For Japanese engineers on English-speaking teams
DevKoe is one-to-one English conversation practice for Japanese software engineers on English-speaking teams. We rehearse the real situations from your job — standups, design reviews, presentations, meetings — so your technical, business-level English gets sharper and more natural. Sessions are in English, in your timezone.
Native Australian English speaker · One-to-one · In your timezone
Who it's for
DevKoe is for Japanese software engineers who already read and write English well, and want to speak it with confidence at work. Two people in particular.
You've recently moved into a position with English-speaking responsibilities — a global team, a new title, meetings that now expect you to speak up in English. You want to grow into it with confidence and own the role, not just survive the calls.
You're good at your job, but you feel your English is what holds you back. You stay quiet in discussions where you have something to add — and you sense it's quietly limiting the responsibilities and roles open to you. You want to widen your horizons.
Either way, the practice is pitched at your professional, technical context — conducted entirely in English. It isn't a beginner course, and it isn't grammar drills.
How it works
An upcoming presentation, a design review, a standup update, a call with the overseas team — we work with the things you actually have to say at work.
Live one-to-one conversation, conducted in English, in your timezone — rehearsing and refining how you say what you mean, under realistic conditions.
Over 90 days of regular sessions, your technical, business-level English becomes faster, clearer and more natural to speak.
The method
This isn't loose conversation. Your speaking is measured across three areas and nine specific, countable challenges — at a week-one baseline, again at the mid-point, and once more at the end — so progress is data, not a feeling.
None of these are careless mistakes. Every one is a predictable consequence of Japanese and English being built differently — your first language doing its job in a place where its rules don't apply. They're structural, they're shared by almost every Japanese engineer, and that's exactly why they respond to focused, deliberate practice.
How smoothly your speech flows: filler words, mid-sentence pauses, and repetitions or false starts.
Why first: these move fastest and you'll feel the difference within weeks — early wins that build the confidence to take on the harder layers.
The structural details English demands that Japanese doesn't: articles, plural endings, and explicit subjects.
Why next: awareness alone won't change spontaneous speech — these need habit formation through repetition, so we build them once the fluency base is steady.
The sounds and rhythm of English: the l/r distinction, consonant clusters, and word stress.
Why last: this is the deepest, slowest-changing layer — wired in before you ever speak. We train your ear before your mouth, and set honest expectations: it's the long game.
Each is counted on every assessment and normalised per 100 words, so a busy answer and a short one compare fairly.
"Um", "uh", "like", "you know", "basically" — sounds that fill the gap but carry no meaning.
Why it happens: fillers spike when your brain is hunting for a word. In a second language — and with technical vocabulary on top — that load is higher, so they signal processing pressure, not a personality trait.
"So, basically, the issue is in the database layer.""The issue is in the database layer."
Silences that land in the middle of a thought rather than at a natural break.
Why it happens: planning the sentence, finding the words, and pronouncing them all at once is harder in a second language. Technical, cause-and-effect explanations are the toughest case — exactly the speaking you do at work.
"We need to update the… authentication module.""We need to update the authentication module."
Repeating a word or phrase, or abandoning a sentence and restarting it.
Why it happens: your internal "monitor" catches a wobble and restarts — and in a second language it fires far more often, usually right on the content words that carry the technical meaning.
"The the server crashed after the deploy.""The server crashed after the deploy."
Dropping "a", "an" or "the" where English requires one.
Why it happens: Japanese has no articles at all. There's no equivalent to build on, so under live-speech pressure they drop out — a whole new system to acquire, not a slip.
"We found bug in authentication flow.""We found a bug in the authentication flow."
Leaving off the "-s" or "-es" where a noun should be plural.
Why it happens: Japanese nouns don't change for number. You know the rule, but a native brain computes agreement automatically — yours adds a step that drops under time pressure, most often right after a number.
"We have three server running in production.""We have three servers running in production."
Starting a sentence with the verb, leaving out "it", "I", "we" or "they".
Why it happens: Japanese lets you drop the subject when it's clear from context — that's correct, everyday Japanese. English almost always needs it stated, so the habit transfers straight across.
"Is already merged into main.""It is already merged into main."
Swapping the English /l/ and /r/ sounds in either direction.
Why it happens: Japanese has a single sound covering both, so the difference is genuinely hard to hear before it's hard to say. We train the ear first — perception leads production.
"We need to deproy the update.""We need to deploy the update."
Slipping a vowel into an English consonant cluster, adding a syllable.
Why it happens: Japanese syllables are mostly consonant-vowel, so clusters get a vowel added to fit the pattern. Technical vocabulary is full of clusters, which is why it's hit hardest.
"The su-cript runs every night.""The script runs every night."
Putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable of a word.
Why it happens: Japanese gives each syllable roughly equal weight; English leans hard on one. Misplaced stress on a specialist term can stop a listener recognising the word at all — so we drill it on your vocabulary.
"We need to DE-velop a new API.""We need to de-VEL-op a new API."
Every challenge above is grounded in published second-language acquisition research — the same evidence that shapes how each one is sequenced and trained. Read the full research appendix →
About
A native Australian English speaker who's spent a career in tech — helpdesk to infrastructure to security to leading teams — so the conversation stays real no matter what you bring.
The program
Twelve weekly one-hour sessions of one-to-one English conversation practice with a native Australian speaker. Every session is prepared in advance and assessed afterwards, so your progress is measured the whole way through — not left to guesswork.
Here is exactly what you're signing up for.
A representative path — every plan is tailored to your role and goals.
We map your role, the real situations you face at work, and what confident English looks like for you.
We measure your starting point — fluency, clarity, pace, vocabulary range — so every later gain is measurable, not a feeling.
Giving a clear, natural update under time pressure — the speaking you do most often.
Walking a colleague through a design or a decision so they follow your reasoning, not just your words.
Interjecting, agreeing, disagreeing and asking questions in real time, without losing your thread.
We re-measure against your baseline, see what's moved, and adjust the plan around what's working.
Structuring and delivering a talk to an English-speaking audience with confidence.
Thinking on your feet — clarifying, buying yourself a moment, and answering under pressure.
Pushback, negotiation, and cross-team or stakeholder discussions where the words matter.
We rehearse the one that matters most to you right now — repeatedly, until it feels natural.
Everything together in a realistic, unscripted session — the closest thing to the real day.
A final assessment against your metrics, plus a written summary of how far you've come — yours to keep.
Every participant gets a private portal — the program in one place, between sessions and after.
Included As a participant you have high-quality transcription on hand whenever it helps — to capture a concept you can only express in Japanese right now, or to support your English in the moment. It's there when you need it, not a crutch for every session.
Backed by a guarantee — see below.
Guarantee
You decide before you commit. It starts with a free intro call — no payment, no pressure. We only go ahead if we both think it's a fit, so you're never paying to find out whether it works for you.
FAQ
We meet one-to-one over video for live English conversation, in your timezone. You bring the real situations from your work and we practise them out loud.
It's aimed at engineers who already read and write English well and want to improve their speaking. It isn't a beginner course or grammar drills.
English — that's the practice. The sessions are conducted entirely in English.
See the guarantee above — you decide whether it's a fit on a free intro call, before paying for anything.
One one-hour session a week for twelve weeks — around 12 hours of live practice across the 90 days — plus light preparation before each one. It's designed to fit around a full-time job.
Get started
Book a free 20-minute intro call to see whether it's a fit.