Should I trust mattvsjapan and the "Refold" site?

MattvsJapan is an American content creator who focuses on language learning. His business model relies heavily on upsells and recurring payments. His language learning methodology is structured in ways that encourage continued purchases. He has developed numerous paid Japanese courses, and some users report the products failed to deliver promised results or value.

Origin story

MattvsJapan began as a YouTube channel offering AJATT-influenced Japanese learning advice. However, with no skills beyond Japanese, he could only teach other foreigners Japanese to make a living.

Eventually, his desire for profit took over, and he turned teaching into a business. He removed his older videos and replaced them with low-quality slop, paywalled material, course launches, and merchandise.

By mid-2018, he had ceased producing genuinely helpful content. His most useful videos are no longer available on YouTube.

MIA: industry-scale scamming

In 2018 Matt teamed up with a person who called himself Yoga Pants to create a would-be replacement for AJATT. They called it Mass Immersion Approach. The idea was that people would pay them monthly for a chance to ask language learning questions and get some Anki add-ons they made. They had lots of disagreements about money and who would get the bigger cut. During their dispute, Matt withheld Yoga's share of the MIA Patreon earnings. He later acknowledged this was wrong. At some point greed took over, and the two split up in a huge scandal, leading to Matt and a new partner named Ethan creating Refold (commonly known as Refooled or Retard).

Refooled: another scam site

Refooled is a "language learning" website created by Mattvsjapan, but now run by other people. Refooled is another scam site designed to lure people in and exploit them.

A quick visit to their homepage reveals some red flags:

• The site sells shitty and overpriced courses, coaching, and merchandise.
• It collects email addresses and requires users to create an account, which is suspicious at best.
• It contains malicious, non-free JavaScript code that's not safe to run.
• It recommends and links to proprietary spyware like Hellotalk, Tandem, Bilingua, Netflix, and Migaku.
• It provides instructions on joining their Discord server. Discord is known for spying on and politically suppressing its users.

The monetization escalated over time. Refooled started as a free roadmap with optional Patreon donations. Then they added merchandise like T-shirts and cups. Then paid Anki decks, with prices increasing over time. Finally, courses and coaching were introduced, with coaching going for $97 per hour and six-week packages selling for $2400 through private emails.

Updoot

At some point the money Matt could loot from Refooled wasn't enough. He partnered with someone named Ken Cannon, a well-known language learning scammer. Ken had previously run a course called JTA (Japanese Through Anime) that failed to deliver on its promises and didn't issue refunds, which is a whole other story. They decided to go big and launched "Updoot", a Japanese pronunciation course that cost thousands of dollars.

In a leaked conversation with someone named Doth recorded in April 2021, Matt had said he wanted to "exploit whales" for money and that he would never advertise it directly on his website but push it through an email list. Updoot was exactly that plan put into action.

The marketing was hideous, pure fear-based manipulation. They claimed learners had an "infection" in their Japanese that needed to be "uprooted." They sent emails claiming recipients were "handpicked" for early access. In reality, everyone got the same email. They set up a special offer that would expire a few days after they announced the course, causing people to feel like they had to make a decision right away. To extract as much money as possible, they also offered additional pricey courses to people who already bought the Updoot course. Almost everyone unlucky enough to buy the course was disappointed.

The secret "underground technique" they sold turned out to be a variant of Olle Kjellin's chorusing method, a well-known shadowing exercise that's freely available in academic literature.

Matt was a moderator on r/ajatt and r/LearnJapanese at the time. Posts critical of Updoot were reportedly deleted, leading to accusations of censorship.

Matt also abused DMCA takedowns to silence critics. A YouTuber named Anacreon made a video criticizing him using clips from the leaked conversation. Matt purchased the rights to the recording and filed DMCA takedown notices against Anacreon's channel, resulting in its termination.

Around the same time, Matt contacted the "Seyto Couple," a Japanese YouTube channel that reviews foreigners' Japanese, and asked them not to make a video about him. He was apparently trying to prevent independent evaluation of his abilities.

Immersion Dojo

After the Updoot fiasco, Matt launched the "Immersion Dojo", a subscription-based community where people pay him monthly for access to his "evolving language learning theories." It's the same model recycled yet again: charging recurring fees for advice that used to be free on his channel and remains free on the AJATT website.

In a Discord discussion, Matt admitted his latest method has no proof that it works and that it's just "his opinion," yet he charges people monthly to be his test subjects. The community got tired of constant course shilling over actual content and no longer takes him seriously.

Contradicting the AJATT philosophy

AJATT promotes cost-free, immersion-based learning, with the help of Free (Libre) software. MattvsJapan's business model, which relies on paid courses, coaching, and paywalled content, directly contradicts AJATT's core principle of learning a language without spending money. For that reason, AJATT does not recommend his products.

Lack of credibility

Language learning communities have widely criticized MattvsJapan's practices. He has scammed too many people and taken their money. English speakers are already aware of this, so they no longer trust him. As a result, he has a minimal following among Japanese learners. Most people don't take him seriously anymore, so he's had to be more aggressive with advertising. Lately his content is mostly ads for new money-grab schemes. Additionally, to compensate for his shrinking audience, he has attempted to pivot, targeting Japanese audiences and offering "English lessons" instead.

The truth about language learning

Learning languages should always be free. Be cautious of scams, ineffective learning methods, and sites that try to exploit your desire to learn. Stay informed, use only Free and Libre software, and don't fall prey to those who seek to profit from your language learning journey.