Privacy Policy

This policy explains what personal information Beyond JLPT collects, why, who we share it with, and the choices you have. Beyond JLPT is operated by Yujin Choi, who is responsible for (the “controller” of) your personal information.

Contact

For any privacy question or request, email privacy@beyondjlpt.com or write to Yujin Choi, 5 Wyandotte Place, Seven Hills, Australia.

What we collect

Your account

• Your email address and a password (stored only in scrambled, hashed form by our sign-in provider).
• If you sign in with Google: your name, email address and profile picture from your Google account. We don't receive your Google password or access any other Google data.

Your learning

• Which lessons you've opened and finished, your answers to questions, and your flashcard reviews.
• Speaking practice: the text transcribed from what you say, the conversation, and the feedback, scores and reports produced from it, plus any situations you describe for custom practice.

Purchases

Payments are handled by Paddle (see below). We receive the details of what you bought and the email used, but never your card or bank details.

Messages you send us

If you use our contact form, we collect your name, email address and message so we can reply.

Analytics, if you accept it

If you accept analytics cookies, Google Analytics records how you use the website, such as the pages you visit, how you found us, your approximate location and your device and browser type. We don't collect this if you decline.

Technical information

Our hosting and database providers record basic technical information, such as IP address, browser type and the time of a request, to keep the service running and secure.

How we use it

• To provide the service: your account, lessons, progress, flashcards and speaking practice (performing our contract with you).
• To process purchases and subscriptions, and keep the records tax law requires (contract and legal obligation).
• To keep the service secure, prevent misuse and enforce usage limits (legitimate interests).
• To understand how the service is used, such as how many lessons and speaking sessions are completed, so we can improve it (legitimate interests).
• To answer your messages and requests, and send essential emails such as sign-up confirmation (contract).
• To send our weekly newsletter, only if you ticked the box asking for it (consent). Every newsletter has an unsubscribe link, and you can also ask us to stop at any time.

We don't sell your personal information, and we don't use it for advertising.

Speaking practice and AI

When you practise speaking, your recording is sent to ElevenLabs to be turned into text. The text is sent to Anthropic's Claude to write the other person's replies, give feedback and score the session, and ElevenLabs turns the replies into speech. We don't keep your voice recordings: once transcribed, they are discarded by us. The transcripts, feedback and reports are saved to your account so you can review them.

Who we share it with

We share personal information only with these service providers, and only what each needs to do its job:

• Paddle (Paddle.com Market Ltd), our reseller and Merchant of Record, which processes payments, taxes, invoices and refunds. Paddle's own privacy policy applies to the information you give it at checkout.
• Supabase: our database, sign-in and file storage, hosted in Tokyo, Japan.
• Vercel: hosts the website, with servers in Tokyo, Japan.
• ElevenLabs: speech-to-text and text-to-speech for speaking practice (United States).
• Anthropic: the Claude AI models used for replies, feedback, scoring and custom scenarios (United States).
• Google: only if you choose to sign in with Google, or accept analytics cookies (Google Analytics, United States).

We may also share information with professional advisers, or with authorities when the law requires it.

Google user data

If you sign in with Google, we use your name, email address and profile picture only to create your account and sign you in. We don't share this data with anyone else, use it for advertising, or use it to train AI models. Our use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

International transfers

Your information is stored in Japan and may be processed in the United States and other countries where our providers operate. We use providers that protect personal information under their data processing terms, including standard contractual clauses where required.

How long we keep it

• Account, learning progress and speaking reports: for as long as you have an account. You can ask us to delete them at any time.
• Voice recordings: not kept by us once transcribed.
• Contact form messages: for as long as we need them to deal with your message. You can ask us to delete them at any time.
• Purchase records: as long as tax and accounting law requires (in Australia, generally five years).
• Technical logs: kept by our providers for a short period, usually no more than a few weeks.
• Google Analytics data: kept by Google for no more than 14 months.

When you ask us to delete your account, we delete your personal information within 30 days, except records we must keep by law.

Your rights

You can ask us to access, correct, delete or export your personal information, or object to how we use it. Email privacy@beyondjlpt.com. We'll respond within one month.

If you're not happy with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au), or, if you live in the European Union or United Kingdom, to your local data protection authority.

Security

We protect your information with encrypted connections, strict access rules in our database so each person can only reach their own data, and by keeping our service keys on our servers. No system is perfectly secure, but we take care to keep your information safe and will tell you if a breach affects you.

Cookies and local storage

We use essential cookies to keep you signed in. Paddle uses its own cookies during checkout. Your browser also stores display preferences, such as whether furigana is shown, and your cookie choice. With your agreement, we also use Google Analytics cookies to understand how the website is used. You can change your choice at any time with Cookie settings at the bottom of any page. We don't use advertising cookies.

Children

Beyond JLPT isn't intended for children under 16. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we'll delete it.

Changes

We'll update this policy when our practices change and show the date at the top. For significant changes, we'll let you know by email or on the website. See also our Terms of Service.