editor: Visual Studio Code
- Core Tech: Node.js and my conceptual LangShift.js library
- Version Control: GitHub. I’ll create a repository for each language project. This is non-negotiable. It not only backs up my work but also visually tracks my progress through commit history. Seeing those green squares fill up is a huge motivator!
- Supplementary Resources: Code isn’t a silver bullet. I’ll supplement my learning with HelloTalk for real-world conversation practice and Anki for reinforcing vocabulary through spaced repetition.
Tracking Progress and Staying Realistic
I’m not expecting to be a fluent polyglot by December 31st, 2025. The goal is to build a strong, durable foundation (around an A2/B1 level on the CEFR scale) in each language. Fluency is a marathon, not a sprint.
My progress tracking will be multifaceted:
- GitHub Commits: My project repos will serve as a living journal of my learning journey.
- Project Milestones: Did I finish the Japanese quiz app? Did my German case trainer successfully handle dative prepositions? These are my real-world tests.
- Self-Assessments: At the end of each month, I'll review “can-do” statements from the CEFR framework to honestly gauge my abilities. Can I introduce myself? Can I order a coffee?
Join the Journey
This is a grand experiment, and I’m excited to see where it leads. It’s a fusion of the analytical and the expressive, the logical and the lyrical. It’s about proving that the skills we cultivate as developers can be a superpower in other areas of our lives.
I’ll be documenting my progress, sharing my small JS projects on GitHub, and writing updates on my successes and failures. I invite you to follow along. Maybe you’ll be inspired to fork one of my projects and adapt it for the language you’re learning. Or perhaps you have your own unique, crazy method for learning.
Whatever your goals are for 2025, I hope you find a way to make them uniquely yours. Let the learning—and the coding—begin!